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Brain Police is an Icelandic stoner rock band who rose to prominence in Iceland around the turn of the millennium. The band was named after the song Who Are The Brain Police? by Frank Zappa, a leading exponent of experimental rock music.
The band was formed in 1998 by Jón Björn Ríkarđsson, Gunnlaugur Lárusson and Hörđur Stefánsson. The band recorded the self-produced debut Glacier Sun in 1999 and released the album in the fall of 2000. That same year the band recorded one song for an Icelandic film called Óskabörn Ţjóđarinnar (Plan-B). That song turned out to be the last track the band recorded with their original singer. After that recording he left the band.
Brain Police began playing instrumental music for a while - auditioning singers but coming up empty. The band even quit for a few months because of increasing vocal-void-frustration. Finally, the missing piece presented itself when a friend of the band came to town. The band decided to try out this singer who didn't even live in Reykjavík, Jens Ólafsson former singer from the band Toymachine from Akureyri. 10 minutes into the rehearsal, the vocal-starved 3-piece stared at each other, grinning, knowing that their search was over. The final piece fell into place and the result was even better than they could have hoped. This was the singer the band had been waiting for. |
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In 2002 Brain Police released a 3 song promo-album called Master Brain on Grassbumper Records, which was very well received. Brain Police is currently one of Iceland's most popular bands, which they have proved by topping the charts of the most popular rock station in Iceland, with the number one song "Jacuzzi Suzy". Shortly after that, the band signed a record deal and went back into the studio to record their next full-length album. After finishing the album, the band went into a contract-limbo due to restructuring of their record company. A fair amount of legal wrangling ensued, on top of delays and setbacks in the manufacturing of the CD itself.
The second album, entitled simply Brain Police, was released in October 2003. From that album came one more no.1 hit (Rocket Fuel) and 2 other top 10 tracks in Iceland.
Their third album, Electric Fungus, was released in October 2004 by Skífan. |
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Ah, stoner rock – music from hot dry countries, wide open spaces with few signs of life or habitation for miles in every direction. Almost exactly like where Brain Police are from, with one exception – Iceland isn't exactly the hottest part of the world.
For Brain Police are indeed from Iceland, and have scored top ten hits there. They also come heartily recommended by one of the chilly nations' best known musical exports; personally, I was a touch surprised to find that Jonsi of Sigur Ros is a fan of old-school riff metal, but listening to 'Beyond The Wasteland' it's clear that he knows quality music when he hears it, whatever the genre.
Because, make no mistake, Brain Police make one of the most authentic stoner rock rackets you'll hear anywhere. Everything a fan of the style could possibly want is here, but with no unnecessary extras, no frills and filigree. Just straight-up riffs, polished to a dark black shine in keys as low as a guitar will tune without being fitted for extra strings; thundering drums and bass creating a rhythm as hypnotic and powerful as the beat of truck tyres on a long desert highway; bluesy melodic solos and lead hooks. Leading the group into battle are the Wyndorf-esque psychedelic howls and roars of frontman Jens Olafsson – who you'd think as likely to be a refugee of early 70's California as noughties Iceland, to judge by his singing. He has a superb voice, full of character and gruff rock credibility.
So, the sound is spot on, right down to some muted cowbell, that distancing reverb on the vocals and warm fuzzy distortion all over the instruments. Not to mention classic stoner rock song titles like 'Hot Chicks and Hell Queens', 'Human Volume' and the eponymous 'Beyond The Wasteland'. The overall effect is something like what we might have got had Kyuss been a homage rather than a pastiche.
The one thing Brain Police aren't going to do is convert the sceptics. Anyone who is predisposed to thinking that retro riff-rock is lumpen musical revivalism will find little to convince them otherwise, and will wander off muttering clichés about bongs and blacklight posters. Sadly for them, they'll have missed the point. There's a timeless glory in the thrum and blatter of a proper stoner band, and Brain Police deliver the goods. So come take a journey 'Beyond The Wasteland'. |
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