Let me begin by saying this year was my first time at Iceland Airwaves (and my first time in Iceland), and if the last week was anything to go by it certainly won’t be my last. Boasting headlining slots from the likes of Dirty Projectors, Purity Ring, Django Django and Sigur Rós, expectations were certainly high. Spread over 10 main venues and scores of smaller ‘off-venue’ spaces in downtown Reykjavík, Airwaves draws hundreds of acts from all over Iceland, Europe and North America to play sets in venues ranging from full the Sigur Rós stadium extravaganza to a hut that seats four people.
It was a week full of surprises – far too many to go into in any great depth – so seeing the northern lights and eating whale steak aside, here are three highlights of the festival:
Doldrums:
Having missed the opportunity to catch Montreal based Doldrums’ midnight set at the atmospheric venue Iðnó, we decided to battle 80kph winds the following afternoon to see them play a small, freezing marquee instead. The tent offered little in the way of shelter, but undeterred frontman Airick Woodhead plowed through a blistering set of textured electro-pop weirdness. Despite the cold, the hangovers and the bright daylight, Doldrums had the crowd dancing as Woodhead wrapped reverby vocals around live drums, choppy samples and catchy, pop hooks. Reading about the dystopian sci-fi storyline that runs throughout their music only makes me love them more. Check out Doldrums’ Empire Sound EP on their Soundcloud here.
Sam Amidon:
Sam Amidon’s stripped back folk songs were something of a surprise highlight to me – his deadpan expression and reserved vocals belie the strength of his writing, much of which is re-arranged and re-purposed from traditional Appalachian folk songs. As a newcomer to his music I was completely enthralled. Amidon’s set followed Bedroom Community labelmate Nico Muhly, who lent his his compositional hand with some of the piano and viola arrangements that appear on Amidon’s records. The ‘one man and his guitar’ musical trope is always at risk of becoming dull and repetitive over an hour long set but something about Amidon’s sparse folk songs is wonderfully expressive and very simply captivating. Listen to his cover of R Kelly’s Relief here.
Friends:
Friends aren’t really doing anything new – in fact the main criticism of the band seems to be that Brooklyn may have reached saturation point for uber-cool, bouncy pop music. But what they may lack in original ideas, they more than make up for in the execution of their live performance. I am not a dancer by any stretch of the imagination – the less I have to move my body in public the better – but Friends’ infectious show had me bouncing like a goon. It’s percussive, it’s full of catchy hooks and sing-along moments and it will make you want to dance, making it easily the most fun set of the festival. Sadly, Friends come across a little flat on record and fail to capture the sheer booty-wiggling energy of their live performance. Hopefully this is something that they will flesh out in future releases. Nevertheless, check out their single I’m His Girl here.
Honourable mentions:
Given that Airwaves is predominantly an Icelandic affair, I feel it would only be right for me to draw attention to some of the homegrown talent – for an island of 3 million people, the quality of their musical output is quite frankly ridiculous.
Lay Low plays sultry, bluesy folk. It’s vocally driven, but that’s not to say Lovísa Sigrúnardóttir doesn’t know her way around a guitar too – her playing is expressive and skillful. M-Band sings over chilled out beat-driven electro – think Jamie Woon with an Icelandic twist. He’s known for his improvisation and determination to make every set unique. Bloodgroup are a synth-pop quartet from East Iceland. It’s poppy, but with some pleasantly dark undertones (in a similar vein to artists like The Knife). Ben Frost, whilst not a native Icelander, now lives in Reykjavik producing seriously dark and bassy ambient/drone music. He has also collaborated with Bedroom Community labelmate Daniel Bjarnason to produce an album called Solaris – expansive, cinematic and reminiscent of film score composers like Clint Mansell and Johan Söderqvist. Finally, Airwaves staples FM Belfast produce super fun, dancey electronica. They also have a mean cover of Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name Of…
Bring on Airwaves ’13!