All language subtitles for [SubtitleTools.com] Screaming Masterpiece English

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For the most part, Icelandic music...

is crap.

Maybe not the musicians,
but everything about it.

Everybody is always in such a hurry,
there's no budget, and so on.

And therefore, the results are bad.

Yet people keep asking me,
"Why is Icelandic music so special?"

The reason is that,
all the bands that are any good,

they all know that their music
won't be played on the radio,

they know they won't sell more
than 200 albums in Iceland,

especially if it's a young band.

So they make music just as they please.

There were no proper instruments
in Iceland for centuries.

Then a few pump organs arrived.

Our melodies are like old litany tunes

that a farmer might have tried to squeeze
out of his pump organ in 1793.

The year of the census.

We're just showing off with small stuff,
making it sound big.

Originally, the band was formed
to play one gig for Kitchen Motors.

It was the most ridiculous thing
anyone had heard of.

Four organ players in one band.
Nobody believed it would work!

I want to stay true to my roots,
and they are in the old rhymes.

My great grand uncle
knew rhymes and hymns.

I learned them from him
and I use them a lot in my music.

Tonight is a special night in the history
of the presidential residence.

It's the first time that amplified music
will have been played in this house.

Let's give a big hand to Trabant
for an excellent performance.

This piece is by me, Hilmar Örn,

Sigur Rós and María Huld.

It turned out to be rubbish, but we like it.

I always listen to it when I'm drunk.

It sounds great like that.

Music is the ultimate art form.

It goes past the brain
and cuts straight to the heart.

You get goose bumps
from listening to music,

a physical response.

Slowblow is almost ten years old.

It came about when Orri and I
had been in a rock group for years.

The group tried many times
to record an album but always failed.

We had no money,

but still it was very important to us

to record in a professional studio.

But in there, the music just died.

We were on such a tight budget
and in such a great hurry

that what we always ended up with
was just a lifeless piece of junk.

The main characteristic
of the music scene in Iceland

is a strong sense of friendship.

We help each other out.

If someone needs some equipment,
somebody else will lend it to him.

There is a flow between the bands.

You might be playing
in three different bands at the same time.

This family feeling
makes Icelandic music what it is.

We're just doing what something
inside of us tells us to do.

We took advantage of opportunities
and were able to travel the world,

at the same time.

But there is no plan, except to enjoy the ride.

You never know what you really want,
although it would be nice.

This is just something
that sort of happened.

- I don't have a clue why we're here.
- Me neither.

I never planned this.

I was going to work in a chocolate factory
when we formed the band.

But my parents said no.

My theory is that when Iceland
got independent in 1944,

it still took two generations
to develop a real confidence.

My parents were born in the late '40s...

But when my generation came along
we finally started to ask ourselves

what it meant to be Icelandic

and how to be proud of it
instead of feeling guilty all the time,

like animal creatures colonised
by Denmark for 600 years.

To finally feel like real people!
It wasn't easy, you know.

But once punk broke
in Britain in the late '70s,

we were infected by it
and we discovered

that what mattered wasn't what you
could do but what you really did

and we used this power to state
a musical declaration of independence.

The film has aged very well.
It preserves the spirit of an era.

People had strong opinions
and we didn't censor them at all.

These garage bands
with an inferiority complex...

Once they saw themselves
on a big screen, sounding great,

they finally realised the energy
and potential they possessed.

Give me some vocals.

That wasn't out of tune, was it?

We provoked kids
who were still trying to be U2

or the Icelandic Beatles,
instead of just being themselves.

For some mysterious reason,
Reykjavík teenagers in 1980

were interested in surrealism,

and it fused very naturally with punk.

Surrealist poetry is closely related
to ancient Icelandic verse.

One of the first surrealists
was probably Egill Skallagrímsson.

So what you have is screaming patriotism

combined with heavy doses of adolescence.

I can't play anything, he knows a tiny, tiny bit

and the drummer knows even less
and he sure can't play drums.

Þeyr was a great band.

It could have been an international success,

but they blew it because they were too lazy.

It takes a great effort to break
through the barriers overseas.

You have to make sacrifices,
as those who have can testify.

The artists of this period

came to a crossroads.

Either they could become part of society
or they could keep on creating art

that was original and provocative.

So we thought, "How about creating
a band that plays pop music,

"but remains loyal
to the manifesto of Bad Taste Ltd,

"World Domination or Death?"

Pop music was unknown to us,

we were phobic towards it.

Since we thought
that most pop music was tasteless,

why shouldn't we set an example
and conquer the world?

World Domination or Death.

A summary of the manifesto
of Bad Taste Ltd.

Article One.

Since bad taste and thrift
is the nemesis of creativity,

Bad Taste Ltd is firmly against
anything representing good taste.

The Sugarcubes were always
about creating a fun atmosphere,

a collective state of mind
in which we could enjoy ourselves

while creating something
with a little spark of creativity.

The music is a collection of sounds
that we fool around with.

In Ghostigital, we might record a beat,

put another layer over it,

cut it up, reverse it, et cetera.

We work with many things at once.

Of course, it is great to work
with the voice of Einar Örn,

creating different layers of it,
both in Icelandic and English.

And then take the content and mess it up,
see it from another view.

This is a very logical way
of making music today.

When you watch TV,
you get a lot of different information at once.

A music video covers
only a quarter of the TVscreen.

In my music, I want to see
things from different angles.

That's what Ghostigital is about.

Punk was political
but nobody heard the lyrics.

That's the beauty of rap music.
It's the art of the spoken word.

Rap is connected to the past,
it's for people to hear and understand.

Unlike in rock music, the voice in rap
isn't just another instrument...

That's not what rap music is about.

In one minute you can explain
the situation of a whole continent,

or the details of a domestic situation.

To me, hip-hop is one of the highest forms
of art, although it is often abused.

It's connected to everyday speech,
you can speak your mind.

And yes,
in rap there is a direct link to the past.

By using sounds
from your everyday environment,

sounds that people normally
don't associate with instruments,

music has become more objective.

It is no longer a gift from God.

It has been brought to the people.

By sampling cutlery or a passing car,
it feels more personal.

This is the difference between
practising the violin all day

and messing about
with the samples in your computer.

The latter makes the music more personal.

We make music the way we want to.

Maybe it sounds feminine,
but that's the way we like it.

I've heard a theory about Icelandic music.

It also applies to cities like Detroit,

Manchester and other cold cities
where it rains a lot.

There isn't much going on
in cities like these

and the only feedback you'll get
comes from your mum.

And, of course, she always says,
"This is just great."

- What can I get you?
- Nothing for me.

Vodka, vodka, vodka...

Rock and roll, man.
We have Vinyl here in the studio,

and boy, do they reek of alcohol!

We promise to behave!

Here we go.

Make it a little lower.

This is just to show
that we are brothers in this circus.

Keeping him close to my heart
just shows how much I love the guy.

This is it!

Backstage, we joke around,
tell dirty stories and shit.

Just to get in the mood.

My girlfriend made one phone call
and got the keys to the church.

The priest was away
and no masses planned for a month.

The people were happy
that somebody could use the church.

It has a good organ. I can play
as loud as I can, whenever I want.

Foreigners always ask about elves,
trolls, Sigur Rós and Björk.

And whether we are, you know,
all dancing in and out of cliffs.

That's OK. On a bad night,
I fear the ghosts as much as anyone else.

But I grew up with the country balls,
that's my inspiration.

Farms and fishermen,
rather than elves and trolls.

It's a pretty shitty place
to start out as a band.

There aren't many people,
but it's a short drive to Reykjavík.

This place has nothing to offer.

- Sometimes it is good to be here.
- By yourself.

There are two or three girls here.

Everybody has been with them.

When you sing in Icelandic,
people listen more closely.

Rather than English.

It's hard for me to write lyrics
that make sense, especially in Icelandic,

so I just prefer to write
some bullshit in English.

I wanted to explore what I was made of,
the ancient stuff.

And from another perspective

came a thought about
love for your country and world religion.

Which doesn't seem to be
a very good idea these days.

And this record, MedúIla, was the result.

It's really about humankind,
before everything else happened.

I'd like to add one thing.

It's up to you whether you
use it in the film or not.

It struck me that
the national anthems of the world,

they're all the same song.

All patriotic music seems
to be created in the same kind of mood.

It's always the same song,
played in different versions.

"Oh, how Icelandic," people say, or,

"Oh, how Mongolian!" "Oh, how French!"
Or, "Oh, how Brazilian!"

But the music isn't different,
it's just the mood we get into.

And I thought the time had come
to shake that up a little bit.