Brain Police

Brain Police took their moniker from a vintage Frank Zappa composition titled “Who are the Brain Police” and shaped their sound around 1960s psychedelia and 1970s hard rock, filtered through the 1990s stoner-rock aesthetic. Guitarist Gunnlaugur Lárusson, bassist Hörður Stefánsson, and drummer Jón Björn Ríkarðsson assembled the Reykjavik-based trio in 1998.

Vocalist Vagn Leví appeared on the band’s self-produced debut album Glacier Sun, issued in 2000, yet left soon after they contributed a track to the Icelandic film Óskabörn Þjóðarinnar. The remaining instrumental lineup continued for a stretch before enlisting Jens Ólafsson, formerly of Toymachine. Ólafsson debuted on the 2002 Master Brain EP and helped elevate Brain Police to one of Iceland’s leading acts with the self-titled second album and its #1 radio single “Jacuzzi Suzi” in 2003.

Later releases comprised Electric Fungus in 2004 and Beyond the Wasteland in 2006; the latter introduced guitarist Búi Bendtsen and was reissued by the American label Small Stone in January 2008.