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Iceland Airwaves 2015 Preview - Rythmatik

Every year as part of this series of pre Iceland Airwaves features I try to interview the winners of the annual Músíktilraunir competition (music experiments). The competition has an incredible record of finding brand new bands on their way up. I guess most famously of all with Of Monsters And Men in 2010, but there are many other great examples.

This year’s winners were Rythmatik, a four piece from the beautiful Westfjörds area, play a kind of indie rock which is still distinctly Icelandic despite their well-reported love of Scottish greats, Big Country. Who doesn’t love Big Country?! Rythmatik are a band to seek out at Iceland Airwaves 2015, they are clearly on the rise, and nice guys too...

Rythmatik, where are you and what are you doing? 

We are currently located in Reykjavík, far away from home in the Westfjords where most of us were born and raised. We are currently in the midst of releasing our first ever EP, producing a music video and preparing for Iceland Airwaves, so there is a lot on our plates at the moment! 

Congratulations on being the winners of Músíktilraunir this year. How exciting was that? And how exciting is it to see your name alongside some amazing bands that have won it before? 

We felt and still feel ecstatic about it! It’s just such a big title here in Iceland and we still feel so overwhelmed that we actually won, it’s amazing! So many great bands that we admire have won and went on to do amazing things. Bands like Agent Fresco, Mammút, Maus, Mínus, Vök and the list goes on and on! We had competed the year before, but had only been practicing as a functional band for about 2 months. Needless to say, we crashed and burned that year, but we just found more drive to keep going and better ourselves so we practiced a lot the following year. If you think about how many practices you can fit into one year, I mean that is a lot!   

I loved to see that you name Big Country as an influence. What a band! Were they big in Iceland? 

Hahaha! That is actually one of the more frequent questions we get, which is great! Big Country is such an amazing band with such a unique sound that we just love. It has probably influenced Hrafnkell’s (Guitar, Vocals) guitar playing the most and you can tell in many of our songs. No, I wouldn’t say they were popular in Iceland, maybe more of a cult thing like they are elsewhere. We actually discovered them through our Dads (Valgeir, Hrafnkell) record collection, but many of the bands that we listen to come from that CD shelf at home.  

I believe that you have released two songs so far (on soundcloud), are you working on an album?

Yes, it’s called Epilepsy and will be online October 16th! We are dying from the excitement and can’t wait to share it with everyone. Please track us down during Airwaves if you’d like a copy or look us up on the interwebs!

Do you guys have a favourite song to play live?

We’d have to say Brick Thief because we usually want to close the set with a banger and this one is the heaviest by far. It’s just the best feeling seeing people react to it, especially if they react nicely and don’t leave. Jokes, but it is fun to feel like a real heavy rock band once in a while, even if it’s just those 4 minutes. 

You are playing on Thursday between Þórir Georg and Fufanu. That sounds to me like a great couple of hours! Are you happy with the slot?

Extremely happy, those are 2 of the most promising acts at this year’s Airwaves. Þórir Georg has that 90’s sounding laid back atmosphere and Fufanu, well Fufanu will rock your socks off! You should definitely check them out.  

Who else are you super keen to check out at Airwaves this year?

Besides the big names like Retro Stefson, Agent Fresco and Ensími, we are looking forward to see many of the rising talent here in Iceland. Our boy Axel Flóvent for example is sooo talented and produces the most amazing music, also CeaseTone and Munstur. If you’re heading to some off-venue gigs we would also recommend Vára and Milkhouse, plus if you want to see something crazy go see dj. flugvél og geimskip!! I mean Iceland Airwaves is all about discoveries and experiences! 

Finally, do you have any advice for people attending Airwaves or visiting Iceland for the first time?

Explore, and don’t necessarily plan everything you are going to see. Go to the off-venues and be surprised, because those are the best finds, when you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get.

Go and see Rythmatik, here are all your chances...

Bíó Paradís - Wed, November 4, 2:00 PM

Slippbarinn - Thu, November 5, 5:00 PM

Iðnó - Thu, November 5, 8:40 PM

Bókabúð Máls og Menningar - Fri, November 6, 4:30 PM

Hitt húsið - Fri, November 6, 7:00 PM

CenterHotel Arnarhvoll - Sat, November 7, 4:40 PM

Tjarnarbarinn - Sat, November 7, 5:50 PM

Gaukurinn  - Sun, November 8, 11:30 PM

Iceland Airwaves 2015 Preview - Axel Flóvent

Axel Flovent is a singer-songwriter from Akureyri who played his first Airwaves festival a year ago and is back again after a year that has seen him release a highly acclaimed EP, led by the fabulous ‘Forest Fires’ (you can hear it below) and tour around Europe. The stage is definitely bigger this year for the indie-folk musician, he’s in for a very busy Airwaves festival...

 

Hey Axel, where are you and what are you doing?

Hey, I’m in the studio, putting together the last pieces for my debut LP.

What a great year you have had since last Airwaves! What has been the most fun part?

The most fun part has definitely been my recent Germany and UK tour. It was great fun.

You’ve already played some shows and got some press attention outside Iceland but how important is the Iceland Airwaves festival for young Icelandic artists like you?

Yeah, it’s very Important! I’m a big fan of this festival and I have been for a long time, and I’m honoured to be a part of the line up this year.

What are the plans to follow up the really amazing Forest Fires EP from earlier this year?

Hopefully a single soon, and more news about the next release, but I don’t really know what it will be. Something soon though!

You’re part of a great looking line-up in Harpa on the opening night of Airwaves. What can we expect from your Iceland Airwaves shows?

Hopefully just a really nice concert, we’re working on some ideas and hopefully it will just turn out great!

Finally, do you have any advice for people attending Airwaves or visiting Iceland for the first time?

A good bit of advice for people that are attending Airwaves for the first time is to use it as a way to discover new acts. I don’t have a lot of Airwaves experiences because last year was my first time there, but my absolute favourite was when I went to see few artists I didn’t expect anything from, and experienced their purity.

 

You can see Axel play SEVEN times at Iceland Airwaves 2015. The on-venue shows are:

Wednesday 4^th 8:50 at Harpa Silfurberg

Sunday 8^th 10:30 at Gaukurinn

 

And the five off-venue opportunities are:

Wednesday 4^th 10:45am at Grund Dvalar

Thursday 5^th 1:00 at Bryggjan Brugghús

Thursday 5^th 5:00 at Stúdentakjallarinn

Friday 6^th 5:00 at Slippbarinn

Saturday 7^th 2:00 at Landsbankinn Austurstræti

                                                                                     

Photo credit: Siggaella.

Iceland Airwaves 2015 Preview - GKR

21 year old GKR is an up and coming hip hop artist from Reykjavík and one of a growing number of acts in that area and RnB getting a load of attention at home but also starting to get some outside of Iceland too. It feels like the scene, if that’s what it is, is growing fast right now and that this edition of Iceland Airwaves could well be the biggest one yet for that genre, especially homegrown. I’ve seen some exceptional rap shows at Airwaves over the years but take a look, for example, at the mouth-watering line-ups at Húrra on Wednesday and then in the Art Museum on Friday. GKR himself is very deserving of your attention, his shows are sure to be busy.

Hello GKR (or can I call you Gaukur?), where are you and what are you doing?
Já halló. You are more than welcome to call me Gaukur because GKR stands for Gaukur, you can also say G-K-R, it doesn’t matter. I’m just in bed, at home, answering these questions, after that I’m going to my studio to make some bangers with my man BANGERBOY aka MARTEINN. It’s 00:30 right now.

How long have you been making music? You’ll be a new name this year to many Airwaves goers.
I studied music when I was younger at Tónlistarskóli Reykjavíkur and played the piano but that was only for about 4 years (Fun fact: I was in class with the Pascal Piñon sisters). Since I remember I’ve always had a head full of ideas craving to create something, not music particularly, just create, in general. But I recorded my first rap track in the summer of 2012, I guess that’s when I started creating music for real.

Are you the Icelandic Kid Cudi? That’s what it says on last.fm.

No I’m not the Icelandic Kid Cudi, I am the Icelandic GKR (or at least I think I am). Kid Cudi is definitely one of my main inspirations though, I listened a lot to him from age 16-19. I’m 21 now and if it weren’t for Cudi I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to start this music career all on my own. I’m happy if someone catches some Cudi vibes from my music, a month ago a guy came to me and said that my song “1” made him tear up, I was very pleased to hear that, probably one of the strongest complements I’ve received and it’s brave of him to admit that, because I don’t know him at all. By the way I didn’t even know I had tracks on last.fm, maybe Cudi put my music up there???

Do you feel like part of a scene? There are quite a few new and young acts coming through this year in hip-hop and RnB.

I do feel like I’m a part of a music scene here in Iceland but I don’t want to be put in only one category. I am happy that the hip hop acts support me, they support me a lot and I truly appreciate that but I don’t want to become looked at as “just one of the guys in the scene”, I think that distracts the ears/eyes from the art itself. And also I don’t want to limit myself to one genre, I want to be able to play with indie bands or electronic acts etc. It might be weird of me to say this but I just want people to put my art in first place, rather than judging me by the hype, if that makes sense. Maybe I’m wrong though, you know, they say all exposure is good exposure, maybe it’s just because I’m new to this and I’m a bit afraid.

Both of your official Airwaves shows will be in the excellent Húrra venue. There’s rumours that it may be not be around much longer. That would suck, right?

Hahaha oh man, I just realized that I am playing TWICE at Húrra after reading your question, I thought I was only playing on Sunday, nice, the line-up at Húrra on Wednesday is good! Also the line up on Sunday (special shout out to my man Lord Pusswhip). 

OK, to the sad part of this question, yes, if the rumours are true that’s a real sad thing. I am not at all pleased with the attitude towards Reykjavik’s downtown culture from the people building these tourist shops and hotels.

I would much rather want to go see a local Icelandic talent at a crowded venue with a crowd that arrives there only to have fun, than going into a tourist shop to see stuffed toy puffins, plastic viking helmets and the Icelandic flag in the format of a refrigerator magnet. Who knows, maybe some cool place will open up somewhere else if Húrra closes, downtown becomes a tourist place and the party is going to be moved to Grandi (the bay area). By the way, I was very happy to see that NASA is a venue for Iceland Airwaves because I have so many wonderful feelings related to that place, feelings that I would never get after a look into that "wonderful new tourist shop”.

You appear on several lists of acts not to miss this year. What can we expect from your Iceland Airwaves shows?

I’m only going to give away this: If you come to my show, doesn’t matter where or when, I want you to forget the sad, skip the worries, stress or just anything related to negative thoughts. I want people that attend my shows to do whatever makes them happy, whether it’s to jump, dance, sing, stand, sit, drink, laugh, talk, I don’t know, I mean if you’re in a sad mood, it’s okay to be sad, just embrace it and try to turn it into a positive or something. JUST FEEL FREE, there is no need to be shyyyyyyy

I love people that turn up with me when I play live shows, when you feel that mutual energy, from an artist to the crowd, it’s a great feeling man.

Finally, do you have any advice for people attending Airwaves or visiting Iceland for the first time?

My best advice would probably be: Go see GKR, I’ve heard he’s an amazing rapper and like a great guy too.

Serious advice: You might have to wait in line, for a while. Make sure you enjoy that time. I’ve made a lot of friends from past Airwaves because I waited in a line and it kind of became a part of the experience.

I’m looking forward to Sophie and Skepta. Sophie is playing at nasa which is my favourite venue this year. Future Brown and Gangly are acts I’m also interested in seeing live. I will also try to see as many of the up and coming Icelandic acts. And of course I will go see the classic Icelandic artists/bands that play every year, they always deliver, Icelandic people are super talented I must say.

I can't disagree with that last sentence! As discussed you can, and you probably should, catch GKR playing at Húrra on the Wednesday night at 20:40 and on Sunday at 21:40.

And you can also catch GKR off-venue at these times (and possibly more too!)

Friday 18:00 at Bíó Paradís
Saturday 15:30 at Íslenzki Barinn
Saturday 16:30 at Laundromat Café

 

Iceland Airwaves 2015 preview - ₩€$€‎₦ (or Wesen or WESEN or W€$€N)

One of the more exciting aspects of Iceland Airwaves 2015, now just over 2 weeks away, is the return of the iconic Reykjavík venue, NASA. It’s going to be a real treat to get back in there having had more than a handful of incredible nights there in the past. I was always likely to head to NASA at the first opportunity, but it’s even more certain now that we know that Wesen will be the first band on that stage on the first night of the festival. Wesen are a new band, but not a new collaboration, between Júlía Hermannsdóttir from Oyama and others and Loji Höskuldsson from Sudden Weather Change and others. These guys have a great past and the handful of songs as Wesen that I’ve heard are great.

So it made sense that the first of this year’s Iceland Airwaves preview interviews would be with the first band I’ll be seeing on venue. Luckily Júlía also thought this was a good idea...

Hello Wesen, where are you and what are you doing?

I'm sitting at my kitchen table at home. I just had dinner and coffee down the street at Stofan Café, but I'm still feeling too lazy to organize my make-up drawer like I said I would.

Do I call you Wesen or WE$EN? Do you mind?

No we don't mind, whatever you prefer is fine. I've been alternating the spelling between Wesen, WESEN, W€$€N & ₩€$€‎₦, partly for fun, partly to mess with people, partly in hopes that it will work as a spell and the band will make us rich in the future somehow.

You guys are well known in the Icelandic music scene from Sudden Weather Change and Oyama and Loji's solo work. Is it right that you two actually worked together before any of that?

Yes that's right. We both grew up in 104 of Reykjavík so we've known each other since we were 13 or 14 years old. In 2004 we worked together as wall-painters and that's how we started We Painted the Walls, our first band. We've both worked on a bunch of different projects since then (plus I went and lived in New York City for over 4 years) but we always worked well together so it's about time we got back together.

You have three fabulous songs released via soundcloud right now - what's the plan for releasing more stuff?

We've completed a 10 track album that we're super excited about releasing to the world. Our songs were already good but then Árni Rúnar Hlöðversson (of FM Belfast) stepped in as producer and godfather of Wesen, which brought the whole thing up a notch. Or like two notches. We haven't made a final decision on how or exactly when the album is coming out, but we're aiming for some time this winter.

Is it great to be playing an opening slot at the first night of this year's festival?

Yes. It's a great way to kick off the festival and we're pumped to work hard this year. Also, this will be our 10 year anniversary of playing Airwaves together. Loji and I last played Airwaves as We Painted the Walls in 2005, which was also the very first airwaves performance for both of us. A real teenage dream.

What about being the first band back in the legendary NASA venue for Airwaves, you must have both played there before I guess - how exciting is it that NASA is back in use?

I've never played there before but I saw a lot of bands there as a teenager, including some great ones at Airwaves '04 and '05, so I'm way excited about it. I'm glad NASA is back and that this time I'll be taking the stage, hopefully setting a good example for some ambitious teens out in the crowd. 

What can Airwaves goers expect from your shows?

Loji is usually very funny and charming but tends to be clumsy. I'm not that funny but I keep him on track and I'm very honest and put my heart into it. The songs are catchy as f, I'm sorry to sound smug but they are, and I hope they'll leave you wanting more. 

Finally, do you have any advice for people attending Airwaves or visiting Iceland for the first time?

The Reykjavik Grapevine is a fine local publication that's a way better guide to Reykjavík than I will ever be. My main Airwaves advice is probably just: If you're like me and always try to pre-plan your schedule down to the minute, it's good to have a backup plan to avoid total disappointment in case the popular thing you wanna see is way too crowded. Speaking of crowds, being friendly and kind to the people around you pays off. Check out the off-venue schedule too, but don't overdo it – listen to your body and don't feel like you're missing out if you need to chill between shows. Drink tap water, it's the best.

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You can see Wesen, WESE, W€$€N or ₩€$€‎₦ several times during Iceland Airwaves 2015:

The main show is in NASA in Wednesday 4^th at 7:30pm, and I will see you there. There are also all these other chances to see them

WED 4/11 @ Bíó Paradís, 3:00 PM 

WED 4/11 @ Nasa, 7:40 PM (official)

THU 5/11 @ Nordic House, 2:00 PM

THU 5/11 @ Kaffibarinn, 4:45 PM

THU 5/11 @ 12 Tónar, 6:15 PM

FRI 6/11 @ Kaffihús Vesturbæjar, 5:00 PM

SAT 7/11 @ Hlemmur Square, 4:00 PM

SAT 7/11 @ Húrra, 8:50 PM (official)

 

Nasa coming back for Airwaves 2015

It feels like it has been a bit of a year for music comebacks. Blur are back with a new album which, in places, sounds beautifully like Modern Life Is rubbish. The Bluetones are coming back around again later in the year. Most excitingly of all, Nineties champs, the mighty Collapsed Lung have a couple of dates in the book for the first time in 5 years or so - unmissable stuff.

On top of all that excitement, the rumours that were around when I was over there for Sonar are confirmed. That wonderful, memory-making Reykjavík venue NASA will be back in use for Iceland Airwaves 2015. It's been closed, and standing idle for several years now, waiting to become part of (yet) another downtown hotel. It will be exciting to step back inside, to see if it has changed (in February I was told it was basically untouched) and how it is used for Airwaves.

For now, here's what I wrote in January 2012 when the news was first circulating that it was to close down. I know I'm not the only one with a load of memories.

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Please Don't Close Nasa

No, not the space people thingy - I couldn't care less about that. The great venue/club/jar of memories in Reykjavik. News emerged a few days ago of plans to take down the wonderful NASA venue and turn it into yet another hotel. If there's one thing Reykjavik has a hell of a lot of it's hotels, surely this is insanity? Actually, of course RVK has a good helping of music venues too but that doesn't mean that one of the best, most charming, most important and most full of memories should be allowed to bite the dust. It's important to me, it's important to a lot of musicians, fans, bar staff and it's surely pretty crucial to the continuation of Iceland Airwaves as we know it - there's not a venue like it. Some good news later in the week from the grapevine, it appears all may not be lost.

Of course it comes down to money - can it justify the rent that's asked of it? Can the city or the government do anything to help preserve it and smooth the route to survival. A hell of a lot of people would like that, it would be a fine and popular thing to support. Well over 1,000 people have already signed this petition (there's also link on the top left of this page) organised by the excellent John of the equally excellent Brainlove Records.

Please, please sign the petition.

In the meantime, and off the top of my head (so forgive omissions and hazy memories), some personal NASA highlights:

In 2004 instructed by the good folk of 12 Tonar, my first trip to NASA was to see Mugison's Airwaves show. Actually the first band I saw were the long gone Ske, but the advice to see Mugi was amongst the best I've ever received. Ever since I've enjoyed Mugison and trusted 12 Tonar.

I think 2006 was the year that the mighty Reykjavik! played a typically boisterous show there, the highlight of which was a three girl choreographed dance routine to "All Those Beautiful Boys" - hilarious and brilliant. We watched with (well beneath) Boas from the audience. You know what? I dug out the video...

 

2007 was an amazing festival. French band The Teenagers were so cool back then, their Airwaves NASA show was sleazy brilliance. The best kind! On the Saturday night we wandered into NASA off the street after something else finished to catch the second half of a sweaty, pumping, incredible set from Gus Gus swiftly followed by the usual amazingness of Ghostigital (right) - maybe my favourite Airwaves night of them all.

I remember 3 remarkable gigs from 2008 in NASA - the first time I ever saw Retro Stefson, they were so young, they filled the stage with balloons, they sounded great! Dr Spock, complete with rubber gloves, balaclava and a large dose of gob. And Faeroe Islanders Boys In A Band really rocked NASA but the best of the year, one of the most startling things I've ever seen, the choir of mountainous fishermen, Fjallabræður (right) - incredible sounds and then they hit the dancefloor.

The FM Belfast show in 2010 at NASA - the final show of the festival was immense. It was late, it was load, the stage was as crowded as any part of the cramped venue. They played forever, they played every song, everyone knew all the words and then, from somewhere, they played Sweet Child Of Mine and finally the whole place shouted every single word of Underwear right back in their faces.

Please don't close NASA.

 

Sonar Festival review, Feb 2015

Just as 2 years ago, I couldn’t resist the late temptation to pay a quick visit to Reykjavík for the Sonar festival. The festival represents a very nice opportunity to see a good number of local favourites over the course of three days (actually, pretty much over 2 days, as there were very few local acts playing on the Saturday night), as well as another chance to spend some time in Iceland.

The fun began as we landed at Keflavik. On the plane there was a real and palpable sense of surprise and a little anger that Iceland was indeed both very cold and covered in snow. This was clearly a genuine surprise to many on board whose level of research can be called into question. I loved the cold and, in particular, the snow. I hadn’t previously been to Reykjavík when there was such a thick blanket. I enjoyed the fresh crunch underfoot, the slushy pavements and the pristine gardens around town. On the Friday the combination of the snow and the pure, deep blue sky was beautiful. As many locals pointed out to me, this gets really boring after 10 weeks, but for a weekend visitor it’s magical – sorry.

There’s an obvious contrast to be made between Sonar and Iceland Airwaves. Beyond the more tightly defined style of music, the other main difference is in the location. The fact that the entirety of Sonar takes place inside the Harpa concert hall/complex is both the good news and the bad news. Its good news as there is no need to be rushing between venues and getting cold in queues. In fact it is particularly good news this year since the entire concourse and approach to Harpa is a good, thick sheet of ice full of drunken doom and danger. Personally though, I love the rushing between venues of Airwaves. Sonar simply doesn’t take over central Reykjavík in the same way. I’d say it is perfectly possible to be a tourist in town during Sonar and not be aware of it. That is certainly not true in early November when every other shop window and café has a band playing in inside. I like both festivals, I prefer Airwaves because it is bigger, last longer and is all over town. Simple really, I like my Icelandic music to be more varied, to last longer and to be in more places.

The other big difference is in the attendance. Sonar is much younger, and much more local – I estimated that around 80% of people there were Icelandic. Perhaps as a direct result of one or both of those things, the Sonar audience is a much drunker audience – the first vomit of the festival was noted by the Grapevine newspaper at 10pm on the opening night. Amateurs. There was a lot more security than at Airwaves, probably due to the association of the music with drugs – I saw zero evidence of that.

I’m writing this 2 weeks after the festival, too late for a blow by blow review. Instead I’m simply going to list the best five things I saw at Sonar. I’m afraid it contains few surprises.

Uni Stefson

I was a little surprised at this selection. I love Retro Stefson, but I haven’t really fallen in love with any of the various offshoots. Honestly, I had found that Uni’s recorded solo stuff had washed over me; all very pleasant, but it hadn’t stuck. It seemed to lack the bounce and energy. Live though, it was a different story. Firstly, my heart lifted at the sight of a guitar. Then, as anyone who has seen Retro Stefson will know that Uni is a first-rate front man and whilst, in this format, he doesn’t bounce around the stage starting parties, he is still a tremendous singer with very fine stage presence. The live versions of the songs, partly due to the guitar, had meat and weight that I hadn’t really got from the record. I enjoyed the show waaay more than I expected to, and I’ve enjoyed going back to the EP.

Fufanu

Fufanu are on a roll, they’ve starting playing all around Europe. They’ve played with Damon Albarn in various parts of the world including, memorably, London’s Royal Albert Hall. Now they’re set to play with Blur in Hyde Park later this year. As far as I know, this was the biggest room they’ve played in at home, and coming directly before Ghostigital, a pretty important occasion for the young band. Of course, there was not a trace of nerves, not a foot was put wrong. They took to the stage with confidence and blasted out their set which is becoming more and more familiar and promises much for their debut album that will be with us later in the year.

Ghostigital

There was more dancing at this show than any other I saw at Sonar. There was something approaching a mosh pit, albeit a Sonar style mosh pit.

There was also more laughing than at any other show. When Einar Örn stood at the front of the stage, arms outstretched to the sides, and asked the crowd to take his photograph, the crowd obeyed. This photo-call wasn’t an ego thing by the way, this was part of a lament about his own mobile phone being stuck inside his thigh. I love the world of Ghostigital.

Prins Póló

(photo above) Perhaps the most non-Sonar band of all the local additions. It’s not a complaint as I love them, and any chance to watch them play. It didn’t seem to bother any of the capacity crowd in the festival’s biggest hall one bit. Prins Póló had an amazing 2014 with prizes for band of the year, album of the year (for Sorrí) and song of the year (for París norðursins) being showered all around them. Just to cement their local favourite status they opened their show here with a cover of FM Belfast’s (who were in the audience) unofficial national anthem Underwear.

Sin Fang

I was pleased to see the set up here had the same dual drummer approach as Sindri’s Airwaves show, it worked excellently again. The difference here was that he was joined on vocals by Jófríður Ákadóttir of Samaris (the two are also working together on a project by the name of Gangly). My memory is that the set was largely similar to the Airwaves one, Jófríður’s vocals certainly made a difference – especially on the slower songs in my view. Where the Prins Póló show started with a bang, Sin Fang’s seemed to build throughout to the excellent final song, Young Boys.

 

Other than these, I really enjoyed the shows by Young Karin, Mugison & Dark Features. The best international acts I saw were Sophie and Yung Lean.

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Other things I noticed on the trip.

It seems that Nasa is set to re-enter the RVK101 club scene and, who knows, return to being a concert venue. Right now, from what I can gather, it is largely untouched and whoever owns it is looking for a manager to look after it.

I went to the Cory Arcangel exhibition at the ReykjavíkArt Museum. I really loved it, I could stare at old vinyl, console games and listen to The Strokes for a long time. Also, I had only ever been in the Art Museum before as an Airwaves attendee. That room, it’s open air! LOOK!  Who knew!

Totally played Pong on the Harpa façade. Amazing, but very cold hands.

 

Sónar Reykjavík interview with Lily The Kid

Lily the Kid are brother / sister duo Lilja Jónsdóttir and Snjókaldur Svarfdal. Last Autumn they released their first E.P. and then played their first ever live shows at Iceland Airwaves. That's a nice start.

Those shows received great reviews across the board, and they will be looking to follow up at their highly anticipated Sónar show next week.

I had a chat with Lilja,

Hi Lilja, where are you right now and what are you doing?

Hi! Right now I'm taking some time off, I'm in Stockholm, Sweden. Just freezing and seeing the city. It's beautiful.

Many congratulations on all the great reviews of your performances at Airwaves. Did you enjoy it?

Thank you so much! I really loved it. I love Iceland Airwaves. You're in this turmoil of trying to be on time for your own shows, trying to see your friends shows, then celebrating, and then waking up the next morning to play some more shows. All the while dragging your gear around central Reykjavik. 

And is it right that they were your first shows as Lily The Kid?

Yes, those were our first shows ever. I had the greatest people with me on stage, so I wasn't really nervous about the music sounding bad. I was mainly nervous about myself.

Next week you are playing at the Sonar Festival. How important are these international festivals like Sonar and Airwaves to an Icelandic band? Is it all about getting noticed and picked up outside of Iceland?

It does help a lot, at least in getting your name out there. It's also just really cool to be a part of something like this, because these festivals have standards about the venues. The audience is usually enthusiastic as well, so that makes it even better.  

What other acts are you hoping to catch at Sonar?

I'd love to see Kindness, Páll Ivan frá Eiðum, Sophie, Fufanu and M-Band. 

Do you have plans to release more music this year? Maybe even a full length album?

We are starting work on our next EP, we hope to release something in the spring. A full length album is something we want to start working on soon, so we'll see!

Finally - can you give some local advice for people who may be visiting Iceland and Reykjavik for the first time for Sonar?

You can only buy alcohol at Vínbúðin (and the bars), so don't buy non-alcoholic beer in Reykjavik's most expensive convenience store (this is extremely common behaviour among our visitors). Also, go to Vesturbæjarlaug swimming pool for a nice dip in the hot tubs. It does wonderful things, especially after a long night.

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Lily The Kid are playing at 8:30 on the Saturday night of Sonar in SonarHall (known normally as the Norðurljós venue inside Harpa). I definitely suggest you make an early start to your Saturday night and go see them.

 

 

Icelandic record of the year 2014 results

Once again, thanks for all the voting. There were 70 votes in the end, the vast majority from outside of Iceland. It was really close between the eventual top three for a long time but thankfully, yesterday an order emerged (plus a fairly chaotic five way tie for 4th spot!). A lot of people have commented when they voted that it felt like a weaker year than the last few. I agree to an extent, although hopefully you'll see below that there have been some very good and varied records released this year by some very fine Icelanders.

30 different records got at least one piece of love. Albums which just missed out on the top 10 include Sólstafir, Börn, Skakkamanage, FM Belfast and the excellent Snarl 4 compilation record.

Anyway, here's your top ten. Many congratulations to Oyama. A career highlight no doubt :-)

1. Oyama - Coolboy

2. Samaris - Silkidrangar

3. Grísalappalísa – Rökrétt framhald

4= Hafdis Huld - Home

4= Kiasmos - Kiasmos

4= Prins Póló – Sorrí

4= Rökurró - Innra

4= Singapore Sling - The Tower Of Foronocity

9. Óbó - Innhverfi

10. Pink Street Boys – Trash From The Boys

 

Icelandic record of the year 2014

2011: Sóley - We Sink

2012: Ghostigital - Division Of Culture & Tourism

2013: Sin Fang - Flowers

I reckon we are pretty good at picking an excellent record, so let's do it again. I'm just about recovered from Airwaves and I'm ready to add up some votes and sometime between Christmas and the end of the year I'll post the top ten Icelandic albums (or EPs) of 2014 decided by you beautiful people.

The rules are the same, email me at markollard AT googlemail DOT com, or dm me at @iceblah on twitter, send me a postcard or buy me a pint and run me through a powerpoint presentation. Any way you like just get me a list of your (up to) five favourite Icelandic records of 2014, they will all get one vote each and I'll do the maths.

Please have a go, the more votes we get the better the outcome. there have been over 60 voters every year so far. Over 30 different albums got a mention last time.

If you need any help or inspriation you can find a couple of excellent lists already on the old interweb. Firstly, the shortlist of 20 for the Kraumur prize is here, and secondly the ever-reliable Dr Gunni has already taken the plunge and named his best releases of the year on his blog here.

And if you are interested in where my money has gone, I think this is what's been added to my modest little Icelandic collection in 2014...

Börn - Börn

FM Belfast - Brighter Days

Grísalappalísa - Rökrétt framhald

Gusgus - Mexico

Hafdis Huld - Home

Kiasmos - Kiasmos

Oyama - Coolboy

Pink Street Boys - Trash from the Boys

Prins Póló - Sorrí

Rökkurró - Innra

Samaris - Silkidrangar

Sindri Eldon - Bitter, Resentful

Singapore Sling - The Tower Of Foronicity

Skakkamanage - Sounds of Merrymaking

Sóley - Krómantík

Þórir Georg - Ræfill

Þórir Georg - Some Shit and Others

Uni Stefson - EP1

Young Karin - Highlands n°1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iceland Airwaves 2014 Review

Where do I start? I’ve promised myself this won’t be too long, but I saw 56 shows across 4 days. I must admit that 13 of those were in the same hour and a bit in one of those wonderful Airwaves daytime rushes around town seeing just how many bands it is possible to see in a short space of time.

In short, it was once again a wonderful festival. Reykjavik had that special buzz, it was busy, it was hectic. There were shows, there were drinks, there were friends and familiar faces and big Icelandic hugs, there were long lunches, there were hot dogs (many) and there was one (just one) memorable oreo milkshake. It was superbly organised again, the security was improved in terms of friendliness and efficiency having reached a low point two years ago. There were fewer idiots around, although the Art Museum venue was yet again badly affected by constant chatter in all but the front third. This was particularly terrible for Mammút’s show on Saturday – most people there blatantly ignoring the stage and chatting in groups, presumably waiting for later shows from Future Islands and Caribou. Supremely irritating.

I'm starting with my top three acts, so much harder than doing a top ten! For me, there was one band that stood out. If you have seen me since or glanced at twitter, you will know that that band is Grísalappalísa. I love these guys. Last year they had just released a brilliant debut album and their show was one of the highlights of Airwaves. This year, they’ve released a fabulous follow-up record as well as some choice cover versions and I saw them play three shows; the first was with local legend Megas, and was made up of his songs – I barely new any of the songs but they sounded great and the energy on the room was second to nothing I’ve ever seen at Airwaves. All three shows were compelling, exciting, spirited and simply great fun. They have two incredible front men – Gunnar being more obviously in your face but they work together so well as a duo both visually and vocally. But it is a seven man effort that makes it all work, they even have a saxophone high in the mix that isn’t annoying, that’s some trick. Long live Grísalappalísa.

The other two home grown acts that especially stood out for me this time around were Ghostigital and Þórir Georg. I am never not entertained and moved (physically) by Ghostigital; their music is incredibly well put together and again, there is a front man that I, at least, cannot take my eyes off. I had learned beforehand that they intended to play only new stuff from a forthcoming new record (woohoo!). In fact, they did play some familiar things and the newer stuff all sounded good and familiar enough to be as comforting as searing beats making ears throb and bodies contort and the stabbing saxophone (again!) blasts backing up Einar’s familiar delivery.

Þórir Georg is not a front man like Einar Orn or Gunnar Ragnarsson. His movements are mainly to switch guitar pedals, but this year more than other he stood there with his three piece band and delivered a supremely confident, assured and thrilling set of songs from his ever-expanding back catalogue (largely from the excellent Ræfill album). I’ve seen him many times, but never on form this red hot and I was only gutted that it was delivered to a half full Iðnó in the opening slot of Friday night.

Behind those three are a mass of other Icelanders. Fufanu deserve a special mention, they struggled horribly with technical issues at their Gamla Bio show. It’s terrible to see any band in that position but for a young band on the rise in front of a big crowd it was pretty heart-breaking. They absolutely put it right one night later in Gaukurinn with a blistering set which prompted one local (who may or may not be part of their record label) proclaiming them the best band in Iceland. Now, where’s the album?  On the other hand, Oyama have just unleashed a new album and backed it up with a show at Airwaves that was a class above anything I had seen from them before. I hadn’t, and still haven’t, got around to listening to the record but judging by that show in Gaukurinn, I’m in for a treat.

There were great shows too from regular favourites Sin Fang, Mugison, Retro Stefson, FM Belfast, Prins Póló and Mammút. I love them all and they all delivered brilliantly. Sin Fang picked up on this year’s very clear trend for two drummers and it suited a lot of his songs very well. Mugison (pictured at the top of this article) played to a packed crowd in Harpa and broke a few hearts with a duet with Runa, his wife, and a passionate speech on the current strike by music teachers in Iceland (seriously, give them more, they very clearly do an amazing job!). Retro Stefson easily filled the void (and then some) left by the late withdrawal of UK band Jungle, the highlight being the final song, Senseni, complete with the returning Haraldur running around in the crowd just like the old days. FM Belfast did what FM Belfast do; they made a packed room of people very sweaty and very happy indeed. They didn’t include their recent cover version of Ghostbusters but Fight For Your Right, I’ve Got The Key and Wonderwall all got the treatment. Prins Póló was great fun, it was the first time I had seen them play many of the songs on their excellent recent album – every bit as good as the first. I think Mammút played an incredible show, but I spent most of it wishing spontaneous combustion on about two thirds of the Art Museum audience, thankfully I had found a way to filter the chat out by the time the show climaxed with a poundingly spectacular version of Salt.

As for acts I hadn’t seen before, I thought Pink Street Boys were every bit as exciting as I had been led to believe and as I expected from listening to their debut record. Muck are working in a genre that I’m not naturally drawn to, I doubt I’d ever listen to them at home, but their show (directly before Pink Street Boys and then Ghostigital on the first night) was hugely enjoyable and helped restore my flagging energy at that point, there sure was some seriously fast drumming happening.

Everyone was talking about Reykjavíkurdætur It’s pretty easy to assume that a 21 piece hip-hop collective who have appeared from nowhere (it seems) over the last few months would be a bit of a novelty act, but there is some serious talent there both in the rhyming and the presentation. I was very impressed not least by their ad-libbing whilst waiting for a member to arrive at their bookstore show. Final mention here is for Icelandic/UK three-piece band Dream Wife who definitely displayed enough confidence and potential to keep an eye on from now on.

Finally for the local acts, I am so glad I made my way across town to see and off-venue show by Hafdis Huld who I had not seen for 4 or 5 years. She has such a lovely manner on stage; she’s as funny between songs as she is engaging during them. It was so good to hear some older favourites (Action Man for example) amongst some newer and unfamiliar ones. Later in her show she was joined on stage by her insistent young daughter who totally stole the show, toddling around and holding mummy’s hand while she sang. I loved it. I was missing my kids OK!

Then there is that other Iceland Airwaves phenomenon of the surprising overseas band that you can happen across and fall in love with. The big win here was Ezra Furman who I thought was utterly superb. His show was the last thing we saw at the festival, in the early hours of Sunday morning just before we spilled out of Iðnó to be greeted by some of the best northern lights I have seen during an Airwaves. We had heard Ezra at Bar 11 (which still smells awful) the previous day and been impressed – we hadn’t seen him as we couldn’t actually get into the venue, so to end the festival at his main show was perfect and his energy and craftsmanship sent us home on a huge high. Oh, plus the northern lights were on good form as we exited from Iðnó.

Other overseas visitors that I adored were Seattle band La Luz with their chilled and surf-rocky set in the reliably excellent (and always packed) KEX hostel, and French band La Femme whose excellent Harpa show we ran to having decided that King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard were less fun than their name might suggest. This was a good decision.

There were regrets too, which is pretty unavoidable when seeing one band generally involves missing ten.

Leaving on Sunday morning meant I didn’t see the Zebra Katz show that I would otherwise have prioritised and I missed the chance of a third Ghostigital show of the week which would have been a pleasure! Amongst others I was particularly disappointed to miss out on seeing were EMBASSYLIGHTS including members of Prins Póló and some seriously talented Canadian musicians, Kiasmos – the new project featuring Olafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen of Bloodgroup and The Town Heroes and their insanely catchy Canadian-ness. So yes, out of the five non-Icelandic acts I recommended I managed to only see two.

I guess that’s the terrible thing about Iceland Airwaves, there is always so much wonderfulness happening, you miss out on some wonderful. See you in 2015 yes?

Mugison "If pudding is your thing then I´m your man"

There is no Icelandic act that I have seen live more times than Mugison (at least, I think that’s true). That’s due to a few reasons; firstly he’s been active all the way back to my first time at Iceland Airwaves in 2004 (where he played on an exceptional bill in the beloved Nasa venue), secondly he has played in the UK a fair bit over those years, and thirdly his shows are unmissable.

He has an awesome catalogue of songs these days which he is constantly updating and refreshing, and adding to. Hs shows have the consistency of the song-writing quality but also that wonderful unpredictability of varying from acoustic to the sort of full-on rock goodness that got him a support slot with Queens Of the Stone Age a few years back. As you will learn below, it seems he doesn’t know himself what kind of Mugison show Iceland Airwaves 2014 is going to get.

I can assure you, it is not be missed. Have a look at his typically outstanding performance from Airwaves 2011 and get addicted.

Hello again Mr Mugi Sir. Where are you right now, and what are you doing?

I´m in Sudavik, where my family lives, it´s in the wild Westfjord region.  I´m in my studio working on new stuff. Thought I´d finish an album this year but the material was so boring I could not continue to work on it. Just started working on the next one again again, and I’m very excited about some of these ideas. I have been sampling bell tones on the guitar for the last 2 days for a new song.

So, this will be my 11th Iceland Airwaves. And I saw you play in Nasa at my first one in 2004. You played just after Ske and before Quarashi, The Bravery, Trabant and Gus Gus. Do you remember that show? Not a bad line up!

Yes sir I remember like it was yesterday, it was the best Airwaves I´ve done. Everything was just right, my act was finally making some sense, still very risky, the venue was packed - good times.

Since 2004, you have played acoustically, with a laptop, with a big noisy rock band, with a choir, with various home-made instruments... what are you planning for Iceland Airwaves 2014?

I´m not sure! I have been dying to do an electronic show for years now but I´m so lazy. I´m all talk and no do. My rock band is in peak physical condition and I just got a new tuner for my acoustic guitar so I have been using that a lot lately. Maybe I should do a variety show? 

How important is Iceland Airwaves for the local scene? Has Airwaves played a role in getting you known overseas and invited to play around the world?

Yes it´s very important. My first show in 2003 I got really positive reviews witch I could then e-mail to gig promoters all over the land “Mugison is a joyous mix of Miss Piggy and Elvis flipping on a laptop” - that got me far.

I'm sure that a lot of people are going to be very keen to see you play at Airwaves. Just in case not everyone is decided, why should we choose your show above other things happening at the same time?

I think people should ask themselves - which describes them the most: Pescetarianism, Sushi or Pudding. If pudding is your thing then I´m your man.

Are you working on a project at the moment, can you tell us anything about the next Mugison record?

I think it will be a sort of best of album but with all new songs. If you know my catalogue you can have fun pinning songs to the old albums.

Have you had a good look at the Airwaves schedule? What are you really excited to see this year?

No not yet. I need to make a playlist, do the yearly research. I know I won’t miss Caribou am listening to his new album right now and loving it.

Finally, can you give some advice for people attending Iceland Airwaves and visiting Iceland for the first time?

Come with an open mind, do the typical touristy things, blue lagoon, golden circle and get drunk downtown. Don’t feel bad about it, enjoy it as much as you can. Bring warm clothes it can be very cold. Take long walks by the sea and listen to Vespertine (Björk). Take a random bus around town and listen to Sigur Rós. 

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Mugison will be play Iceland Airwaves as follows,

Wednesday 5^th, KEX Hostel @ 21:30

Thursday 6^th, Bunk Bar @ 19:40

Friday 7^th, Harpa Silfurberg @ 21:00

Mammút

Mammút are always one of the hardest working (and best!) bands at Iceland Airwaves. This must be their 8^th or 9^th festival but they somehow still feel like a newish band. They were already a popular choice for a lot of people year after year but then, last year, they released the magnificent record “Komdu Til Mín Svarta Systir” which topped most end of year polls in Iceland but just missed out on the iceblah public vote in a titanic two-way struggle.

Luckily I seem to have been forgiven and Kata agreed to talk to me ahead of another busy Airwaves schedule next week.

 

Hi Kata! Where are you right now? and what are you doing?

I am having some troubles with my dripping nose.

Oh dear. Congratulations on the huge success of your fantastic album, Komdu Til Mín Svarta Systir, last year. You topped a lot of newspaper lists for record of the year, but on this website you were voted in second place. Are you still talking to me?

Yes I am.

Good. You seem to have been busy touring with that record over the last year. What's the best place you've visited in the last 12 months?

We had the greatest time in Borgarfjörður Eystri, which is a foggy place in the east.

Are there any plans already for a follow-up record?

We are spending time in a small windowless room, experimenting by playing

You have played at a lot of Iceland Airwaves festivals now. Is it enjoyable still? Is there a pressure of being one of the bigger local bands these days?

This is a local festival and almost the only competition or after effects of it is one small review that every band gets in the local magazine, Grapevine and after a few of praising ones and a few of negative nancy ones you kind of start not to care about pressure or the thought of the festival as anything else then just another concert, which we always put our heart into.

Have you had a good look at the Airwaves schedule? What else are you really excited to see?

I don't feel the urge to discover new music when Airwaves is on. I think it is because of playing so much you get to caught up in your own energy and you're own shows kind of get more than enough.
So almost every year I just go and see local music I love and have seen many times before.
to name a few… Dj. flugvél og geimskip, Kælan Mikla, Samaris, Börn, Muck, Hjaltalín and more.

It sounds like you’ll have the same problem as me with Kælan Mikla & Börn playing at the same time next Wednesday night.

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Mammút will be ready to entertain you four times next week,

Wednesday 5^th, Gamla Bíó @ 23:20

Thursday 6^th, KEX Hostel @ 18:00

Friday 7^th, Laundromat Cafe @ 14:30

Saturday 8^th, Reykjavík Art Museum @ 21:00

Boogie Trouble

Boogie Trouble were an important part of my Iceland Airwaves 2013. My wife was in town but did not have a festival pass and the only show we saw together was their show downstairs at Bar 11 off-venue and they gave us an excellent time. It was the first time I had seen the band, but had heard from many others that they were excellent fun live, which certainly turned out to be true.

If you like a bit of disco, a good few fairy lights and some irresistible tunes then this is probably a band you need to see. Their main show for Airwaves 2014 is scheduled at 1:30a.m. and it is pretty certain that it will give new energy to those who are flagging by that stage of the night!

Have a listen to their latest song and see wht they have to say...

 

Hello Boogie Trouble! Where are you right now, and what are you doing?

Right now we are in Iceland in the process of completely starting to remix our album, a crazy step to do when it's almost ready, but we felt like it had to be done. There was more experimentation to be done, more layers to be added to get the album where we want it to go. We are currently working with Janus Rasmussen of Byrta and Bloodgroup, and trying to get a bit more of that elusive magic into what we hope will be both a Friday night album and also a post-coitus Sunday afternoon album.

Who is in the band? 

The cast as is follows: Ingibjörg Elsa Turchi on bass, Sigurður Tómas Guðmundsson on drums, Klara Arnalds vocalist, Sunna Karen Einarsdóttir on keys and vocals, Arnar Birgisson on percussion and Sindri Freyr Steinsson on guitar and voice. And then we have some free agents that we mix and match for special occasions.

Your shows in recent years have been wonderful, sparkly disco treats. What do you have planned this year?

Thank you! We have been trying to upgrade our shows constantly for the past few months, making them more of a party than a concert. We added a Supremes style vocal group to our first headliner show after a year’s hiatus. Coming back to the old material after such a long time, we felt like we needed to expand the soundscape and reinvent the material. And it worked brilliantly! Soffía Björg (of self named band also performing Airwaves) and Sigurlaug Gísladóttir (Mr. Silla, also playing Airwaves) added a dimension to our program that we didn't know was in our calibre.

After a couple of rounds of that setup, we decided to put even more glitter to the spectacle so we added a brass-section, consisting of trumpeter Danni from Óregla and Ojbarasta and Saxophonist Tumi (from Grísalappalísa) and decided on an brass heavy set. . To answer your question, our show will be the biggest one we have had at Airwaves yet with ten people on stage.

You have a bit of history of playing cover versions (seek out their 'Toxic' on Soundcloud). Might one or two of these be heard at Airwaves?

Working with covers is definitely something that will always be a part of what we do. The best way to get to know music properly is to play other peoples music. During Airwaves, we will probably put the emphasis on our original material, but I'm sure we'll throw in a classic or two to keep the crowd going.

You have successfully funded your debut album via crowd-sourcing on KarolinaFund. Why did you choose that method?

We have a very high ideal of production for our debut album, it has be something we can not only live with but also be very proud of and could faithfully release to our fans. With only the money in our pockets, we would not have been able to make the album the way we want it to sound (at least not in this decade). So we needed people buying the album in advance to fund it.

We were happy to discover that over the last couple of years, the band has grown a pretty solid fan base and we are getting increasingly close to being able to upgrade the project to where we can do it on at least a semiprofessional basis. It has been very hard work. The market for music has changed dramatically in recent years, and it seems like record labels want the hard work to be done before you get signed in this day and age. It's a bit backwards because at that point you have a significantly decreased need for a label in the first place. Luckily, with the help of our friends, family and fans, we will be able to self-release the album.

Is the record now fully recorded and ready to go?

The record was almost completely recorded a year and a half ago. The devil is in the details of the mix. Originally we thought we were going to try to recreate our live show, but it turns out there's more to aspire to.

Have you had a good look at the Airwaves schedule? What else are you really excited to see?

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard looks very promising, as well as the Flaming lisps, La Femme , Knives not to mention a heap of Icelandic acts.

Finally, can you give some advice for people attending Iceland Airwaves and visiting Iceland for the first time?

Instead of waiting the long lines for someone really famous, consider skipping them for someone who is not. Usually they are more than worth the while, especially if it’s getting late.

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Boogie Trouble will fill you with joy as follows,

Thursday 6^th, Loft Hostel @ 19:15

Friday 7^th, Bæjarins bestu @ 18:00

Friday 7^th, Iðnó @ 01:30 (Saturday morning)

Saturday 8^th, Bar 11 @ 18:30

A late night with Útidúr

I loved seeing Útidúr last year. It was one of those great late nights at Airwaves, the plan I had made for the night had disappeared hours earlier, I admit I wasn’t sure which band’s show I had walked into at first, but Útidúr were absolutely perfect. They were surprising, engaging and fun and clearly had some big fans in the audience. It was the perfect end to another perfect Airwaves evening, and I’ve been a keen follower ever since.

So have a listen to “Þín Augu Mig Dreymir” – the first song from the next record and have read of my chat with Gunnar from the band...

Hello! Where are you right now? And what are you doing?

Halló, right now we are all staying in RVK and studying or working. We are currently finishing our second LP that will be out this year hopefully, so we've been spending a lot of time in the studio and working on the album.

There are quite a lot of you. Who is in the band?

Right now we are 7 playing in the band:

Gunnar Örn Egilsson - Vocal, Guitar and Synth

Kristinn Roach Gunnarsson - Keyboard and Saxophone 

Úlfur Alexander Einarsson - Guitar

Hildur Margrét Jóhannsdóttir - Violin and Vocals

Sólveig Anna Aradóttir - Vocal, Accordion and Keyboard

Óskar Kjartansson - Drums

Örn Ýmir Arason - Bass (he's been playing with us but could not do airwaves so we got Daníel Helgason to play with us at Airwaves)

When I saw you play last year, it was late at night. It struck me then that you are kind of perfect as an 'end of the night' band. Do you agree?

Yes and no, it maybe depends on the bands we are playing with. Our new album is much more up-beat than the first album so I guess now we have much more power, volume and attitude than before.

Should I come and see you no matter what the time is?

Well I don't know. We try to play at places and with a time that suits us. But it's always a good show if everybody in the band is in a good or having nice day, then it does not matter I think. And also the audience are a big factor of the concert they can also control the gig in a way.

But I prefer to play inside in a dark space where people only come for the music. I think we all agree on that.

So, for newcomers, what should we expect from your shows? And why should people choose it over everything else that will be going on at the same time?

I guess it's because of the all the wood we have. We have a lot of would and also a bit of why. Irony is our passion and no one can stand with his emotions the whole concert. Kind of like being. 

Back in June, your website proudly announced that new material was on the way. So will there be any new songs on your setlist this year? Or even a new record available?

Yebbsí Pepsí! 3 new catastrophic songs on our set list but the album will not be ready.

Have you had a good look at the Airwaves schedule? What else are you really excited to see?

I am excited and scared to see the audience and also i'd like to see the poet Sjón perform with his words and maybe The Knife but I have not checked out the program with full consciousness. I'll do that as soon as possible.

Finally, can you give some advice for people attending Iceland Airwaves and visiting Iceland for the first time?

Yes, there are a lot of places in Reykjavík that tourists don't know about and are not advertised like Geysir, Gullfoss and the Blue Lagoon. But one of the greatest places in Reykjavík is Skeifan. I think people are not used to that idea right now but it is one of the most romantic places in the the country. I guess some people would not agree but this place is a centre point of Icelandic culture. Everybody goes to Skeifan, all sorts of people and that is the cold reality of Reykjavík. I don't know any Icelander that hasn't been to Skeifan. Everybody hates Skeifan by the way, but there is so much passion in hating this place. We love to hate Skeifan which makes it so romantic.

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Útidúr play one show at Iceland Airwaves 2014.

Thursday 6^th, Reykjavík Art Museum @ 20:00

Grísalappalísa

Grísalappalísa arrived in summer 2013 and went on to play one of the very best shows of Airwaves last year, and since then have released a fantastic second record and been named best live band by the Grapevine newspaper. That’s already a lot of reasons to check them out if you get the chance next week. And as you’ll learn below, one of those shows is with the legendary Megas which is going to have to be seen to be believed.

I only just interviewed them in the summer but that’s no reason to talk again to one of the most exciting up and coming band from scene Iceland at the moment. Also, it gives me the chance to make sure they include my favourite song in their setlist – and also discover it was inspired by the not-at-all-naff, Limp Bizkit!

Like I said in the summer, your show at the Art Museum in the first slot of the first night of Airwaves last year was pretty much my highlight of the whole thing. How are you going to make this year even better?

Thanks! This year we will be performing twice on venue, at Gamla Bíó on Thursday and Gaukurinn on Saturday. Gamla Bíó is the old Icelandic Opera house. It's a really beautiful building and we are fortunate enough to be able to perform there with our friend and idol, the legendary Megas. It's always a gas when we get together and I don't think this will be an exception, what with the epic stage and all. The whole evening at Gamla Bíó is really nice, some premium rock and roll all around. Then we’ll be performing our own set at Gaukurinn and we promise a heart-throbbing powwow! We’ve been spending most of the year playing concerts all over the place so things tend to spin in all sorts of crazy directions on stage.

Are you happy with the reaction to the second album? Is there a particular track which you love playing live?

We're happy with the reaction it's already gotten, we would've wanted to see more of it, but that's life. The next record will be bigger than Jesus.

I like playing Vonin Blíð, mainly because one part in it is the most nu-metal we've written. Long live the legacy of Limp Bizkit. Playing Flýja and Sá Mig í Spegli with live strings during our release concert was also amazing. Stage packed with music stands and no room for Gunnar and Baldur onstage, sheet music flying all over the place! 

I am in love with the song, "Vonin blíð" so (a) can you tell me what it's about please? and (b) please please play it at Airwaves, thanks!

Oh we'll play it alright. Vonin blíð is about dealing with relationship issues. Conflict between lovers can get intense. Like God and Satan. 

I only just heard that you'll be playing with Megas at your Thursday show at Iceland Airwaves 2014. How did that come about? What should we expect?

Yeah we’re very happy about that, we’ve done a couple of shows with Megas, he’s our idol and our name comes from one of his songs. The first time was a surprise concert at the Reykjavik Grapevine award where we won the best live band of the year (yeeeeah!!) and Grapevine hooked us up.

That was a crazy party, then we performed together again at Innipúkinn Festival this summer where Megas was one of the main numbers and the festival closer. I think I’ve never seen as many people packed into so few square meters in my life, the place was completely packed beyond its limits and there was a queue way past the corner and everyone went completely batshit crazy. Our instruments were actually kind of sticky and wet from all the condensed sweat when we took them out the day after the concert. People of all ages were behaving like primates. I saw some pictures of the crowd recently and everyone looks like they’re attending some weird religious cult gathering, hallelujahing with their hands in the air and crying and laughing and making weird faces. Maybe everyone was hallucinating?

Some of the band are also in other bands, does Airwaves mean that you have to do a lot of organising and running between stages?

Yes. A LOT. It is the busiest time of the year. Last year we had a completely packed off-venue gig at 12 Tónar and I had another gig starting with another band on the other side of the city centre at exactly the moment we finished the one in 12 Tónar, so I had to pack the instruments at light speed and bicycle with them at dangerous speeds across the tourist packed downtown to jump up on the stage into the middle of the first song of the other set. I’ve never been so sweaty on stage in my life. 

What's your best piece of advice for someone attending Iceland Airwaves for the first time?

I don’t really know, I’ve never been a tourist or a guest at the festival, I don’t think we’re the right people to ask. I always play way too many concerts for my own good and then I try running around like a headless chicken seeing as much of the other bands as possible when not on stage myself for the entire week and then spend like a week afterwards completely exhausted doing nothing in the post-airwaves depression.

I don’t know just stay indoors in a winter parka with a thermostat and keep the door locked the windows closed and the blinds folded and beware of the puffin shops.

 

Grísalappalísa play during Iceland Airwaves 2014 as follows:

Thursday 6^th, Gamla Bíó @ 23:00

Friday 7^th, Laundromat Cafe @ 13:00

Saturday 8^th, Slippbarinn @ 17:45

Saturday 8^th, Gaukurinn @ 23:20

Þórir Georg

There’s more of this in the interview below but at my first Airwaves in 2004, Þórir Georg was working at the excellent 12 Tonar store and sold me his debut album (I picked it up independently and didn't work that out until later). Since then I think I have seen him play every year, I don't think he's had a year off. That first album was stunning and I remember one show in the record store where the audience were all sat around cross-legged on the floor enchanted by the songs by this unassuming guy with just an acoustic guitar. A cover version of Hey Ya got a lot of attention but should not hide the quality of songwriting across those early records.

More recently he has tended to play plugged in and with a live drummer, giving those early records a different sound and also creating a whole bunch of albums with that set-up. He releases a lot of records and they are always worth checking out, they definitely vary in sound but very rarely dip in quality at all. For eleven years, Þórir Georg has been one of the first names I look for on the Iceland Airwaves schedule.

 

I always start with this. Where are you right now? and what are you doing?

Right now I´m sitting in my apartment on Grettisgata listening to the Cocteau Twins and getting ready to prepare dinner.

So this is my 11th Iceland Airwaves. At my very first one, you were working at 12 Tonar and sold me your first (I think) record, a mini cd. What are your memories of Iceland Airwaves 2004?

Honestly, not many, my memory is not so good. I remember my first album came out during Airwaves that year. I vaguely remember being recruited as the drummer for Singapore Sling the day before their Airwaves show that year and playing a great show with them. I probably had fun. 

I guess that makes you a veteran of the scene. Do you feel like a veteran?

No, not really. I´ve just been doing this constantly for a long time, and will probably keep doing it for a long time so I don´t think about it in that sense. And I just turned 30, so I kinda feel like I´m just about to start really doing this. It feels like the last 10 (or more like 15 I guess) years have just been me playing around with writing songs and recording , working through my shit, and now I feel like I´m ready to really start focusing on doing something of importance to myself. 

I was already going to ask you about the huge volume of music you release but then, just yesterday, another record (Tíningur) appeared. That's three albums in 2014 so far. Do you never stop?

In short, no. But at the same time I don´t feel like I spend that much time doing this. But it is one of the few things I enjoy doing so I spend a good proportion of my free time on music. I work a full time job so that eats up a lot of my time obviously. But I do document a lot of what I do and I like putting a big chunk of it online available to those who are interested. I´m not really into keeping things to myself and just putting out what I consider my most “accomplished work”. My favourite artists are usually artists that put out a big volume of work and show different sides of themselves even if that means risking putting out art that people might dislike. 

How much of this year's output will make it into your Iceland Airwaves 2014 setlist?

Right now it looks like there will be no songs in my Airwaves setlist from my last few releases. It will be some older stuff and a little bit of brand new stuff. There´s a shift happening within myself causing me to be more interested and focused on different music so this will be a type of show I probably won´t be playing a lot of in the near future. 

Not tempted to play "Hey Ya" again?

The only time I´ve played that song in the last 8 - 9 years or so was in Hamburg, Germany, a couple of years ago due to a very nice woman who owns a beautiful small bar I played at requesting it. It went horribly and I doubt I will do it again. 

Are you playing with any other bands at the moment? Or making music under any other names? I loved the Kvöl record.

I´m only really doing Kvöl and my own music at the moment. Although there are always a few project I´m involved with to a different degree. 

Have you had a good look at the Airwaves schedule? What else are you really excited to see?

There are a lot of great bands and artists playing airwaves this year. The band I´m most excited to see is locals Börn. And having seen them A LOT in the last few years that should speak to how much I love that band. 

Finally, can you give some advice for people attending Iceland Airwaves and visiting Iceland for the first time?

Bring a coat. Have fun. Eat pizza, not many people know this but the pizza in Reykjavík is fantastic. Go to a place called Pizza Royal down town. Or a place called Pizza King if you venture a bit out of the city centre.

 ---

You have JUST ONE CHANCE to see Þórir play at Iceland Airwaves this year, don’t let me down!

Friday 7^th, Iðnó @ 20:00

The Pink Street Boys are READY

The Pink Street Boys just might be THE new band of Iceland Airwaves this year. Seemingly they have arrived from nowhere over the last six months and are getting rave reviews and praise all over the place. Over the summer they released a debut album, led by the thrilling single, Sleazus, on limited edition cassette (I love cassettes!) which made me super happy – it is also on bandcamp if you prefer. The ever-reliable Grapevine newspaper has shown them a lot of love; culminating in the free download of the whole album they offered a month or so ago.

So yes, shows by the Pink Street Boys are going to be one of the places to be this year. There will be rock, distortion, volume, tunes, tattoos and attitude.

Hello Pink Street Boys! Where are you right now? And what are you doing?

We're at Pink Street, Kóp doing our thing.

Who is in the band?

Axel – Guitar and vocals, Einar – drums, Jómbi– guitar/bass/vocals, Alli – slide-guitar/tambourine/vocals and Viðar guitar/bass/vocals

Where does the name come from? You sound nothing like Pink, or the Pet Shop Boys!

It's the name of the street we live in.

You seem to have appeared from nowhere in the last year, and now there's a lot of buzz, what is the history of the band?

We are all good friends from youth. We have been in bunch of bands together. This is by far the wildest band we have all been in. We started to jam with this line-up in January/February 2013 and had our first show in May that year. Then we have been playing a lot at least 1 or 2 shows each month since. So people should have noticed. And we rock.

I think a lot of people are going to be very keen to see you play at Airwaves. Just in case not everyone is decided, why should we choose your show above other things happening at the same time?

If you‘re in mood for rough wild rock n roll from the heart you came to the right place.

What made you decide to give your record away free with The Grapevine?

They wanted us to pick one of the songs to be the track of the issue, we couldn't pick so we just gave it all.

Have you had a good look at the Airwaves schedule? What else are you really excited to see?

King Wizard Lizard sounds like nice psych/garage madness, been fan of Caribou for a long time, but we have to check more of the schedule.

Finally, can you give some advice for people attending Iceland Airwaves and visiting Iceland for the first time?

Buy alcohol in the liqueur store it is cheaper.

---

Catch Pink Street Boys at:

Wednesday 5^th, Húrra @23:20

Saturday 8^th, KEX Hostel @ 12:00

Saturday 8^th, Gaukurinn @ 20:50

Oyama will disturb YOUR show.

Oyama have been growing in stature over the last few years (and indeed the last few Airwaves festivals). Last year they released and excellent six-track record featuring excellent songs such as Wasted. Any day now they will be unleashing a new album ready for all those excellent music-hungry visitors, especially those who like their shoegaze noisy and melodic. Lead single from the new album (Coolboy) ‘Siblings’ is previewed below.

Last year the five-piece managed to cause a stir when their show in the entrance area of Harpa managed to disturb a classical concert going on in one of the halls. Keep reading for reaction to that and so much more!

 

Hello Oyama! Where are you right now, and what are you doing?

Hi! I'm at school trying to study, but mostly thinking about what I'm gonna eat for lunch. Not sure what the other guys are doing, hopefully making me a surprise lunch.

Who is in the band?

Me (Úlfur) voice-acting and playing the guitar, Kári playing guitar through a BILLION effect pedals, Júla growling and playing keyboards, Bergur playing the dad-guitar (aka bass) and doing some sexy scat-singing and Rúnar playing the drums.

Now, you noisy lot caused a bit of a stir last year when your show in entrance hall at Harpa drowned out the classical show in the main hall. Are you planning to avoid such things this time, or play louder than ever before?

Yeah is was quite funny last year when our off-venue show at Harpa accidentally disturbed the Ólafur Arnalds and Icelandic Symphony Orchestra show. But we are not going to rest until we have disturbed ALL of their shows. Those bastards.

What does Iceland Airwaves mean to the Icelandic music community, is it just fun? Or are you really hoping to catch the eye internationally?

Airwaves is really important for the Icelandic music community, but still not really. It's so random if a band gets picked up or recognized that it's kind of like a lottery. A band can play at Airwaves 5-6 years in a row and nothing happens, you know? Everyone is in it for the fun but of course one always hopes to grab some foreign attention. But it's best not to think too much about it and just do your thing.

Where in the world would you most love to play?

Somewhere sunny and warm. Preferably at like a beach party.

I believe that you've signed with 12 Tónarfor a new album. How is the recording going? Will it be available in time for Airwaves?

We finished recording and mixing the album in September and it went really well. Pétur Ben produced it and it was so nice have him on board, he really helped us see the potential in each song and how to work on them. The album will be out November 3rd in Iceland via 12 Tónar and October 29th in Japan via Imperial Records. So be sure to check it out when you're at Airwaves!

Have you had a good look at the Airwaves schedule? What else are you really excited to see?

The Knife. OMG.

Finally, can you give some advice for people attending Iceland Airwaves and visiting Iceland for the first time?

Don't worry too much about seeing ALL the bands. Take it easy, talk to people, have a beer and try not to worry about anything.

 

Oyama play at Iceland Airwaves as follows:

Wednesday 5^th, KEX Hostel @ 19:30

Thursday 6^th, 12 Tónar @ 18:15

Friday 7^th, Gaukurinn @ 21:40

Fufanu - a band on the rise

Fufanu are a band on the up and a key band to watch at this year’s Iceland Airwaves. At some point in the last year they lost the first half of their name (Captain) and have transformed from techno into a different kind of band. One of their latest releases, Circus Life, reminds me of something like peak-era Depeche Mode. I can’t wait to see how this transition shows up on stage – presumably with a lot more live instrumentation than we’ve seen from them before. It’s an exciting time for the band, after Airwaves they come to London for JaJaJa and a then only a date at the actual Royal Albert Hall.

Hi Fufanu! Where are you, and what are you doing?

Hi Mark! We are in Iceland and we are trying to organize our next music video.

Who is in the band?

It is Kaktus, Guðlaugur and Frosti

What happened to captain? You used to be Captain Fufanu!

We left the Captain at a techno club in Cologne.

That's not the only change; your sound has changed quite a bit over the last few years. Can you just explain that transition a little?

The transition was just a very natural development. We never planned any change in direction; it just came from implementing more live instruments.

I've seen talk of an album on the way - when can we expect that to arrive?

We are not sure when it will be released but One Little Indian will be releasing our album as soon as it is ready. Hopefully a lot sooner than later.

And then you have an exciting trip to London after Iceland Airwaves, to play at the JaJaJa festival and then support Damon Albarn at the Royal Albert Hall. That's amazing - what a fabulous, how excited are you?

We are so excited, it is going to be a very big opportunity for us and we are focused on making the most out of it and give Damon's fans a great show!

Was the link between Damon and Ghostigital part of the reason he knew about you guys?

Yes, Kaktus has known Damon for many years and he played him our demos which led to this support show.

Can you give a piece of advice for people coming to Airwaves this year?

We recommend people walk between off venues during the day eat dinner at K-bar and don't miss seeing our friends Muck, Döpur, Zebra Katz, Samaris, Ghostigital and FM Belfast.

Want to see a band on the rise? Catch Fufanu at Airwaves…

Thursday 6^th, Laundromat Café @ 13:30

Thursday 6^th, Gamla Bíó @ 22:00

Friday 7^th, JÖR @ 16:00

Friday 7^th, Gaukurinn @ 22:30

Börn - "come if you like punk"

Börn are a band that I have never seen before but I am definitely looking forward to checking out. They have an excellent record “s/t” available on bandcamp. They get described with words such as loud, dark and gloomy and associated with genres like post-punk and death-rock. So you know what you’re getting, and this band comes highly recommended.  I spoke to bassist Júlíana.

 Hello Júlíana! Where are you right now, and what are you doing?

Hi! Right now I'm actually in a cabin in the west part of Iceland recording some new songs for Börn's upcoming 7". 

Who is in the band? And how many other bands are you, or have you been in?

The band consists of Fannar on drums, Alexandra on vocals, Anna on guitar and me on bass. Me, Fannar and Alexandra used to be in a punk band called Tentacles of doom and Fannar has been in several other bands. I used to be in a one person band when I was a teenager and Anna has dabbled with music before but nothing serious.

So when and how did you all get together and decide to make music as a group?

Fannar and Alexandra released an Internet ep in 2010 under the name Norn. They then asked us to join them and in 2011 we released a cassette also as Norn. In 2013 we changed our name to Börn and started being more active.

Your sound is described as loud, dark and gloomy. Is that fair? And is that a genre that you think Icelanders do particularly well?

Yes I think that is quite accurate description of our sound. I don't know if Icelanders do that particularly well or not but there are several great dark bands going right now in Iceland.

And I just read that you're influenced by European post-punk and American death rock. How about you give us one band from each side of the Atlantic that's been a massive influence on you?

From Europe I would mention Vonbrigði and from America Christian Death.

What should we expect from your shows? And why should people choose it over everything else that will be going on at the same time?

Come if you like punk. Go somewhere else if you don't.

Have you had a good look at the Airwaves schedule? What else are you really excited to see?

We're excited for Kælan Mikla, Prins Póló, Saktmóðigur, Reptillicus and loads more. It will be a busy week.

 

Börn are playing at the following times, go if you like punk.

Wednesday 5^th, Hurra @ 19:10

Thursday 6^th, Gaukurinn @ 21:40

Friday 7^th, Dillon @ 17:30

Saturday 8^th, KEX Hostel @ 14:00

HIDE YOUR KIDS!

One of the most fun pre-Airwaves games (for certain characters) is looking through the new crop of excellent band names that just keeps on coming, year after year.  The Grapevine newspaper just did a good article along these lines pointing out the minefield that is the Iceland Airwaves band name line-up.

I admit it, I was drawn to Hide Your Kids by the name. The desire to know more about them, and the fact that there are some very promising songs from this band led me to want to find out more about these fresh-faced newcomers.

 

Hello Hide Your Kids! Where are you right now, and what are you doing?

Hello! We‘re at an office space above an Irish pub which Daníel calls his home. The heating system here doesn‘t work so therefore we are currently freezing.

Who is in the band?

Haukur on bass, Jón Rúnar on drums, Eyrún on keyboards, Kiddi on guitar and Daníel sings.

I have two kids. Why should we hide our kids? Who should we hide them from?

Everybody should hide them, we wish our parents had hid us. We‘re sorry.

What should we expect from your show? And why should people choose it over everything else that will be going on at the same time?

This is our first Iceland Airwaves appearance and we‘re gonna do our best to make it memorable. We‘re proud of our songs and it will be a nice way to start the festival.

Have you had a good look at the Airwaves schedule? What else are you really excited to see?

Future Islands and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. And then the locals would definitely be Low Roar for his presence, In The Company of Men for their power and Vio for their songs.

Finally, can you give some advice for people attending Iceland Airwaves and visiting Iceland for the first time?

Dig deep and bring a sweater.

---

You can see Hide Your Kids at the following opportunities. Don‘t bring your children.

Monday 3rd – Lucky Reconrds @ 20:00

Wednesday 5th – Harpa Norðurljós @ 20:00

Friday 7th - Eymundsson Austurstræti @ 19:00

Kiasmos - Album out today! Airwaves shows next week!

Ólafur Arnalds has provided many Airwaves highlights for me over the years, and also some stunning shows in London too. Plus, I always interview him in years which end in an even number!

So it was a bit of shock to be scanning the line-up for Iceland Airwaves 2014 and to realise that his name was absent. I mean, the guy deserves a break, he is seemingly constantly moving through airports to play shows in country after country. But, no! He will be at Airwaves this year, but this time with his band Kiasmos who have a debut album released TODAY!

Just the excuse I needed to get in touch again to find out more!

 

So, after constantly touring the world and writing music for TV and winning Bafta awards for it, you are playing Iceland Airwaves this year with your band Kiasmos. What is Kiasmos?

Kiasmos is mine and my friend Janus’ hobby suddenly turned serious! 

And how on earth do you find the time?

I don’t sleep much.

You started making music with Janus back in 2007 I believe, are there tracks on the album (to be released just before Airwaves) that date back to those early days?

2009 actually (I think our first press release had a typo in it). The stuff we were doing back then was quite different from what you hear on the album, much less melodic and emotive. When we started work on the album we decided to start pretty much from scratch, not using any older songs, in order to create something that could really be a unified album from start to finish. Representing one moment in time rather than a collection of tracks made over some years. 

Does playing in a slightly different style present any challenges? Or is it a really welcome or relaxing relief?

It’s always nice to do something different. There are new challenges but challenges are good, you learn from them. 

Any thought of going back to drumming?

Not publicly no, but I jam every now and then in the studio. 

I'm sure you'll get a huge crowd for your Iceland Airwaves show, what can we expect from the Kiasmos live experience?

We have created a pretty epic visual show in collaboration with Máni Sigfússon (visual artist) and Stuart Bailes (my light designer). Airwaves will be one of the first shows where we will have all of that, so we are excited! 

Thank you, and good luck for the album and Airwaves. Might there be any daytime or off-venue shows you can tell us about?

We will do a KEXP thing at Kex Hostel, but that’ll be it this year for off-venue shows. 

---

So, just to confirm those Kiasmos shows at Airwaves:

Wednesday 5^th – KEX Hostel @ 14:00

Friday 7^th (Saturday morning) – Harpa Norðurljós @ 00:30

EMBASSYLIGHTS & an amazing exclusive track.

After years of musical flirting, Canada and Iceland finally get into bed together. And that band is EMBASSYLIGHTS.

I am really excited about this feature. For a start, there has always been a strong Canadian contingent at Iceland Airwaves – the annual ‘Canadian Blast’ at Hresso became a pretty essential part of the festival. But as far as I know this will be the first time a band will be playing, and there’s an imminent album, by a band including established members of each scene. From Canada there is Mark Andrew Hamilton (who was amazing at Airwaves 2012 as Woodpigeon), Laura Leif, Samantha Savage Smith and Clinton St. John, and from Iceland there are the familiar faces of Benni Hemm Hemm and Svavar (Mr Prins Polo himself).

 But it’s even better than that, not only can I guarantee that the album is fabulous, I can even go some way towards proving it to you. They’ve only gone and let dear old iceblah host an amazing exclusive track from the unreleased album! Mark very kindly agreed to answer a few questions about how all this happened and more...

EMBASSYLIGHTS 03 2080s

 

Mark, you played at Iceland Airwaves back in 2012 as Woodpigeon. Are you excited to be coming back?

Absolutely. Airwaves was one of the fondest memories of this performing life that I’ve got. It’s such an amazing experience and I can’t wait to share it again. Experiences like this don’t come along every year, so when you’ve got the chance, it’s one you really have to jump at.

Have the other Canadian members of EMBASSYLIGHTS been to Iceland before?  If not, what are you looking forward to showing them?

We wrote all of our songs and rehearsed them in Reykjavik, so yes they’ve already been. But it will be nice this time to not be “working” all of the time and be able to really just soak in Reykjavik life.

How did EMBASSYLIGHTS come about? Did you meet Svavar and Benni at Airwaves 2012?

I met Benni years ago in Edinburgh and we spoke about this idea for ages. We finally found suitable funding and it allowed us to get the entire thing rolling. It’s been about 5 years’ work altogether. I met Svavar at Airwaves while setting up his own Prins Polo show before the Dirty Projectors. He was amazing, and I’m so glad we’ve had this chance to work together.

What is it with Canada and Iceland anyway, there's always a great contingent from Canada at Airwaves. Is it an ice thing?

I think it’s a combination of ice and geographical isolation. Canadian cities are quite far from one another and there’s a slight inherent distrust of the cities to the south of us in the U.S.A. I think both places are very set on making an art scene that exists strongly by its own terms. I think we can relate that way. (There are also a number of Icelandic people living in Canada, centred around a small town in Manitoba called Gimli. A very interesting place).

I've got to ask - why the name EMBASSYLIGHTS and why all those crazy capital letters and no space?

The Canadian Ambassador in Reykjavik has been an incredible help to us in this project, and has welcomed us into the building in Reykjavik for an official dinner. This event seemed fitting to us... As for all-caps and no spaces, sometimes things just look nicer, bigger, or have more impact depending on how you play with them in that way.

As far as I can tell, you guys just have one track public at the moment (now there are two!). When can we expect the album to show up?

We’ll have the album up digitally shortly before the festival, I think. We’re releasing it in a non-traditional way as a book with pages you can play on your record player. The entire book is coil-bound and has a hole through the middle, so you actually put the entire book on the record player. It’s an interesting concept we’re really excited about. Part of the goal is to kind of make that object the main vessel for this music. There are only 250 of them, and once those are gone we’ll make it all available digitally, but for now that’s the focus.

Good luck with Iceland Airwaves. Will the band be doing any daytime and off-venue shows you can share with us?

There’s talk of a couple, including one at Mengi and another at the Canadian Embassy building, but we’ll have all that sorted soon.

I love this band. You have the following two opportunities to see EMBASSYLIGHTS during Iceland Airwaves...

Friday 7^th, Iðnó @ 20:50

Sunday 9^th, Mengi @ 17:00

Kælan Mikla - opening up Iceland Airwaves 2014

I always love the first shows of the first night of Iceland Airwaves. There’s always a bit of magic in the air (and often some sleet etc) and it feels like Christmas morning!

For Iceland Airwaves 2014, Kælan Mikla are lucky (I think) to be filling one of those opening slots. And I am also lucky because I had been really enjoying their stuff on the soundcloud page and I’m also lucky because Sólveig from the band agreed to answer a few questions that I threw her way recently. So let’s do this…

 

Hello Sólveig! Where are you right now, and what are you doing?

I´m very hungover and at my friend’s place watching X-files. Super nice.

Who is in the band? 

It’s me, Sólveig Matthildur, the drum/guitar-girl, Laufey Soffía, the vocal-girl and Margrét Rósa, bass-girl.

Looking at the schedule right now, it looks like you will be the first band I see at this year's Airwaves. I'm excited, are you?

Yes! We are very excited and so glad that we are playing, twice on venue and four times off venue. 

What should I expect?

You should expect nothing. We will try to make a unique performance instead of covering the norm and people’s expectations.

You are described as poetry/punk. Are your songs a combination of both, or are they more one or the other? 

Kælan Mikla´s first performance was actually on a poetry slam more like a group than a band. We are performing music and poetry on the same time.

Have you had a good look at the Airwaves schedule? What else are you really excited to see?

No not really.... but it´s probably really great. I look forward to see The Knifes and Perfect Pussy but I don´t want to plan too much - just try to have a great time and see as many acts as possible off- and on-venue. I´m very happy how many artists are performing, but I think it´s not punk rock enough.

Finally, can you give some advice for people attending Iceland Airwaves and visiting Iceland for the first time?

Iceland is OK. But it’s probably very nice if you´re just visiting. It´s small and everything is on Laugavegur. Don´t go to Kringlan. Shop in Bónus not 10-11. See as many shows as possible and stay on Laugavegur. But if you want to see our beautiful nature, go by yourself, don´t pay for somebody to point at the northern lights, whales or waterfalls it´s all there. 

So, you need to get organised and go and see Kælan Mikla. You have many opportunities:

Wednesday 5^th – Gaukurinn @19:10

Thursday 6^th – Loft Hostel @ 16:15

Thursday 6^th - Bar 11 @ 17:30

Saturday 8^th – Straumur, Bio Paradis @ 17:00

Saturday 8^th – Dillon @ 18:15

Saturday 8^th – Frederiksen @ 21:40

MAFAMA: mountain, sorcerer, devil, wise old man.

I really didn't know much about Mafama before spending some quality time with their music after they were added to the line-up of Iceland Airwaves 2014.

They are a quirky blend of many different influences. They have also made a staggeringly odd and pretty disturbing (in a good way, I think) video for their song "Sonny", which you can see below. What is more, it's an excellent song that I finally fell in love with around 4:10, you'll see (well, hear) what I mean.

 

 

Hello Mafama! Where are you right now, and what are you doing?

Hello! I'm  taking a ride with my best friends.

Who is in the band?

The band is comprised of four male human specimens,  Árni is a mountain, Victor is a sorcerer, Þórgnýr is a devil and Toggi is a wise old man.

Your sound is pretty hard to categorise, there's a lot going on! The Iceland Airwaves site describes it as "A ride through the Chocolate factory and beyond". What do they mean by that?

Tough question, our sound is in part shaped by our tools but also by the fact we can be serious and goofy at the same time. There is also the element of surprise, in Mafama there is no "default" and our music often takes unexpected turns pretty quickly. 

And where does your name come from, why did you choose it?

The name is from Victor's subconscious, a message delivered straight to him from a dream.

You are hoping to fund your debut album via crowd-sourcing on KarolinaFund. Are you hoping the showcase that Airwaves provides will really help with that?

The timing is very much a coincidence since the album was scheduled to be out much sooner, but it can't hurt to get the festival exposure.

What should we expect from your show? And why should people choose it over everything else that will be going on at the same time?

Expect the unexpected, we are a fairly new band and believe we have something fresh to bring to the table, we've been working hard and are super stoked about the Airwaves show.

Have you had a good look at the Airwaves schedule? What else are you really excited to see?

Lots of exciting stuff going on... standing tall are: The Knife, Gísli Pálmi, Caribou, Kimono, The Flaming Lips, Grísalappalísa, War on Drugs, Nolo and many, many more.

Finally, can you give some advice for people attending Iceland Airwaves and visiting Iceland for the first time?

Firstly, we advise you not to miss you our show and second, don’t talk about volcanoes.

You can catch Mafama playing live as follows:

Friday 7th, Húrra @ 20:30

Saturday 8th, Lucky Records @ 14:00

DOES SINDRI ELDON REALLY EXIST?

Sindri Eldon is described on the Airwaves site as a "hellish elemental fireball taken human form".

He was already very high on my wish list for pre-Airwaves interviews this year, I've been enjoying his shows and the music on bandcamp increasingly over the last few years, but that sealed it!

I'm pretty sure that this is the longest interview ever posted on this site. I promise it is well worth reading right to the end (not least to get deatils of all of the shows Sindri Eldon & The Ways will be playing at Iceland Airwaves 2014).

This was a lot of fun to do. So read on to discover whether Sindri really exists or not, who The Ways are, how important and fun Iceland Airwaves is or isn't and so, so much more...

 

Hello Mr Sindri Eldon the legend. Where are you right now, and what are you doing?

Hi, I don't know where all this 'legend' stuff is coming from. If I'm a legend in the sense that sensible people don't believe I exist, I guess I can get behind that. Maybe I'm a myth? NO ONE KNOWS. Andrew W.K. spread that great rumour about how he maybe didn't really exist, but was just a character played by different actors on the bankroll of Island Records/ Dave Grohl/ illuminati lizard people, maybe you and I could do the same thing for me. The title of the interview could read: "DOES SINDRI ELDON REALLY EXIST?" Anyway, I'm sitting at home eating Reese's Cups and listening to GBV. Good times. I'll be hearing from a graphic designer later on today about making some last-minute alterations to my vinyl artwork, and then doing a photo-shoot so I can have some nice promo shots, but until then, I'm just dicking around. People don't realize that like 85% of being a musician is sitting around waiting for other people to become available.

Who are The Ways? And where did you find them?

The Ways are a couple of guys, Frikki and Ási, that have been playing together in bands since they were like fifteen, and I found them entirely by accident. My live band used to be just me and one other dude, Leibbi, who played drums. I was introduced to Frikki via a mutual friend, and we hit it off pretty well, so I asked him to join the band. We didn't really need a third man, strictly speaking, but I just thought he'd make a good addition to the band; the fact that he's a fantastic bass player was just a happy accident. A year or so after that, Leibbi and I came to the mutual understanding that his heart wasn't really in music, that he wanted to be a sculptor. He left the band on good terms, and Frikki brought in Ási, who is a professional live/session drummer and studio engineer. The Ways is sort of his passion project to keep him sane while he does the other stuff to keep the bucks rolling in; he doubled as co-producer on my record, helping me mix it as well as recording about half of it.

You've had some wonderfully strong and enjoyable views on Icelandic music over the years. How important is Iceland Airwaves to the local scene?

First of all, let me address that first part: I honestly don't think I'm saying anything that everybody else isn't already thinking; they're just scared to say it, is all. Iceland is a very small town, and gossip here has been scientifically observed to exceed the speed of light by order of magnitudes. As a result, people here are pretty tight-lipped about how they really feel about someone or other, and their music. You don't want to shit-talk so-and-so because his cousin does booking for a good venue, that kind of thing. I guess I've gone on record saying the things I've said because I've never been terribly interested in 'being part of the scene' and doing things the traditional way. For instance, I do not intend to have a record release show for my upcoming album, because I think that's just a bullshit tradition that people still observe mostly out of obligation to their label or whoever. I mean, I'm never going to reproduce the sound of the record on stage, so why even bother trying? I'd rather expend my time and energy playing a good live show that doesn't necessarily follow the track listing on the record, and celebrate the album coming out in my own way. As for your Airwaves question, I mean, Airwaves is important, and it also isn't. You can get lucky and play a great Airwaves show in front of very important people, and if you know how to use that to your advantage, you can get somewhere. I think it's far important to just put out a good record and get some overseas airplay; that's how every successful Icelandic musician got where they are. I've played Airwaves like five or six years in a row now, but I'm still pretty much an unknown... so I don't know how 'important to the local scene' Airwaves is, but I do get the feeling sometimes that it's actually hurting the scene, in a weird way: it sort of keeps the scene static by re-booking known bands over and over again every year, regardless of how relevant said bands are right now. I mean, Agent Fresco were hot shit like two years ago, maybe, but I feel like the average person has pretty much forgotten about them, no offense to them. Even so, they have two slots this year, including a headline slot on Friday night. I could say similar things about Hermigervill, Brain Police and Sometime. And getting Airwaves booking is no longer the momentous event for smaller bands, or maybe it never it was. I dunno. It seems weird to me, but then again, I don't know the first thing about booking a festival. I'm assuming that after all these years, these guys probably know what they're doing. And if those bands I mentioned are reading this, they should get better publicists or something. Or maybe they don't care, just like I do. I don't know.

And for you personally, is it fun? Are you hoping to catch the eye internationally?

Airwaves is not fun for me, no, except for maybe the last ten minutes or so of every show. I'm playing six shows this year, so that makes an aggregate hour of fun spread throughout five exhausting days of hauling equipment, sound-checking, worrying about my voice, having my dad restring my guitar, coordinating band member pickups/drop-offs (they're both playing in other bands over the festival as well), etc. etc. And personally, I couldn't care less whether or not I 'catch the eye internationally' or not. I've discovered that the only things I really like about being a musician is writing songs, recording them and mixing them, and I can do that as much as I want without having approval from anybody. I only really do Airwaves because when I don't, I feel lazy and irresponsible, like I'm not fulfilling my obligations as a musician. And for those last ten minutes of a good show, when you have the crowd in your hand, the band is tight, you can hear yourself well on the monitors and your voice is in that nice warm zone where you can sing forever without it breaking. And then you step off stage and you're nobody again.

What's the best Airwaves show you've ever seen?

I don't really see shows at Airwaves anymore, and I can't remember any that stand out. Sorry.

You have an album on the way, is it the greatest Icelandic record ever made? And if not, what is?

Well, it's difficult to say for several reasons. First, even the newest song on the record is over two years old, and the oldest song is like ten or eleven years old, which has the twofold effect of making it more a compilation of my first ten years of songwriting, and making even the most recent stuff on there outdated. I've written far better songs than the ones on this record in the last two years. Second, even though we never did manage to get it to sound exactly the way I wanted it to sound, the production on it is just nothing short of phenomenal, and in a lot of ways, I'm sort of more proud of the production on it than the songwriting. It's definitely something you'll want to listen to with good headphones while riding on the bus stoned. In fact, I think I should probably have that put on stickers on the front of the album. Thirdly, I think we all know that the 'greatest' anything is going to be subject to mood swings and the test of time. If you're in the mood for some super-overproduced shoegazy pop-rock, then I think my album will probably blow your mind harder than anything has ever blown any part of your body. As for me, I fluctuate from thinking it’s pretty damn good to thinking it’s a lethargic monstrosity, so I'm probably the wrong person to ask. I think next time around, we're going to keep things a lot simpler, production-wise, and let the performances speak for themselves without burying everything under thousands of guitar and vocal overdubs... I dunno. I guess I just wanted to prove I could make something like this, and I think I did. It is what it is.

In response to the rest of your question, the only Icelandic albums I really ever listen to are all the Botnleðja records except the first one, Doctuz's 'Friendship Of 1,' Egill Sæbjörnsson's 'Tonk Of The Lawn,' Ensimi's 'BMX,' GusGus's '24/7,' Númer Núll's 'Lykill Að Skírlífsbelti,' Stjörnukisi's 'Geislaveisla' and Nolo's 'Nology.' I also enjoy some Stilluppsteypa, 200.000 Naglbítar and Sálin Hans Jóns Míns from time to time. I hate always getting asked what Icelandic music I like, as if that matters more because I'm Icelandic. I mean, I'm humouring you because the theme of this blog is Icelandic, but just for once, I'd like to be asked what Swedish bands I like, what Scottish bands I like or what Texas bands I like.

Is it all new stuff, or does include any of the older demos on Bandcamp?

It's actually mostly old stuff. Of the thirteen songs on there, only two of them have never appeared on the Bandcamp demos. I picked the songs that I felt had not gotten the treatment they deserved on the demos, as well as two fresh songs we had when we went into the studio. Not that I like the stuff any less in lo-fi than I do in hi-fi, but I needed to rerecord my best songs at the time to make them more palatable to the masses, and so people would take me seriously. 

In a way, Icelandic musicians don't really put out lo-fi records for the same reason black people in America generally don't wear used clothes: because people will think that's all they can do, whether due to lack of money or know-how. If I'd put out the demos as they were, people would have just shrugged and kept going, except for the people who've already heard the demos, who would probably prefer those versions anyway. The album is expressly intended for the people who haven't heard the demos; I'm basically just trying to increase my audience. There's nothing on the album for those who already listen to my music. It's sort of like when Kent put out two of their albums in English. I actually also made the album for myself, so I could listen to the songs without cringing at how shitty they sounded. There's also a fair chunk of really great songs on the demos that didn't make it to the record for the sole reason that I felt they'd already been recorded well enough for me to be happy with them. For example, I think '30 Seconds,' 'Soldier' and 'Andrea' all sound fantastic just the way they are, and consequently saw no need to re-record them.

Have you had a good look at the Airwaves schedule? What else are you really excited to see?

Nothing. I intend to go home and drink throat comfort tea when I'm done playing my shows, so as to be ready for the next day's show(s).

Finally, can you give some advice for people attending Iceland Airwaves and visiting Iceland for the first time? For example, how can we make sure we get the best possible Iceland Airwaves experience?

Come to my shows, buy me a drink, get out of the city if you can, don't go to Prikið, Laundromat, Hressó, Hamborgarafabrikkan, Kaffibarinn, Sólon, B5 and any other place where shitheads congregate, don't be surprised if the weather sucks, don't buy water at supermarkets (it’s tap water), and don't buy near-beer at supermarkets thinking it's beer (the state has a monopoly on alcohol and only sells it at special state-owned liquor stores - if anyone tells you otherwise, they're a liar or an idiot).

Thank you Sindri.

So, the debut album by Sindri Eldon will "probably" be out in time for Iceland Airwaves 2014, it is called 'Bitter And Resentful'.

You can catch them playing live at all of these opportunities:

Wednesday 5th, Húrra @ 21:40

Thursday 6th, Gamla Bíó @ 20:40

Friday 7th, Dillon @ 16:00

Saturday 8th, Smekkleysa @ 14:00 & Strumur Bio Paradis @ 16:00

Sunday 9th, Lucky Records @18:00

Non-Icelandic music. WHAT???

There are two things to celebrate today. Firstly, you can now legally call your Icelandic baby Mark, the greatest of all names. Secondly, not content with being the continent's best football team (FACT), exactly three weeks from now Iceland will throw the world's best music festival, Iceland Airwaves 2014.

I have a lot to do between now and then. I have some fantastic interviews in the bag and more still to do before I finally pack my woolly hat and toothbrush. First though, I'm going to have a bash at answering a question that I've been asked a few times this year - which (let's go for 5) non-Icelandic acts will I be seeking out at this year's festival...

I've been keen on Hozier since I first heard him sing Take Me To Church, long before he was announced for Airwaves. His debut album appeared a few weeks ago and is full of quality songs. I'm not always easy to please with bluesy, soully (?) stuff, but this is a cut above. Well worth checking out.

 Blimey, over 4 million plays on Soundcloud!

Next, a band that I definitely never heard from before they turned up on the Airwaves list. The Town Heroes are a band from Halifax, Canada. They play catchy, anthemic alt-rock and that feature singalong choruses (as alt-rock anthems tend to) and even handclaps, which never fails to please me. Right now my favourite track is Holdin' Up Grants, take a listen...

 Just 93 plays of that one, as I type. Life's not fair.

Another thing I'm a sucker for is a good electro-pop band singing in French. Step forward "La Femme". That's "The Woman" right? This is an excellently dressed six-piece band oozing style and general Frenchness. Listen to them, their show is going to be loads of fun right?

And a censored cover too. See! Fun!

Ezra Furman plays late on Saturday night at Iceland Airwaves 2014. He's spent this year playing at just about every festival going, as well as a full UK and European tour. He's gonna be well practiced. He straddles a few genres, he's a showman, he'll probably wear a dress. And he likes Squeeze. It's good Saturday night stuff right? See you there.

 Oh God, one choice left. I don't deal well with this kind of stress. OK, so I'm leaving the incredible Zebra Katz out, he plays on Sunday and I'll be gone. He has some great tunes but his Tiffany cover is beyond brilliant (from 18 minutes on that link). On the basis that they all play within the same 2 hour slot on Saturday night, I'm leaving out Perfect Pussy (DO NOT GOOGLE THAT), Jungle, Greys, Radical Face, Future Islands and East India Youth - all of whom I'd be very happy to end up seeing. So, with a nod to Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Kwabs, I'm going to give the final vote to PINS - I don't know much about them, but they simply sound like they're going to deliver good times playing on Thursday night in Harpa, right before La Femme.

Krómantík by Sóley is out TODAY!

We all love Sóley don't we? That wonderful, haunting, enchanting and utterly engaging debut album, "We Sink", from 3 years ago (3 years already!) seemed to be universally loved and YOU dear iceblahers (?) voted it as the best record of 2011. All the shows at Airwaves have been very well attended indeed.

 

But, 3 years is long enough to wait for something new isn't it, although to be fair she has also produced a child in that time (CONGRATULATIONS!). So it's pretty lucky that today, July 18th, sees the release of Krómantík, and eight track collection of (almost) instrumental piano songs. You can hear it here. And even better, when I had a chat with her to celebrate she confirmed that a follow-up to We Sink would be following in 2015.

 

Hi Sóley, I know you've had a busy year so it's a wonderful surprise to have some new music from you. Krómantík is a very different piece of work to We Sink, what is the story behind this record? 

 

Hi! Krómantík is composed over few years and recorded the summer of 2011 so it's not new for me. I kinda forced MORR music to release it, since i always wanted to do something with this tiny piece of work. It's not pop music - i composed some of the songs while i was in the art academy studying composition. I've always loved to both play piano and make piano songs and i will never stop doing that. This is just beginning. Will release Krómantík#2 soon hopefully!

Your music always makes me think of movie soundtracks, and Krómantík definitely does that too. Last time we spoke you talked about your love of Tim Burton's movies and soundtracks. Has he called you yet to ask you to write a score? 

 

No he has not called yet. He doesn't know what he is missing! I'm joking - but it would be really nice to get a change to write a score for a movie. Maybe horror movie… but actually i don't watch horror movies myself because i'm very afraid of the dark so i don't know how i'll manage to do it. Maybe horror movies are OK if there is no music to make your hair rise slowly ...

Maybe he should write a whole movie based on Krómantík. That would be fun!

 

Haha, totally! 

 

And is it true you are working on a more conventional (is that the right word?) follow-up to We Sink for next year? What can you tell us about that record at this stage?

 

Yes i am working on a new album. Wish i could do it full time but somehow my little 4months old daughter wants to be with me all the time! But that's awesome, i love her so much and she is adorable little child. So when she sleeps during the day i put her outside my studio window in her baby carriage and work like a maniac until it's feeding time again! 

But you know, good things happens very slowly and actually the album is going very well. So far i've done around 30 min of music that will definitely be on the album so i'm pretty well set. I'm really really looking forward releasing it!

 

It has just been announced that you will be playing at Iceland Airwaves again this year. Will you be playing songs from Krómantík and from the next album?

 

I'll definitely be playing songs from my upcoming album. Don't know what will happen with Krómantík - i guess it all depends on the venue. I'd love to play Krómantík somewhere with real piano and sitting audience. Let's see, maybe i'll have a pop up Krómantík show in the airwaves week :)

Yes please! And some old favourites too I hope?

 

My set is always so short, I need to use whatever I can play!

 

Finally, is this still your career highlight?... 

 

Well at least a great honor! 

 

I'll take that as a "hell yes". Thanks so much for your time. Good luck with this release and see you at Airwaves!

 

Thank you and see you at airwaves!

Grísalappalísa's logical next step...

Grísalappalísa were the first band I saw at Iceland Airwaves 2013. I'd heard and fallen in love with their first record, the seven track 'Ali',  and I knew that this was a rare sighting of some former members of the legendary Jakobínarína (seriously, look them up if you don't know them already). The live show, even at the first slot of the night in the large space of the Art Museum was incredible. I very clearly remember watching it and think that this may be the very best show I see all festival, and I think it probably was, and others agree. They also played a brilliant KEX session.

Their career highlight (I assume) followed in December when they achieved a very respectable fourth place in the iceblah record of the year public vote.

So it was pretty exciting when a new single (ABC, below) and album appeared last month (on my birthday, thank you!) and I decided an interview with the band was long overdue. Step forward guitarist (of Grísalappalísa and beyond), Rúnar...

Like all good Icelandic bands, Grísalappalísa contains members from many other bands. Can you quickly tell us who is in the band, and where else we may have spotted you all before please?

Rúnar Örn Marinósson (moi) and Bergur Thomas Anderson, guitarsnapperr and bassknuckle, are also current members of dreamy-haze-gaze pop group Oyama and former members of local treats Sudden Weather Change and Me, the Slumbering Napoleon. Gunnar Ragnarsson and Sigurður Möller Mótorinn Sívertsen, singer/partyboy and drumthumper are former members of Jakobínarína, teenage punkjunk band of FIFA 09 fame. Albert Finnbogason, guitarslinger and musical maestro is also a member of Youtube famous Sóley's live band, eerie droneboner band Heavy Experience, along with our sexy sax-man Tumi Árnason, and former member of the terrifyingly great grindmachine Swords of Chaos. Sax-man Tumi is also a member of ice-dub wonder Ojba Rasta and probably something else that I'm forgetting. Baldur Baldursson, our poet and original prankster, is also the brains behind the mysterious Veirumenn.

It seemed to me that, about a year ago, Grísalappalísa appeared from nowhere. How long had you been working together before those first releases?

I joined Grísalappalísa roughly a year ago. Before that the guys had been making Ali for about a year, not unlike the process of making our new album. We like to do things fast but meticulously.

Your live shows are pretty emotional and intense (and hugely enjoyable), the first show at Airwaves 2014 was very possibly my highlight of the whole festival. Is it fun? and do you know what is going to happen next or is it all spontaneous?

Thank you for the kind words about our show! Yes, it's tons of fun, the most fun I can have. Do you mean the performance itself? It's mostly spontaneous, the only thing that's not is the order of the songs we play and even that often changes during a show. No show is quite the same for us. We have songs that are written in a way that you can morph it into something new every time, it's unique at every show. Some bits and antics we repeat but it's never exactly the same.

Your new album comes quickly after your debut last year. How was the writing and recording process, are you drowning in ideas?

A lot of the new lyrics are leftovers from Ali's banquet but we wrote all the music together. We'd bring individual pieces, riffs, ideas and such to rehearsals and there we put it together like a puzzle. When we started recording we only had like 9 songs ready but we also had extra lyrics so some of the songs are just written on the spot. Now I feel a little dried up but that kind of a period usually doesn't last long. We'll be cooking up something fresh before you know it.

Is the album a logical next step? ( I hope I have that translation right! )

Your translational skills do not fail you. It certainly is a logical step. It's big, refined, rich and catchy. Grown up cheese.

Are you looking forward to playing these new songs live? Are there any plans to play shows outside of Iceland?

We've already played a lot of the songs live but it's always fun. It's fun to see the people who come to our shows shout the new lyrics out, like they want to be with us, not just looking at us. We don't have any global plans as of now but we're touring Iceland in a few weeks, bringing pop for the people!

I'm sure the people are looking forward to it very much. I thoroughly recommend that you all check out Grísalappalísa as soon as possible. You can get ALL OF THEIR MUSIC over here.

Prins Póló - Sorrí

I love Prins Póló (or is it PrinsPóló? Read on to find out) so I'm pretty happy that they have just released a wonderful new record called 'Sorrí'. The herd, led by Svavar Eysteinsson, formerly of Rúnk and Skakkamanage, are in fine form as always.

The album includes asome songs that are a little familiar already, such as Tipp Topp (listen below) which has been around for a while plus a load of excellent new songs.

The new album release seemed like a good excuse to have another chat with Svavar... 

Your new album is called "Sorrí". Are you sorry? What are you sorry for?

The title comes from the act of being sorry for your own existence and saying sorry before doing anything. I also want to say sorry to my friend the Beautiful Carpenter because I did not name the album after him.

 

And who is in the band these days? It seems to change a little every time!

 

The live herd is now Svavar Eysteinsson, Berglind Häsler (Skakkamanage), Benedikt Hermann Hermannsson (Benni Hemm Hemm) and Kristjan Freyr Halldorsson (Reykjavík!) 

How was the process of recording? What is different and what is the same since your last record?

 

Most of the songs were done in my studio by the Prins him self over two years period. In some cases I went to the studio in the morning and worked until evening forcing the songs to come alive. But some songs came to me out of nowhere and then I ran to the studio to record them. In some songs I got some talented members of the herd to work on them with me. 

 

Do you have a favourite song on this album?

Yes, I think "Ég kem med kremid" is one of the best. But you must understand that these songs were written over more than two years period and many different things and ideas happens in one persons life meanwhile. So each song has a personal feeling and personal life experience grown into it. The main manifesto for this album was to make only A-song, but no B-songs. So I threw away all songs I did not love. Many hated songs were put in the trash can in the process of this album.

Your live shows always seem fun (even if I can't understand the stories and jokes that are clearly very entertaining for the Icelanders!) - are you looking forward to playing these songs live?

I can't wait to catch up with the Herd and go live this summer.

Are you planning any shows outside of Iceland?

We will hopefully have the opportunity to go abroad and do some minimal touring in the coming winter. We are open for booking.

OK, important stuff. Is it Prins Póló or PrinsPóló? 

It used to be Prinspóló - Now we are Prins Póló. Beware of the fakes.

And that's a Polish chocolate bar right? How many of those things do you eat?

My mother in law always brings me one or two when we meet.

Going back in time, "Niðrá Strönd" is one of my very favourite songs. I realise I have absolutely no idea what it is about - can you tell me please?

 

It's about this guy talking to the girl he likes. It´s the typical song about "you-did-not-want-me-now-and-you-did-not-want-me-then" But of course they go to the beach and get married in the famous Fella og Hóla church in Breidholt Hills.

 

OK, you have suffered enough. thank you, I'm off to put my cardboard crown on and listen to your wonderful new record. Good luck and thank you!

Thank you! It was a pleasure!

The album is available to stream or order here. You can read an interview I did with Svavar a few years ago here. Prins Póló are already confirmed for Iceland Airwaves 2014. YAY!

Pollapönk !!!!!!!!

Pollapönk's Eurovision adventure provided SO MUCH FUN a few weeks ago. They became a social media sensation all around Europe when they got into the final with the very last announcement and then just carried on really, really, really enjoying themselves. It all gave people I know a chance to tell me they had seen some Icelandic music and they liked it. Of course they did!

I'm excited that I got have an email conversation with main man, Heidar Kristjansson, which is below. If you haven't seen Pollapönk perform their (John Grant translated) song "No Prejudice" yet then click below and carry on reading. If you have seen and heard it before, see and hear it again!

 

Hi Heidar, it has been so much fun watching the Pollapönk Eurovision adventure over the last few weeks. Has it been as much fun for you guys as it has looked? What was the highlight of the whole experience?

 

Yes, it was great fun! We decided to go into the Eurovision country with an open mind, positive attitude and love. What stood out was when we were the last one to get into the final, number 10! It is the fourth time in five years that Iceland is drawn last. It was jaw dropping, literally ;)

 

Were you slightly disappointed with your final position at all or just delighted to have been involved? Did you have a favourite song in the competition?

 

The goal was always to qualify, everything else was just a bonus. My favorite song in the competition was the French song "Moustache" and they finished last with two points!

 

Let's go back to basics, and a common question in Icelandic music, who are you all and what other bands do you or have you played in?

Pollapönk was founded in 2006 by me and Halli. We both came from the band "Botnleðja". We were studying to work as teachers, wanted to create music which could be enjoyed by both children and the broader families. Later Arnar and Guðni from the bands Dr.Spock and Ensími joined the band playing drums and bass guitar. They are also playing with Mugison.

 

And those two beautiful backing singers you had in Copenhagen have some history too don't they?

 

The orange-polli is Snæbjörn. He is a member of the heavy metal band "Skálmöld". Purple-polli is Óttarr Proppe. Óttarr is a member of the Icelandic parliament and the bands Dr.spock and HAM.

 

Excellent! I was pretty surprised to learn recently that both Botnleðja and Dr Spock have entered the selection process to be the Icelandic Eurovision entry before, is that right? They don't seem very 'Eurovision' type of bans to me. Perhaps I need a little less prejudice!

 

Haha...yes that's all true and all good :)

 

Some people may be surprised to find that Pollapönk already have three albums released. The band look and dress like pure fun but I know and love that you have an underlying philosophy about being accessible and appealing to kids. How did you end up with that idea?

 

Pollapönk celebrates diversity and dress hence the different colors. But underneath we are all the same.

 

Last question, and one that people have asked me about a little already, with all this activity and attention this year (and a new compilation coming out I think?) what are the chances that visitors to Iceland Airwaves may be able to party with Pollapönk at later this year?

 

It has not been decided but it´s great fun playing the Airwaves festival. We´ll see! 

Tease!

A New FM Belfast album!!!

I was pretty lucky and excited to get a promo copy of the brand new FM Belfast album recently, it arrived in one of those square parcels with Icelandic postage on it that I so love to receive. This is their third album – if you discount that oddly premature but excellent ‘best of’ that turned up last summer, “The Singles Club”.

It’s a nice problem to have, but FM Belfast’s problem is that they are such a good live band that their records can seem secondary. Sure, they sound good, but what we always really, really want to know is when can we next see them play live! The shows are wonderful, euphoric, insane affairs. I remember them closing Airwaves one year (2009?) in Nasa on the Saturday night, relatively early in their life – they played an incredible set covering Guns n Roses, Technotronic, Snap (and RATM of course) along the way and then ending with an almost naked (and about 20 minute long) version of their anthem, Underwear. Then, at Airwaves 2013 in Harpa they played the best show I’ve ever seen them do – a hall full of people left delighted, grinning, covered in streamers and confetti and wishing they could dance a bit better.

The new album is a very worthy successor to How To Make Friends (2008) and Don’t Want To Sleep (2011). Right now, it’s my favourite of the three. iTunes tells me I’ve heard it 8 times in the last 3 weeks. 3 tracks will already be familiar, DeLorean and We Are Faster Than you appeared in 2012 and 2013 respectively, and then Everything was released about a month ago – all excellent additions to the FM Belfast range. Slightly unexpectedly, my favourite moments of the rest come when they slow down a bit (this only serves as a contract from where they can speed up again of course) on the really wonderful “Ears” and the closer “The End”, which sadly, is not a cover of The Doors.

This is an album to love. You should totally buy it, and then you should seek out a live show.

Brighter Days is released into the wild on April 22nd, you can order a singed pre-order copy here.

Most of this is Rúnk's fault and I love them

The brief version of how I came to be this "crazy foreign person who loves Icelandic music" (said the airline Iceland Express, who later disappeared) is this...

In 1987/88 I fell in love with this band called The Sugarcubes, you probably know them. Therefore when my Dad asked 14 year old me where I would like to go on holiday, I said "Iceland please". We went to Iceland and I fell in love with Iceland. You know, the bubbling mud, the elves, the glacial landscapes are all pretty enticing.

It never occurred to me for some reason that maybe there could be other bands.

I got home to London, wrote to a newspaper and asked if they would put in an advert for penfriends for me (it was 1988 remember, stop sniggering). I got a lot of post from Iceland. I stopped writing to most of them, but kept writing to one of them and still do - you can meet her, she serves the best coffee in Reykjavík in IÐA Zimsen. Eventually she started sending cassettes (look it up kids) full of Icelandic music. They were OK.

I didn't go back until 2002 I think. I still wasn't really noticing any kind of widespread musical wonderfulness beyond Bjork and her former chums. Then, Hildur took me to Grand Rokk (bless it's soul, it was a great place) to see this band called Rúnk. It was thrilling, they were wonderful, the night was an insane party that you just don't get in south west suburban London. It sounded better than anything I had heard before (if you are paying attention, you'll have realised that I was by know "of drinking age").

You may not know of Rúnk, but between them the five members have gone onto bands including Múm, Slowblow, Stórsveit Nix Noltes, Skakkamanage, Borko, FM Belfast, Benni Hemm Hemm and Prinspóló. They only made one record, it was called Ghengi Dahls and it's wonderful.

I interviewed Svavar of the band (now of Prinspóló) a couple of years back and of course couldn't resist asking about Rúnk, He seemed to suggest that some kind of a reunion could happen if enough fanta lemon was on offer. It's an in joke, you have to be waaay cool to get it, the sort of cool that had penfriends in the 80s.

Rúnk, in one night, made me an Icelandic music addict. I wanted more of this, and I found more of it, and I haven't stopped finding it since. I haven't missed an Iceland Airwaves since, and the good times have kept coming. It is all their fault and I love them.

And I'd like to see them again, I'll be in touch...

 

Icelandic Album Of The Year 2013 - Results

I do love an end of year list. This is the third time we've done a vote here for the best Icelandic record of the year. There were 61 voters this time, so we've lost 3 people from 2013 somewhere along the way. Each voter was allowed to vote for up to 5 albums, each vote gets one point.

Only a handful of the votes came from inside Iceland. Despite that, the four albums at the top are the same (but in a different order) as in the Icelandic newspaper Fréttatíminn.

I've done the sums. 32 different records got some love along the way but up at the top it was a two horse race, with Flowers by Sin Fang and Komdu Til Mín Svarta Systir by Mammút both voted for by over half of all those who responded.

So, after Sóley's We Sink in 2011 and Ghostigital's Division Of Culture & Tourism in 2012 comes the very, very excellent Flowers by Sin Fang in 2013. Congratulations!

Thank you so much if you voted. Here's the top ten...

1. Sin Fang - Flowers

2. Mammút - Komdu Til Mín Svarta Systir

3. Sigur Rós – Kveikur

4. Grísalappalísa - Ali

5. Múm – Smilewound

6. Ólafur Arnalds – For Now I Am Winter

7. Snorri Helgason – Autumn Skies

8. Emiliana Torrini - Tookah

9. Amiina – The Lighthouse Project

10. Bloodgroup - Tracing Echoes

 

 

 

 

Back in February, just before he played at Sónar Reykjavík, I spoke to Sindri about various things - but mainly about his new album, Flowers, it is worth a revisit...

Under names including Seabear, Sin Fan Bous, Sin Fan and Pojke - Sindri Már Sigfússon has been involved in a lot of very fine music over many years. His latest album as Sin Fang, Flowers, might just be the best of the lot. Always wonderful to watch live, Sin Fang are amongst a brilliant local line-up at Sónar festival in Reykjavík this weekend. I've been wanting to chat to Sindri for a very long time, this seemed like the perfect moment.

Are you excited that a well known global festival like Sónar is coming to Iceland and that you will be playing at it?

Yep! I hope this festival is here to stay in Iceland.

Sónar bills itself as 'cutting edge music' but seems to favour electronic and dance music and DJ sets. Will you be doing anything different with your Sónar set?

No I don't think so. We are playing all new material though.

What else on the line-up are you keen to see?

I would love to see James Blake and Squarepusher.

Am I right to assume that musicians welcome Sonar to Iceland? Do you think there is benefit for the local scene and for tourism?

 

Yes everyone is excited to have a new festival, also February is kind of a dead time in Iceland so it's great to get an event happening around that time.

Can I get one piece of advice from you for people reading this that may be about to come to Reykjavik for the first time? A favourite bar? A favourite place?

My favourite places to have lunch are the noodle station and the hamburger joint. My buddy has a great bar called Harlem.

Congratulations on your new album 'Flowers', I'm listening to it right now. How was the recording process different from other Sin Fang (Bous) records?

Thanks! It was pretty different for me. It was the first time working with a producer and the process was a bit longer than usual for me. I really enjoyed it and I'm very happy with the way it came out.

Where did the title 'Flowers' come from? You don't need to give people another excuse to decide that all Icelandic music is inspired by nature! Or is it?

The lyrical theme of the album is teenage life and growing up. When you are a teenager there are lots of ups and downs, mood swings etc. Flowers are used for both happy and sad occasions so I thought it was a good name for the theme. So I wouldn't say it's very nature inspired.

Do you have a personal favourite song on the album?

Right now it's the last song on the album, Weird Heart.

I love your version of 'The Only Living Boy In New York', I'm interested to know what is your favourite song to play that you didn't write and which other artist you would most love to hear play on of your songs?

I don't really play very many covers except for when I'm recording a version of my own. I did a cover for the tv show Fraggle Rock the other day that's not out yet. That is my favourite. I would love to hear R.Kelly do "What's wrong with your eyes".

Who wouldn't! Your most recent musical alias is Pojke. When can we expect to hear more from this project?

I don't know. I have a few almost finished songs in the computer but I don't know if I'll finish them.

One final question - I was just listening to Pojke, but those songs ran out so itunes has moved me along the alphabet (backwards) and now I'm hearing Poison. So what's your favourite eighties hair metal track?

I was never so into hair metal. Were The Scorpions hair metal? Can I say Winds Of Change?

It's a fine choice.

Sin Fang will play at Sónar on Saturday at 10pm. There will not be any cover versions, but you should definitely go anyway.

 

Icelandic Album Of The Year 2013

It is December, so it must be end of year list time.

This is the third time I have run this particular piece of fun. Last year, 64 of you lovelies took the time to cast your votes and we managed to get a bit of press attention too.

The search for a worthy successor to Ghostigital (2012) and Sóley (2011) starts here.

The set-up is just as before, each person can vote for up to 5 Icelandic albums, EPs and each will receive one point. I will do some sums and announce a winner just before Christmas.

Votes are very welcome from anybody and from everywhere, all of you can have five votes. The vast majority of votes has always come from  outside of Iceland, but don't be shy Icelanders - even if you're a musician voting for yourself!

Last year I listed everything I had acquired during the year with the idea of helping jog some memories, but someone gave me a gentle talking to about influencing voting, so I'm not doing that again (I will later on), but I will instead risk giving you this link to where the great Dr Gunni lists his own 2013 highlights.

So, please get thinking, spread the word and send your votes in to me at markollard at googlemail dot com.

 

Iceland Airwaves 2013 - Grúska Babúska interview

"Grúska Babúska is a 4 piece all female band, with an out-of-space wonky, electronic, synth, melodic, acoustic and twisted icelandic fairytale sound"

I'm not even going to attempt to better that description which you can find on Grúska Babúska's very fancy website. It does sum the sound up pretty nicely, plus I really like the word wonky.They are a really very endearing group, great sound and a live show well worth seeking out across the next week.

Hello Grúska Babúska, where are you right now and what are you doing?
 
We are in Reykjavík, and getting back together after a short break this summer after the release of our debut usb-babuscka-doll-album and our London tour. Our singer just had her first baby girl and our flute player just moved back from Belgium, so we are finally reunited and with a new born possible fifth member joining our every rehearsal and gig now, which is very sweet!

For non Icelandic-speakers, what does your name mean please, why did you choose it?
 
The word Babúska is a term we use here in Iceland for the Russian Dolls that come apart and reveal something magical/fairytale-like inside them. Grúska then means to search and seek until you discover. We thought it was very describing for what we were doing, as we all come from different social and musical backgrounds and bring and reveal something new and magical and we all like to "grúska" in different music - mix and match and have fun whilst doing it. The name and the whole consept of Grúska Babúska and the music all fits, maybe entirely by accident, maybe not ;)
 
Your sound is pretty hard to describe, could you have a go?
 
hehe....that is a very tough question and maybe the most commonly asked one. But I think because we all come from different musical backgrounds (classical flute - jazz vocal studies - electronic folky synths and beats - theatrical musical studies) and because we have literally decided to have no rules in our music, but to let go and go with everything that flows, it makes the music so hard to describe and label. And maybe especially for others, as many people need to label things.... Not everybody gets the music and not everybody is willing to receive it, but it is what it is - it´s genuine and it´s what comes to us and it´s not trying to fit any genre or style or trend. It could be described as electronic folk pop classical indie rock, but I think I just mentioned almost all genres there! ;)... well, wonky it is at least for us, and we still laugh out loud of joy and quirkiness when we listen, rehearse and perform our music. So that´s what our music is perhaps...something that just came out from a group of 4 Icelandic very oddly different girls and we love it!....

You worked with Mike Lindsay on your debut record. How was that?

It was really fantastic. Mike got our music and concept almost immediately after he heard our songs, and even though he put up a bit of a odd face from time to time, i.e. when he heard our song Blabla (which will be released before Airwaves on a limited edition B-sides EP) or when he heard the playful childlike melodies of Miðaldarkirkja or the aggressive choir of Burg, he always appreciated and understood the genuinity and difference of our music. He never tried to make it less odd than it really was, or more, or over-produce it or take away the charm (well, he really wouldn´t even have succeeded trying to do that, having 4 Icelandic determined girls pulling his hair! :)). But he helped us with the very final recordings and we are very thankful for that, as we were no experts in studio recordings and pro tools, and he has one of the very most challenging and interesting sets of ears and mind in the music world today!, at least in our opinion.

There will probably be 5 or 6 other bands playing around town at the same time as you - tell me why people must choose to see your show?

Well, coming to our show will give people the only chance to get a copy of our limited edition B-sides EP, that we are releasing for Airwaves on the same day we perform. But honestly I don´t think people should rather see our show than the other shows - all the acts at Airwaves are interesting in their own way and will leave you with a party in your ears and mind for sure! I´d just recommend that people try to see as many Icelandic acts as possible. Airwaves is mostly an Icelandic festival and for some of the local artists a first-time-chance to be seen and heard by a foreign audience, and it is absolutely awesome to see and feel what the music world is all about - that it can be about more than the music that is fed to you through radio and other media. I would therefore recommend people to go out early and try to see a little bit of everything. It´s a true cultural event and one of the biggest ones in Iceland.
 
What else are you keen to see at Airwaves this year?

Björk viggósdóttir og dj. flugvél og geimskip are also performing on the Wednesday and other Icelandic acts are playing on Harlem venue throughout the festival and on Amsterdam (i.e. Caterpillarmen, Good Moon Dear), which are worth checking out. Well, then of course Kraftwerk, Wow!.....  And Múm, Yo la Tengo and the Ólafur Arnalds show with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra is bound to be amazing!

Can you pass on some tips for first timers at Airwaves and in Iceland?

Just to be and enjoy.

Grúska Babúska's main show comes on the very first day of Iceland Airwaves 2013, at 20:50 in Harlem. It would be a nice to start to your festival to be there and enjoy them, Right now there will be four further chances to catch them during the week. Check the app!

 

Iceland Airwaves 2013 - The Anatomy Of Frank interview

The Anatomy Of Frank are, as far as I can tell, a bunch of fun and friendly Americans with a thing for Iceland. In other words, exactly the sort of international band you want to see at Iceland Airwaves. At the last count they had 10 off-venue shows lined up, I rather suspect they are after an invite to play on the main programme next year. I get the distinct feeling they'd like that. I came across them when I checked out all the acts who would be playing at my favourite bookstore/café in town, Iða Zimsen. I liked what I heard a lot, and then happened upon the NME enjoying their version of THAT Daft Punk tune. You can 'get lucky' (oh yes) and see them play in Iða Zimsen on Thursday afternoon at 14:20, or almost anywhere else, most of the time.

So you guys are playing a few shows around Reykjavík during and after the Airwaves festival, but not an official evening show. What's the story?

The story is that we didn't get into Iceland Airwaves.  We're a young band, but we have a good fan base in Reykjavík and believe that our acoustic show will be unlike anything people have seen before.  I'm excited about just playing off-venues; the festival is such an inclusive atmosphere and I think we'll be in the official lineup eventually.  Until then, we're aiming to show people a good time.

You even have a song called "Postlude for Reykjavík" - It sounds like true dedication. So tell us, why should people come and see you play?

I don't want to claim that my love for Iceland should be a reason for Icelanders to come see The Anatomy of Frank.  Iceland is a magical place, and it means a whole lot to a lot of people.  What I would propose is that my band has been working hard for a long time to make our concert an unforgettable experience, and I would hope newcomers would push past the never-heard-of-'em barrier and come check it out.

You are doing 10 shows in 4 days - are you still looking for more?

We're aiming for 50.

Have any of you been to Iceland before? What are you expecting?

I have been to Iceland several times as a solo version of The Anatomy of Frank, and have performed with friends like Myrra Rós, Árstíðir, and Svavar Knútur.  It's my favorite country and I miss it constantly; to see it in the heat of Airwaves will be amazing, and I'm excited beyond words to bring my band with me this time around.

Have you seen the Iceland Airwaves line-up? What are you excited to see?

I'm especially excited to see Ásgeir Trausti, Sóley, Kiriyama Family, Árstíðir, Yo La Tengo, Úlfur Úlfur, Amiina, Ghostigital, and Myrra Rós.  Holy shit...I am going to get no sleep.

The Anatomy Of Frank are definitely a band worth seeking out, you can't complain about a lack of opportunity. Don't just take my word for it, there's a bnunch of press cuttings and quotes over here.

Iceland Airwaves 2013 - Reykjavík! interview

Reykjavik! have been one of the highlights of Iceland Airwaves for years and years. But even better than that has been their annual interview with a website called 'iceblah'. And the unbelievable, distressing, but ultimately true fact that Reykjavik! are not playing this year wasn't going to end that particular brand of fun...

 

Hey Reykjavik! I am checking out the schedule for Iceland Airwaves 2013 and I can't find your shows. Help me out. What is going on?

Hey Mark Ollard! 

This year, we are only playing SECRET SHOWS at SECRET VENUES that will not at all be publicized. It is like a meta publicity stunt. As a band of philosophy students (good news: two of us have graduated now, so soon we shall be a band of philosophers!), we thought we'd explore that old "tree falling in the woods/no one hearing it" cliché, by exchanging "tree" with "band" and "falling" with "playing" and "woods" with "music festival". This was necessary, as there aren't really any trees in Iceland, so we could not confidently conduct the thought experiment as it was meant to be conducted. There are no trees, but there certainly are a lot of bands and, actually by now, a bunch of music festivals.  

Wait, Mark, this is maybe not true. Maybe we aren't playing any secret shows this year. Maybe we won't be playing at all? I can't say for sure. 

What I can tell you for sure is this: we haven't been very active this year, aside from drinking together and writing some songs together and whatnot. This is mostly due to me (Haukur) mostly living abroad and others having other stuff to do (Valdi had a new kid, Geiri is pregnant, Bóas moved to Ísafjörður, Kristján runs a bookstore and a radio show, Gummi runs the city of Reykjavík, etc etc

It's weird, not being on the schedule though. I think we've played every Airwaves since 2004. Or 2005? And we've had a blast every time. 

Maybe not playing this year will make playing next year extra special fun? Maybe it'll make us realize what we're missing, so we'll put like 400% energy in it next time? I don't know? 

Maybe we're not playing as a courtesy to the band Fucked Up, because we love them and don't want to upstage them (as we surely would)? 

I don't know. 

This is very serious. Can Iceland Airwaves cope without those legendary shows? What will you do instead?

I honestly don't know if Airwaves can cope for that matter. They are trying though. We have to give them that. They got a bunch of legends to play, to ease the pain. Like Fucked Up and Yo La Tengo and Kraftwerk and whatnot. I am sure this will help things along a bit. 

Nei djók. The festival will be fine. It's never been about any one band anyway, it's about love and joy and shared experiences. It goes way beyond any one band or venue (you should also note that GusGus aren't playing this year either! What is this world coming to!?!)

As for us, during the festival: We'll go watch Fucked Up!

I wasn't planning to go either this year, but I'm seriously wavering as it gets closer. Are you SURE you're not going to play?

Wait a minute? This makes no sense?!? A Mark Ollard-less Airwaves? Who will I promise to buy a beer and then never buy that beer for them now? 

Yeah of course we're wavering. But Airwaves is a giant festival at this point. By now they have all their schedules and everything written out in DOUBLE EXCEL and there's not room for change or last minute additions. The programme is set in stone. So even if we changed our mind, I don't think we could play. 

Thank god the audience list isn't set in stone like that. You can still come, Mark! Do it! 

OK, how about I will if you will?

This is tempting, really tempting. Does that mean I can not buy you that beer again this year, too? Because if it does, I might try to pull some strings. 

[UPDATE: since this conversation, and only partly because of this conversation, I AM going to the ball, come say hi]

Pull them strings sir. So, what is new in the world of Reykjavik! recently?

Volcanoes and babies. 

Both excellent things…

So much dancing.

Oh yes?

There was a wedding. We made a video to commemorate it (as we couldn't play, as there was vesen). You can watch it here:

We also wrote a couple of songs. 

Any good?

 Yeah they were pretty good. One has harmonica and handclaps and everything. Truly pushing the boundaries. Hey! But, then, what's new in the world of Mark Ollard? You got a new job, right? How's that working out? You also got a new baby, as far as we can tell from places like Twitter and the like. How are you fitting into that new role? Is the responsibility almost breaking you, Ivan Drago-style? Did it break you? Any Philly trips on the horizon? 

Well yes, there is a new baby Ollard and a new job, and also a new house (you missed that), and those three combined are trying to break me. I should probably treat myself to a trip to Iceland right?

I saw you described as a bunch of sexy Dads (just like me) is that fair? (actually that may have been a comment on the whole city but there was a ! at the end so I assumed it's you guys)

That's fair. Those of us who are dads are rather sexy. And those of us who are not dads are also quite sexy (me included - I've been working out and everything).

Sexy indeed.

Hey, do you remember Airwaves 2007? This guy killed it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVs532LkiAA

I remember some of Iceland Airwaves 2007 *enters reverie* Ah, Airwaves 2007… when Vicky were still called Vicky Pollard. When The Teenagers last released an album (COME ON GUYS), when Reykjavik! had dancing girls.

Oh yeah the dancing girls. Man that was fun. We got so much shit for that. People thought we were being rock star assholes, like Mötley Crüe or something. Hahahaha. If only they'd known. Those girls were a dance group that our (well me and Gummi's) niece Valgerður had going at the time. We thought it would be fun to invite them to partake, they hadn't performed a lot for audiences at that point - we also invited them to dance with us at that year's Gay Pride festival. Family fun. 

So can we expect an energetic return to action and some smokin' hot or glacially cold ROCK music in 2014?

Of course you can! 

Well that’s OK then. Miss you guys...

Miss you too, Mark. We all do. 

I will have to not buy someone else a beer this festival if you don't show up. And then I will cry some very real, very sad tears in that non-beer.

OK, I’ll be there, that non-beer is just too tempting. See you there, it’ll be like a sexy Dads convention, what with that Paulo Sullivano turning up too. Lucky Iceland Airwaves.

What? Paul is coming too? That's amazing! It'll be a good bash, for sure.

Totally true. See you all there.

Iceland Airwaves 2013 - Óli Dóri interview

The website straum.is is exactly the sort of wonderful looking and clearly essential Icelandic website that makes me resolve again to try a little bit harder with that language. It is a great looking place with a load of news and features plus plenty of videos. And, it has just turned one year old (CONGRATULATIONS!!!).

Óli Dóri is one half of the duo that make it, and its fabulous sister radio show, happen. He's also (very obviously) a huge fan and ambassador for the local music scene and just an all round nice guy, and if that doesn't get me a drink next week I don't know what will.

:-)

Congratulations on your website straum.is being one year old. Why did you decide to start it?

Thank you Mark! Me and my friend Davíð who runs straum.is with me felt that Reykjavík needed a website to document the city active and growing music scene.

And it's not just a website, it's a radio show too! How do the two things work together?

It works really well together. Straumur the radio show has been on the air since January 2006 on 3 radio stations. Its once a week on X977 and you can stream the program and look at the playlist on straum.is about 1 hour after it's off the air. (the Airwaves show is right here) Straum.is is like a daily version of what i'm doing on the radio show.

You are clearly a big supporter of the local scene, so I assume you are pretty excited about Iceland Airwaves?

Yes! I have been to every Iceland Airwaves since the 2nd festival back in 2000 and seen it developing into this really great thing. The festival is really important for the music scene in Iceland and is a big reason in the fact that we have so many great bands here!

What about Sonar too? How many festivals is too many?

Sonar and All Tomorrow's Parties Iceland are both great addition to the scene. To have Sonar in February, ATP in June and Iceland Airwaves in November is fantastic!

What impact do you think the closures of great venues like Nasa, Faktory and Sirkus (and more) will have on the scene?
 
It makes it harder for people to put on a medium size shows! It's really bad for smaller band that are starting out! The independent music scene in Reykjavík needs places like Nasa and Faktory to flourish!

What local bands should foreign visitors make sure they see at Airwaves?

There are so many great bands in Iceland. But if I would have to name a few local bands to check out I would tell people to go to see Grísalappalísa, Nolo, Sykur, Samaris, múm, Fm Belfast, Prins Póló and Sin Fang.

And lastly, what is your advice to Airwaves first-timers?

See as many show as you can and check out the off-venue program as well. It's great! Also have a hot dog and visit a swimming pool!

All very fine advice! Thanks so much for taking the time, maybe I'll see you there.

Thank you sir and I will see you at Iceland Airwaves!!

Iceland Airwaves 2013 - Úlfur Eldjárn interview

Úlfur Eldjárn is already well known as a member of the legendary (there I said it) Icelandic act Apparat Organ Quartet - a band high on the list of the "must-sees" for this and many previous Airwaves festivals. This year, Úlfur is also playing for the first time as a solo artist and is working on more than one fascinating project that you need to find out more about. His kids have gone to bed, my kids have gone to bed. It's time for some Dad to Dad music chat...

Hi, where are you right now, and what are you doing?

I'm at home. My kids have gone to bed and I've lit some candles and poured myself a glass of my favorite cola-nut beverage. I'm sitting in front of my laptop with earphones, listening to the master of my soundtrack for the film Ash, before I send it off to the CD-manufacturing plant. By plant I mean a factory. I don't have a plant in my home that produces CDs. It'll be released later in the month. I'm really excited about putting it out.

It sounds like you're going to be busy at Airwaves. How many performances will you be doing in various forms?

At least two official Airwaves shows. One with my band Apparat Organ Quartet, and the other a solo performance. We don't know yet if we'll do any off-venue shows.

You are performing as a solo artist for the first time at Airwaves, do you get nervous?

I'm starting to become really nervous about the fact that I'm not really nervous. I've played so many times with my band at this festival and I love everything about it, so I guess I'm more looking forward to it than worrying about it. Iceland Airwaves is such a joyful time for musicians in the Reykjavík scene. It's our Christmas. I try to look at it as a celebration and not focus to much on how bad or good I'm going to do on stage as a solo artist.

Your new record has been described as being inspired in part by the glory days of early synth music. Should we expect something like Jean-Michel Jarre?

It's still a work in progress so I'm not sure exactly how much Jean-Michel Jarre you're going to hear in there, but it's definitely influenced by his spirit and also the spirit of other pioneers such as Moroder, Vangelis, YMO, Kraftwerk... especially early Kraftwerk. I'm trying to marry the futuristic nostalgia I have for this kind of music with my love for classical music. But of course I'm not exactly trying to sound like the influences cited. My approach is more personal and perhaps minimalistic although it's also big minded. It's not really going to sound like Vangelis meets Wagner. That's just a part of what's going into the blender.

You have also recently launched a pledge campaign for an interactive string quartet project. Sounds very clever! Can you explain it to me?

Yes I'm trying to raise funds at the excellent crowdfunding site Karolinafund.com - I've written a string quartet that doesn't have a beginning or ending or any predefined structure, instead it's recorded in many little pieces that can be joined together in any manner that you like. For this I'm going to create an online platform where people play around with the pieces of the string quartet, join the together in any order they wish, or have them play many at a time. Compositionally there are infinite possibilities of reordering the material, hence the name, String Quartet no. 8 or The Infinite String Quartet.

The work is going to be free for anyone to enjoy online, but in order for it to work out I need to pay for programming work, some design and sound mixing work. The fundraiser should cover at least part of the costs.

It's a good cause to pledge to, because I'm letting people enjoy my creation for free. I'm experimenting with new ways of releasing and enjoying music. And anyone who pledges  gets some goodies in turn for their pledge. I hope you have time to check it out.

You'll also be appearing with your band, the wonderful Apparat Organ Quartet. Your shows are always a massive highlight - is it as much fun on stage as it is down below?

I've never been to an Apparat Organ Quartet show myself so I don't really know. But it's on our to do list – we´ve often talked about doing this – to hire some professional keyboard players to rehearse our songs and play for us, trying to imitate our show – including every move we make on stage – the best they can, so we can stay in the audience and try to understand what it feels like. But I really think it's going to be lot of fun for us. We're probably going to try out some brand new material, some new jingles and maybe even some new dance moves. This is always fun for us and I hope the audience will like it.

If you have time, what else are you going to try to see at Iceland Airwaves 2013?

There are so many acts and so little time. Two of my favourite bands in the world will be there and I'll try not to miss them: Yo La Tengo and of course Kraftwerk. Also I'd like to see Múm, one of the best bands ever to come out of Iceland. I'm curious to see what Daniel Bjarnason is doing live, what I've heard of his new record sounds amazing. I would also try to catch Sykur, another festival favourite, featuring my brother and frequent collaborator Halldór. Definitely going to try and see Love & Fog too. Then there's a new feature of the festival which is called Airwords - a whole evening of writers reading from their work. I'm definitely trying to catch my friend Ryan Boudinot who's coming all the way from Seattle to be there. Apparat Organ Quartet did a collaboration with him a year a go when we visited Seattle. We had him on stage writing instant poetry "live" to our music. I'm reading his novel now, Blueprints of the Afterlife. Such an excellent and imaginative work. I think it's going to be a really cool addition to the festival.

You can see Úlfur Eldjárn's Airwaves show on Saturday (November 2nd) in the Gamla Bíó theatre. He is also doing an off-venue show at the 12 Tonar store inside Harpa on Wednesday (October 30th) at 5pm.

Iceland Airwaves 2013 - Hymnalaya Interview

Hymnalaya have only been around a short time, yet their debut record is already available from excellent local label recordrecords. They are yet another Icelandic band who are not easy (at least for me) to categorise or easily describe (so I asked them to do it for me below), I also like a comment on their youtube page that the music, "goes nicely with my tea". Sometimes that is just what you need. I do know that I love the track, In My Early Years.

I had a chat with guitarist Gísli...

Hello Hymnalaya, where are you right now and what are you doing?

Hello Mark, I am in my school called Listaháskóli Íslands translates Art Academy of Iceland I am suppose to be doing something super-creative but instead I'm answering your questions.

You have only been together a short time. Who is in the band and what do you all do?

I am in the band and I play guitar, and then it's Einar on lead vocals and guitar and his girlfriend Þórdís on violin and our amazing drummer Kristofer.  We started Hymnalaya but we've been trying to form a band for last couple of weeks with some amazing people such as Gylfi (stand up bass), Alfreð (guitar), Óli (piano), Egill (tuba), Kristín (clarinet), Eiríkur (trumpet), Einar (Bassoon).

Sounds like a party! How would you describe your music?

I would say Hymnalaya's sound is rooted in old hymns that we've combined with indie, ethnic and ambient textures.

There will probably be 5 or 6 other bands playing around town at the same time as you - sell us your show, why should people choose to see your show?

Because we live on a small island and it would amazing to see some new faces so please come to our show and let’s be friends!

Are you happy to be playing at Iðnó? It seems like a nice place for your sound.

Super happy about playing Iðnó is one of the most magical houses in Reykjavík which used be a theatre but is now a cultural house and I always like concert in this house it's old and got some soul.

[The show has since been moved to Gamla Bíó. I hope they are as happy about that. It's also a beautiful setting]

What else are you keen to see at Airwaves this year?

I wanna see Anna von Hausswolff, Yo La Tengo, Hjaltalín, Emilíana Torrini, Múm, Bob Justman, Sin Fang and Moses Hightower.

Can you pass on some tips for first timers at Airwaves and in Iceland?

Don't make to many plans just enjoy!

Yes. Did you hear that? Just enjoy yourself! One good way of doing that might be to go and see Hymnalaya and say hi to them, they're very friendly. You can do exactly that at the show at Gamla Bíó on Friday night, November 1st, at 20:50. They are also planning to play 4 off venue shows during the day. Go find them!

Iceland Airwaves 2013 - Vök Interview

The annual competition for new bands in Iceland, Músíktilraunir, has a pretty incredible track record for unearthing excellent talent (seriously, check out hte list of winners here). So it would be fairly silly to not stick with tradition of the last 5 or 6 years and have a word with the most recent winners before they get to perform at Iceland Airwaves. This year's champs are Vök, an electronic duo with shades of The XX in their sound. Their song, "Before", is a great place to start.

 

Hi Vök, where are you right now and what are you doing?

We are relaxing on a Monday afternoon returning phone calls and emails, scheduling the upcoming Airwaves! 

What does your name mean? and who is in the band?

Our name is a unique Icelandic word which has no equivalent in english, Vök describes an opening on Ice or in the clouds. We have Margrét Rán as a lead vocalist and guitar/keyboard, Andri Már on Saxaphone and launchpad and Ólafur Aleksander as lead guitarist and bassist.

Congratulations on winning the Músíktilraunir (new bands) competition, how does it feel to follow bands like Maus, Mínus, Mammút, Jakobínarína and those Of Monsters & Men (look how young they looked!) people?

Thank you very much! It’s such a surprise and a big challenge which we love facing every day.

What are you planning for Airwaves? There will be a bunch of other bands playing at the same time as you - so why should people choose your show?

We haven't gotten that far yet! We're still planning our timetable for the shows, but if you get tired of all the rock and roll Racket, come check us out!

What other bands are you excited to see?

This upcoming Airwaves has many of our favorite Icelandic bands playing: Emiliana Torrini, Hjaltalín, Sin Fang, Bloodgroup and the list goes on. As for Foreign bands there are for example Aluna George and Golden Panda.

And finally, how about a few local tips for the festival first-timers?

Patience! Number one two and three! And don't be afraid to check out the off venue places as well!

So, appetite whetted, you can find Vök on the Wednesday of Airwaves at 8pm in Harpa Norðurljós and on the Saturday night at 10:30 in (deep breath) Þjóðleikhúskjallarinn. They also have 4 off venue shows, so no excuses not to catch them somewhere!

 

Iceland Airwaves 2013 - AMFJ interview

I've only seen AMFJ (Aðalsteinn Jörundsson,) play once, and I'll definitely be trying to see him again this year. It's noisy, it's distorted, it's electonic and it's very, very real. It's kind of irresistable. I'm delighted to have had a chance to catch up with Aðalsteinn and ask a few questions ahead of Airwaves and a pretty special sounding European Tour...

Hi Mr AMFJ, where are you right now and what are you doing?

Hi Iceblah, I’m hanging out at my house, doing some promo for the upcoming tour around Europe and the fund raiser show for it on Gaukurinn this Thursday.

So, erm, should I ask what the MF between your initials stands for?

I think you actually might know that and there’s no need to speak so crudely in such a distinguished blog.  

Your bio on the Airwaves website says that your shows "leave no one untouched" - should we be afraid?

Nah, no need for alarm. I do try to move people in my performances, with either the music alone or my stage presence. I think for a good show, for any band,  there needs to be an element danger for the music to be fully appreciated on a full emotional level. So I try to bring that in some form to all my shows.

There will probably be 5 or 6 other bands playing around the same time as you - tell me why people must choose to see your show? What should we expect?

These are all good bands. If I wouldn’t be playing in that slot I’d go see Grúska Babúska. They play a nice electronic folk and they’re very hard working and I respect that. But AMFJ is very different band to all them so I’d say that if you’d like to see something purely electronic and possibly loud, AMFJ would be your best option.

I believe you have plans for a crowd-funded European tour. What's the plan?

The label I release all my music on, FALK is putting out 4 releases by AuxPan Oberdad von Brutal, Krakkkbot and myself. Two of us, me and Krakkkbot, are touring Europe to promote these releases, and ourselves, of course. The crowdfunding project is on karolinafund and is to finance train rides and accommodation on the tour. This happens from 10^th to 20^th October and we have already booked 6 shows out of 8 possible dates so that’s going really well, including 2 Berlin shows on the 13th and 14th (facebook page here). So, we’re pretty excited about the whole thing, it’s our first tour on foreign soil.

What else are you keen to see at Airwaves this year?

Of course I want to see everyone who I share the bill with on the night I am playing, the Yatra Arts night. It’s also a release show for a both a compilation CD that features all of us on the bill that night and a split cassette with myself and AuxPan, that Yatra-Arts is releasing that same day. Outside of that I’d like to check out John Grant and Zola Jesus and Ophidian I, possibly Kraftwerk or Bárujárn. I like wandering around the festival and drop into something that I don’t know and learn about something new.

Can you pass on some tips for first timers at Airwaves and in Iceland?

Yes. Check out the off venues during the day. The often have a very good schedule in nice venues such as bus stops and such. I feel they capture the essence of the festival. I am playing at some of them and will offer a lot harsher and more intense set there then on the actual “on-venue”. For those who’re into that sort of madness.

You can, and you should, see AMFJ on the Wednesday night of Iceland Airwaves 2013 at 20:50 in Harpa Kaldalón. Look out also for those calmer (yeah, right) off venue shows during the daytimes. And, once again, you can contribute to the crowd-sourced Euro tour at the link above.

I Fell In Love With A Song

I heard a song around lunchtime yesterday. It was performed live at Harpa a few days ago by the classic Icelandic band Nýdönsk, it was their song Flugvélar. I was vaguely familiar with the song, it was on an album I had from I guess about 10 or 12 years ago. I hadn't heard it for a long time.

But there's something else too. For this performance it was sung by musical genius and the basically Icelandic John Grant. It is outrageously beautiful.

I love John's voice, I love his passion for Iceland, I love that he cares enough to spend the time translating the lyrics, rehearsing it and giving this incredible performance with a band that, let's face it, he probably didn't grow up listening to.

I've heard this version 10 times in the last 30 hours, and it's time to do it again.

 

Hey Reykjavík Grapevine, I think I love you

The English language Icelandic newspaper, The Reykjavík Grapevine is 10 years old this week. This is not going to be an unbiased article, I totally love that paper.

Over the last ten years I have (yes, you know this) been a regular visitor to Iceland. When I think of Iceland I pretty quickly think of Grapevine. Whenever anyone asks for a bunch of recommendations for their trip to Iceland, usually the first thing I say is to pick up the latest copy of Grapevine. It immediately gives you a real and honest feel for Reykjavík, it tells you what's on, it tells you where is good and where is bad (and sometimes even where is a karaoke bar), it tells you what the issues are, what's topical - whale meat, smelter construction, strip club controversies, and it regularly makes you laugh.

It's run on a shoestring, it has interns, part-time writers and contributors and the occasional article by unpaid enthusiasts who receive nothing me than a little plug for their cute little Icelandic music blog ;-)

I love their music reviews, they are witty and honest and I liked it when quality was measured in terms of how many beers you should be willing to not drink in order to afford the record.

I loved it when Hugleikur Dagsson was a regular contributor with tiny little cartoons or two page spreads showing all the beasts native to Iceland.

I loved it when they let me do the cover feature (page 20 if you're very keen!) interview with Sprengjuhöllin during Iceland Airwaves in 2008. I loved every Iceland Airwaves issue ever, it was always a joy to sping (kind of) out of bed and skip (kind of) to the nearest coffee place to grab an espresso and read what people honestly thought of what had gone on the night before. Those guys work through the night for this. 

I loved it when Haukur got angry, really angry, when someone did a wee where they really shouldn't be doing a wee.

I loved the list of their most viewed articles. Björk, volcanos, elves, horses.

I loved it when I subscribed (you can too) to the newspaper and it would arrive in all its glory through my letterbox and I'd feel really special (in a good way) reading The Reykjavík Grapevine on the London Underground. In your face Metro. And now I love it when I get the alert that a new pdf edition is ready for me to have an online browse through on some fancy device or other.

Good work guys :-)

 

 

Jóhann Kristinsson interview

I came across Headphones, the new album by Jóhann Kristinsson, last week when I heard about it on the same day from three different people. It was also a couple of days after I had been given some fancy new headphones - so it all made sense. I listened to it online a couple of times and then I got myself a copy. The next logical step was to have a chat with Jóhann about his excellent new record.

-----

Congratulations on your great new album, Headphones. How would you describe it compared to your previous record?

[JK] That's kind of you. Thank you very much! It's a lot more focused. I threw away almost 90% of whatever I had written and then I picked out the best pieces of music and made them into songs. Only a few of them were good enough and honest enough to get to be on the record which is different from the other two records. They got released as soon as they were finished and a lot of the time, the lyrics weren't even about anything. Maybe just words that sounded nice together. Now, the words mean something to me and I've also become a better songwriter in general. Better with chords and better at recording. The quality of everything is simply better.

The record took a long time to record, and I believe you used various locations - are you a perfectionist? 

You could say that I am a little bit of a perfectionist, if that even exists but the most enjoyable location was at a 15th century castle in Denmark, called Engelsholm Slot. That is an amazing place. The record took this long to record because I wanted it to be so much better than the other ones. I look at it like this. The two first albums were like my own personal schools of songwriting and when the third one came out, it was like my graduation piece. But I'll still be learning for the rest of my life, hopefully.

How does it feel to finally have it released?

It feels like such a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. It feels really, really good. I put together a band the other day to play the album and it sounds fantastic. I can't wait to start playing it live.

You must have been delighted with the reaction to the lead track 'No Need To Hesitate' last year, do you have a favourite song on the record?

If I had to pick one favorite song off the album, it would probably be Typewriter, because that whole song was recorded in the castle. Although, I have to admit that it's really hard for me to pick one because it seems like they are all equal to me. It was really nice to get the reaction to No Need to Hesitate. A good motivation.

Can you tell us about the artwork? It sounds like that was also quite a process.

Þórir Örn Sigvaldason is the artist behind this cover artwork. When I visited him, asking if he could do this for me, he started showing me all kinds of different things that he collected. Books and street signs and all kinds of stuff. He showed me this guide book to sign language from the 80's I believe, and I opened it. The first sign I saw when I opened the book in the middle, was the sign for ''Creating''. That was it. I wanted that sign and that's what the cover of the album says. "Creating".

What recent music would you recommend to people who are enjoying Headphones?

Wow, I really don't know. I don't follow new music that much. Pass?

Can you tell us about any plans to play live shows at home or elsewhere?

I'm doing a release concert, probably in late July here in Iceland. I will announce it soon but I'm playing a festival here in the Western Fjords in Iceland, called Rauðasandur Festival in the beginning of July. Other than that is to be announced.

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You can listen to and buy Headphones by Jóhann Kristinsson right here, and you can also track him down on facebook and on soundcloud.

Sin Fang + Pascal Pinon in London

It's been a very nice year so far for Icelandic musical visitors in London. Last night was a double header in trendy, but far from home, Hoxton with Sin Fang supported by Pascal Pinon.

Pascal Pinon played at 8:45, which feels like a very Pascal Pinon time of the evening. When I first saw them two years ago they seemed very young and very, very shy. Last night they were a much more assured, charming and funny presence on stage. The music has moved on too. Their latest record has a much fuller sound than the debut.

That did come across in their set last night, with added effects and the vocals a little lower in the mix than I remember from Airwaves 2011. They went down really well in the room, which was full and pleasingly quiet during the songs. I enjoyed that fact that they felt the need to explain to us what the song in Swedish was about, but not the ones in Icelandic. My Icelandic vocabulary about as good as my Swedish!

I worte on twitter before the show that if there has been a better record this year than Sin Fang's "Flowers" then I hadn't heard it. It's an exceptional set of crafted songs and it's fair to say that I was ecited to see Sindri and his band play their debut London show.

They played a superb set lasting just over an hour which included most of the new album plus some very welcome old favourites - 'Two Boys' and especially 'Clangour' form the old Sin Fang Bous days were great to hear again. As well as those two tracks I think my highlights were 'Young Boys' and 'See Ribs'. Last night's version of 'What's Wrong With Your Eyes' was struck by some pretty bad technical issues, aborted twice befgore being played brilliantly without monitors egged on by an audience very keen to hear this album highlight.

There was a three song encore with Sindri on keyboards swigging red wine (I think) from a bottle, probably to get over the stress of the earlier technical issues. It was a great London debut, and nobody shouted "Too depressing mate" (you had to be there), please come back soon...

 

Ólafur Arnalds at The Barbican

I am even less at home writing about classical (neo-classical? pop classical? whatever) music than I am about guitars and drums and all that stuff. But I know magic when I hear it. I can't tell you about the arrangements or composition but I can tell you that this show felt incredible. 

I had never watched an orchestra, or a sinfonia (here, the Britten Sinfonia), at close range but I was lucky enough to be in the second row (row C, curiously) at The Barbican for what was surely one of Ólafur's biggest shows to date. He always has had that kind of awkward, shy yet utterly charming character on-stage (the same as off stage actually) but it was pretty clear that this was a special night for him too with friends and family amongst the sold out audience in the main hall at The Barbican. He looked in awe as he walked on stage, I think his first words were, "This is insane".

The show was magical, the wonderful new album For Now I Am Winter was played in its entirity and almost without break. The set included the songs with vocals from Arnór Dan of Agent Fresco who was absolutely incredible here. That full album set was followed by two older tunes, the always welcome Near Light and the frankly always heart-shattering Lag fyrir ömmu (Song For Grandma) which was introduced by it's tearful composer.

As a whole the show was special and spell-binding. Special because it was clearly a very momentous occasion for a constant, key, popular and innovative member of the wonderful Icelandic music scene. It felt special sharing it with him and others fans of the scene. Spell-binding because, even in my busy city stressy life, everything was forgotten as these incredibly written and wonderfully performed songs kept on coming out from the stage, the time flew by. What a star, I love that this nice, shy guy makes these full songs that are so affecting.

Having seen Óli play in November at Airwaves and in February at Sonar, it was very nice to see him in London! I was going to end this with a 'come back soon' plea, but if you just click here, you will find that you can get tickets to see him back here in June. Yay!

There are a few videos on youtube. I'm not sure if they are official (I guess not), but the links are below:

For Now I Am Winter

A Stutter

Reclaim

 

Iceland invades West London: Of Monsters And Men + Mugison play Shepherds Bush Empire

Whilst much of Iceland was disappearing under a big fluffy blanket of snow earlier this week, 3 of its favourite musical acts arrived in (comparatively) tropical London to entertain us locals. Big boys Sigur Ros had much of the week sold out down in wild South London and by all accounts accompanied their incredible back catalogue with some slightly more muscly sounding new tracks.

I didn’t venture down there this time, but I did venture to Shepherds Bush for the mighty double bill of Mugison and Of Monsters And Men at the Empire. Little more than two years ago I did what I am claiming (almost certainly untruthfully) to be the very first interview (LOOK AT THEIR LITTLE FACES!) with fresh Icelandic band Of Monsters And Men. Those early days showed much promise and I have happy memories of chaotic gigs in tiny Glaumbar and in the ground floor café in Harpa. It has been a pretty incredible rise, 2 years after winning the Musiktilraunir competition they had a song voted best of the year on the American amazon site and now here they are on the first night of a residency in this famous old London theatre.

First up was the incredibly popular and always wonderful Mugison. I first saw him at Iceland airwaves in 2004 having been tipped off by the guys at 12 tonar. I guess I’ve watched him play 20 or so times since then but it was pretty weird to be watching him just a mile or two from my front door. I saw him last November at Airwaves, then in February at Sonar and now here in London. All the shows have been different but excellent. This time, there was no band with him, he took to the stage alone claiming that he was his own support act. This was true – he played a 3 or 4 song set with his bespoke machine (still no name?) which mainly bewildered people I think and then left the stage for a matter of seconds before returning as the more traditional, guitar clad, support act playing his Icelandic blues. No doubt, most people inside the Empire had never come across Mugison before so I think he can take great pride that, in the role of supporting act, he did get a pretty decent singalong going with “Sweetest Melody”.

Of Monsters And Men were welcomed to the stage like heroes, and immediately broke into their traditional opener Dirty Paws. They show absolutely no sign of nerves and retain that kind of shy / charming conversational style between songs. The cover of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Skeletons was the only time I kind of lost interest – the rest of the set was excellent. My personal highlights were From Finner, Mountain Sound, Love Love Love and the rousing finale Yellow Light. I’m so bored with lazy comparisons that people make between OM&M and the Mumfords, I just don’t see it. Live, the volume and energy is closer to a band like Arcade Fire.

This was a fine start to a pretty exceptional season of Icelandic music coming to London. Before the end of March we will be welcoming Olafur Arnalds and Retro Stefson, and before long we will get to see Soley, Sin Fang and Pascal Pinon. It’s just like Iceland Airwaves but over a longer period and without 8 other bands at the same time and with less hot dogs oh it’s nothing like Iceland Airwaves, but it is nice.

Sónar Reykjavik review

I couldn't resist a quick jaunt to Reykjavík for the first ever Icelandic edition of the famous Sonar festival. The chance to see some of the very best stuff Icelandic music has to offer in such a short space of time was too tempting. I had never been to another festival here other than Airwaves, so I was keen to see the comparisons.

The obvious stuff - everything official was happening on one of the four stages in Harpa. The two great rooms we're used to at Airwaves plus the underground car park converted to a club area and the ground floor 'bay view' area which was a neat idea but really struggled for atmosphere. Apart from a good line-up at Volta (FM Belfast, Legend and others) there was very little happening off-venue.

The audience at Sonar was much more Icelandic, I reckon at least 80% instead of around half at Airwaves. There also seemed to be more extremes of age, definitely a large contingent of under 18s and a good scattering of 60+. There was more bad-temperedness on show than I've seen before, a couple of shoving matches happened when people took exception to those guys (you know, those guys) who want to march up to the front of the show using shoulder barges as they go.

The music for Sonar is described as cutting edge, certainly everything in Reykjavík from overseas could broadly be classified under 'dance'. The selection wasn't that straightforward for the local acts, the more obvious choices like GusGus, Retro Stefson, Samaris & Soley were joined by acts like Sin Fang, Mugison & Asgeir Trausti - I was interested to see if that second batch of acts would adapt their shows.

Almost half of the acts playing were DJ sets, and whilst I know there's skill involved in this it remains really hard for a bloke playing records not to look like a bloke playing records. I know, I don't get it. I mainly avoided these sets but did enjoy what I heard at sets by Human Woman and Pedro Pilatus. What I got, as I look back at Sonar, was a bunch of very fine shows (headed by Samaris [right], Valgeir Sigurdsson, Bloodgroup and Soley – those last two had to struggle in that weird non-gig space of the bay view area) and six really exceptional ones. The final score, not surprisingly (have we met?), being Iceland 5 Rest of the world 1. Let's talk about them...

Ghostigital's set was excellent, of course it was. It was a shame that it started in front of such a sparse room, luckily the noise (oh the noise) drew a decent crowd in pretty soon. This is something Sonar had in common with Airwaves and Icelandic nightlife generally - not much is busy until at least 10pm. This was the first of many sets to be conducted exclusively, or nearly so, in Icelandic. Fair enough too, these are Icelandic people in Iceland - I guess I'm so used to hearing English at Airwaves where the crowd is so much more international. Of course, Einar makes most of his lyrics up on the spot so these were all Icelandic too. It doesn't matter one bit to the overall effect, I just don't get the jokes! Ghostigital triumph through that wondrous, thunderous alignment of beats, voice and extreme volume - Harpa passed the volume stress test that some other venues have failed. Highlights, if I'm coping without the English language prompts were Hovering Hoover Skates and Numb.

The late night Friday slot produced a choice between local legends GusGus and the ever growing reputation of Retro Stefson (I CAN NOT BELIEVE it is 7 years since I first saw this band, and they are still so young!). In the end, the choice was removed, the queue to see GusGus was extraordinary (I assume due solely to the excellent endorsement in the Grapevine) and so my plan of catching half of each set became a full blown party with Retro Stefson. Party continues to be the word for these guys. They’ve changed a lot musically over the last 18 months, but even this slightly (you should have seen them before!) toned down live approach still manages to get every room they play in jumping like lunatics. Like at Iceland Airwaves their set concentrated almost exclusively of the newer sound of their most recent record, highlights were littered throughout the hour they spent with us but the renditions of Glow and Qween were my picks. The very best was saved for last – I was so pleased (and they definitely were) to hear them go right back to the debut album for a good 10 minute rendition of Senseni. Total and utter triumph.

So the first night produced two huge ticks. The Saturday night doubled that tally, and also had another increasingly confident outing from the very fast improving Samaris, who wowed a big crowd in the Silfurberg hall. In what must be the all-time record for earliest start to a Saturday night in Reykjavík, the first show of the evening was at 18:30. Of course, Ólafur Arnalds was well worth heading out early for. The Norðurljós hall had been fitted out with rows of seating and the crowd in the full venue sat in the type of stunned silence that Ólafur must be very used to by now. It was every bit as great as the Airwaves show in the same venue months earlier. My personal highlights this time were a perfect version of Near Light and the two collaborations (Old Skin, and a track from Ólafur’s very imminent new album) with Agent Fresco vocalist Arnór Dan. This was the first time I have seen Ólafur perform with a live vocalist. Bring on that new record, and (whoop!) the show at The Barbican in London next month.

Shocking news. I loved a set that wasn’t by an Icelandic band! The fullest room I was a part of at Sonar (I wasn’t at GusGus, Modeselektor, Simian Mobile Disco or LFO all of which I was told were rammed) was in Silfurberg to see James Blake. I was really intrigued to see this show. James won a lot of friends in Iceland a few years back when he really threw himself into the spirit of Iceland Airwaves, popping up all over town for impromptu sets and, let’s face it, drinking into the small (not that small) hours. Knowing that and hearing talk around the blogosphere of an upcoming and reputedly sensational second album convinced me to venture “non-Icelandic”. What a good decision, this was an exceptional set of clever beats, soulful tunes with some cracking singing and effects and came complete with a proper screaming at a pop-star moment (not me, waaaay too cool) when he began to play Limit To Your Love. I have no idea what genre label you’d put on this type of thing. The real star for me was the drummer who, for a couple of hours, came close to getting ahead of Mugison’s drummer in my drummer-based affections. There’s a lot to hate about James Blake, he’s good looking, incredibly pleasant and unreasonably talented. Try as I might though (!) I absolutely adored his set, and I can’t wait to hear the new record and see more shows.

I’ve already been a bit rude about the Bay View Area more than once. It didn’t really work out. Half the time it was half empty, all of the time there were people eating their dinners not that far from the stage. The lighting (and Harpa has the best I have ever seen) was odd, with a permanent pair of bright lights pointing out at the half-blinded crowd. Sin Fang was the exception to the rule. Sindri and his mates played a set of songs from brand new (and utterly wonderful) album, Flowers. It must just have been those songs that made this set so enjoyable. Once again the ‘area’ was sparsely populated. Nobody had dared venture within 5 years of the stage, then a few rows of people sitting on the floor and finally people sitting around round table wondering if they are at a concert or in a café (answer: both). Sin Fang have just made a wonderful album of songs I want to hear over and over again, and they get even better heard live. From the Strokes-like “See Ribs” through to the very charming “Young Boys” and “Sunbeam”, every track is a winner. I could watch this band every day right now.

Sin Fang didn’t seem to vary anything about his set of songs in a nod to the Sonar ethic of dance or cutting edge sounds. That was fine I loved it, but it was noticeable that Mugison, my final highlight, did go a little bit ‘fusion’ – his word, not mine! Mugi’s set-up looked the same as the show he played at Airwaves but with the addition of what I think we need to call the ‘mirstrument’. I can’t describe it, it is an instrument that makes all kinds of noise and I suspect only Mugison really knows how it works. This was a very different set to the one in November. I was delighted to hear him start with a pair of really old (a decade already?) favourites, “Poke A Pal” and “Sea Y” and then later on, “I Want You”. Even the standard, ever-present songs in mugi-sets like “Mugiboogie” and “Jesus Is A Good Name To Moan” were transformed by the box of tricks. And, my God, the traditional set closer “Murr Murr” which has already had many iterations since its launch as an acoustic lullaby, once again was transformed. This time it became something thunderous and terrifying but still retained THAT riff somewhere in its soul. An incredible end, I had to go outside after that to check the world hadn’t actually ended, because it sure sounded like it might have done.

So yes, I am glad I was at Sonar Reykjavik. It isn’t Airwaves and it was never going to be. I missed the rushing around the streets because there’s JUST TOO MUCH going on all at the same time. I love Icelanders (yes I do!) but this festival lacked that spirit that I guess a bunch of foreign music lovers adds to the city. Having said that, at Airwaves time that’s pretty much all Reykjavik is about. These last few days it has been nice to see RVK going about its normal business, mainly unaware that cutting edge music has arrived in the harbor. The truth is of course that cutting edge music, and all manner of non-sharp edged music of extraordinary standard, is always present here, part of the soul of the place. It’s just that these festivals are the best way to let the rest of the world in now and again. More, more, more.