多重身份(作曲家,演奏家和文化推手)的Jóhann Jóhannsson是冰岛新音乐场景中最活跃的人物之一。作为作曲家和演奏家,Jóhannsson那庄严的,渐长的,旋律优美的,令人难忘的音乐在过去几年里正悄悄地吸引了更多听众。他在伦敦实验厂牌Touch发表的前两张个人专辑Englabörn(2002)和Virthulegu Forsetar(2004)尽管宣传不多,但都获得了众多粉丝,热烈的媒体评论及入选众多乐评年度最佳。他最具野心的作品《IBM 1401,一本用户手册》动用了60人的弦乐队录制,根据冰岛引入的第一台大型计算机IBM 1401当年所作的音乐录音而作,也获得媒体高度评价。他还是组合Apparat Organ Quartet和Evil Madness的成员。除此以外,他还为不同风格的音乐人谱写和制作音乐,如Marc Almond (Stranger Things专辑), Barry Adamson和Pan Sonic, Hafler Trio, Magga Stína等等。他还为多部戏剧,纪录片谱曲以及电影长片配乐。作为文化推手他是艺术组织/智囊团/厂牌Kitchen Motors的创始人之一。该组织专门撮合跨界合作,推广演出和展览,室内剧,影片制作,书籍,电台节目。这些活动都基于实验,合作和探索新的艺术形式的理念。
by Heather Phares
Composer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Jóhann Jóhannsson is one of Iceland's most prolifically creative musicians, as a solo artist as well as a part of the Kitchen Motors label and collective (which also includes members of Sigur Rós, Múm, and Slowblow) and also Apparat Organ Quartet. Kitchen Motors' aesthetic, which focuses on largely improvised and electronic music, also applies to his other projects: Apparat Organ Quartet, which describes its music as "machine rock and roll," consists of four keyboardists who play discarded vintage instruments that they refurbish and a drummer. Jóhannsson's work on his own ranges from delicate laptop pop to sound art installations in galleries to collaborations with Barry Adamson, the Hafler Trio, and Pan Sonic. His first solo album, 2002's Englabörn, paired a string quartet with percussion, keyboards, and electronics in a series of bittersweet miniatures, while 2004's Virthulegu Forsetar was a much more expansive work scored for brass, organ, keyboards, and electronics that was composed for and recorded in Reykjavik's Hallgrimskirkja Church. The British label Touch released both of these albums, but 2005's Dis was issued by Worker's Institute. For 2006's IBM 1401, A User's Manual, Jóhannsson moved to 4AD. One of Jóhannsson's most ambitious projects, it was inspired by the first computer brought to Iceland in 1964 and based on a recording on an IBM computer that his father made on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. A string quartet version of the work was performed as the accompaniment to a dance piece by choreographer Erna Omarsdottir at the 2002 Dansem Festival. The recorded version of IBM 1401, A User's Manual incorporated vocalizing, electronics, and a 60-piece orchestra along with the original recordings of the IBM computer.