The Friday Dispatch
El Perro del Mar, tenderhooks, Sucks to be you, Nigel and Allie X
Sucks to be you, Nigel are the next Icelandic powerhouse
Iceland is known for its awe-inspiring and merciless nature as much as its remarkable creative output. Despite a humbling population size, the country managed to produce some globally heavyweight artists – from Björk and Sigur Ros to Olafur Arnalds and Laufey. With such musical paragons to marvel at, it’s no surprise that the capital city boasts a formidable music scene. Known to foster an “anything goes” environment, the Reykjavík scene is full of quirky and innovative discoveries, in part due to the absence of a rigid music industry.
Hailing from the capital’s underground scene, Sucks to be you, Nigel has quickly risen through the ranks as one of the more promising bands of the last few years. In November last year the four-piece released their sophomore album, Birdnoise, marking a sharp turn towards the abyss of feedback, nonsensical lyrics, and playful maturity.
Sitting a school staff cafeteria sipping on day-old coffee and carbonated water, the members – all in their early twenties – crack in-jokes with one another as they discuss their recent national television performance at Vikan með Gísla Marteini. “We were just fooling around,” says bassist Krummi Uggason explaining the band’s inception, originating from a lockdown collaboration with guitarist Vigfús Þór Eiríksson in 2020. “We’ve known each other since preschool. I got myself a hideous electric guitar. I knew you played bass, and I wanted to do something punky,” Vigfús replies.
With all members growing up in Reykjavík, the duo met Silja and Ernir while studying at Menntaskólinn við Hamrahlíð secondary school. They bounced around the few rehearsal spaces in town, eventually settling in Ernir’s garage in Vesturbær. According to the story, their standoffish band name derives from a nosy neighbour apparently unsettled with their creative discord.
Although Sucks to be you, Nigel have outgrown their debut record it certainly made an impression in Iceland, receiving the aforementioned recognition for their work. For a humble punk group, those moments left encouraging marks.
“We were just a tiny punk band,” Ernir says. “Somebody actually listened to the album and acknowledged that it’s music. That it’s good music,” Silja comments in disbelief. She switches tones, “You can always make music and be like, ‘Fuck you, we’re doing this for ourselves.’ But it was nice to receive that encouragement.”
“It was born out of a Slint and Sonic Youth binge,” admits Vigfús about Birdnoise whose early drafts were written quickly after the release of Tína Blóm. “You can’t even begin to imagine how many people have asked us if we listen to Slint,” Ernir chimes, referencing an Instagram message they received the day before. “I don’t think it sounds that similar,” replies Krummi. “We’re definitely moving away from this sort of straight punk,” he continues. “It’s sort of less drive, energy, adrenaline. More vibe and mood,” Ernir adds.
Jóhannes Bjarkason
The haunting of El Perro del Mar
Written five years ago and completed during the early days of the pandemic, the seventh El Perro del Mar album is, at first listen, a dark and twisted thing. Staggeringly ominous at times, complete with unnerving visuals and pitched-down spoken word straight out of nightmares, it’s a gothic cathedral of sound that seems to exist in a suspended realm far removed from the fabric of pop – at least, far from anything Sarah Assbring has ever made before.
“It’s a trip to the underworld that had to be taken to come back with greater knowledge,” Assbring offers by way of a synopsis. Then she smiles. “I don’t want to say that Big Anonymous offers a totally bleak view on life and death. I think it’s about being open and ready for what life is going to give you. Yes, it’s going to give you horror, sadness and grief, but it’s also going to bring you happiness, joy and surprises.”
Thematically, there’s a clear line of sight between Big Anonymous and Assbring’s second El Perro del Mar album, From the Valley to the Stars (2008), and it’s not accidental. Assbring’s ambition for From the Valley to the Stars was “to make a kind of transcendental album that was a jubilation over life and also over death” as told “more or less” through the eyes of her grandfather, who had recently passed away.
“The story is quite bizarre,” she says, glancing out of the window. “He was a really wonderful, amazing person who lived to be 90 years old and then decided he was done. Not in a sad way at all, because he’d had this happy life, and he was super clear in his mind and still strong in his body. He just felt like it was natural for him to go, and I was so intrigued by that feeling and by the way he could have come to that conclusion.”
It's not an album that anyone could have predicted to follow the dewy, bummed-out pop of El Perro del Mar’s self-titled debut (“I think a lot of people I worked with were kind of disappointed in me,” she says wryly), but Assbring remains proud of it, especially now. At the time it was all a bit too much to process, for one specifically horrible reason. “A week before that album was released, my brother died very, very suddenly,” she says, tightening her grip on her coffee mug. “I found myself in situations like being here with you and decided that I could not talk about him because it made no sense at all.”
Three things to get excited about this week
The video: This week, Jagjaguwar newbie Anastasia Coope shared her first single with the label, “He Is On His Way Home, We Don’t Live Together.” Originally a visual artist, Coope only came to the music world after experimenting with recording software while staying alone at a relative’s place. Alongside the single, Coope also released a spectacular visualizer. Known to let her intuition and aesthetic sensibilities guide her, the video pairs baroque and spiritual imagery with the haunting and sweeping track it overlays. The track and the video lead the rollout for Coope’s forthcoming debut LP, Darning woman.
The book: Fixed at the center of New York City music counterculture history is the Village Voice. The first American alternative weekly, the Village Voice was known not just for its left-of-center muckracking but also its boundary-pushing music critiques, particularly in rock and hip hop. After the publication shut its doors in 2018, Tricia Romano set out to memorialize the journalistic titan. The product of that work is The Freaks Came Out To Write, an expansive oral history released this week.
The headliner: ICYMI, this year’s next BST Hyde Park headliner is none other than…. Stevie Nicks. The show this summer will be Nicks’ first in the UK in seven years, and her confirmation marks the latest in a slew of high-profile bookings from BST (including Kylie Minogue and Shania Twain). Tickets for Nicks’ 12 July show will go on sale next Wednesday, 6 March at 10am.
Something Old, Something New
Every week, one of Best Fit's writers or editors share their recommendations of two records they love - one from the past, one from the present. This week, Best Fit writer Laura David on Elijah Fox’s City in the Sky (Piano Works) (2020), and Allie X’ latest album, Girl With No Face (2024).
Sometimes when I’m in a funk, I find myself returning to the comforting stylings of Elijah Fox. The North Carolina-born, L.A.-based composer’s music (at least, his classical work) has this way of enveloping you like a warm hug or an old friend. Lately, I’ve been finding refuge in his 2020 record City in the Sky. The record is entirely instrumental and piano based, a style Fox thrives in. His piano work, particularly from this record, has a signature sound: muted, intimate, and innocently, heartbreakingly sweet. “Central Park West,” in particular, has that old romantic feel. It’s the kind of song that, if you listen hard enough, lulls you into a trance and puts you on a dimly lit city block late at night, maybe walking back from a restaurant with a lover or a friend. And, in a way, that’s exactly what Fox is getting at. The album is an ode to the towering skyscrapers of New York that play home to millions of little lives.
In high school, Allie X was my introduction to the world of avant-pop. I’d stumbled upon her during my Troye Sivan phase. I’d been binging his interviews after the release of his second album, and I noticed he kept mentioning her as a co-writer. The good fangirl I was, I decided to go check her out, thinking she’d probably sound similar. I was in for a major surprise.
Having started her career bouncing around the Toronto music scene, Allie X moved to Los Angeles in 2013 to pursue a career as a songwriter. In addition to writing for a series of high-profile acts, she also began releasing solo material, CollXtion I and CollXtion II. Both albums were synth-pop masterpieces and odes to the weird, a theme Allie has built her entire career around. When I saw her play a hometown show at a local Toronto art gallery, she spoke at length to the crowd about being a childhood “misfit” and finding refuge in music and art, spending time alone in the very museum we were standing in to just be with the paintings. Those songs became major touchstones for me as I dealt with the weird pains of growing up. And, they also turned me into an avid left-of-center pop lover.
On Girl With No Face, Allie X is back and weirder than ever. This record marks a sharp turn from 2020’s relatively tame and melodic Cape God. It’s most reminiscent of CollXtion I, though the work is so distinct that it’s hard to compare. On this record, new wave influences abound, and the songs hit like a punch in the gut (or maybe even a slap in the face…. in a good way). It’s pop writing at its finest, its most experimental, and its most exciting. For ideal entry points, try “Black Eye” or “Galina.”
Listen to the week in new music by following our Discovery playlist
Dropping at midnight every Thursday, follow our 20-track playlist for a taste of the best new music from the most exciting breaking artists.
These are the songs our editors and writers have on repeat right now, taken from the hundreds of tracks released in the last seven days. Leading the selection this week are new tracks from Body Meat, Scout, Annie-Dog, and coverstar tenderhooks.