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The Money Behind The Music: How Musicians Get Paid In Iceland
Understanding how royalties work How do musicians make money? It’s a tough question. As we engage in the annual revelry that is Iceland Airwaves and a bunch of just-starting-out musicians are taking the stage, we reached out to Sindri Magnússon, Member Service…
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Tónhylur Is Bridging The Gap For New Musicians
Tónhylur connects novice musicians with chart-toppers Starting out your musical pursuits may feel like a daunting task. There are band members to recruit and gear to buy – and then you have to find space to keep it all. Generally speaking, those…
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Naturally Connected: Exploring Icelandic Artists’ Ties With Nature
Tore Størvold’s Dissonant Landscapes presents thoughtful reflections on Icelandic nature, music and national identity There exists a widespread narrative about Icelandic music’s connection with nature. Ever since the early days of Björk and The Sugcarcubes, when Icelandic artists started receiving international attention,…
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Is Iceland Airwaves Past Its Prime?
The best festival we have. The only festival we have. Strictly speaking, the Iceland Airwaves festival, which will turn 25 next year, is the only proper festival Iceland has. For one weekend, it turns Reykjavík into the best version of itself. We…
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Catharine’s Saturday Iceland Airwaves Diary: Honestly, F#%k Mugison Fans
It’s Saturday night, I scored a babysitter. Let’s Airwaves yet again. My first stop of the night was Fríkirkjan and a gig I was really looking forward to. I arrived about 10 minutes into Kónguló‘s set, to find a full church —…
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Alexander’s Saturday Iceland Airwaves Diary: Mixed Energy Levels
Everyone I met or talked to tonight was in a rallying mood and ready to take on Airwaves Saturday. After three days of running between venues, meeting friends both old and new and seeing terrific concerts: My energy level was a tad…
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Alexander’s Friday Iceland Airwaves Diary: Faroese Fun Times
O.K. let’s go. My Airwaves Friday began at Iðnó which housed a Airwaves x Faroese Islands takeover night. The atmosphere was buzzing and you could hear Faroe Islanders and Icelanders speaking their respective tongues and doing a pretty good job at understanding…
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Iryna’s Saturday Night Iceland Airwaves Diary: Pockets Full Of Beer, Eyes Full Of Tears
My final day of Airwaves this year starts very early – with four gigs by up-and-coming musicians down in the basement from Grapevine’s office. The venue is tiny and weird, but also charming in a way. It feels like nothing has changed…
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Aðalsteinn’s Friday Night Iceland Airwaves Diary — Looking For a Fight
Frikirkjan Friday 3. November 2023 After each song the audience stayed silent in humble reverence. Hekla‘s mastery of one of the most difficult instruments in the world has long been noted and admired. Looking at her play, you see her weave her…
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Catharine’s Thursday Iceland Airwaves Diary: Post-Print Partying & Ponytails
I’m not going to lie. Getting myself into festival mode was a real exercise. Iceland Airwaves rolled around in the midst of print week here at the Grapevine, when the pocket-sized staff is all busy polishing their articles to file and I’m…
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Iryna’s Thursday Night Iceland Airwaves Diary: The One Where I See Them All
My first night of the official Iceland Airwaves program this year starts with me being confused. I wanted to begin with the screening of the Of Monsters And Men film TÍU – something more chill than music pounding in my ears. It’s…
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Alexander’s Thursday Night Iceland Airwaves Diary: Wardrobe Malfunctions & Neon Wigs
Day 2 came and went! For me, night was somehow backwards. It feels like I had to pee all the time, the weather was cold, I had a wardrobe malfunction at one point and I was late for every concert on my…
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Alexander’s Wednesday Night Iceland Airwaves Diary: Cool Moms, Sugar Sweetness & WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!?
Iceland Airwaves has an off-venue program in all the major indie record shops in the downtown area. I started my first Airwaves night at Lucky Records where I saw four skilled musicians play for a pumped and friendly crowd. Kvikindi have been…
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Iryna’s Wednesday Night Iceland Airwaves Diary: Scent Adventures, Arctic Waves & Fresh Blood
When the biggest music festival in Iceland and the print week at the Grapevine coincide on the calendar, it’s not fun for anybody. Being stuck with finishing articles long into the evening, I almost decide to just skip the pre-opening night of…
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No Man Is An Island
Faroese artist Elinborg Pálsdóttir on the creative bond between Iceland and the Faroe Islands Each year the connection between the artistic communities of Iceland and the Faroe Islands grows stronger. Through personal and professional connections between the two countries, the confluence of…
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Making Waves: Meet The Four Most Exciting Airwaves Debuts
It’s time once again for Iceland Airwaves – the country’s biggest and most ambitious music festival. Also known as “the busiest week to be a musician” or “the musician’s holiday,” the festival has been an essential part of Icelandic music ever since…
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Iceland Airwaves Is Back, Baby!
It’s the most wonderful day of the year, when Iceland Airwaves starts in earnest for another long weekend of music and mayhem. After a handful of off-venue gigs to get things warmed up on Wednesday, the festival is officially kicked off today…
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Grapevine New Music Picks: Neonme, Celebs, Magnús Jóhann & More
This being the last Friday before Iceland Airwaves, this is musicians’ last chance to fill streaming services full of their sweet, sweet music. With less than a week to go, Airwaves is the Icelandic music industry’s busiest week, as demonstrated by the…
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Video Premiere: Neonme Releases “Yet Again”
Behind the crunching, beating, otherwordly sounds of artist neonme is musician Salka Valsdóttir. Her debut album – the aptly named Premiere – was released October 23 via marvaða. Hot on the heels of the record, neonme is premiering the music video for her track…
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In Slowness We Trust – Q&A With Bongripper Concert Organisers
Bongripper, active since 2005, have distinguished themselves in the doom scene for their commitment to unbearably long tracks and self-deprecating sounds. From their first release in 2006, The Great Barrier Reefer, a 80 minutes-long one-track album to their most recent one in…
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66 Degrees Of Sound: Björk, Airwaves, And A Whole Bunch Of New Music
In recent weeks, none other than Björk has voiced her opinion on open-net fish farming in Iceland. Hint: She’s opposed. 66 Degrees of Sound by The Reykjavík Grapevine is your one-stop shop for brand new Icelandic music, where Grapevine journalists Rex Beckett…
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Grapevine New Music: Kónguló, Úlfur Úlfur, Pale Moon & More
With the weather taking a turn for the worse this weekend, leaving multiple flights from Keflavík Airport either delayed or cancelled, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel – we have approximately two months until Christmas. Were it not for IKEA,…
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Iceland’s Most Productive Indie Band
Local indie band Supersport! recounts their latest release, writing about houses, and facing an identity crisis A charming underground art-pop project is how you might describe Supersport!, an Icelandic band made up of members Bjarni Daníel Þorvaldsson, Þóra Birgit Bernódusdóttir, Hugi Kjartansson…