Airwaves 2019 is a wrap – Pixeled Passport

| 09-Nov-2019 | After a relatively early night (1am), we were out early by Airwaves standards this morning to meet our friend Leana at Café Paris for what has now become our traditional Saturday breakfast affair.We had fun catching up on all things Airwaves, Iceland shenanigans in general, and life on the “farm” at Drangar Country Guesthouse on the Snæfellsnes peninsula. One of these years we’ll make another attempt to plan a Ring Road driving trip and check out the guesthouse first hand. Our original attempt was disrupted by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in 2010.

After breakfast we decided to make a run to City Hall to check for Airwaves merch. Berto picked up his wristband on Tuesday and there wasn’t really anything set up. Same for Wednesday when Jeff and I picked up our wristbands. Same for Saturday, the last official day of the festival.

What’s the point of having merch tables if you never have any merch?

After City Hall we popped over to Kolaportið, aka the Flea Marché. It expanded a few years ago and was a booming enterprise. Today, however, it’s no longer completely full with vendors, nor shoppers.

That said, there are still a lot of jewelry artists selling their handmade items. This year I picked up a pair of earrings made with salmon leather. Yes, as in fish. The artist removes, tans and dyes the fish skins in his workshop. The colors spanned the spectrum, plus several metallics. Different fish skins produce different vibrancy, texture and structural properties. OK, so I geeked out with the jewelry maker. Super interesting.

Annual dinner at the Pakistani restaurant, Shalimar.

After dinner, Jeff, Berto and I bounced across town to Lucky Records to see Hermigervill. NO ONE makes better synth-pop electronica than this man. And NO ONE is having more fun doing it. If you’re not tapping a foot or bobbing your head at a Hermigervill show, check your pulse – you might be dead.

As a bonus in this set, he played a couple of tracks from his recent collaboration for “The Magnetics: A Historical Glimpse of the Future”. The record, released in 1981, is iconic in the Icelandic electronica scene – synths, modules vocals, the works.

The first “official” performance we saw tonight at Hressingarskálinn (aka The Ring): :PAPERCUTZ. The brain-child of Bruno Miguel, an electronic musician out of Portugal. Tonight’s incarnation of the “band” was Bruno on the electonics and backing vocals, and a lovely (though unnamed) singer.

Next up, EinarIndra, another electronic artist. Jeff reviewed one of his previous albums for ROK, but we sort of lost track of him after that. He’s been “on the list” for several Airwaves so seeing him in the mix tonight added to an already intriguing lineup. Performing with a bassist and drummer, the added live instruments gave the otherwise ambient set some added sound and texture.

Switching back to electro-pop, Danish producer Lydmor. One-woman-performance-art complete with blacklight, glowing body paint and a lot of synth. Very popular.

Light schedule tonight due to the “Big Show” at Valshöllin – Agent Fresco, Vök and Of Monsters and Men. Those of us chosing to kick around the city venues instead had fewer options – crazy for a Saturday, usually the biggest and best night of the festival. How things change. We called it a night early, but not before hot dogs.Side note – where is the waffle truck? No waffles on Friday. Now, no waffles on Saturday. What is going on????

Unlike previous years, the festival wraps up tonight instead of Sunday night. Tomorrow there are a few “off venue” shows, but the festival is officially over. Most of our extended crew is still in town, so it’ll be a social day, catching up before everyone scatters to the winds until next time.