Stereogum Home
July 31, 2007

Iceland Airwaves Announces 40 More Bands, Stéréógúm Is Unable To Resist

This year Iceland Airwaves (10/17-10/21) falls smack in the middle of CMJ (10/16-10/20). The latter takes place in our 'hood, the former on an island in Northwestern Europe ... but the Reykjavík festival's lineup's strong enough that the pull of indie rock besides black volcanic rock, geysers, puffins, overpriced beer, and Skyr has proven irresistible. Yes, this is gonna be Stereogum's first year weaving through the Reykjavikian streets and we're stoked (don't worry, we've uncovered a way to subdivide and plan to do double duty, covering both Airwaves and CMJ). Has anyone attended Iceland Airwaves before? How does it compare to, say, Coachella? Or CMJ for that matter? Takk in advance.

We'd already been psyched about catching Deerhoof, Of Montreal, those festival hounds !!!, Bloc Party (kinda), Best Fwends, Bonde de Role (nobody samples AC/DC and Europe better), Trentemøller, Buck 65, Chromeo, Loney, Dear and Icelandic favs múm, GusGus and Reykjavik! (their exclamation point, not ours). Then, a few minutes ago, we got a tip regarding 40 additional acts including Lali Puna, Tied & Tickled Trio, Ms John Soda, the Teenagers, Foals, Late of the Pier, the Duke Spirit, and what really has us excited, a pile of Icelandic acts, including Jakobínarína, Hafdís Huld, Kimono and...

Shogun (sigurvegarar Músíktilrauna)
Brain Police
Envy of Nona
Cocktail Vomit
The Music Zoo
Póetrix
Dimma
Drep
Future Future
I Adapt
Sólstafir
Perfect Disorder
Royal Fortune
Hellvar
Dýrðin
Ég
Hoffman
Æla
Thundercats
Vilhelm
Múgsefjun
Kalli
Fabúla
The Viking Giant Show
Védís
Kenya
Single Drop
Toggi
Rafhans 021
President Bongo (DJ set)
Foreign Monkeys
Biogen
Atómstöðin
Úlpa
Noise
The Telepathetics
Nilfisk
Weapons

etc…

So many potential discoveries!

No, the Go! Team isn't playing this time around -- that photo's from last year. We figured we'd post it since we have a copy of Proof Of Youth and plan to prematurely evaluate all over that thing right quick.

Posted at 4:46 PM
Tags:




-->

11 Comments

Mike McCall is a queer and his MYSPACE name is socialexpartiate. His uncle is on megans list also. Watch out for this guy

Posted by: OTW at 07/31/07 4:57 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Sounds interesting!

Sorry.. Block Party?

Posted by: Eugene at 07/31/07 5:57 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

They have just about the entire line up of Morr Music there with Benni Hemm Hemm, ms john soda, Tied & Tickle Trio, Lali Puna there. No Go Find or Styrofoam (or, I'm sure, a few others I'm forgetting), or it'd be a clean sweep.

Posted by: Adrian at 07/31/07 7:31 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

A bartender at Hooters in Manhattan told me that she worked in Iceland for a time and that Icelanders look down upon foreigners. So you should maximize your chances of getting laid by restricting your efforts to other foreigners.

Posted by: Dr. Ruth at 07/31/07 10:29 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

This will be my third year at Airwaves and i couldn't possibly recommend it more. It is nothing like Coachella.....more of a very small version of CMJ. There are usually 8 venues, all within walking distance in downtown Reykjavik. Some are smaller (national theater basement) some are bigger (art museum) but all are unique and good places to see music. Among Icelandic artists, I'd heavily recommend checking out Mugison, Mr. Silla and Mongoose, Reykjavik! and Hjaltalin. If Johann Johannson does his usual afternoon "off venue" thing at the church, you shouldn't miss it.

Posted by: Ghost Media at 08/01/07 12:56 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

I went last year (and hung out with Mr. Ghost Media). It was incredible. The venues were almost uniformly great; the Icelanders were unbelievably friendly; the country itself was beautiful. CMJ offers no glaciers or waterfalls.

Posted by: Josh at 08/01/07 1:13 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Should we expect any kind of disclosure over airfare/hotel expenses? Or are you guys professionally footing your own bill, this time?

Posted by: J at 08/01/07 11:14 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

I've been to Airwaves twice and I might even join you up there this year, great lineup! Don't forget to look up for the Northern Lights and try one of their amazing hot dogs... seriously they are to die for! Oh and the Blue Lagoon is an obvious must, hey when you are literally drinking till dawn and wake up in some strange girls home with kids stepping on your face, there is nothing better than retreating to the Blue Lagoon for the warm geothermal waters. I agree with the previous poster that Mugison is amazing, but don't forget about Lay Low and Mum.

Posted by: Barry Belkin at 08/01/07 1:03 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Hey J --
Thanks for your concern! You can expect disclosure. We learned our lesson from the Zune fiasco. Though I wonder if P4K discloses?

Posted by: scott at 08/01/07 2:11 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Hooray!

And I should hope our friends in Chicago try to act like a legitimate journo outlet, funding their own trips and treating them as business expenses; if they don't, and they're accepting free goods and services and allowing advertising to masquerade as news, I hope folks will be screaming "PitchWhork!" at the tops of their lungs.

Posted by: J at 08/01/07 5:18 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

I'm heading back to Iceland for a second time (was there last year) and its pretty much as amazing as you'd imagine. Liken it to Pop Montreal. Music is amazing, festival is well organized, not too overwhelming, Reykjavik is one of the coolest towns you'll ever see, and all the sights beyond the city are ridiculously awe-inspiring. May do CMJ for a day, but Airwaves is quickly turning into an annual must-go pour moi.

Posted by: Andrew Rose at 08/03/07 11:45 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Leave a comment


 

The 'Gum Drop

Get our newsletter. MP3s and giveaways weekly.

Search




Sort by:date relevance

Information

  • Contact:
  • About
  • Press
  • Advertising
  • Stereogum RSS Stereogum RSS XML Icon
  • MP3-Only RSS Stereogum RSS XML Icon

Staff

Founder/Editor-In-Chief
Scott Lapatine
Executive Editor
Amrit Singh
Senior Writer
Brandon Stosuy
Columnist
Jon McMillan
Technology & Operations
Jim Jazwiecki
Angela Williams

The Cool Kids

All Stereogum Posts

Get Flash to see our mp3 player. Here are our mp3s: Blank Dogs - Ants (»)
Blank Dogs - Crystal Ladies (»)
Annuals - Confessor (»)
Spoon - Writing To You In Reverse (»)
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue (»)
Benoit Pioulard - Brown Bess (»)
Fucked Up - Twice Born (»)
Lykke Li - Little Bit (Loving Hand Remix) (»)
Crystal Castles - Crimewave (Crystal Castles vs HEALTH) (»)
David Grubbs - An Optimist Declines (Edit) (»)
High Places - From Stardust To Sentience (»)
Lou Reed - Caroline Says, Pt. II (»)
Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (»)
Pepi Ginsberg - Son (»)
Dr. Dog - The Ark (»)
The Walkmen - In The New Year (»)
of Montreal - Nonpareil Of Favor (»)
Sleeping States - Rivers (»)
Megafaun - Beloved Binge (»)
Chad VanGaalen - Willow Tree (»)
Land Of Talk - Some Are Lakes (»)

Band to Watch logo

Band To Watch: Blank Dogs

Blank Dogs are actually singular: It's the insanely prolific one-man Brooklyn-based band of Mr. Blank Dog. We don't know too much about the biography of the guy behind the bedroom new-wave pop/punk and he's usually covering his face with masks...

MORE »

Quit Your Day Job logo

Quit Your Day Job: Megafaun

Raleigh-via-Eau Clair BTW Megafaun debuted impressively earlier this year with Bury The Square. The trio nip-and-tuck experimental tendencies (tape splicing, white noise colliding with banjo, junkyard-laced spring reverb, screeching feedback at the tail end of a quiet back porch lament)...

MORE »

Premature Evaluation logo

Premature Evaluation: of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping

Skeletal Lamping is anything but skeletal. When we took a close listen to album closer "Id Engager" we mentioned it wasn't the strangest, most ambitious, or best tune on of Montreal's new one, but after absorbing the other 14 tracks,...

MORE »

Video Hangover logo

Video Hangover: Marcy Playground - "Saint Joe On The Schoolbus"

Every week, we dig in the archives for videos that we find noteworthy, memorable, or just unbelievably stupid. And then, Jon McMillan breaks 'em down for you. This week: Marcy Playground blows their one chance at video immortality.

MORE »

Oldstand logo

OldStand: Rolling Stone, September 13, 1984

Take our ink-stained hands and join us at the OldStand, where Jon McMillan goes to remind everyone what an honest-to-goodness music magazine is supposed to look like. Lots of Huey Lewis (and the News) news lately, so let's go back...

MORE »

The Outsiders logo

The Outsiders: Vol. 17: Bird Show, Hair Police, Hush Arbors

Not all of Stereogum's favorite sounds conform to what folks expect us to cover. In this space, resident Bananafish fetishist Brandon Stosuy focuses on bands, albums, singles, and villages in Sweden that may otherwise pass by unnoticed. This installment's virtual...

MORE »

The 'Gum Drop logo

Nicole Atkins - "Under The Milky Way"

On 9/9 Nicole Atkins is releasing a four-song EP fittingly titled Nicole Atkins Digs Other People's Songs via Columbia, on which the Jersey girl covers Nada Surf's "Inside Of Love," the Doors' "Crystal Ship," Mama Cass Elliott's "Dream A Little...

MORE »