The spot was directed by Reynir Lyndal for Pegasus, and on our behalf, Don Pedrotook care of music and got to do the sound design as well to complement the music, but did not get a dancing part in the commercial, strangely enough.
Coca-Cola® proudly support the Icelandic national soccer team for the upcoming Under-21 European Football Championship. (It's a rather good team, and we have high hopes for it).
As this was in no way intended to be a secret, Agency Vatikanið conceived a campaign featuring our most promising players in their natural habitat. The ad was directed by Hannes Thor, and produced by Smalinn&Sons.
We got the challenge to produce an epic football song, stadium style. Arnar took on the job, and delivered a song we have been chanting in the corridors since.
We then got the opportunity to sound design the spot as well, putting a lot of effort into letting sound design and music complement each other for a truly 'big' soundtrack. Not minimalistic work, this.
Now, we do this for a living, but there is something a little special about getting your work approved by one of the biggest brands in the world, when you are a small company In Iceland. And we think the spot turned out very nicely, don't you?
After many years as a successful session bass player, Jan Holberg decided it was high time to start writing and producing his own music. The Jan Holberg Project was born.
Jan recruited top musicians he admired for collaboration, his dream team included Joe Lynn Turner(of Rainbow, Deep Purple and Malmsteen fame), Mezzoforte drummer Gulli Briem, and keyboardist Eyþór Gunnarsson, as well as guitarist Skjalg Mikaelsen Raaen.
Sense Of Time was released on March 28th, and the Jan Holberg Project are touring Norway live as this is written.
This is brought to your attention for a particular reason, namely that the album was mixed by our own Addi 800, and mastered by Robin Schmidt at 24-96 Mastering.
A quick google search found us a pleasant quote regarding the mix from this review: "After having listened to the album a first time, I was knocked down by the perfect sound, something that is absolutely necessary for this kind of soft rock albums."
It's not hard for anyone living in Iceland to understand where the inspiration for 'Let Them Bleed' came from.
Our super-overextended banking system, run and fuelled by the greed and debt of a handful of billionaires exploded, leaving the Icelandic state with enormous debts for future generations.
Immediately afterwards our government was overthrown following mass street protests. In other words, interesting times, as the Chinese curse would have it.
Here, as in the rest of the world, the greedy banksters that caused this global crash are all still rich, still walking free among us, while normal people are enslaved by their actions. And while the title of the song is not to be taken literally, people around the world are calling out for justice for those who gamble with their futures. The Banksters.
Love in the time of public unrest, here is 'Let Them Bleed':
Credits: Music: Toggi, Jón Björn Árnason, Leifur Kristinsson, Bjarki Jónsson, Don Pedro, Helgi Egilsson, Hallgrímur Jón Hallgrímsson Lyrics: Toggi Toggi: Vocals Bjarki Jónsson: Keyboards, Programming, Percussion Don Pedro: Guitars, Additional Programming Helgi Egilsson: Bass Hallgrímur Jón Hallgrímsson: Drums Arnar Guðjónsson: Backing Vocals The Boys Choir of Breiðholt: Heroic Backing Vocals Produced and Recorded in Wömbin Studios & Studio E4 by Bjarki Jónsson, Don Pedro & Toggi Mixed by Addi 800 Mastering: Abbey Road Studios Artwork designed by Egill Harðar
After having received several demos from our artists, they picked a catchy piece by Eberg, which they now use in all radio adverts. And since you're here, you would do well to check it out:
It's high time that we show you what we did for this spot for the Vodafone Gold subscription a couple of months ago.
The ad was directed by Reynir Lyngdal of Pegasus Pictures, for agency Fíton.
Don Pedro produced and performed a modern version of the 90's classic 'You've got the love', with the help of jazz singstress extraordinaire Kristjana Stefánsdóttir. Voilà:
Toggi'sdebut album, Puppy, was released in 2006. It has been unavailable for some time, and we haven't really decided on if we will release it again in CD format. Well, time to rejoice, because you can now listen to the whole album here.
And if you want to own it, just click 'Buy the whole set' and you will automagically be able to do just that. Amazing, isn't it?
Iceland's biggest music festival, Iceland Airwaves is going on in every available venue in Reykjavík right now, and the whole city resonates to the music of over 300 bands.
We just finished making music to this ad for youth mobile brand Ring for their collaboration with the festival.