Jóhannes Birgir Pálmason is a musician, poet, producer, recording and mixing engineer and co-founder of Vax kollektif.

His career began in the early 2000s as a member of the influential Icelandic hip-hop and graffiti crew Twisted Minds. After numerous releases under various monikers, he founded the musical project Epic Rain.

To date, the band has released four albums, toured extensively across Europe and received critical acclaim for both their work and live performances. During this period, Jóhannes collaborated closely with photographer and cinematographer Björgvin Sigurðarson on all visual aspects of the project.

In 2019, Jóhannes co-founded three new musical outlets, all of which are part of the Vax kollektif roster: Dalalæða, The Ghost Choir and Hvörf. He is currently working on his first solo project, which is scheduled for release in 2025.

Jóhannes is deeply interested in Dadaist and surrealist artists from the 1920s and 30s. He composed music for the silent film La Coquille et le Clergyman (1928), which he interpreted in a session at the art festival Les Boréales in Caen, Normandy, in 2024.

In May 2025, the Vax kollektif released the record Vatn og raf (Water and Electricity). This project describes the transformation of running water into electricity through music, environmental sounds, the noise of turbines and a number of photographs. The National Power Company of Iceland provided funding for the project and access to four of its power stations.

Jóhannes has been nominated twice for the Icelandic Music Awards. His solo debut album Í formi úlfs (In the Form of a Wolf, inspired by the surrealist artist Max Ernst’s A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil) was shortlisted for the Kraumur music awards, an annual music prize awarded for the best albums released by Icelandic artists.