Apparat Organ Quartet

Apparat Organ Quartet
Apparat Organ Quartet at Iceland Airwaves 2006
Background information
Origin	Reykjavík, Iceland
Genres	Electronica
Years active	1999–present
Labels	12 Tónar, Skelt Music, Crunchy Frog Records
Members	Arnar Geir Ómarsson Hörður Bragason Sighvatur Ómar Kristinsson Úlfur Eldjárn
Past members	Jóhann Jóhannsson Þorvaldur Gröndal
Website	apparatorganquartet.com

Hailing from Reykjavík, Iceland and founded in 1999, Apparat Organ Quartet is a band that originally included the musicians Hörður Bragason, Músikvatur, Úlfur Eldjárn and Jóhann Jóhannsson. They were soon joined by drummer Þorvaldur Gröndal, replaced in 2001 by Arnar Geir Ómarsson, drummer of the Icelandic rock band HAM. Lacking the time to dedicate himself to the group because of his solo projects, Jóhann Jóhannsson left the band in 2012.

The band was originally conceived by Jóhann Jóhannsson as a collaborative project for a concert series curated by Kitchen Motors, a record label and art collective founded by Jóhannsson, Hilmar Jensson and Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir.

The band's sound has evolved from the atmospheric and minimalistic post-rock documented on the Kitchen Motors compilations "Nart Nibbles" and "Motorlab 2" to a more robust, riff-driven sound, with a mixture of Kraftwerk-inspired electronics, Daft Punk-like robot voices, and hard rock beats. They have been compared to such different acts as Kraftwerk, Wagner, Goblin, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Sigur Rós, the Glitter Band, Stereolab and Trans Am.

Apparat Organ Quartet's members (and former members) and their extra curricular activities include:

• Arnar Geir Ómarsson, a graphic designer who has worked with Magga Stina, HAM, Lhooq and many others artists.
• Hörður Bragason, a former church organist.
• Jóhann Jóhannsson, who has had a solo career as a genre-crossing composer.
• Músikvatur, who has collaborated with múm and has released several solo singles.
• Úlfur Eldjárn, who has composed a lot of music for theatre and TV series.
• Þorvaldur Gröndal, who has been the drummer of electronic-pop/rock band Trabant and The Funerals

AOQ were one of many Icelandic bands documented in Ari Alexander Ergis Magnússon's 2005 film Screaming Masterpiece (Gargandi Snilld in Icelandic).

Discography

Albums

• Apparat Organ Quartet (12 Tónar, 2002)
• Pólýfónía (12 Tónar, {Crunchy Frog Records, 9 December 2010)

Compilations

• Nart Nibbles (Kitchen Motors, 1999) — Contributed "Nafnlaust uppklapp"
• Motorlab #2 (Kitchen Motors, 2001) — Contributed three songs featuring TF3IRA: "Charlie Tango no. 2," "Ondula Nova," and "Sálmur"
• Screaming Masterpiece (2005) — Appeared in the documentary and contributed "Romantica"
• Kitchen Motors Family Album/Fjölskyldualbúm Tilraunaeldhússins (Kitchen Motors, 2006) — Contributed "Stylophonia"

Singles

• "Romantika" (2003) from Apparat Organ Quartet — Also includes "Macht parat den Apparat" and "Romantika (premix)"
• "Cargo Frakt" (Gogoyoko, 29 November 2010) from Pólýfónía

External links

• Official website
• Apparat at Tonlist.com Includes a brief biography of the band.