Iceland Airwaves concluded last night, and it was a lot of fun. We discovered a lot of new really good artists; we heard new material from some Icelandic artists we've come to love but who don't release enough CDs for us to hear all their material in the US.

Through the next week, we'll be uploading more images, video and audio. We have some great interviews with Benni Hemm Hemm, Borko and Seabear. We theoretically have some good live recordings of some of the acts.

So we'll be posting this in our Iceland Airwaves 2008 event coverage section.

In 24 hours, we'll be headed back to New York for the CMJ conference, where I will be on a panel on Wednesday about the situation with internet radio royalties. The rest of the week, Elise, Merin and I will be hitting up the CMJ Music Marathon music showcases around the city. We'll keep you posted on what we discover.

Tonight, we ran around and saw Soundspell, Disa, Olafur Arnalds, Ghost and FM Belfast.



Soundspell we saw last year, they're always good to see. They tried out a lot of new material, so hopefully a new CD is coming soon. (We play Soundspell on Digitalis)



We knew that we'd like Olafur Arnalds performance when they brought out 5 red chairs.



Olafur Arnalds and his String Quartet mix electronic and classical music, creating beautiful sounds that take you to another place.



Disa was a young singer with a small band, kind of reminiscent of old Sugarcubes.



Ghost got to their set late due to a type in the Airwaves directory- their show was rushed and not as nice as when we caught their small show at the bookstore the other day. Still, they show a lot of promise.



FM Belfast is a huge local favorite. They're the band that everyone is friends with. 2/3rds of the audience was singing along with their songs and knew every word. They're an electro-pop act that's mostly a DJ/Laptop Performer and a bunch of vocalists / dancers.



More pictures and information in our special Iceland Airwaves Special Coverage.

Today was a beautiful day in Reykjavik for the start of Iceland Airwaves. Although as I'm writing, the rain has begun to fall- but the sliver lining to that cloud is that the rain makes it warmer than when it's clear. So it's a blessing and a curse.

Lots of people have arrived today. The town is filling up with music lovers, and everyone seems happy and excited.

The real event kicks off at 7:30pm tonight. In addition to all the "on-venue" or official events that make up Iceland Airwaves, there are also a lot of "off venue" performances. These are often at bookstores, coffee houses and smaller bars, and are usually very intimate.

I caught band Ghost doing an in-store show at the bookstore adjacent to our hotel. They have a "real show" tomorrow night before FM Belfast at Tunglið. I got there right as they were finishing, but I really liked them and can't wait to play more of their stuff for you.

Airwaves Officially Begins

We arrived a bit early to Tunglið (which means "The Moon" and is pronounced "Toon-Le-Oh") and the band playing was much too hard for our taste, so we walked next door to Organ to see who was playing. "Perla" was the band, and from the outside as we walked it, they seemed downtempo rock, but then erupted into full-bore death metal; albeit musically complex, and only for a while. Not really our kind of music, but the sort of thing you hear and say, wow, if I liked this kind of music these guys would be great. (And we mean that as a compliment.)

Back to Tunglið and an awesome set tonight by Icelandic band Borko. Don't let the silly-sounding name fool you, these people make beautiful music, mixing laptop electronica, trumpet, guitar, bass and drums. You'll be hearing more from them on Digitalis.

They were followed by local favorites Benni Hemm Hemm who did a good show, but nothing too surprising (we're scheduled to interview Benni

Later, "Hjaltalin" did a really good set at "The Moon". You don't find too many rock bands that feature Oboe and Violin, but they pull it off perfectly- their instrumentation never sounds gimmicky.

We left shortly after local favorites Retro Stefson went on, because frankly Tunglið was too crowded and you couldn't move, and there was a line a block long to get in outside. We figured we'd check out the band playing the "press party" at B5, "UltraMegaTechnoBandidStefan", another Icelandic band.

UltraMegaTechnoBandidStefan put on an Amazing show, and I think that the oldest member of the band was 19. Perhaps I exaggerate. But only about their youth, not about what a great show they put on. Imagine Kraftwerk re-incarnated as teenagers channeling the Sex Pistols and you might get these guys.

We'll have some videos uploaded tomorrow so you can see for yourself.

Tomorrow night: we'll probably see Soundspell, FM Belfast, Ghost, Gusgus, and some others. See you there!

We're here in Reykjavik right now, and contrary to what you may be reading in the media about the state of Iceland's economy- I can say that from walking around the city, everything seems to be normal. Stores, bars and restaurants are open, ATMs are dispensing cash, and record stores are selling CDs.

One word of advice I will repeat again and again, however, is make sure you stop at the Duty Free store in the Iceland Airport (there is a big one right next to the baggage claim area) and buy your limit of beer, wine or liquor because it will be about half the prices as it would be to buy from the normal liquor store in town. Even if you aren't going to drink it, it makes a great gift to anyone here, and a great way to make new friends by inviting them back to your hotel for a drink before going back out to the clubs. And because of the strong dollar relative to the Krona, some brands are actually cheaper than in the US.

Iceland Airwaves kicks off in about 48 hours. If you see someone in a SomaFM shirt, say hi and introduce yourself!

We've been getting some really cool mail from listeners lately.  I want to thank two fans in particular and give everyone else a look at what they sent in.

A cool photo with note on the back from Eric and a handpainted note from J: 

Thanks guys!

We've been invited to cover Iceland Airwaves again this year, and I must say that it's an amazing collection of cutting-edge music.

You can still purchase a Iceland Airwaves pass online, but they're buried on Iceland Air's tour package add-ons site. So, here are the steps you need to take:

1. Go the Icelandic Air Tours site.


2. Choose the Currency USD/CAD option.


3. Select REK as your destination.


4. Select your travel period (start with the day of your arrival, or 13-Oct-08 through 20-Oct-08 will work).


5. Click on tours, dinners and passes. (the button actually says "browse add-ons" under that heading)


6. Click on Promotion

The Iceland Airwaves pass will then appear for purchase. The current price is $155 per person, and the pass gets you into everything for 5 days.

The final Airwaves lineup has been announced, including recent additions: The Fuck Buttons, The Mae Shi from California and Icelandic artists such as Cocktail Vomit, Sykur, experimental electro-jazz outfit Audio Improvement, <3 Svanhvít and pop rocker Ske. See the full Iceland Airwaves 2008 lineup.

And be sure to check out our ongoing coverage of Iceland Airwaves, starting with our review of Airwaves 2007 and our Guide to cost-effective Eating and Drinking in Reyjkavik.

Hey everybody!

Just wanted to give you a heads up that our charming suite-mates will be holding open studios October 17th, 18th and 19th.   Josh,  Jason, Matt and Dave  will be meeting you, greeting you and showing off their artworks.   Elise and I will also be holdin' it down for SomaFM.   

So If you like cool art, want to meet some friendly people or just want to get a look at the studio, stop on by! 

Hours are: 

Friday, 10/17: 6-10

Saturday, 10/18: 12-6

Sunday, 10/19: 12-6

See you there!