Iceland Airwaves 2012
The Reykjavík Grapevine’s coverage of Iceland Airwaves 2012
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River Gods
Hold the phone. Iceland is over indie-rock? As the night went on at The Reykjavík Art Museum, I noticed that I could have been doing jumping jacks, the venue never filled, and the infamous queue was non-existent. The stormy weather earlier may…
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Oh, The Wind And The Rain!
Yesterday, Reykjavík experienced an unusual and memorable weather day. Knowing I’d review Bedroom Community’s Iðnó performance in the evening, I set out to video the windstorm mid-afternoon. Weather documentary and music review resulted in the fastest experiential gesture I’ve managed to send Grapevine…
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The Foreign Resort: Rocking the streets of Reykjavík
The Danes arrived to Reykjavík uncertain if anyone in Iceland had ever heard of them. They changed that with just one day of rocking out. By Steffan Lykke Møller They describe their music as The Cure meets Sonic Youth with a pinch…
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BREAKING NEWS: Django Django Cancelled!
Bummerino! Scottish jangle-rockers Django Django have had to cancel their official Airwaves gig tonight at Harpa. Their drummer has fallen ill and is unable to play. This is truly unfortunate and we wish the man a speedy recovery. On the bright side,…
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Nostalgia Trips and Bad Dancing
The room wasn’t packed, and I don’t think his music speaks to everyone. But if you were born at a certain time, probably somewhere between 1985 and 1990, and probably male, the set played out as something of a nostalgia trip.
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Das Flugzeug Fliegt
Lucky me and lucky us the lucky people crowding the upper floor of Faktorý on Friday because I can’t imagine that any other night had this one beat.
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Friday Night Taken By The Collar
It’s safe to say that despite it’s ever-thriving music scene, Reykjavík doesn’t exactly have a rapid thoroughfare of touring acts. In fact, if you want to hear live music in one minority genre or another, you’d be better off starting the band…
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The Lights, The Fists: Faktorý Main pt. I
Faktorý will always be Grand Rokk to me, and not because I’m particularly nostalgic for the good ol’ days of 2004, but rather because despite the rebranding, Faktorý still has the same feel of the kind of club you expect to have…
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Hypnosis And High Times: Deutsche Bar Pt. II
At Deutsche bar on Friday, the late gigs offered the kind stylistic pileup I’ve come to expect from an Airwaves lineup.
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A Tapestry Of Odd Ends. A Mosaic Of Unlikely Line-Up Mates. A Night Of Yawns And Yeahs
When looking at the line-up I could have sworn someone with a split personality put it together. One is sweet, the other bitter. One is light, the other dark. One is odd, the other pedestrian.
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Exitmusic, Ólafur Arnalds Bewitch Airwavers At Norðurljós
Before I hear Monotown for the first time tonight, someone describes them to me as sounding “like an ABBA B-side”. While that’s not an entirely accurate summary, it does at least place them in a ballpark where they’d be somewhat comfortable: it’s…
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Ending On A High
Harpa’s interiors are as grandiose as its beautiful façade would suggest. A small, bridged entrance gives way to high ceilings, epic stairwells and huge music halls but it still somehow feels very intimate, or perhaps that is just the efforts of tonight’s…
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They Played With Murder In Their Eyes, And Darkness In Their Souls
If a band like SVARTIDAUÐI had been booked to play at Airwaves a few years ago, they would likely have played to only a few people, with curious onlookers holding their ears and running a mile when their nasty black metal sound smashed their…
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FM BELFAST ARE BACK AND TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS!
Words by Rebecca Louder / Photos by Alísa Kalyanova / Photoshoot wardrobe courtesy of Kormákur & Skjöldur Last Airwaves, there was a gaping hole in the lineup of Icelandic bands that didn’t ruin the festival (not by far!) but it sure felt weird…
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Ryan Moves To Iceland And Low Roar Is Born
by Christopher Svymbersky After Ryan Karazija’s brit-rock band, the Audrye Sessions, broke up in 2010, he pursued his long-time desire to move to Iceland. His experience of moving to a new place from his California home came to be a central theme…
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BREAKING NEWS: Jóhann Jóhannsson Leaves Apparat Organ Quartet
Revered Icelandic analog-electronic band Apparat Organ Quartet have announced that founding member Jóhann Jóhannsson has left the band. According to a press release sent today by their management, Jóhann’s decision to leave the band was prompted by scheduling clashes between his solo…
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Iceland Airwaves: Thursday – A Clash Magazine perspective
Words by Matthew Bennett & Joe Zadeh. Photo by Birta Rán. As Anglo-metropolitan muppets, our start in Iceland couldn’t have been much more of a birth of fire. Or more aptly; wind. Fierce wind that could slice your face like young cheese.…
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WINDY DAY TIDBIT! Musicians & Their Pets!
Stay inside, get some milkbones and catnip and cuddle up with a furry-friend! Compiled by Rebecca Louder & Bob Cluness While being a touring musician and a pet owner can’t be easy, there’s one thing that’s for sure – your pet will…
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Chilly Winds Don’t Blow
“Holy fucking Christ,” I said without hearing myself say it, the words sucked right out of my mouth. It was not just the wind—violent, subarctic, merciless—that assailed me from all directions and angles, rendering it equally difficult to inhale as to exhale.…
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“Good Work, Gang!”
This evening Lára Rúnars gives the sense of a pop star ‘dressed down’ with a loose fitting dress and brandishing a bottle of beer. It feels good to have a native star on this large stage in a beautiful venue and she…
