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Icelandic newbies at Iceland Airwaves 2018

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The final acts for Iceland Airwaves 2018 have been announced and there are a lot of Icelandic newbies on the roster.  I’ve decided to blog about some of them and have included a brief history of each.  Also, the bands have been kind enough to answer a few “getting to know you” questions.  Hopefully I’ll be able to do a few of these posts between now and Airwaves.

Ateria

Ateria is a family trio, sisters Ása and Eir and their cousin Fönn. Ateria formed in 2017, and won Iceland’s famous new music contest, Músíktilraunir in March of 2018.  The trio have studied classical music for years, and their music incorporates what they’ve learned creating a darker folkrock-ish feeling.  Funfact, the name “Ateria” is derived from the latin name for the eider duck, Somateria mollissima.

What acts would you say hold kinship with your music?  Ateria:  “One always perceives one’s own music differently than other people’s, so we find it very difficult to determine what acts are similar to ours.”

What other Icelandic bands are you looking forward to seeing?  Ateria:  “We are looking forward to seeing Between Mountains, Vök, Mammút, Ólafur Arnalds, Hórmónar, Mókrókar, Sóley and Agent Fresco.”

Do you have any albums, or merch for sale.  Where do folks go to get it?  Ateria:  “We don’t have any albums or merch for sale.”

If you could be any animal covering any song, what would you be, and what would you cover?  Ateria:  “We would be eider ducks covering ‘Weird Fishes / Arpeggi’ by Radiohead.”

Kjartan Holm

While this isn’t Kjartan Holm’s first time at Airwaves, previously performing with his other bands such as For a minor reflection and Tófa, this will be his first solo performance.  His broad knowledge of musical genres have allowed him to collaborate, produce, and work with a great number of Icelandic musicians and has taken him all over the globe.  Focused more on composition, his solo material carries an almost dark atmospheric sound combining a diverse pallet of instruments, sounds, and beats.  Kjartan, along with Jónsi, Sin Fang, and Alex Somers, also created the background soundtrack to the store Fischer located in downtown Reykjavik.

What acts would you say hold kinship with your music?  “I guess stuff like Tim Hecker, Stephen O’Malley, Ben Frost, Fennesz and things like that come to mind. When I write this kind of music I’m just following the mood I’m in at that particular moment. Mixing together processed sounds with recordings on top of that for endless amount of time until I’ve created something I think sounds interesting. The structure kind of comes automatically in that process.”

What other Icelandic bands are you looking forward to seeing?  “Bára Gísladóttir is definitely one of the most interesting acts around in my opinion, Gunnar Jónsson is really good, Ingibjörg Turchi, SiGRÚN and Tófa.”

Do you have any albums, or merch for sale.  Where do folks go to get it?   “My debut album as a solo artist is being mastered as we speak. It won’t be out until early 2019 though. I have older stuff, everything from barely-touched demos to finished orchestral pieces on my Soundcloud (www.soundcloud.com/kjartanholm) but that’s about it for now. When the record is out I’ll start promoting in properly. For those interested they can check out my website for more sounds: www.kjartanholm.com”

If you could be any animal covering any song, what would you be, and what would you cover?  “That’s easy. I’d be a Raccoon covering Belinda Carlisle’s ‘Heaven is a Place on Earth’.”

Shakes

Shakes consist of Logi Marr and Frank Raven.  You may have heard of Logi’s former band, Lily of the Vine but Shakes is as about as far from that sound as you can get.   Formed in 2016 Shakes are on a mission to bring back real drums and good melodies.  Their first E.P. is all about sex, drugs, and casualties.

What acts would you say hold kinship with your music?   Shakes:  “We don’t really feel like anything influences us really, our album Red Motel was basically about murdering your girlfriend in a motel room..never heard that before..but I guess Bobby Vinton is cool.”

What other Icelandic bands are you looking forward to seeing?  Shakes:  “No idea who’s playing besides us.”

Do you have any albums, or merch for sale.  Where do folks go to get it?  Shakes:  “We have a 7″ double single vinyl for sale in the UK only. We will be bringing it for airwaves and people can buy it at the show. We will also maybe collaborate with a icelandic designer and bring some cool stuff for sale, you don’t wanna miss that.”

If you could be any animal covering any song, what would you be, and what would you cover? Shakes:  “Shakes ARE fucking Cheetahs and I guess if we were covering we would do something badass, I wanna be adored with Stone Roses. Maybe we should on Airwaves..see you then.”

Sycamore Tree

less than a year old, Sycamore tree has already gained quite the following.  The duo consists of Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, of Silvía Night fame, and the fashion designer Gunnar Hilmarsson.  soothing instrumentals topped with an eloquent chanteuse.  Another fun fact, Gunnar Hilmarsson once designed the uniforms for Wow Air.

What acts would you say hold kinship with your music? Sycamore Tree:  “Sometimes it´s hard to tell for an artist to be the best judge on that. We create really without thinking about what other people do and we follow our heart. The names we hear popping up when people talk about the Sycamore Tree “Sound “ are everything from Leonard Cohen, Lee Hazlewood, Beth Gibbons to Mazzy Star. Basically we don´t know or really care to be honest.”

What other Icelandic bands are you looking forward to seeing?  Sycamore Tree: “There are so many great ones. Warmland, Agent Fresco and Between Mountains I don´t want to miss. But I could mention so many more.”

Do you have any albums, or merch for sale.  Where do folks go to get it?  Sycamore Tree:  “People will be able to buy our album in all music stores and most cafés in Reykjavik.”

If you could be any animal covering any song, what would you be, and what would you cover?  Sycamore Tree:  A Lion Covering Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) by David Bowie ( This is Gunni answering this question )

For the full line-up head over to here.  And of course, to listen to the full line-up check out their Spotify playlist:

 

 

 

 

 

FM Belfast – Island Broadcast review

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FM belfast is by far my favorite dance band to see live.  I’ve jumped up and down and picked confetti out of my hair for over 8 years watching this super-group of musicians and they’ve never let down.  Their 4th album, “Island Broadcast,” delivers that party feel and has quickly become my second favorite album of theirs, only slightly behind “How to make friends.”

The beats on the album are much more energized and dance-able than “Brighter days,” but there is a strong undertow of reality with the lyrics, creating a unique contrast that solidifies the album.  Each song on the album is it’s own story of growing old but not growing up, holding your head above water and encouraging others to do the same, and spending what little time we have on this rock enjoying where you are and what you have.

While I could go through and describe what I felt track by track, I’d rather just highlight a few of my favorites and post videos so you can make up your own mind.  The only official video I could find for songs on the album is the album opener “All My Power.”  A back and forth of two folks, one who feels guilty, the other the reason why:

My favorite track on the album by far is “The Game”

“You’re so pretty” began as a short story written by Lóa about aging restlessness.

And “Fearless Youth” was written by  Örvar Smárason and is a tribute to youth and friends of the past.

I asked Lóa a few questions and she was nice enough to answer, here they be:

  1. As a whole, the music on the album is a lot more lively than on Brighter Days, and yet  the lyrics are some of the most pensive and serious out of your albums.  Was this contrast intentional?

The contrast was not intentional no, unless Árni meant it to be so and forgot to tell me. I don’t know why the album is more lively. Maybe because we finally realize that we have nothing to lose. The track Strobe for instance is just a rave mantra to dance to. It’s not necessarily a logical track to be on the album but I don’t care about things like that anymore. Trying to do what you think people want you to do is futile.

  1. Throughout the album, there is a “them” that you seem to rally against.  Is there a single entity that is “them”, or are they different song for song?

“Them and they” usually means some force or people who are more powerful than you and control something in your life or want to control you. It’s not about anyone in particular, it’s more about trying to stay sane in our strange world.

  1. The voices in my head really appreciated “Agent” as they feel it is their rallying cry for working together to make me resemble somewhat of a normal human being? But for normal folks, who’s being encouraged in the song?

You and me are being encouraged. Because we feel like we are so powerless when in fact there are so many of us who feel the same way. I like to believe that most people are nice, if they weren’t the world wouldn’t function.  I’d also like to send my greetings to the voices in your head.

  1. How personal is this album to you?  There seems to be a lot of reflection of where the characters in the songs have been, where they are, and where they hope to be.

It’s personal on many levels. We write the lyrics together most of the time so it’s a bit of a puzzle and it means different things to us. For me I’m having a bit of a crisis of what I should do now. I don’t have a plan but for some reason I keep coming back to the idea of having chicken in a backyard and grow vegetables.

  1. In the Game, who are you taking the blame for, who has no shame?  And what is this bright light you speak of?

All of us take the blame for the people in power. The bright light is about hope and the weird need to believe in something or someone. For me it’s kind of a cry for a decent politician coming out of the woods to save us. I’m not a religious person and I’ve kind of lost hope in politics but there’s always a part of me that is hoping for some kind of female Che Guevara… ok this sound stupid but sincerity will do that to you.

Island Broadcast is available digitally, on vinyl, and on CD.  It’s available on Spotify, and if you want to purchase it any of your digital outlets should have it.  The vinyl and CD are available via their website.  Follow them on Facebook and and Instagram to be notified of touring dates and events.  You can also see the concert photos I’ve taken here:

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