Review
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Night Of The Living Dead
I had the great fortune to have two headlining bands to look forward to tonight, and a few opening acts I’d never heard of and hoped might pleasantly surprise me. The night ended on a much higher note than I expected, and…
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Why Sunday is the Best Night of Airwaves
Despite the fact that, come the fifth and last day of Airwaves each year, I make my way—kicking and screaming—to my last assignment, by the time it comes to writing the final review, I always feel a bit sentimental for Sunday.
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Mannheim Outlingers Do It Waaaay Better!
ORPHIC OXTRA Bob: Yup the Balkan klemzacore of Orphic Oxtra. That first song was rather long wasn’t it? Sindri: Well they have an hour set so they’re taking their time aren’t they? B: Where is that piano though? I can hear piano…
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Dazed, Derived, Darkness & Dancing
So far I’ve had pretty good luck this Airwaves. Every night I’ve been to has been cohesively programmed and well planned. Having carefully studied the schedule for days and days before the festival, I knew this was an anomaly I would have…
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Dance Dance Resolution
Saturday was my night to cut a rug. I resolved to do so while drinking… heavily, but responsibly! 20:00 Tonik Understandably, these boys had a tall order to fill – first group of the night, playing to a crowd of about fifty apparently…
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Crack Sounds
It is pretty safe to say that Gunslinger is probably the most interesting thing to ever come out of Egilsstaðir. But they might also be the most interesting band in Icelandic hard-core. Their music consists of fantastically arranged blend of brutal, technical…
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Good Work, Everyone!
Arriving early to something in Iceland is almost taboo. If it’s a dinner party, the host may find you rude, and if it’s a concert or other party, you may very well find that nobody else is there. That’s just the way…
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The Good, the Bad and the Shemales
If during the whirlwind of weird that was the band’s thirty-some minutes on stage I had had a moment to do anything besides stare incredulously, I would have undoubtedly heard the song Mama Told Me (Not to Come) playing somewhere in the…
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Blue Lagoon Thrill
The ‘Blue Lagoon chill’ has been an Airwaves institution for years. The party takes place every Airwaves Saturday and entails lounging at the legendary spa while taking in sets by some of Iceland’s finest DJs. I have never been to the ‘Blue…
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Björkstep and Sufjancore
Last night’s party was held at the former headquarters for the conservative party and my current least favorite venue. A favorite hang-out of children sired by money-drunk Icelanders during the financial boom years. Spoiled, neglected and with a rich sense of entitlement…
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Turn the Party Out
Rabbi Bananas Now, I have to admit that I didn‘t have a clue what “Skweee” was until I wrote this, even though I reviewed Rabbi last year as well. It sounds dumb as fuck by the sheer phonetic texture of it; I…
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Autumn Evening Coming Down
The whole night was mostly very enjoyable. After three long nights of Airwaves it was nice to relax in a seat in Kaldalón and listen to thoughtful, well constructed songs from a variety of artists. I just wish that some of them,…
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From Gloom To Gloam
Hell hath no fury like a reviewer in a vacant Glaumbar. Scant attendees appeared to be a cross-section of band members, friends of band or staff, and a handful of UK rockers who took one look at the near-empty room and promptly…
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The Night of the Meh.
The drummer from Lockerbie is wearing a Ramones t-shirt. Explain to me how that makes sense. Lockerbie play the most boring, predictable, hackneyed post-rock imaginable, and yet, there’s the drummer. Wearing a fucking Ramones shirt. What the fuck. I’ve got to hand…
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Trance With Me
It probably goes without saying that most everyone who came to Hafnarhúsið tonight was either coming to see Gus Gus, or intended to do so but petered out of energy after the first couple acts. This is easily forgivable, considering the line-up…
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Midnight Gallery
One of the most difficult things to do as a writer is to speak critically, if not negatively, about genuinely good artists, particularly if they exude humility and genuine dedication to their craft. I spoke with every band at Reykjavik Art Museum,…
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Kippi’s Big-Band Steal The Show At Kaldalón
And so, I return to Harpa’s Kaldalón, safely segregated from the party of Airwaves in the city’s newly finished metal-and-glass music and culture venue. This night is opened by Einar Stray (his surname pronounced str-eye), who plays music that sounds like the…
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Mannheim Thunder Stance
Night began with Muted’s second coming out at this Airwaves to a undeservedly half-empty room, although it had to be expected with a tech-house night at eight o’clock in the dank side room of Faktorý. There was a fledgling scene of gloomy instrumental…
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Megas, stay home; the new kids are in town
And where were you? Huddled inside NASA waiting for the tUnE-yArDs show? Sucker. This was officially the best-show-you-missed.
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Booze, Blood, Bacteria, Beats, Beauties, Bongos, Angel Buttsecks!
[An earlier version of this review mistakenly claimed that the venue was selling bottles of water for 500 ISK. While initially confirmed, further research has revealed that this information was erroneous, due to a series of misunderstandings, rendering the reviewer’s observations obsolete…
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Put On My Raving Shoes And I Boarded The Plane
I began my partying days in the death-rattle of the classic rave scene, when gigantic warehouses were taken over by masses of DJs and electronic masters for anonymous, clandestine, 24-hour notice addresses, first-10-tickets-are-free parties. We lined up months in advance to get…
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Glaumbar Is A Two-Faced Bastard
Glaumbar can be a very good concert venue, but it also can totally suck. On this Airwaves Friday I could see both sides of the coin. The small dancefloor in front of the stage and the huge bar in the middle of…