Iceland Airwaves: Day 4
Here´s a day that started very well, and ended on the poor side. Not to worry, not poor enough to spoil the trip or even the festival, but enough to cut a promising Saturday night short. The seeds of the evening´s misfortune were planted in the morning with breakfast.
Pancakes with butter, cheese, sprinkles, whipped cream, jam and...hangikjöt (smoked lamb). Combined, these make a rather delicious combination. Even the hangikjöt tasted good.
Then I helped set up a washer machine. I wasn't super good at this, even though it involved not much more than unscrewing some screws and hooking up some tubes to the wall. This was not the highlight of the day.
After the semi-big previous night, Disa, T and I took a field trip to the Vesturbaejarlaugin, the public swimming pools just a 15 minute walk from the apartment. This very Reykjavik experience had somehow missed me over my previous 3 trips, most likely because I've spent so little time in Reykjavik itself. Spent the time sitting in some super hot pools (40 degrees centigrade), and listening to some apparently very funny conversations by the other Icelandics sitting there. One of the pools had a jet that was exceptionally strong. Afterward, I drank a Pepsi and read Grapevine's preview of the Airwaves Festival.
I tried to make Saturday's afternoon easy by sticking around for the Canadian Blast! at the Ring Lounge at Hresso (6 Canadian bands over 5 hours). Of course, I ran into my Canadian friends there.
Timber Timbre (Canada), Ring Lounge at Hresso, 3:00 p.m.
This show was so packed I could hardly see the band, thus my excuse for the crappy photo. To me, it sounded like fairly standard indie rock, maybe a little like Devotchka. The band featured a violin.
Diamond Rings (Toronto), Ring Lounge at Hresso, 3:50 p.m.
One of the highlights of the day, maybe even of the festival. This super young looking guy from Toronto comes out in a leather jacket over a purple t-shirt, purple socks, with a purple guitar and purple guitar strap, super new-wavy hairdo, shaved on the sides, long on top, blue eye shadow amongst other makeup. My first impression was, oh boy, this guy is going to be a bit of a joke, what's up with the outfit, especially when he's up there all by himself. Now, while I admit to being a sucker for electro style music, he was super good, especially when it comes to showmanship. True, his voice sounded more or less like Julian Casablancas, and his look came straight from 1981, but between the on-stage dancing and guitar shaking, and flawless delivery, he had me and just about everyone else I knew dancing. After one of his songs he announced that "That was an Usher cover...just kidding...but that's what I was going for."
Basia Bulat (Canada), Ring Lounge at Hresso, 5:30 p.m.
I'd be lying if I didn't admit that Basia Bulat's presence at the festival was one of the moving inspirations for my decision to make the trip. I've been listening to the 4 or so songs she recorded for Daytrotter back in March 2008 (including a ridiculously good cover of Daniel Johnston's "True Love Will Find You In the End"). Basia Bulat has this amazingly rich, soulful voice, which she generously uses for both covers and originals, and accompanies her voice with autoharp (yes!) or guitar. Here, she was further accompanied by a violinist and a ukulele player, both also singing harmonies. Almost as soon as she started singing, the crowd appeared transfixed by her voice, shaking their heads in disbelief. But she makes it look so easy. She says "This is very exciting...I've always wanted to go to Iceland." She sings a pretty Polish song from the 1960s about a couple at the zoo looking at the animals, looking back at them (who is the observer and who is the observed?!!) Sadly, she didn't play "True Love" but I was very happy.
Pancakes with butter, cheese, sprinkles, whipped cream, jam and...hangikjöt (smoked lamb). Combined, these make a rather delicious combination. Even the hangikjöt tasted good.
Then I helped set up a washer machine. I wasn't super good at this, even though it involved not much more than unscrewing some screws and hooking up some tubes to the wall. This was not the highlight of the day.
After the semi-big previous night, Disa, T and I took a field trip to the Vesturbaejarlaugin, the public swimming pools just a 15 minute walk from the apartment. This very Reykjavik experience had somehow missed me over my previous 3 trips, most likely because I've spent so little time in Reykjavik itself. Spent the time sitting in some super hot pools (40 degrees centigrade), and listening to some apparently very funny conversations by the other Icelandics sitting there. One of the pools had a jet that was exceptionally strong. Afterward, I drank a Pepsi and read Grapevine's preview of the Airwaves Festival.
I tried to make Saturday's afternoon easy by sticking around for the Canadian Blast! at the Ring Lounge at Hresso (6 Canadian bands over 5 hours). Of course, I ran into my Canadian friends there.
Timber Timbre (Canada), Ring Lounge at Hresso, 3:00 p.m.
This show was so packed I could hardly see the band, thus my excuse for the crappy photo. To me, it sounded like fairly standard indie rock, maybe a little like Devotchka. The band featured a violin.
Diamond Rings (Toronto), Ring Lounge at Hresso, 3:50 p.m.
One of the highlights of the day, maybe even of the festival. This super young looking guy from Toronto comes out in a leather jacket over a purple t-shirt, purple socks, with a purple guitar and purple guitar strap, super new-wavy hairdo, shaved on the sides, long on top, blue eye shadow amongst other makeup. My first impression was, oh boy, this guy is going to be a bit of a joke, what's up with the outfit, especially when he's up there all by himself. Now, while I admit to being a sucker for electro style music, he was super good, especially when it comes to showmanship. True, his voice sounded more or less like Julian Casablancas, and his look came straight from 1981, but between the on-stage dancing and guitar shaking, and flawless delivery, he had me and just about everyone else I knew dancing. After one of his songs he announced that "That was an Usher cover...just kidding...but that's what I was going for."
Basia Bulat (Canada), Ring Lounge at Hresso, 5:30 p.m.
I'd be lying if I didn't admit that Basia Bulat's presence at the festival was one of the moving inspirations for my decision to make the trip. I've been listening to the 4 or so songs she recorded for Daytrotter back in March 2008 (including a ridiculously good cover of Daniel Johnston's "True Love Will Find You In the End"). Basia Bulat has this amazingly rich, soulful voice, which she generously uses for both covers and originals, and accompanies her voice with autoharp (yes!) or guitar. Here, she was further accompanied by a violinist and a ukulele player, both also singing harmonies. Almost as soon as she started singing, the crowd appeared transfixed by her voice, shaking their heads in disbelief. But she makes it look so easy. She says "This is very exciting...I've always wanted to go to Iceland." She sings a pretty Polish song from the 1960s about a couple at the zoo looking at the animals, looking back at them (who is the observer and who is the observed?!!) Sadly, she didn't play "True Love" but I was very happy.
Rökkurró (Iceland), Reykjavik Downtown Hostel, 6:00 p.m.
Finally, I made it into this tiny venue after having failed the day before. Coffee and beer sold to the left, a big glass window to the street on the right. I'll use one of my less favorite overused descriptions of vocals -- "ethereal" -- to describe Hildur Kristin's vocals. I think this band also helped to exemplify the idea of "krutt" (cutesy) introduced to me at the Olafur Arnalds Q&A, which I think you can get a sense of from the description of the band on their Myspace bio: "Rökkurró’s melancholic serenades are evocative of the cold and desolate landscapes of their distant homeland. Mesmerising tones and swooping strings projected against a bleak and solitary Nordic backdrop. And yet, unique warmth pervades Rökkurró’s music owed to the fragile and soothing voice of Hildur Kristín Stefánsdóttir." See what I mean? I think many of the Icelandic bands are fighting against this stereotype specifically when it comes to Icelandic music...glaciers, desolation, etc. But still, hey, I liked them. The vocalist also played an electric cello, sang in Icelandic (those strongly pronounced "r"s really add something special to Icelandic language pop). Here I ran into Pontus (Swedish from Gothenburg), a guy I had met on Thursday at Hresso, and questioned him about the fancy camera he was using to snap photos of the band. Turns out he's blogging the festival too (check for some nice pictures). Before the show was over, Pontus and I booked it across town (15 minutes) to see Angel Deradoorian at a bookstore on Laugavegur, but she had canceled.
HAM (Iceland), Nikita, 7:00 p.m.
HAM is an Icelandic heavy metal band from the late 1980s and early 1990s, which reunited to open for Rammstein in 2001. Apparently, extremely popular at the time and still is. Singer Ottar Proppe is even a top member of the Best Party, currently ruling over Reykjavik under the fearless leadership of comedian and mayor Jon Gnarr. HAM seems to alternate between operatic singing and more metalish screaming, keeps a consistent hard rock guitar with heads consistently head banging. The venue was outdoors, on a stage before a large crowd of very enthusiastic fans, including a small cluster of children with earmuffs on.
Here, Disa met me and we walked to dinner (didn't catch the name of the place), but where I ate a really delicious blue cheese hamburger. Under the most current analysis, this meal was blameless for later misfortune, but it was during this meal that the misfortune first reared its head when stomach illness first began to be felt.
We walked through the cold rain to the Reykjavik Art Museum (distantly following a marching band), to catch any of the several bands playing before Robyn would go on at midnight. For the most part, it was not to be. We spent some time sitting on the steps inside the museum, not really paying attention to the music. We did sport Icelandic celebrity Ragnhildur Gísladóttir, singer of the song about the beauty queen smiling through her tears that I liked so much at the Hamburger Factory back in July. But soon the physical pain grew even more unbearable for both. Migrated upstairs to a hallway and lay down, trying not to feel the agony of whatever it was.
Robyn (Swedish), Reykjavik Art Museum, 12:00 a.m.
By midnight, we moved to a balcony to try to watch the Robyn performance, which started about 45 minutes late. I had been looking forward to this show for well over a month, and I'd say that if one performer inspired my trip more than any other, it was Robyn. I think her album Body Talk Part 1 (I haven't had the opportunity to download Part 2, as I was already on the road without a laptop at the time it was released) is one of the best of the year, and the single "Dancing on My Own" was regularly played by me during my many long, solitary hikes around Europe. For this reason, I fought against the pain caused by (according to the most current, and likely theory), the food poisonous lamb I ate for breakfast, and sat through the first 5 or so tracks. Now, it seems to me that Robyn doesn't do a lot of her own singing on stage, which may be typical of pop stars these days, mainly playing the role of "performer". It seemed that for the amount of dancing she was doing, it would have been impossible for her voice to have been so full (especially when it is not so terribly full to begin with). She had a full band behind her, including two drummers. I wished I had been up front, dancing, and singing right up with her, but it was just not possible. Finally, we gave in to the pain and headed home. Good thing I'll be seeing her in L.A. not so far from now.
Robyn -- Dancing On My Own
Finally, I made it into this tiny venue after having failed the day before. Coffee and beer sold to the left, a big glass window to the street on the right. I'll use one of my less favorite overused descriptions of vocals -- "ethereal" -- to describe Hildur Kristin's vocals. I think this band also helped to exemplify the idea of "krutt" (cutesy) introduced to me at the Olafur Arnalds Q&A, which I think you can get a sense of from the description of the band on their Myspace bio: "Rökkurró’s melancholic serenades are evocative of the cold and desolate landscapes of their distant homeland. Mesmerising tones and swooping strings projected against a bleak and solitary Nordic backdrop. And yet, unique warmth pervades Rökkurró’s music owed to the fragile and soothing voice of Hildur Kristín Stefánsdóttir." See what I mean? I think many of the Icelandic bands are fighting against this stereotype specifically when it comes to Icelandic music...glaciers, desolation, etc. But still, hey, I liked them. The vocalist also played an electric cello, sang in Icelandic (those strongly pronounced "r"s really add something special to Icelandic language pop). Here I ran into Pontus (Swedish from Gothenburg), a guy I had met on Thursday at Hresso, and questioned him about the fancy camera he was using to snap photos of the band. Turns out he's blogging the festival too (check for some nice pictures). Before the show was over, Pontus and I booked it across town (15 minutes) to see Angel Deradoorian at a bookstore on Laugavegur, but she had canceled.
HAM (Iceland), Nikita, 7:00 p.m.
HAM is an Icelandic heavy metal band from the late 1980s and early 1990s, which reunited to open for Rammstein in 2001. Apparently, extremely popular at the time and still is. Singer Ottar Proppe is even a top member of the Best Party, currently ruling over Reykjavik under the fearless leadership of comedian and mayor Jon Gnarr. HAM seems to alternate between operatic singing and more metalish screaming, keeps a consistent hard rock guitar with heads consistently head banging. The venue was outdoors, on a stage before a large crowd of very enthusiastic fans, including a small cluster of children with earmuffs on.
Here, Disa met me and we walked to dinner (didn't catch the name of the place), but where I ate a really delicious blue cheese hamburger. Under the most current analysis, this meal was blameless for later misfortune, but it was during this meal that the misfortune first reared its head when stomach illness first began to be felt.
We walked through the cold rain to the Reykjavik Art Museum (distantly following a marching band), to catch any of the several bands playing before Robyn would go on at midnight. For the most part, it was not to be. We spent some time sitting on the steps inside the museum, not really paying attention to the music. We did sport Icelandic celebrity Ragnhildur Gísladóttir, singer of the song about the beauty queen smiling through her tears that I liked so much at the Hamburger Factory back in July. But soon the physical pain grew even more unbearable for both. Migrated upstairs to a hallway and lay down, trying not to feel the agony of whatever it was.
Robyn (Swedish), Reykjavik Art Museum, 12:00 a.m.
By midnight, we moved to a balcony to try to watch the Robyn performance, which started about 45 minutes late. I had been looking forward to this show for well over a month, and I'd say that if one performer inspired my trip more than any other, it was Robyn. I think her album Body Talk Part 1 (I haven't had the opportunity to download Part 2, as I was already on the road without a laptop at the time it was released) is one of the best of the year, and the single "Dancing on My Own" was regularly played by me during my many long, solitary hikes around Europe. For this reason, I fought against the pain caused by (according to the most current, and likely theory), the food poisonous lamb I ate for breakfast, and sat through the first 5 or so tracks. Now, it seems to me that Robyn doesn't do a lot of her own singing on stage, which may be typical of pop stars these days, mainly playing the role of "performer". It seemed that for the amount of dancing she was doing, it would have been impossible for her voice to have been so full (especially when it is not so terribly full to begin with). She had a full band behind her, including two drummers. I wished I had been up front, dancing, and singing right up with her, but it was just not possible. Finally, we gave in to the pain and headed home. Good thing I'll be seeing her in L.A. not so far from now.
Robyn -- Dancing On My Own
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