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In the Eye of the Storm
The trio of musicians in Monotown (two of them brothers) released their first album, ‘In The Eye Of The Storm,’ this year. The album is a mix of folk harmonies, rock ballads, and up-tempo tracks. The title song is one of the…
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Remembrance and Re-Remembrance
Following the astounding success of their last collaboration, “Dansaðu fyrir mig,” (‘Dance for Me’), collaborators (and fiances) Pétur Ármannsson and Brogan Davison have used their new show “Petra” to reapproach some of the former show’s more fertile topics—artistic creation and family—while also dipping into…
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A Secret Show In A Secret Place
“Hey, you guys want to come to my show this Thursday? I can put you on the list.” This was the secret password to score entry into a Sofar Sounds secret show, which I attended last night at a University of Iceland…
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Grilled Meat In The Summer Rain
Kol was somewhat of a puzzle to me: a restaurant that opened its doors early this year to some acclaim, but hasn’t yet reached its full commercial potential—or so I thought. My companion and I graced Kol with our presence on a…
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Great Grandma’s Recipe, With a Kick
Sceptics of Jungian psychology take note: the collective unconscious is most certainly A Thing here in Iceland. How’s that, you wonder? There are lots of good examples, such as the quickly passé, but briefly passionate fad for Tex-Mex-themed confirmation parties. But more…
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Krazy Katz
Only in Iceland can you purposefully come an hour late and still be an hour early. Just a handful of people were there when I arrived and the backroom stage area was still closed. First DJ was playing some really interesting tracks.…
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La Belle Vie Á Paris
Café Paris is one of those establishments that has been around in Reykjavík for as long as I can remember. As you probably deduced, it’s named after the capital of France, the capital of gastronomy, the capital of all things good. Yet,…
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A Hard Metal Life
Young Hera, played by Þorbjörg Helga Dýrfjörð, witnesses the accidental death of her older brother, Baldur. In response, she remakes herself in his image; she adopts his metal music, clothes, and when we see her in her 20s, she is a full-blown…
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Dis Is Da Sounds Of Da Solstice Massive… WHOOP!
You probably read Tyler’s more comprehensive coverage of the Secret Solstice festival on the preceding page, but because there were so many acts, a lot of stuff will have gone by completely unnoticed. So I went there as punter, but The Grapevine…
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A Successful Solstice
Reykjavík’s first Secret Solstice festival brought 10,000 people to Laugardalur for 72 hours of fun in the sun. With 150 artists performing on five stages, it was impossible to take it all in, and judging by all of the inspired dance moves…
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A Taste Of The Ocean, Streetside
Street food, as you might expect, has not traditionally been a big thing in Iceland. In a country without an abundant amount of foot traffic (at least among locals) and in which 10° C constitutes a warm day, the idea of sidling…
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Kigali Needs Fine-Tuning
Kigali is a recently opened café named after the capital and largest city of the war-ridden African country of Rwanda. It serves all the conventional westernized versions of Italian Coffee, the only difference being that their Americano is called an “Africano.” A…
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Confusing, Lovely, Twerking, Pre-Flight Entertainment
I will hand it to the six Icelandic guys in wifebeaters known as UMTBS for performing on a very high energy level to a room of full of tired and hungover people, and enjoying doing it. They shredded, they shrieked, they pressed…
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Muck Me, I’m Glad We Metz
The lovely Torontonians made sure to shred, rip, tear and murder everything they could in the most efficient manner imaginable with the time allotted to them. And like true Canadians, they politely bade the attendees “a great night” and to “take care”…
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Music You Can Sit To
As the set continues Hausswolff and her band prove themselves masters of texture, which ranges from ominous, to somber, and finally hopeful. They’re not in a hurry to get there though. They know a journey is in the traveling, not the destination.…
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Kaldalón Attacked By Canadian Gay Pirates!!!
The first half of Harpa Kaldalón’s Saturday line-up felt incredibly random, as if the organizers pulled names out of a bag. I spent most of the night alternating between being deeply moved, annoyed, and confused. GUÐRIÐ HANDSDÓTTIR had a band on stage…
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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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Rangling And Raving at Faktorý Upstairs
At times throughout last night at the Faktorý upstairs stage, it felt less so a case of how amazing the artist was, but more which period of Aphex Twin’s career the artist most respected. At other times it felt like a flat…
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Come Get Yr Fill: Deutsche Bar, Night One
Myrra Rós makes the kind of music that makes you want to close your eyes. Not because the band is terrible looking (they’re all cute!), but because it’s the sort of blissed out, mellow folk pop that causes people to stand, maybe sway…
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Back On The Stage With Rökkurró: We Just Had To Play Iceland Airwaves
Their first show in over a year Rökkurró are back for Iceland Airwaves with new energy and an acoustic set, but with the future yet to be decided By Steffan Lykke Møller / Photos by Pat Moriearty Recently, you haven’t heard a…
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Extreme Chillin’
There is a constant underlying agitation in Jafet Melge’s set. It surfaces, but for the most part it comes out either attacking or barely stifled in the end of segment, and all of this is wonderfully entwined with some nice backdrop videos.
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Sunday Night at NASA: The End of it All (for now)
The night starts like this: I am manhandled by the door man (looking for weapons? What the fuck?). I get in and it’s crowded and I’m tired. I fell off my bike earlier and my knee hurts. Basically, sorry to say it, …