And, the final announcement is out. Almost 230 bands will be at Iceland Airwaves 2015, and while we’ll definitely miss Björk and Mammút, The Airwaves staff have outdone themselves with the roster this year. This is the most bands I have seen yet, 155 of the 230 bands are Icelandic, and they span the spectrum of every genre. Here is the new announcement, Directed, edited and created by the wonderful Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir, Sin Fang once again is credited with the music, and… Now we all know who Gangly is.
Also announced for this year is a festival within a festival. On Sunday, the final night of the festival,the mini-festival called Extreme Chill will happen at the Vodafone Hall. One last hurrah and “laid back” night of music, featuring Hot Chip, Introbeats, dj. flugvél og geimskip, Agent Fresco, Emmsjé Gauti, Sleaford Mods, Úlfur Úlfur and FM Belfast. You can learn more about it here. It’s a fantastic idea, because if you have done Airwaves right, nothing will sound better than only having to go to one place to finish off in musical bliss.
As I did for 2014 and 2013, I’ve listed all of the Icelandic bands playing into loosely divided into genres on this page. Clicking on their name will open a new tab with the Iceland Airwaves info page for that artist, which includes Soundcloud, Social media links, and a short bio.
This list is just the Icelandic bands playing, if you want to see the full line-up go to the Iceland Airwaves Line-up page.
| Singer/Songwriter – Folk – Blues/Jazz – Composers – Classical | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Árstíðir | Aurora | Axel Flóvent | Beebee and the Bluebirds |
| Brim | DALÍ | Fura | Grúska Babúska |
| Helgi Valur | Hymnalaya | Jónas Sen | Júníus Meyvant |
| Justman | Lucy in Blue | Magnús Leifur | Máni Orrason |
| Markús & The Diversion Sessions | Mógil | My Bubba | Nordic Affect |
| Par-Ðar | Soffía Björg | Sóley | TUSK |
| Þórunn Antonía og Bjarni | Ylja | ||
| All things Electronica – Dance / DJs / Composers / ambient / ElectroPop / noise | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Agzilla | Arni Vector | Arnljótur | Art is Dead |
| Asonat | Auður | Berndsen | Bistro Boy |
| Brilliantinus | Daveeth | dj. Flugvél og geimskip | DÖPUR |
| Dream wife | Exos | Futuregrapher | Gangly |
| Ghostigital | Good Moon Deer | Gunnar Jónsson Collider | Gus Gus |
| H.dór | Hekla | HimBrim | Jack Magnet Quintet |
| Jóhann Eiriksson | Jón Ólafsson & Futuregrapher | Kiasmos | Kippi Kaninus |
| LaFontaine | Lord Pusswhip | M-Band | Mafama |
| Mankan | Milkywhale | Miri | Mikael Lind |
| Mike Hunt | Mr. Signout | Odinn | OHM |
| Royal | Ruxpin | Serengeti by President Bongo | Skurken |
| SMURJÓN | Snooze infinity | Súrefni | Sykur |
| Thor | Tonik Ensemble | Trptych | Vaginaboys |
| Vök | Waage | Yagya | Yamaho |
| Young Karin | |||
| Punk – Hardcore | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Æla | Börn | Caterpillarmen | Grísalappalísa |
| In the Company of Men | Kælan Mikla | Muck | Pink Street Boys |
| Skelkur í bringu | |||
| All Shades of Metal | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Beneath | Bubbi Og Dimma | Endless Dark | Kontinuum |
| Misþyrming | Momentum-Malneirophrenia | Severed | Sinmara |
| Svartidauði | |||
| Hip-Hop – Rap – Reggae | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| AmbAdama | B-Ruff | Cell 7 | Cheddy Carter |
| Emmsjé Gauti | Epic Rain | Gísli Pálmi | Herra Hnetusmjör |
| Kut Grapje | Ojba Rasta | Reykjavíkurdætur | Shades of Reykjavik |
| Sturla Atlas | Úlfur Úlfur | ||
You can listen to all the bands playing this year via Iceland Airwaves Spotify playlist here:
And here are the previous video announcements:
Video four was Directed, produced, and shot by Máni M Sigfússon, starring Kælan Mikla, with music by Sin Fang:
Video three was produced by Les Frères Stefson, directed and written by, Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson And the banker was Haraldur Ari Stefánsson:
Video two with Hrafnkell Örn Guðjónsson drumming away as band names float across the screen:
First announcement with Dj. Flugvél og Geimski:
I would suggest getting your tickets sooner than later, especially if you are planning on doing a package you’ll have more hotel options in the beginning now than you will in a month. Typically the festival sells out, but with the line up looking as good as it does this year, I would imagine it will sell out sooner than later. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be on the wrong end of “you snooze, you lose”
If you want to see what the past has been like, here is a link to all my Iceland Airwaves related posts. And here is the link to the Iceland Airwaves Flickr page if you want to see just how fun this festival really is.
Hope to see you there.
Ragnaar's Icelandic Music Blog 