Should you find yourself in Reykjavik, wandering up Skólavörðustígur toward Hallgrimskirkja, past the part of the street painted in rainbow flag colors, you could be forgiven for not noticing Space Odyssey on the right side of the street. The space doesn’t scream “record shop”, which is good, because it’s actually much more than that. It’s also a vintage clothing store and, perhaps most importantly, an incredible music performance space, one that has been quietly releasing a extensive series of live ambient electronica cassettes for the past three years.
Space Odyssey is the brainchild of musician Pan Thorarensen of Beatmakin Troopa and Stereo Hypnosis fame, and his cassette series stands somewhere around 60 releases, all recorded in the shop. During our recent trip to Reykjavik for Iceland Airwaves 2023 I stopped in and spent some time with Pan… and of course came away with a stack of tapes.
Writing about ambient electronica is difficult, or at least it is for me. So I wasn’t sure if or when I’d find one of these cassettes I felt like I could cover. Well, that time was the morning after Thanksgiving when I sat down with Jöfn by Icelandic artist Sk-Ar. Ambient by its nature can recede into the background, but Jöfn reached out and grabbed my attention, the simple progressions coupled with the subtle singing bowl sounds wafting into my subconscious and firmly planting themselves there, meandering slowly through my mind. The first dozen minutes have a beautiful and relaxing simplicity. From there we progress to a more experimental phase, an undercurrent of static-like sound, an itch that you can’t quite scratch in contrast to the sometimes sweet, sometimes insistent synth riding on top.
I encourage you to check out Jöfn on the Space Odyssey Bandcamp page. While you’re there, you should also explore – there are dozens of great releases there waiting for you to discover them.