Airwaves 2017 – Day 3

| 03-Nov-2017 | Start my day with fresh, still-warm pastry from Braud & Co? Yes, please. Truth be told, I had crusty bread with Nutella and banana, but I forgot to take a picture of it. It looked liked toast; these are much prettier.

We headed out to KEX around 12:30pm to catch the much-talked-about (by KEXP people) set from Mikko Joensuu.
KEX wasn’t crazy-slammed for this 1pm set – we got there less than 10 minutes before it started and we were only 3 people deep from the stage setup.  Mikko plays an electro-singer-songwriter set, backed with eerie strings, and two synthesizers.  The music is rich, textured and melodic, as are his vocals. Reminded me very much of the later a-ha catalog. Very talented artist – I can see now why the KEXP crew was so excited to have him on the schedule.
 

It turned very cold last night and Mt. Esja got some snow overnight. We walked along the water to take in the view behind Sólfar, “Sun Voyager”.
 After KEX we hopped over to Slippbarinn – a favorite lunch spot. And by hopped, I mean the 15 minute walk across “downtown”. Pleepleus approves of our lunch choice. I’m pretty sure we have this same picture from every trip.

And who doesn’t want ice cream when it’s 35 degrees outside? After lunch we walked through a light snow flurry to Valdis, an ice cream joint in the industrial area opposite the harbor.

 

Cooked dinner “in” tonight – fresh pasta and a really good bottled sauce from Bonus, complete with basil leaf. We also picked up a couple of European wines at Vïnbudïn.
Started our on-venue schedule at Hressó. In years past they had their stage in a big party tent on they patio, but the year it was crammed into the front of the restaurant under a super-low ceiling.

But first, two hip-hop groups. Rari Boys, was a loosely organized “group” of about 8 teens wrapping about the ‘hood that is RVK: bitches, blow, kilos, money-comes-and-money-goes, and other gansta sense.  Seriously?

The second was described on the app as “trap” and consisted of a laptop streaming the entire production and several guys pretending to rap along with it. It was a lot of things, but trap was not one of them. In fact, I’m pretty sure there are some dudes on their way from Atlanta to take their genre moniker back.

Finally, we got to the band we came to see: CRYPTROCHROME.

Watch and learn youngsters, this is how rap is done: witty, soulful lyrics, interplay of vocalists, anchored by a DJ. Solid set, and lots of fun.

Bounced over to Gaukaurínn to catch OG rockers Tappi Tíkarrass. The original line-up, back in the day included, Bjõrk and since we’re in Reykjavik, we thought, perhaps, she’d make an appearance. Alas, she did not, but it was a good set.
 Jeff and I called it a night, grabbed a waffle, and headed back to the apartment. Berto and Jason had left us earlier to queue up at the art museum for the 1:10am show by FM Belfast.