-
Happening Tonight: Sóley & Pétur Ben
Aching to get a last shot of Icelandic indie folk before you drown in Christmas carols? You’ll be happy to hear that KEX has your back, hosting a live concert with sóley and Pétur Ben, local legends that we just can’t get…
-
Happening Now: Christmas Markets
The holidays are here, and that means it’s time for those traditional Christmas markets, woot! Grab your cash-swollen wallets and get ready to find good offers on junk you didn’t know you (or your loved ones) needed! Elliðavatn The annual Elliðavatn Christmas…
-
Ongoing Now: ‘Blind Spot‘ by Gregg Louis
‘Blind Spot’ at Hverfisgallerí offers a unique take on self-portraiture. Rathern than emphasising the artist’s positive qualities, this exhibit presents purposefully distorted images of Gregg Louis. With drawings made blindly (i.e. from memory) and further “disfigured”, made quickly, in rapid succession, this…
-
Wintern Diaries #2: ‘Tis The Season
Winter is kind of scary, especially on this ungodly, windy, hella random rock in the middle of the ocean. Even moreso when even the sun hides its sweet face for months at a time. So after hearing horror stories about three-hour days,…
-
WE HAVE AN EXTRA PAIR OF SIN FANG TIX! THEY’RE YOURS!
Once we’d mailed out the prizes from last week’s Sin Fang Tin Drum ticket giveway, we realized we can’t math for shit. So, yup: we basically found an EXTRA pair of tickets to that bodacious Sin Fang show at Harpa tonight! It’s gonna…
-
Make A Weird Beard, See Sin Fang @ Tin Drum For Free, With A Friend!
Everybody loves everything Sin Fang does. This is fact. He’s playing a concert next Tuesday. At Harpa. It’s going to be so good. And guess what, reader? Because we love you, and want you to have nice things, we have managed to…
-
WTF Is Hacking?
Ever since first the term first entered public discourse in the 1980s, the stereotypical “hacker” has generally been conceived of as a nefarious young male, permanently hunched over his computer in a dank basement, surrounded by heaps of pizza boxes and crumpled…
-
Icelandic Language Day: Dog-Paw Drifts And Creamy Fair Weather
November 16 is a special day in Iceland. It is the birth date of one of Iceland’s most influential poets, Jónas Hallgrímsson, who essentially introduced romanticism (and all that entails, like the pentameter) to Iceland. This is exactly why Icelanders decided it…
-
Wintern Diaries #1: SADwatch
Winter is kind of scary, especially on this ungodly windy, hella random rock in the middle of the ocean. And it’s even scarier when the sun all but vanishes from the heavens above. So after hearing and sharing horror stories about three-hour…
-
Airwaves Saturday: It’s OK To Be Sad With sóley
Like a lot of fellow Airwaves attendees, I felt myself running out of steam yesterday. The constant waking around, grooving, standing, waiting, dancing, listening… it gets to you. My back hurt, my shoulders hurt, my feet hurt, and the healing power of…
-
Airwaves Day Three: Belgian Bands On Downtime
Airwaves draws a lot of international visitors (which is not to say…tourists), who have a limited amount of time between partying-drinking-music-dancing-fun-time and sleeping to actually experience Iceland and The Nature and the Beauty That Is All Around. This can be pretty stressful…
-
IN PICTURES: Alex Weber’s Friday At Airwaves
Photographer Alex Weber has been doing his best to capture Airwaves, and a picture says a thousand words, so this is basically many words! Wow! Airwaves! So good! Milkywhale! Perfume Genius! CIA! East of My Youth! Wow!
-
“Lots Of Hearts”: Positivity At Airwaves
Something you hear a lot about Airwaves, talking to people after concerts and what-have-you, is that there’s an open atmosphere. Everybody’s friendly, and you can basically walk into anywhere and make friends lickity-split. Just say hi. I spoke to a Canadian (whose…
-
An Airwaves Noobie’s Newfound Festival Wisdom
As is tradition, every year at least one article by an intern must discuss their experiences as a first-time Iceland Airwaves attendee. My first evening at my first Airwaves was fantastic, and educational. GKR was amazing, and the Reykjavíkurdætur flat out rocked.…
-
The Tin Drum: Lost In Space With Úlfur Eldjárn
As the wonderful sóley prepares to take that stage at Harpa tonight for the third instalment of the ambitious Tin Drum concert series , it seems apt to look back at last month’s edition. That show saw Úlfur Eldjárn perform his Aristókrasía Project, and if…
-
Happening Tonight: Halloween Iceland
Gaukurinn is hosting the annual Halloween Iceland party this year, and it is THE Halloween event to go to. DJ Mobus will be providing you with all the beats, tunes and drops to dance the night away in your heavy costume (not…
-
I Know Nothing: The Casual Listener’s Guide To Random Airwaves Acts
Unlike some of my colleagues at the Grapevine, I’m not a music aficionado. I’m the Jon Snow of music. I’m not engaged with the Icelandic scene, and if someone tells me about this new post-industrial surfer sludge band they’ve heard, my mind…
-
Happening Tonight: Skelkur Í Bringu / Godchilla
Skelkur í Bringu (“Terror in your chest”) is a rock band that plays good, simple, raw, LOUD rock, and so much more. If that isn’t enough to get your blood pumping, the band‘s stage decorations (so artisanal) and trippy outfits are sure…
-
Inmates Bothered By Downtown Partygoers
Inmates at downtown Reykjavík’s very own jailhouse, Hegningarhúsið on Skólavörðustígur, often request earplugs so that they may get a full night’s sleep. The earplugs are needed to muffle the noise from the city’s “vibrant nightlife” as engaged in at nearby bars and cafés, according…
-
These Human Shaped Pylons Were Never Built, But They Might Be
In the past month, there’s been a lot of noise about these supposed new electrical towers in Iceland that are shaped like people. Crazy, right? However, nobody really seems to agree on whether these towers are indeed happening, and when, and why, and do we…
-
Biking, Busing And Walking: Reykjavík For The Carless
I recently moved to Iceland from the Netherlands. I have neither a car nor a license to drive one, which my mother (who is Icelandic) warned me would be tough. “Pfft,” I thought to myself, “how bad can it be?” I didn’t…
-
Happening Tonight: Emmsjé Gauti / Úlfur Úlfur / GKR
We know you can’t get enough of the Icelandic rap scene, and that’s why YOU SHOULD BE EXCITED FOR THIS. Some of Icelandic rap’s greats (Úlfur Úlfur! Emmsjé Gauti!) are hitting Húrra, accompanied by up-and-coming GKR! Bring all your friends (especially that…
-
Delicious Tinnitus Ahoy: Tin Drum Hits Harpa!
Earlier this month, a new concert series premiered at Harpa, with artists Valdimar and Örn Eldjárn performing some of their best songs. The monthly series, Blikktromman (“The Tin Drum”), has scheduled a broad selection of Iceland’s top musicians, playing their tin drums…
