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Squeegee enthusiast
I bought Tim Hecker’s LP Harmony in Ultraviolet off the shelf at NYC’s Other Music in 2006. Frankly, I nearly pissed myself when the album opener, Blood Rainbow, tore through my speakers for the first time. It was like a Kandinsky painting…
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Kasper Björke
Kasper Björke! Give us a short introduction of yourself! Why should the uninitiated check out your show? I’ve been DJ-ing and making music for the past ten years – Icelanders might know me from one of my numerous DJ sets in Reykjavik…
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Casiokids
Casiokids! Give us a short introduction of yourself! Why should the uninitiated check out your show? You sound excited. I will suggest you start more cautiously by first checking out our music and videos on Spotify or Myspace. Then, if you’re still…
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Casiokids
Oh yes! Dubby, poppy, swinkly basslines, Mr Oizo-esque bubbly farty electro-kazoo noises! Jaunty drums! Yes, jaunty! Sweet pop melodies! Harmonies! One Two Three Four heartbeat wowness! Synths not synthetics! Infiltration of happiness! This couldn’t get any better! Test me! Try and listen…
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Metronomy
Inventive to the point of annoyance Who’d have thought that being in debt would make you famous these days? For the sake of five grand owed to a car scrappers’ yard, Pip has been forever immortalised in bleeps, beeps, turning-trick melodies, Aphex…
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Iceland Airwaves 2009 Venues
Batteríið Hafnarstræti 1-3 Even during the day it can be dark inside Batteríið, but this can be a good thing because the space looks larger than it actually is. The bar itself is short, which sometime leads to annoying waiting times, but…
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High Fidelity
If you’re a serious musicologist you’ll know that vinyl is the ultimate form for experiencing music. And if you don’t mind lugging some weight back home, then there are a few places in Reykjavík where you can find some quality vinyl. The…
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Got A Thing For Them
Since playing the Iceland Airwaves festival in 2005, Joseph Mount and his outfit Metronomy has gone from being a solo project to a full-blown electro-pop band. Since the release of their album Nights Out last fall, the group has built up a…
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The Young Composer’s Guide To Reykjavík Dining
Reykjavík is a funny town for food: the cheap places aren’t always fabulous and the fabulous places aren’t ever cheap. However, there are a few ways to construct a soothing itinerary. There is one that I usually do alone, and another is…
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Endless Summers – Now In Iceland!
One of the most interesting international acts to play Airwaves this year is without a doubt New York [via Florida] transplants The Drums. The band was founded earlier this year (!) by long-time friends Jonathan Pierce (vocals) and Jacob Graham (guitar)—the two…
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Airwaves Survival Guide
It’s been a long journey, but here you are! You got through the treacherous Leif Eiríksson Air Terminal and braved the FlyBus into Reykjavík and made it in one piece. Congratulations! Now what? Oh, it’s your first time in the country and…
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BC
A not-so-wise man once said football was ‘a game of two halves’. This album is without a doubt an LP of two halves. Whilst the intro to the first track, Spin Again, could explode either into tech-death metal madness or set off…
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Hark
Coliseum without the rock. Breach without the crashing sadness. Like a less hectic Breather Resist. A less frantic, slow, riff-heavy Converge. A drunker Hope Conspiracy. A dash of hard hitting sludge. More straight up Botch and Coalesce, Training For Utopia. Oh my…
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Sólstafir
Definitely one of the best Icelandic albums of the year. Sólstafir have come a long way from their humble black metal beginnings in the mid-nineties. Too few metal bands dare to experiment. For many metalheads, the onslaught of thundering drums and wailing…
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Me, the Slumbering Napoleon
A bit rough around the edges but a good debut. MTSN are a noisy four piece who have been wowing crowds all this year with their energetic live shows and positive reviews. And finally their debut EP is out to the baying…
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The History of Icelandic Rock Music: Part 11
By spring of 1973, both Gunnar Þórðarson and Rúnar Júlíusson had turned 28. Behind were the most popular groups of the beat and hippie age, Hljómar and Trúbrot. Trúbrot had just declined when they decided to resurrect Hljómar and found a record…
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Coming in the Airwaves Tonight…
Finally! The biggest party before the winter comedown is less than a month away. They have weathered the storm like everyone else and have come out kicking. Now the 11th annual Iceland Airwaves festival, running October 14th to 18th, is poised to…
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Circle of Ouroborus
A great idea, but shitty production robs them of any glory. What is it with the Finns when it comes to music? Perhaps it’s their landscape or the lack of sunlight, but whenever they make music it almost seems that they are…
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AMFJ
Art, shouting, runaway glitchy madness There’s a point where art-music becomes almost transcendentally self-indulgent and that is the point at which it also becomes magnificent. Amidst the rolling, repeated bass-bumps of Klasar, AMFJ reaches this point as the lead voice, covered in…
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Egill S
The lighter side of Egill While bereft of the homemade, tinker-happy style that so distinguished his earlier work, Egill’s new album is nonetheless an excellent showcase of the man’s fine pop sensibilities. The improvised fun of Tonk Of The Lawn…
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The History of Icelandic Rock Music: Part 10
Pétur Kristjánsson was the hardest-working rocker of the seventies. In a decade laden with frothy pop music, country ballads and disco, Pétur kept the rock and roll flames burning. Son of fifties big band leader KK, Pétur soon took after his father,…
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Kippi Kaninus
Beautiful and slightly surreal Kippi Kaninus, otherwise known as Guðmundur Karlsson, is not a newcomer to the Reykjavík music scene. He released his début album in 2001 and has worked steadily since, building a hefty profile. His latest creation, Happens Secretly, is…
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Skátar’s Self Inflicted Death Blow
Talk about leaving a gap in the Icelandic independent music landscape. Skátar have decided to throw in the towel and I’m not too stoked about that. I could always count on these guys to surprise me when it came to their fried…