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.