Hjaltalín appear to be on the rise. In fact they seem to have had upwards momentum ever since I first came across them. Most commonly described (and well described) as chamber pop, they're certainly not running away from the tag, playing with orchestras of varying sizes over the last 18 months and refining their sound […]
I've seen Snorri Helgason playing live on stage a lot of times. Always until recently that was as a member of the excellent band Sprengjuhöllin and in the last year as a solo artist, arriving with a mellow masterpiece of a debut album, "I'm Gonna Put My Name On Your Door". Most recently I saw […]
Ah, lovely Rökkurró, their first album was full of beautiful swoonful tunes and the lovely voice of cellist Hildur. Second album, Í Annan Heim, is freshly released and getting a heap of praise for its 'bigger' sound. I rather expect that I'll be picking that up during the festival. Also, Rökkurró may very well be […]
Highly recommended non-Icelandic band number two are the excellent Yunioshi from sunny Nottingham in England. They definitely deserve your attention as not only is their E.P. "How To Survive A Robot Uprising" excellent (and featured on South Park on the Comedy Channel!), but also their twitter account has been excitedly discussing Iceland Airwaves 2010 for […]
The annual battle of the bands competition in Iceland, Músiktilraunir, has a pretty good track record of finding good and lasting talent – Kolrassa Krókríðandi, Maus, Mínus, Mammút, Jakobínarína and more all won it in years gone by. So, with that in mind I thought it would be a good plan to check out the […]
I saw Feldberg a couple of times at Iceland Airwaves last year and came away singing their track, "Don't Be A Stranger" for months and months afterwards. They've been described, brilliantly, as what Daft Punk would sound like if they were human. The marriage (musical only, I believe) of Eberg's (also a solo artist with […]
The third interview of the pre Iceland Airwaves session is with impssibly young dance dudes, Jungle Fiction. These guys first came to my attention with a remix of Kele's Tenderoni and then a remix of fellow Icelanders (and soon to be iceblah interviewees) Feldberg. Hi Jungle Fiction, where are you right now and what are […]
The website http://www.breakbeat.is is the online home of Iceland's longest running club night, the Breakbeat.is residency, which has been going for 10 years. They also run a radio show of the same name. And Iceland Airwaves fans will find the name familiar 0- they've hosted and curated a night at the festival for as long […]
Gosh. October. That can only mean Iceland Airwaves 2010 is very, very nearly here. I've been busy interviewing various bands in advance. I've got 12 done at the moment, and another 4 or 5 to follow with luck. They will be appearing at the rate of one or two per day from now until the […]
Let the planning commence. The full (but probably not final!) schedule for the 2010 version of Iceland Airwaves was announced this week. As ever, I've turned this into a spreadsheet. If you want to make use of this you can download it below. Happy planning, let me know how it goes… I know I'll be […]