|06-NOV-2015|  Another late night (early morning?) but that’s how it rolls during Airwaves. The schedule is so outrageous that it becomes “normal” pretty quick since we never actually have to be anywhere early in the day.

Today we didn’t leave the apartment until around noon but it was “nice” outside so we strolled town looking at menus of places we haven’t eaten before. Ended up at a cafe/bar that’s been an off-venue locations in year’s past but we’ve only had beers here. Fortified with lunch we went our separate ways – Jeff met up with his local friend Ari, then he and Berto went to KEX to see Agent Fresco. I opted for some shopping since we’ll see Agent Fresco on Sunday to close out the festival.

Alert the media – boots have been purchased. 🙂  It’s not a trip to Iceland without shoes. Gorgeous stuff in Paris, but I’m a Scandinavian design girl at heart – they know how to deal with rainy, crappy weather and still look chic. Kroll on Laugavegur Street never disappoints with their carefully curated collections. Yes, most everything is some shade of black or grey, but funky, textured and cool. I will be rocking these stompers a ton this winter!

Pleep was a little upset at being left home yesterday and missing Slippbarinn and Cafe Babalu. My bad. So today he was stuffed into my bag to enjoy lunch and a beer with us.

You do not want to deal with an irritated Portuguese monkey.

While I was about town, the guys walked down to KEX to catch Agent Fresco. We’ve seen this band a bunch of times and the put on a killer live show – so much passion and energy. KEX was packed, as usual, and the band sounded great.

I got back to the apartment in time to catch KEXP’s live stream so I got to hear most of the set. We’ll see them again Sunday; they’re on the closing card at Vodafone Hall.

Berndsen at Geysir, a very nice clothing shop just down the street from the apartment. We did finally manage to get into the shop to catch a few songs of the short 20 minute set.  Berndsen and Hermigervill make some of the darkest pop music you’ll ever hear, and wrap it up in tight, synth-y beats and serve it up to you like it’s 1985.

“Are you having a good time? Let’s have a Supertime” as he launched into a favorite from the album ‘Lover In the Dark’. The place was rockin’!

The annual dinner at Shalimar, a Pakistani restaurant that’s a mainstay in the heart of the city.

Check out the massive mound of dough for the naan that dude here is attempting to tame. Wow.

After dinner we hiked over to KEX to see Bo Ningen, a Japanese acid punk band. From the second DJ Cheryl Waters (KEXP) introduced them, it was a full-on assault of sound and flying hair.

Two “songs”, I think, then a 5 – 7 minute jam that maintained an insane level of intensity. Needless to say, the crowd at KEX loved them and I’m sure that energy fueled the onslaught.  We will be looking for some of there music, for sure. Wonder what it sounded like to the folks back home -not usually what you’re hearing on KEXP at 11am.

From KEX we headed to Harpa Silfurberg- it’s kind of a light night line-up wise but we decided to give this one a go. It’s pouring rain so running all over town venue-hopping wasn’t our first choice.

First up was Arstiđir – they’ve played Airwaves a bunch, but we’ve never seen them.  They are obviously incredibly talented, but their melodic folkiness wasn’t what we were looking for to get that “second wind” for the day.

Next up, Hjaltalin, a band we saw a few years ago. Again, not our style, though very, very popular. The room was PACKED. Described as “moody, orchestral pop”, I never seem to get the “pop” part – that implies, at some point, a catchy hook will kick in.

Next, Seattle’s own Perfume Genius. Now, I’ve heard this guy on KEXP before, and I know he’s kind of odd, but I was hoping he’d bring it with some dark, techno- pop weirdness.

But no, he brought a black jumpsuit, awkward dance moves and an electric piano.

We’re out – 12 hours sleep in 2 days plus what is apparently the “quiet room” tonight pushed us over the edge. Fortunately, the off-venue we saw earlier in the day was AWESOME.

P.S. Hey Harpa, that weird back-lighting you love to do … well it sucks for seeing the bands. For the biggest venue at Airwaves, with arguably the best sound and lighting system, you could turn some lights on. Just sayin’.