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Iceland Airwaves

Iceland Airwaves 2018 by Jeff Obermeyer

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I still remember our first Iceland Airwaves like it was yesterday. My wife and I landed at Keflavík in darkness after an overnight flight from Seattle, and when we stepped outside to board the bus to Reykjavík, we were greeted with rain attacking us at a 45-degree angle as the wind blew in off the Atlantic, half-soaking us before we could scramble on board. Welcome to Iceland in October! That was in 2009, and we’ve been back for every Airwaves since. Over the years, we’ve approached Airwaves in many different ways. We’ve rented cars so we could go do touristy stuff; we’ve done enough record shopping to get us on a first-name basis with more than one shop owner; and we’ve made a tradition of soaking at the Blue Lagoon on Sundays. But at the end of the day, Airwaves is about the music, and one of the things we’ve…

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Stories of Captain Syrup

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Do you need something for gray days to make your feet jump unconsciously? Jazz rock funky Captain Syrup is able to make you lose your breath and sweat all over but they can also make you so happy like you just got the best gift ever. Sounds like the band must be super energetic, right? Indeed, those youngsters proved it with their sweaty set at Bar Ananas on November 5th during Iceland Airwaves festival. What a madness. What a precious experience. Captain Syrup is an electrifying sonic mixture – adventurous, bold and brave if it comes about experiments and facing challenges. With a dose of imagination, the band’s sound ranges vast from killer funk to mathcore and it will surely make you pop by this party for a while. Add to this a pinch of crazy youth and you can imagine a tempo and progression of the sound. The trio…

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5 reasons why Hatari won Iceland Airwaves

in Live by

Iceland Airwaves is like Christmas. You might have no time to be excited for it at all but when the first day finally comes you simply can’t resist enjoying it to the fullest. There were so many bands to see, 60 off-venues locations to discover and after those crazy 7 days – cause I count Iceland Airwaves from Monday til Sunday – I’m the most thankful for discovering HATARI. Luckily, I experienced their performance twice – on the first day of off-venues shows, October 31st, at Kex Hostel and then on the last one, November 6th, before the queen PJ Harvey went on stage. To be honest, it took me a long time to organize proper words to express what my ears heard, eyes saw and other senses processed. 1. It wasn’t even their 10th gig together. The band was formed in 2015 by Klemens Hannigan and Matthías Tryggvi Haraldson.…

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The Winter Light Festival is trying to kick the darkness out from the city. Days are getting brighter and seems like a summer depression is slowly sneaking into our life. Open your doors wider, catch some disappearing dimness as long as you can do it. Also let Fufanu in. Or better run after them in the snowstorm if you have an opportunity because it seems like lately they play more abroad than on our playground. That’s what we actually want for them, isn’t it? So good for them. Not that slowly but definitely steady Fufanu makes it to the top. Do you know this unspoken feeling under your skin when you see some band for the first time and in the calm before the storm you know that something meaningful will happen to that team? With a dark, heavy and a bit electronic sound Fufanu creates a specific atmosphere that…

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