Airwaves Day 2
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Either way, Pleepleus approves. |
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Airwaves schedule reminders from the app directly to my watch – yes please. And unlike previous years, the schedule seems to be a bit “fluid” so the reminders/updates are helpful.
KEX was slammed for Samaris – a very impressive draw at 1pm. After telling Cheryl Waters they had no set list for the 30 minute show, *LIVE* radio broadcast and Facebook live stream, they launched some beats and started in. Brief chatter between songs cued up the next track; fortunately KEXP loves this band, and has supported them with airtime for years, so really they can do no wrong. And besides, its 6am at home. Beautiful set – solid anchoring beats, wandering musical overlays and vocals that were almost another instrument. Glad to finally see them in person. You can see the video from the live stream here. |
Found ourselves at Bió Paradis again this afternoon; this time for the electronic art-pop duo Wesen. It’s quirky, sometimes awkward but genuine fun music by two very successful, and very different musicians. We’ve seen a lot of these projects form and disband over the years which is the beauty of the extensive off-venue schedule; many of these projects get an opportunity to develop and be heard by music-lovers outside the RVK scene. We saw Wesen for the first time last year, and they have an official on-venue show this Airwaves. The smaller venue this afternoon suits their playful banter perfectly. |
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Next stop, Punk Museum. Since they don’t have actual hours we weren’t sure if they’d be open but figured it was worth a drive-by. Turns out they were open – hosted by a very old-skool, quick-witted punk rocker with a bright green mohawk. Nice. The collection a great tribute to all things Icelandic punk in a subterranean 4-stall concrete public restroom. It had been closed off for at least two decades and underwent a pretty significant renovation to repurpose. It still smells heavily of pine solution and paint. Inside, the timeline takes you stall-to-stall through the entire evolution of the scene with artifacts, posters, music listening stations and personal memorabilia. Excellent work by Finni and Dr. Gunni.
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After the Punk Museum we went to Slippbarinn to meet up with Tristen and Andy to see the decidedly NOT punk band Vök. We’ve seen them a number of times over the past few years and they continue to impress musically and in their confidence onstage. Check them out if you like dark, electo-pop. From there, the annual dinner at Shalmiar, the Pakistani restraurant that is an institution in the city center. I’ll spare you the dimly lit pictures of curries and tandoori – they look like every other year. 😉 Onward to Húrra to post up for Dr. Spock later this evening. |
First set of the evening was by Hórmónar, a new band to the Icelandic scene and play a high-energy punk style set. Impressive in its presentation considering the band was formed less than a year ago. |
 Next up, The Ills, all the way from Slovakia. They play a very tight prog-metal set with no vocals. Heavy, heavy bass, head-thrashing, ear-to-ear grinning prog-metal. These guys were having so much fun it was ridiculous. They were genuinely happy to be at the festival and playing for new ears and everyone loved it. This is definitely not my normal musical cup-o-tea, but they were damn good. |
  At the set break we waded into the milling crowd to get close to the stage for Dr. Spock. I was a little leary of the mosh-potential but it wasn’t so packed that escape would be impossible. A driving bass, drums and keys wound up the crowd for the arrival of the Drs. themselves. Finni sported flannel and a ski mask; Óttarr looked as though he’d shopped a 12-year old’s closet with mom jeans, a too-small purple metallic shirt and a way too small textile bomber jacket. Oh, and The Glove (a throw back to the ‘Dr. Phil’ album cover). When the Dr. snaps on The Glove to start the set, you know it’s going to be good. And it was. The mosh did wind up over the course of the set, but we were able to keep distance from the chaos. The crowd loves them some Dr. Spock and it’s a rare treat to find them on the Airwaves schedule. The Dr. is in!  |
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Silfurberg has beautiful lighting and excellent sound, but it’s impersonal. |
 
Speaking of impersonal (or maybe just indifferent), Fufanu. Don’t get me wrong, their latest record was in constant rotation on my iPod all summer, but they’re about the show experience, they don’t really seem to care if you like it or not. The new set is high-energy with streaming video graphics – visually very interesting but detached. We’ve seen the evolution of this band from two very young guys mixing beats off two MacBooks (2009) to the five piece they perform as today. |
