Iceland Airwaves: Day 1
Iceland Airwaves has been around since 1999, but has since become one of the premiere music festivals in the world, many famous bands (linked in this Wikipedia article) having played there before they got big. While the vast majority of the featured bands are Icelandic, there is a solid minority of European, Canadian and U.S. groups playing each year (this year there is a lady from Greenland playing!). Unlike Coachella, where the bands perform in outdoor tents, at Airwaves the bands play in local clubs. The festival wristband ensures entry into all of these venues. In addition, there are something like 20 other "off venue" sites where these same bands (and others) play.
I made the walk from the apartment in Vesturbaer to downtown Reykjavik in short time, and took care of basic morning business before seeing my first show. This included:
1. Double espresso.
2. Pick up my festival bracelet at Plaza Hotel.
3. Get a city map from the tourist office.
And at 11:00 I saw my first band.
.
Even at this early hour, this small, extremely hip music store in downtown Reykjavik started filling up with hipsters (including a lots of guys with various types of facial hair). As sole member Adalsteinn Jorundsson set up his gear (a laptop, some large speakers), I did´t know what to expect. He seemed like a fairly mild mannered guy. But then the loud fuzz started, the heavy synthetic drum beat and then...screaming! It seemed as though the lyrics were fairly important, it felt almost like a screamed poem, Jorundsson thrashing around, sweat beading on his face as the crowd watched, unblinking. Occasionally I would pick out an Icelandic word that I understood. This did not at all assist in my overall comprehension of the performance. Which I enjoyed for its intensity, rawness and most of all, proximity.
[3 hour gap between shows]
I spent the next few hours walking around Reykjavik, enjoying it in a way that I had not really since the first time I visited in 2005. Since I almost always have a friend with me, planning events, taking me places, guiding me around, I haven´t much had the chance to just explore with a map and get the feel of things. This I did. I walked up and down Laugavegur, Hverfisgata, Skolavördustigur, Austurstraeti and more. I ate a hot dog at Baejarins Beztu Pylsur, the best hot dog stand in the world (it was delicious):
I visited the Hallgrimskirkja, the main Icelandic church, built in its uniquely modern way, one of my favorite churches in the world, love it for its spareness:
Had a coffee and attempted to plan out my evening (there are so many bands to choose from) at Babalu Coffee. Met two guys from Austin, and saw a crowd of Asian tourists, all with wristbands. The cafe was on the second floor, and we heard a commotion outside, stepped out on the the balcony and saw hundreds of children marching down the street, all wearing bright yellow reflective vests. They were marching for peace.
The weather was perfect, just chilly enough that I could walk around without melting from heat, but not rainy either. I ate lunch at a pizzeria near the Plaza Hotel and read Vernon God Little.
Captain Fufanu (Icelandic), The Ring Lounge at Hresso, 3:00 p.m.
By now, the weather had turned slightly rainy, and people herded into the enclosed tent next to the Hresso Bar on Austurstraeti to watch this very young looking duo with new wavy haircuts, apparently very popular in Iceland now in the house slash electronic scene. Not exactly my type of music, but that being said, I thought they were good. It just reminded me of the kind of music that would be playing on loop at the Abbey. The sound of the rain against the plastic tent above was neat. I sat at a table with an American girl, C, who writes for an NYC music blog. She was probably the most prepared person I´ve even seen: pages, and pages of notes for each of the hundreds of bands playing. She said she had spent sleepless nights listening to each of them to decide who she wanted to see. And had several interviews with bands already set up. I found this very impressive, although even the amount of energy I´m expending to organize my festival I find slightly tiring. She and I left for the next band, which ended up being my favorite of the day.
Bloodgroup (Iceland), Havari, 4:00 p.m.
By now Havari (the hip music store) was completely packed with all types, as Bloodgroup set up. The vocals are shared by a male and female singer, and accompanied by guitar, more than one violin, synthesizer and more. The sound is usually a more or less straightforward electro sound (variously sounding like Fischerspooner, LCD Soundsystem or !!!) but occasionally veering into a slower, prettier style highlighting the female singer´s beautiful, high voice. Between the skilled harmonies, dance beats right up my alley and great chemistry within the band, these guys were my favorites for the day. Definitely plan on checking them out once I get home. Here I met a guy from Minneapolis who runs a cab company and a guy from Toronto basic his ethnomusicology thesis on the Icelandic music scene. Here´s a video for Bloodgroup´s song "Hips Again", which unfortunately I think doesn´t quite capture how good their live performance was:
Mammut, Ring Lounge at Hresso, 5:00 p.m.
Very popular local band, with a strong punk rock sensibility, but also not totally unlike the early punk slash experimental rock days of early Bjork. But much more accessible than Bjork´s work with Tappi Tikarass and Kukl. Before going to this show, Disa´s German friend Slyvie warned me that while Mammut was popular because of the lead singer´s distinctive voice, she personally found this voice somewhat annoying. I thus came with reduced expectations, which were wildly exceeded. Kata´s voice is amazingly well suited for punkish rock, capable of wild screaming and even some decent singing. At one point after a 20 to 30 second scream I heard someone say "she actually just did that". The band´s energy was super high. I have no idea what any of the songs were about.
[Break for dinner]
I walked about 3 kilometers east of downtown to meet up with Audur, Gummi, Audur´s baby Benjamin and Gummi´s two children. I´d been looking forward to meeting Benjamin for a long time, probably since the 2008 road trip where five month pregnant Audur climbed down the steep crater of Viti when we visited Askja. The three children were delightful. Benjamin was shy, but very cute. Gummi´s kids were slightly older and hilarious. His daughter (6 years old) seemed obsessed with learning English, and immediately showed me that she could count to 20, and whenever she wanted to communicate something with me would ask Gummi first how to say it in English before repeating it perfectly, without an accent. Between my extremely limited Icelandic and her slightly less limited English, we were actually able to hammer out a little exchange. Dinner was great, and it was a pleasure to see everyone, and Gummi drove me back into town.
Lara Runars (Iceland), NASA, 8:00 p.m.
NASA is a much bigger club than the other venues I had visited, and due to long lines, I ended up staying there most of the rest of the night. Lara Runars is also I think very popular in Reykjavik, with a somewhat cheesy pop style, occasionally bordering on the sound of the Pipettes, but not quite as charming. The room was already fairly full by eight (a sign of things to come). She did an alright, but slower cover of Prince´s "Kiss", which sort of worked. I liked her bowl haircut, and funky outfit, but I thought the lyrics to some of the songs were kinda dumb.
Yoda Remote (Iceland), Apotekid, 8:20 p.m.
This (very young looking) duo played an awesome set of 8-bit heavy dance music, beats laid on laptop, with melodies on keyboards, most of the vocals run through vocoder type effect (sounded like Captain Ahab). I wonder sometimes if the Nintendo that we all played as kids conditioned us to want to hear similar sounding music as adults? I could hardly resist dancing to this stuff, but the crowd was relatively subdued. I suspect that this is a result of Icelandic people not being used to "going out" until well after midnight. It was hardly even 9 yet. I ran into the American from Minnesota here, and we left towards the end of the set for NASA.
Sykur (Iceland), NASA, 8:50 p.m.
Another electro band, lots of fun. Had a female singer who dressed and acted like Jessica Rabbit, and who looked more or less like what most Americans think Icelandic girls look like and a guy wearing a white suit and a bowtie. She sang a song about Reykjavik, but somehow it sounded much dirtier than that. The band name means "sugar".
Benny Crespo´s Gang (Iceland), NASA, 9:40 p.m.
These guys are supposedly semi-legendary in Reykjavik. I thought they were alright, sounded more or less like Blonde Redhead. Female vocals were by Lay Low, another semi-famous Reykjavik singer (that I once saw open for Emiliana Torrini in L.A.). Lots of syncopated drumming, very tight playing, and long guitar jams. It was after their set that I went upstairs for a bit and met a bunch of Icelandic people, including a group of 17-20 year olds that bombarded me with questions, as well as giving me lectures on how awesome Iceland is (I had to keep reminding them that they were preaching to the converted). After about maybe 15 minutes of conversation, their leader (who was also the youngest) announced that they would "all" be adding me on facebook. So far, two of them have done so. I stayed with this group for the next few bands, as I could not find my way back to the Minneapolitan American.
Bloodgroup (Iceland), NASA, 10:50 p.m.
Same as the first time I saw them today, but even better on this big stage, faces painted.
Agent Fresco (Iceland), NASA, 11:20 p.m.
By now it is getting much harder to pay specific attention to each of the bands. Agent Fresco played somewhat mathy, hard rock, were all dressed in black. The singer climbed out into the crowd at one point. In my notes I have the word "cruel" written, but I have no idea what I was referring to. The crowd went nuts. The drummer had huge hair.Mammut (Iceland), NASA, 12:10 a.m.
Mammut was even better the second time around. The band had dressed themselves up more so, had painted their faces, and the energy was even higher. The crowd loved it.
I walked home in the slightly cold, but not so cold Reykjavik night.
This took me over two hours to write. I need to find a more efficient way of doing this.
Bloodgroup -- Moving Like a Tiger
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