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Iceland Airwaves 2015

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.

RocknRoll – Indie Rock – Pop Rock – Rock Rock
Agent Fresco	Bárujárn	Borko	CeaseTone
Dikta	Dr. Gunni	Elin helena	FM Belfast
Fufanu	Geislar	Hallelewah	HAM
Hide your kids	Himbrimi	Hjaltalín	John Grant & the ISO
Just Another Snake Cult	kimono	Kiriyama Family	Klassart
Lára Rúnars	Low Roar	MAMMÚT	Mosi Musik
Mosi Musik	Mr. Silla	Oyama	Red Barnett
Rhytmatik	Runar Thorisson	Russian.girls	Sindri Eldon & the Ways
Teitur Magnússon	Toneron	Trúboðarnir	Valdimar
Var	The Vintage Caravan	Vio	Þórir Georg

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.

Readers choice, top 10 Icelandic bands

2 Replies

Last week I posted 15 bands I thought you should know. The response to that blog was somewhat incredible in my little blog world. Some of you are very, VERY, angry individuals, both towards the bands chosen as well as the person who’d dare pick some and leave others out. And some of you came up with great alternatives or bands you wished were on it.

So in this post, I took the top suggestions you commented and emailed about, as well as a few more new bands I think you should check out. As before, click on their name to find out more about them. So, without further ado:

Agent Fresco

A good indie style rock back, akin to “At the Drive In” They’ve been in the scene since 2008, and are working on a new album as we speak. A mellow style of math rock with creative licks and lyrics that seem to float over the top.

GusGus

GusGus is indeed a veteran band of Iceland. A little bit of trip-hop, a lot electronic, the band has been on the scene for almost 20 years. Over the years, there have been many members, and those members have gone on to start production companies and other bands. GusGus can count musicians such as Emilíana Torrini, and Daníel Ágúst amongst their ranks. The above video is from the new Album Mexico, it’s a great album and I am currently working on a post about them, so stay tuned.

Reykjavik!

Reverent, conservative, Sunday morning driving music. Yeahno, they’ve been around since Christ was a child, and their music is crassly clever, aggressive punk rock promoting whatever they want when they want to. Oddly enough, on the East river walkway a few weeks ago, the song above came on, and as all the asshattedly good looking folks were surrounding me, it seemed the fitting soundtrack to my movie-like fantasty of tossing them into the river. A lot of fun to hear live, and their massive catalog of albums is worthy of your attention.

Vigri

I’m actually quite glad a few people recommended this band. A large contrast to Reykjavik! Vigri is soothing, with floating lyrics over what on the surface appears to be mellow music. But there’s a hidden intensity that creeps up on you. I first saw them play two or so years ago, and last year at Airwaves I made everyone that came with me see the band at least once. Not one person came back with bad things to say, even the grumpy metal guy. I’m impatiently waiting patiently for the new album, the new material they played at Airwaves last year was fantastic.

Legend

Mínus was the first hardcore Icelandic band I heard. I believe it was Chimera off of the Fálkar soundtrack. Legend is Krummi Björgvinsson from Mínus and keyboardist Halldor Björnsson. It’s dark, sometimes industrial, sometimes rock, and it’s good, crazy good. These guys are not to be missed live.

Pascal Pinon

I placed Samaris on the original list, one of the other projects by Jófríður Ákadóttir, but Pascal Pinon is the sweet, smooth and charming band of her and her sister, Ásthildur. Haunting vocals and soothing instrumentals make for a very relaxing, excellent combination. Excellent for when you just need to sit back and relax.

Just another Snake Cult

Good old fashion rock, nothing fancy but damn it’s good. They put on an extremely high energy live gig as well. Created by Þórir Bogason, somewhat a genius in the Icelandic music scene, their music just makes you feel good.

Snorri Helgason

Snorri’s first band, Sprengjuhöllin was a super band of sorts. He epitomizes the hard work ethic of Icelandic musicians. He is constantly on the go touring everywhere he can while writing and releasing music. Later this year he will be in Connecticut with the likes of Lay Low and Svavar Knútur at the Icelandic music festival, Iceland Affair. He’s blessed with incredible writing skills, and his songs are summer porch gems to be shared with friends and beer.

There are two newer bands that I really feel you should check out:

Cell 7

The day before Airwaves of 2013, I was standing in Lucky records with only a handful of people, when just a DJ and Ragna (Cell 7) broke into her rap. It quickly reminded me of the old days, and her improvising, action with the crowd, and overall set was amazing. I highly suggest you check out her stuff, and if you can, pick up her new album, CELLF

Dj. flugvél og geimskip

Trippy, spacey grooves with an incredibly fluid high pitched voice. Dee-Lite has to love this DJ, and if you liked Dee-Lite you will love her as well. So, set up the disco ball, lava lamp and trip out.

So there you go, more Icelandic bands for you to get to know, this time crowd sourced for your listening pleasure. There is a lot of music out there, and it’s easy to find new stuff you yourself will dig. Check out the Iceland Music Export page, or get the book Blue Eyed Pop to learn more about the history, distant and yesterday, of the Icelandic music scene.