We approached Óttarr about sharing songs that inspire him. He gave us this fantastic playlist that features Icelandic classics such as Guðmundur Jónsson, Megas and Ghostigital. The playlist includes sensational gems by The Fall, The Prodigy, The Monks, Norah Jones, Arthur Brown, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and more.

Óttarr has strong ties to Smekkleysa and has released music on the label since the early days with HAM and Funkstrasse. Óttarr has also appeared on various Smekkleysa releases such as Bless’ Gums, GusGus’ Forever and Saktmóðigur’s Ég á mér líf.

The post Inspiration #5 – Óttarr Proppé appeared first on Smekkleysa SM.

Kaktus has been playing and writing music from young age and this prolific musician, composer and producer is best known for his work with Fufanu but he as also worked with artists such as Damon Albarn, Booka Shade and Bobby Womack.

Kaktus made us a nice playlist with songs by current and past masters such as JFDR, Hailu Mergia, The Clash, Booka Shade, Gorillaz, Scott Walker, Altin Gün, School of X, Ali Farka Touré and more.

The post Inspiration # 4 – Kaktus Einarsson appeared first on Smekkleysa SM.

Hlökk is a Reykjavík based art ensemble consisting of three composers, Ingibjörg Ýr Skarphéðinsdóttir, Lilja María Ásmundsdóttir and Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir. The fifteen track that inspire them include compositions and songs by John Cage, Björk, Meredith Monk, Ellen Fullman and many more.

The threesome formed the ensemble in 2015 as an experimental folk band performing Icelandic folk songs, improvisations as well as their own compositions along with old poetry. Today the ensemble’s material has developed into a platform where they use different types of art forms, mainly music, visual arts and creative writing to create new compositions for other performers as well as themselves.

Their award winning debut album, Hulduljóð, was released by Smekkleysa in 2019.

The post Inspiration #3 – Hlökk appeared first on Smekkleysa SM.

JFDR has released two LP’s, Brazil og New Dreams, to great critical acclaim. New Dreams was released in March just before the hight of the COVID-19 pandemic here in Iceland. And ofcourse she postponed all touring until better times.

We contacted JFDR and got her to give us an example of her inspirationl music. The list contains among others Arca, Harmonia with Brian Eno, Oneohtrix Point Never, Enya, Thom Yorke . Have a listen.

The post Inspiration #1 – JFDR appeared first on Smekkleysa SM.