A Decade Of Extreme Chill: A Celebration Of Experimental Music & Family

The Icelandic experimental music festival, Extreme Chill, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Located in Reykjavík, the Electronic Music Capital of Iceland, the festival will this year take place at Gamla Bíó, Iðnó, Gaukurinn, Mengi, Exeter Hotel, Vínyl Bistro and Klaustur Bar over the weekend of September 12th to 15th.

This is the second year the festival has been spread across multiple venues. “They’re different venues all with different atmospheres,” explains organiser Pan Thorarensen of band Stereo Hypnosis. “It’s quite special, and you don’t have to run to see something.”

The traveling festival

The goal of the festival is to connect musicians from Iceland and abroad with their various art forms, spanning from electronic music to visual arts, while drawing specific attention to electronic music and its local scene in Iceland. “It’s a family thing,” Pan emphasises. “It’s just better when you know each other and have trust, I think”.

Extreme Chill is one of Iceland’s longest running festivals and has been, in the past, hosted in many locations. “It’s sort of a travelling music festival,” Pan laughs. Beginning in Snæfellsnes, the festival has also been held in Hellissandur, Vík, and even abroad in Berlin. Always raising the bar higher every year, the 2019 festival is expected to be one of the largest yet. “I say it every year, but I think this is the best line-up we’ve ever had,” Pan boasts.

The line-up includes a mix of Icelandic and foreign artists covering a variety of work spanning from classical to experimental. Headlining the festival will be German electronic icon, Tangerine Dream, among other talents are Marcus Fischer, Eraldo Bernocchi, Kristín Anna, Stereo Hypnosis, Mixmaster Morris, Hotel Neon, Jana Irmert, Christopher James Chaplin, Pharaoh, Special-K, Hoshiko Yamane, Mikael Lind, and more.

Mystifying journeys

The Extreme Chill website promotes the festival as, “a mystifying journey around electric Reykjavík,” and inspired by “Icelandic nature.” The festival has helped formulate multiple releases and concerts, and built relations between Icelandic and foreign musicians, allowing for creative collaborations. When asked what made his festival different from others, Pan says that Extreme Chill is, “like a big family. My family is promoting it—my father, girlfriend and close friends—it’s our baby. Music is our lives,” he says. “While some other festivals do it for the money or for some big party, for us it’s an art piece.”

Info: Extreme Chill Festival takes place from September 12th-15th. Festival passes are 9,900 ISK and can be bought here. You can also read more articles about the festival here.