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Sódóma – Sunday
Photo by Hvalreki [For whatever reason, we had the hardest time getting people to review Sódóma that Sunday night. It seems everyone wanted to be at NASA (or at home, licking their wounds). Thus, we divided the night’s duties between the above…
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Risið – Thursday
Photo by Páll Hilmarsson Like a relaxing alternative programme Risið had a line-up that consisted of laid back singer songwriters and folk-pop bands this evening. How fitting that people could sit at tables and listen to the concerts while having a nice…
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Venue – Wednesday
Photo by Hörður Sveinsson and Morgan Levy Venue was an excellent start into this year’s Airwaves as its first day’s programme offered – just like the festival does on a bigger scale – a wide variety of music from folk to post-punk,…
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For A Minor Reflection
With all the rock being recorded in Iceland, you’d think we’d have found one producer who can make it sound the way it should. The fact that FAMR apparently sought foreign talent for their production needs just makes it all the more…
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Ólafur Arnalds
If you’ve ever witnessed Ólafur Arnalds perform, you know that his music has an almost magical aura. I recently saw a hall with hundreds of metal-festival attendees hushing each other fervently while devotedly taking in Ólafur and his string quartet. It was…
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Why It Pays to Quit Your Day Job
Svavar Knútur, singer of Icelandic folk-outfit Hraun, toured Germany a few weeks ago. It was his second visit this year after touring under the Norðrið moniker this spring with Sprengjuhöllin and Dísa. This second sting was a solo tour, so he stuck…
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Dr. Zühlke and Mr. Eldon
Although it occasionally shows glimpses of intimacy and honesty, All Over The Face is for the most part too bland, too hesitant and too shy to make much of an impact. Skakkamanage play and write songs like they’ve read about it in…
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Dr. Zühlke and Mr. Eldon
Although they have retreated slightly into the inferior pop shallowness of debut Breathe, We Are Shadows at times beautifully retains and expands upon the richness, depth and assertiveness of sophomore effort The Angela Test, especially on tracks like The Harbor and Planets.…
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Dr. Zühlke and Mr. Eldon
Carving a smooth line from the cutesy, sweet-toothed openers into darker territory towards the end, Alltihop’s eventual slide into depression is so welcome that it practically renders the first two-thirds of the album irrelevant. The first six tracks are so perfectly circular…
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Muck
The Vultures EP is the début offering from a very young Reykjavík band, Muck, whose members barely seem to have left their teens – at least judging by their appearance, because the first evil-downtuned chords of Vultures display that this is serious…
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Sudden Weather Change
Within seconds, Sudden Weather Change’s (not that) new recordings catch me. The way the five seem to break every genre border between emo, punk, rock and even funk or danceable disco-pop is unique so far, but they manage to make the outcome…
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Dälek
Since forming in 1997, Dälek has mixed traditional hip-hop with drone and rock elements, gaining attention from audiences far beyond the genre’s usual borders. Since 2002, they have been signed to Mike Patton’s extravagant label IPECAC. Dälek did not change their music…
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ZU
I guess ZU make it even harder to categorise their sound than Dälek – also on IPECAC records – do. Being silhouetted from the classical rock outfit, Zu is a trio consisting of a drummer, a bass player and a saxophonist. The…
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Elín Ey
On her debut album, Elín Ey presents her energetic voice very fittingly to the sounds of her fragile guitar play. The sad tone and lyrics make this record perfect for getting drunk over love lost. This is also the point where “See…
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Sin Fang Bous
As Sin Fang Bous is the solo-project of Sindri from Seabear, you will quickly notice the comfortable voice and welcoming little melodies that make his main band one of my favourite young Icelandic indie acts. The differences between the projects are not…
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Fm Belfast
FM Belfast definitely will make some friends, and not just because they are such a sympathetic live band and generally awesome people. On “How to make friends”, the trio underlines their status as Iceland’s electro-pop export #1. The songs kick where they…
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Þingvellir On 38 Inch Tyres – Florian Zühlke Drives A Super Jeeps And Lives To Gloat About It
One thing that hits you once you get acquainted with Reykjavík’s cityscape is the abundance of big-wheeled, so-called called “Super Jeeps”. You ponder their usefulness and purpose in an urban environment. Locals will tell you about the gravel mountain roads that still…
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Reykjavík!
There are very few live bands around Iceland that are celebrated at their shows like Reykjavík! The second album of this furious five-piece gives the proof again why. “The Blood” catches you quite conventionally with the first beats of the title track,…
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The (International) Noise Conspiracy
The (International) Noise Conspiracy today have been around much longer than their preceding hardcore-punk band Refused ever was. However, it is still interesting that this band also brought lead-singer Dennis Lyxzén’s outspoken political lyrics to a much bigger audience than Refused could…
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Bob Justman
The two faces of Bob Justman: in one moment “Happiness and Woe” is a shy and subtle, scarcely orchestrated singer-songwriter record, but in the next, Justman leads you into a musical southern-blues-swamp with all the excess and decadence you would connect to…
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Jeff Who?
Quite confidently, Jeff Who? published their sophomore album self-titled. Again, it provides everything the band got famous for with the debut “Death before Disco”. There are tons of catchy hooklines and pleasant melodies. Disco seldom seems as alive, especially when it comes…
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Candy from Trolls
The basement of the restaurant Tabasco’s has been transformed into a small theatre, where these days the man-eating Christmas troll Grýla, lures in her victims with the irresistible smell of cookies and smoked meat. Suddenly she appears from the twilight, but really,…
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A Short Trip to Hopeland
I was expecting a special Sigur Rós show this night. For one thing, the band had just finished their recent tour, which had been their first one without their fellows Amiina in years. How would Sigur Rós do as a four-piece rock…
