-
Kraumur Music Awards Announce Shortlist
It’s that time of year again, when the snow is on the ground, and everybody is getting very very listy. Kids are writing lists to Santa (or that evil child-chewing ogress or whatever the hell it is you write to here in…
-
Sónar Adds SBTRKT
Sónar festival continues to power up it’s bill, this time adding some impressive firepower in the shape of UK producer SBTRKT (that’s pronounced like the regular “subtract”, rather than a phlegmy, cough-like mumble of “sbtrchkt”, hipster faux-pas avoidance fans). This comes in…
-
What’s That Pinging? It’s Sónar-Eistnaflug Announcements!
What’s the best thing to help with the post-festival blues? Some might say staying in bed with a ready supply of Parkodin and Coca-Cola; some might say jogging, water and some kind of paleolithic food regimen. I say: NO! The answer is…
-
Losing Your Shit At Airwaves
A bone of contention that often appears between me and my younger friends, particularly female ones, is that I “don’t dance.” Someone floating the idea of going out to dance, as if the dancing itself were the pleasurable activity rather than hearing…
-
OMG! Bookflood Is Coming
Icelandic winter really, really sucks. It’s dark almost all the time, and the streets are icy and beset by freezing winds and snow. The mood of Reykjavík’s denizens noticeably changes at this time of year, with many people suffering sleep disorders or…
-
Performing Heartbreak
Baltimore’s Future Islands have had an interesting trajectory. Formed in 2006, they seemed a band with a strong but somewhat marginal appeal, melding together arch, retro synth-pop backing with unhinged performances from frontman Samuel Herring. But something about the combination, especially seen…
-
LOOK: It’s Bastardgeist!
Joel Midden, aka Bastardgeist, is a Baltimore-born, NYC-based solo artist playing his second Airwaves. He described his music as “kalimba/sampler/keyboard/laptop ambient electronic music.” He already played two shows, at Bar 11 and Bío Paradís, and is playing Kaffibarinn tonight at 18:00, as…
-
LOOK: It’s M-Band!
M-Band is Hörður Már Bjarnason, also sometimes seen performing with Tonik Ensemble and Nolo. He is one of the chosen Eurosonic acts announced by IMX today – read about that here. “I’m playing five shows with Tonik and as M-Band. The Eurosonic…
-
LOOK: It’s Bergur Anderson
This friendly fellow is a bass player in the bands Oyama and Grísalappalísa. He was also in Sudden Weather Change, remember them? They were a cool screamy Icelandic rock band that have split up now. And he’s a visual artist! And he…
-
Einar Örn Makes Drawings To Dance To
For anyone who was blown away by the quite wonderful electronic-punk chaos of Ghostigital this Airwaves, here’s something you might find interesting. Their frontman Einar Örn – also known for his involvement in The Sugarcubes and the Best Party political movement –…
-
Is Bedroom Community Iceland’s Best Label?
Some of the best Airwaves gigs I have ever seen have been hosted by the Bedroom Community label. This iconic Icelandic label is sort of a “community of geniuses,” focussing on preturnaturally talented solo musicians from across the spectrum of avant-garde music…
-
Wachs Love Got To Do With It
Vorhees is Dana Wachs, a New York City based sound designer and engineer who has worked for the likes of Cat Power, MGMT, M.I.A., Lykke Li, and St. Vincent to name but a few. She has a special connection to Iceland via…
-
Pippa’s Wish
A particularly heart-warming story made the rounds recently when a crowdfunding campaign called “Pippa’s Wish” hit its required target, after a month online. The GoFundMe campaign was started by family friend Tamara Antonelli Comerford to take Pippa—a disabled seven-year-old Sigur Rós fan…
-
Best Laid Plans
It’s somewhat common around this time of year for Reykjavík music lovers to get, in the parlance of our times, “hella planny.” Many locals map their movements during the Iceland Airwaves festival to an uncharacteristically exact degree. A simple “who are you…
-
Iceland Airwaves: Most Wanted
Downtown Reykjavík during Airwaves is something to see. Every shop seems to sprout a sound system, and live music is everywhere. Amongst the happy throng are the musicians making it happen, many playing the festival multiple times, running from venue to venue…
-
Get Serenaded By GusGus Singer Daníel Agust
Recent Grapevine cover stars GusGus today unveil a video for their new single “Airwaves”, in a somewhat timely fashion. It’s the third single to be gleaned from their 2014 album ‘Mexico‘, presented here as a 4-minute radio edit, and blending together pop…
-
The Mengi Set
Amongst the fast-changing merry-go-round of music venues in Reykjavík’s city centre, something unusual sprang up around last Christmas: a small, homely, unassuming performance space on Oðinsgata, called Mengi. It appeared quite suddenly, passed around initially only by word of mouth, but quickly…
-
Breathing Life Into Arts Education
With university becoming more expensive in many parts of the world, mainstream education tends to lean towards the former, feeding the idea that higher qualifications should serve first and foremost as a path to economic security rather than to an enlightened viewpoint.…
-
Making Airwaves Flow
As the carnival of new music that is Iceland Airwaves approaches, the anticipation in the air is becoming palpable in Reykjavík. The festival pre-game is in full swing: there are posters all over town, the schedule and accompanying app have been launched,…
-
Pop Vomit
On the wall of a dark room in Reykjavík’s Hafnarhusið art museum, a stream of brightly coloured icons is fizzing out of the ground. Triggered by the tiniest sound, they erupt onto the wall at every footstep or word, tumbling into a…
-
Owning it
In a crumbling old building on the outskirts of central Reykjavík, a dust-covered, semi-abandoned workspace is coming to life. In one corner, a makeup artist applies vivid lipstick to a member of feminist rap collective Reykjavíkurdætur as photographer Axel Sigurðarson steadies his…
-
Time To Get Planny! The Airwaves Schedule Is Up
In case anyone missed it, Iceland Airwaves have released the official festival schedule in the shape of this handy PDF. Once you’ve scanned the lineup (and, if your taste lies on the art-pop side, realised with mounting horror that Future Islands (pictured)…
-
Capturing Biophilia
Way back in June 2011, English film editor Nick Fenton was one of the lucky few sitting in the crowd at the Manchester International Festival waiting to experience the live premiere of Björk’s epic Biophilia project. David Attenborough’s voice came over the…
