Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.10.2014, Qupperneq 58

The
The show to catch if you want
your eardrums assaulted —
Falk Night
Falk (Fuck Art Let's Kill) is a collective
of domestic sonic terrorists that have
been putting out records and organiz-
ing events of the noise/drone variety for
quite some time now. Enter at your own
risk.
(Harpa Kaldalón on Friday)
The show to attend to channel
your exotic taste —
Ibibio Sound Machine
Led by Nigerian/British vocalist Eno
Williams, Ibibio Sound Machine cites ev-
erything from disco to postpunk to Nige-
rian folklore as an influence. Having seen
them earlier this year at Roskilde, we can
attest to the fact that this is the show to
bring out those eclectic dance moves
you’ve been working on.
(Friday, Reykjavík Art Museum 22:50)
The show for a dance with the
locals —
Prins Póló
Armed with the number one song in
the country, great showmanship and
the right attitude, Prins Póló can do no
wrong.
There will be Icelandic mayhem at
Gamla Bíó on Saturday at 22:00.
The band to see if you have a
hangover —
Yumi Zouma
Feel your hangover melt away while you
enjoy the dreamy pop of New Zealand’s
Yumi Zouma at Harpa, Kaldalón on
Saturday at 22:30.
The show for your body and
soul —
Tonik Ensemble
Combining thumping techno rhythms
with melancholic vocals underscored by
strings and brass, the Tonik Ensemble is
a holistic mind-body experience.
(Saturday, Harpa Kaldalón 00:20)
The best place to go if you're
undecided and the weather is
shit —
Harpa
Head to Harpa. It has three great venues
crammed into one big space so you don’t
have to face the elements as you wander
indecisively between shows.
Best concert to get your
groove on —
Caribou
Canadian math wiz and musical wun-
derkind Caribou is sure to get the audi-
ence grooving with the smooth, organic
techno of his two latest releases, ‘Our
Love’ and ‘Swim’. He has played twice
before in Iceland and both concerts were
astonishing.
(Saturday, Reykjavík Art Museum,
23:45)
Best show to see if you want to
wait a couple of hours in line
for a ticket —
Flaming Lips and
The War on Drugs
Having the chance to catch those two
remarkable indie veterans, we think
it’s definitely worth your time in a line.
Flaming Lips played one of Iceland
Airwaves’ most memorable shows to
date when they opened for Suede at
Laugardalshöll in 2000.
(Vodafone Hall on Sunday, 22:30)
The show to see for a feminist
postcolonial deconstruction
of a legendary final gig in the
making —
The Knife
The Swedish electronic sibling duo has
become increasingly political with the
years and their Shaking The Habitual
tour is supposed to be some sort of de-
construction of the concept of a rock
concert. Apparently that includes mim-
ing, strange masks and a lot of modern
dancing. Also, this will be their last con-
cert ever, so who knows, they might as
well overthrow the capitalist patriarchal
powers that be while they are at it.
(Saturday, Harpa Silfurberg, 22:00)
Straumur has been active since the sum-
mer 2012, with writers Óli Dóri and Davíð
Roach documenting the local music scene
and helping people discover new music at
straum.is. It is associated with the radio
show Straumur on X977, which Óli Dóri
hosts every Monday evening at 23:00.
We are extra excited for this year’s festival because for the first
time we, Straumur, are having our very own off-venue program
at Bíó Paradís. Also, the Knife will play their final show ever and
other great international acts like Caribou, The Flaming Lips
and Unknown Mortal Orchestra are playing. These following
recommendations are based on the physical and mental state
you may find yourself in.
It’s somewhat common around this
time of year for Reykjavík music lov-
ers to get, in the parlance of our times,
“hella planny.” Many locals map their
movements during the Iceland Air-
waves festival to an uncharacteristi-
cally exact degree. A simple “who are
you seeing tonight?” can be greeted
by “I’ll be watching off-venues at A,
B and C, then eating dinner whilst
watching band X at restaurant P, then
going to venue D and catching three
songs of band Y—because you have
to be in venue D before the queue
starts—then I’m off to venue E for
the last few songs of band Z, and then
maybe an after-party at KB...”
Given that Icelanders are usually
totally averse to planning anything
beyond the next drink, I found this
unusual. But maybe it makes sense—
whereas in larger capital cities the gig
circuit is a kind of an ongoing all-you-
can-eat buffet, in little old Reykjavík,
things are very different. Visits from
international bands are fewer here,
and if you happen to be into alterna-
tive or underground music, then gigs
can be scarce indeed.
Airwaves is, seen in this light, a
rare chance for Icelanders to gorge on
incoming new music. People have to
be organised, otherwise the festival
can rocket by in a blur, leaving bewil-
dered wristband-holders with just an
empty wallet, a banging hangover,
and hazy memories of long queues
and second resorts.
So, some interesting festival tac-
tics emerge. One set of friends load
a parked car with beers during Air-
waves week for a convenient down-
town spot to speed-drink between
gigs; others turn their hallway into a
giant Airwaves schedule, with each
day’s on-venue and off-venue shows
blue-tacked to the wall (this in addi-
tion to a dog-eared printout for when
their smartphone inevitably dies, tak-
ing the Airwaves app with it).
But no matter how well you lay
out what bands you’re going to see,
there’ll always be clashes. It was with
mounting horror, via a Snapchat from
an equally perturbed friend, that I no-
ticed an almost sadistic programming
clash—on Saturday night, at the peak
of the festival, brother-sister duo The
Knife and theatrical alt-pop band Fu-
ture Islands almost completely over-
lap.
Now, this might seem like no big
deal. Just… you know. Pick one. Right?
Well, there’s more to it than that.
For The Knife, this is their final gig
ever, possible reformations notwith-
standing. For Future Islands, this
show comes after they were cata-
pulted from a long period of cult-band
status into the popular conscious-
ness, when their Letterman perfor-
mance went viral. Both are poten-
tially the only Reykjavík shows these
bands will ever play, and both carry
a heightened energy—it’s a chance to
catch each of them in a special mo-
ment that won’t come round again.
I still have a few weeks to solve this
serious #firstworldproblem. But if
you should see me on my bike rocket-
ing between Hafnarhusið and Harpa
that night, please—step aside, and
wish me luck.
T H E R E Y K J A V Í K G R A P E V I N E I C E L A N D A I R W A V E S S P E C I A L6
Negotiating the Air-
waves schedule, and a
clash of the titans
WORDS BY JOHN ROGERS

Best-Waves
WORDS BY ÓLI DÓRI & DAVÍÐ ROACH