Airwaves ’13 Label Nights: Record Records

There are four record label nights at Airwaves 2013 this year, and we’ll be speaking to the people behind each of them over the coming weeks. First up is Haraldur of top Icelandic indie label Record Records.

Hi Haraldur! So, tell us a little about Record Records…
I founded Record Records in late 2007. At the start it was my side-project and hobby whilst working full time as a record store clerk. I stored the stock in my parents garage and distributed records in my lunch break. I took some time to scout the first release, and our debut came out almost a year after the label was founded – Mammút’s “Karkari”, in August 2008. The label has an (almost) 6 year lifetime, and we’ll hit 35 releases by the end of the year.

Did you start the label with a mission?
I came from the other side of the table as a musician, struggling in bands. I decided to form this label in late 2007 with the key elements being honesty and integrity as work ethics.

How did the Airwaves night came about?
We’ve been doing these showcase night on the opening night at Airwaves for the past 3 years. How they came around is unknown 🙂

Who’s playing, and where?
This year our showcase will be at Norðurljós in Harpa on Wednesday, Oct 30. The schedule includes Snorri Helgason, Vök, Lay Low, Ojba Rasta, Mammút, Retro Stefson and FM Belfast. It will be awesome! All these artists then have other slots at the festival.
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What does Airwaves mean to you personally, and to Record Records as a label?
I LOVE Iceland Airwaves. It’s really important for the Icelandic music scene. It’s literally a springboard for Icelandic musicians.

What do you have coming out next?
We have a few releases coming out in October before Airwaves. This year we released the compilation This Is Icelandic Indie Music which has been doing great things this summer. Vök, the winners of the Icelandic battle of the bands this year, had their EP come out. We released the debut album by Hymnalaya in July. Then also a “Best of” album by the legendary Botnleðja and last week we released the new album Snorri Helgason. In October we have new albums coming out from coming out by Mammút, Tilbury, Ojba Rasta, Leaves and Lay Low.

Where can people go to learn more and to pick up some Record Records records?
We are always posting new sounds and current singles on our Soundcloud page so everyone should follow us there at www.soundcloud.com/recordrecords. We also have our official web page with further information about our artists, news, and our online shop with worldwide shipping at www.recordrecords.com. And of course facebook.com/recordrecords.

Listen to a Record Records playlist here.