Helgi Valur & The Shemales

Helgi Valur has long been an elusive figure in a pigeonholing music world, hungry for definitions. A world that might not appreciate the idea of an afterlife where Nina Simone and the ODB are kicking it in Hunter S. Thompson´s compound in heaven while Jeff Buckley and Sam Cooke duet on Prince covers.
In the wake of the success of the like of Damien Rice the international music industry engaged numerous “delicate” singer/songwriters in an indiscriminant and fatal embrace. Having early on found inspiration from Jeff Buckley, Will Oldham and even Mr. Rice Helgi Valur was worried about the coming wave of adult contemporary bastardization that he wanted no part of. Helgi Valur became disenchanted with what he has dubbed James Bluntism. He concluded in an interview that James was the worst kind of Blunt and gradually shifted from the low-key ballads of his debut album, The Demise of Faith into more incisive territory.
In the coming years Helgi Valur played innumerable live gigs, sometimes with various embodiments of The Shemales or The White Panthers, his respective collaborators. These included the Iceland Airwaves Festivals of ´05, ´06 and ´07. Over the years he developed his talent of transcending conventional troubadour performance into that of live DJ/remixer armed not with decks but an axe and his warped imagination. Thankfully, the axe in question was made for laying down tracks, not the audience, though they often felt blown away.
In 2009 Helgi Valur released a labor of love called The Black Man is God, the White Man is the Devil. This is both a declaration of Helgi Valur´s lifelong love of hip hop and a musical and political statement that the greatest threat to Iceland´s future is cultural and genetic homogeneity. A rapturous release concert followed which was recorded for future generations. This can be downloaded in its entirety, free of charge, while select performances can be watched on YouTube. Just type in Helgi Valur on YouTube and access the free download there as well.
In 2011 Singer/Songwriter Helgi Valur released his 3rd LP Electric Ladyboyland on the 3rd of November under the name Helgi Valur & The Shemales. The album is served with the cream of the Icelandic music crop. Musicians from Amiina, Árstíðir, Sing Fang and Benny Hemm Hemm. Renowned producer Magnús Árni Øder (Benny Crespos Gang, Lay Low) applies synths and the electric feel to make this album something special.
This album celebrates the whole spectrum of being human, being strange and being androgynous. Artists are said to have both male and female qualities so the message of this album is be yourself, be an artist, be a She-Male.