I became rather excited once I figured out, via some online research, that this is the soundtrack for a film by Iceland's Fridrik Thor Fridriksson. Some of Fridriksson's other films, such as Children of Nature and Angels of the Universe, featured impressive soundtracks that included Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and Sigur Rós. Too bad they're not on this one.
Óskabörn þjóðarinnar (English title "Plan B") traces the lives of deviants in Reykjavik and 14 groups provide the backing music. The first thing that comes to my mind when listening is bands from the old Eastern Block countries who tried desperately to imitate Western bands. Here we have, presumably, all Icelandic groups doing much the same geared toward rock with some pop, synth pop, funk and - brace yourself - hip hop too.
Much of it is bland or just plain bad and downright cringe inducing in places, such as XXX Rottweilerhundar rapping "my style is phat, when I got my gat" (something tells me Iceland doesn't have anything remotely comparable to Compton). Dip's "Mind in a Vice" is a welcome jazz-y vision and Biogen are the lone purveyor of an electronic track, nearly 8 minutes, but not very interesting. It's the more hardcore tracks by Purrkur Pillnikk, Minus and Brain Police that manage best to erase the geographical genre lines and prove to be the highlights for me. Otherwise, yuck. Come on Iceland ... give us more innovative stuff like Björk, Sigur Rós and Múm!
samples:
- Purrkur Pillnikk - Surprise
- Dip - Mind in a Vice
- Minus - Denver
 
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