This year’s blog

Same topic, close to the same URL, here.

More ramblings, travel tips, food ideas, band musings with a dose of you-never-know-what.

A Bonus bag blonde moment

Bonus of course is a discount supermarket in Iceland, that has not one, not two, but three shopping bag options for its beloved customers.

1. The free bag. A thin, completely useless plastic model that can’t hold a couple of squares of dry toilet paper. For those of us that are used to having the store supply the bags, it is a hard lesson in Icelandic grocery shopping
2. The upsell plastic bag. In familiar Bonus Bold Yellow, a couple steps up from the cheap-o level, and can be counted on to make it all the way home.
3. The reusable canvas-type model, which I liked so much I bought two.   I’ve no idea what it cost, but it’s perfect for trips to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods or any other semi-groovy grocery chain. Much easier to carry than the long-handled models, and far more cool than the standard PBS station $100 donation canvas tote bag.

It was also the source of much amusement at Trader Joe’s last night. After I plopped it down on the counter, the sales clerk was simply baffled:

Clerk1: “Wow, what is that, that bag has a language that I don’t know… and haven’t seen before.”

Me: “It’s Icelandic…”

Clerk1, before I could elaborate: “Icelandic? Where do they speak that?”

Clerk2, who walked up in mid-conversation, already laughing: “Uh, in Iceland?” (you big dummy…)

Clerk1, already red with the realization she has opened herself up to ridicule: “Shut up!” And throws a pen at Clerk2.

Something tells me she won’t make the same mistake twice.

Saturday late

Because there was a late, a very late.

Two Airwaves, and no visit to Gaukurinn? Can’t let that happen, especially since FM Belfast was onstage, their 379th show of the weekend. But two snaps up to them for putting everything into it, for a packed, beery, sweaty, no doubt smelly, loving every second of it crowd.

And welly, welly well well. Look who we ran into? The absconders of others’ pizza. Ours! (Really mate, do you not know the difference between skinka and reykt?) If you happen to be near Pizza Pronto, beware of these guys…

After a complimentary round of Gull’s (note to all-Icelandic beer is simply not good. Actually is rivaled by the shit crap beer of Brazil. Ok, so it might not matter anytime after 1am. Details…) all was well. We simply couldn’t hang with a duo that was out until 7a the night (morning) before with some newfound locals. We ventured off to Sirkus, fully expecting a line.

Brief respite in this story. Laugavegur in the early morning on a weekend is a sight to behold. Throngs of partiers, walking in and out of traffic, oblivious to all but their next drink. I appreciate everyone who stole glasses from the local watering holes, and then left them on the street when finished. A snappy Gull glass, and two Tuborg pint glasses now adorn the home bar.

Back to Sirkus, sort of. A line we expected, and a line we got. Actually it wasn’t a line, it was a rugby scrum in front of a locked door. The doorman would poke his head out a few inches every few minutes or so, let his friends in and close it just as fast. This could be how Sirkus operates on a Saturday during Airwaves, or on a Saturday night in general. This “punter” has long outgrown the random process of getting into a crowded bar or club. Since it was 330am (ish) common sense finally took over, and the Odinsve beckoned.

Was it really over? For us it was anyway. I think it was this time last year that we started to do all of the “Iceland things” that we hadn’t done so far, since when would we be back anyway? Uh, the very next year. And since Airwaves celebrates its 10th anniversary next year, how can we NOT go?

Saturday

Do you like to shop? And drink coffee? Lots of it? Then Laugavegur street is for you! “Reykjavik’s main shopping street” as the banner attests, has a wide selection of shops, where one can wander aimlessly and spend themselves into the poorhouse. (But you’ll look good there.) There’s an espresso machine in just about every store to keep you properly fueled during your credit card busting shopping spree. Deals are there if you look hard enough. I can translate “70% off” in any language.

The one exception to the expensive rule-the Bonus grocery store. It has a low-rent rep, but had all the food items we needed, on two separate trips. (No, they don’t sell alcohol or drugs smarty)

Many different opportunities for off-venue performances, but our luck was horrible. No one was on time, one band’s drummer was arrested on the way over, technical issues forced on the spot acoustic shows, etc, etc. I couldn’t stand still for that long anyway with an unhealthy amount of caffeine in me. Felt like it was for non-wristband wearing fans. though.   Skifan has a very accommodating basement performance space.

I know a previous post said Iono was the coolest festival venue, which is true. Fríkirkjan is the best off-festival venue. Amiina brought their etherial, delicate, intricate, and occasionally, rocking music to this historic church, which was SRO, including Kele Okereke from Bloc Party. It really looked like him anyway, at least my view of the back of his head. Many photos were being taken from across the rafters, so I’ll make the jump and say it was him.

And Hello Grapevine? No review or re-cap from this show? This was not surprisingly, like a Sigur Ros show, where it is usually deathly silent until the music ends, followed by wild applause. Amiina takes that a step further, inspiring many concert-goers to at a minimum close their eyes, to actually being lulled to sleep. In the best of ways.

This year’s big dinner review is 3Frakkar, which is a bastardized English spelling. Tucked away off the beaten path, it had an old world charm, smoked Puffin and large portions of great seafood. Unfortunately it had an apparently hearing impaired party of three dining right behind us, including an obnoxious elderly couple from Minnesota, who commented freely on Hillary Clinton, Native Americans, regular Americans and other topics I have attempted to purge from my cranial hard drive. Comment on whatever you want really, just if possible at a level less than 11 on a Marshall amp.

Hjaltalin was stop #1 at the art museum, and can be annointed “the best band with a bassoon player at Airwaves.” No, I don’t know if there were any others. The crappy camera took its best photo of them too.

Show of the trip, !!!, even though they did not play track 8 from their new CD. (Incroyable!) The other head-scratching moment was the lead singer taunting some folks crammed in the front for not being good looking women. The direct quote from the lead singer was “is that Swedish for I’m a fag?” Which not only makes no sense, but is a nasty thing to say anyway. Made a crucial call when we scored a chair, clear sightline and avoided cheek to cheek crowding during an earlier show. Benni Hemm Hemm and his 14-piece band had to bite the dust in favor of concert creature comfort. I’m over jostling for position with semi-drunken to fully blown drunken show goers. Sue me. Ra Ra Riot was an enthusiastic opener, and covering two Kate Bush songs counts for something.

And by the way, what’s a “punter?” Surely not this…

12 Tonar

Truly does have the nicest staff at any record/CD store anywhere. Believe the hype. Buy from them, and from bands on their label for that reason alone. Soooo refreshing to not have the “I work in a record store and because of that your music taste is crap” attitude.

But guys, make more T-shirts next year, at least in XL. Can I suggest one with the distinctive yellow and blue store sign?

Have a Pylsa

With a Coke made with real sugar, 350kr.

Friday

Yeah, I know it’s way past Friday. But I just couldn’t bring myself to walk around town with a laptop hunting for a wireless connection. Seems a little like a missing the forest through the trees type thing.

But the memories are vivid. Oh my aching head. Not just from punishing my body through too many cans of “Burn” energy drink and a general lack of sleep, but the continuous thump-thump-thump from Gus Gus, and even moreso by the cheek to cheek (both sets of) them) crowd. But there was much more before that.

Coolest festival venue again goes to, Iono. Especially when Samuel J. Samuelsson’s big band is on, and they were definitely on. Maybe I am an easy grader, but an 18-piece band focusing on the music, without any phony theatrics, worked for me. I came close to either:

a). a free CD from the band.

b). being decapitated by said CD.

It was a tough call passing up Kalli and Loney Dear, but worth it in the end.

Much wandering after that. Barinn, Iono, Prikid for some food and a couple songs from Mum. It was, was…ok. Since I am not a rock critic, which is painfully obvious to anyone that has ever read this blog, I assess the music in a “call em’ like I see em’ mode, with a lot of emotion. No professional detatchment. And the mood didn’t strike properly, so off we go to NASA, where the vibe was much more to our Friday night liking. An old Grapevine describes the Motion Boys show better than I could:

“the dance floor is packed with all manner of unseemly folk, a sweaty crowd of drunken animals swelling and surging like a single organism. The DJ, a twenty-something chick magnet with three-day stubble and a stupid hat smirks to himself as he thinks of the perfect track to put on next. The beat kicks in, quiet at first, but increases in volume, as do the flimsy, almost dorky synths. Then the singing starts. A huge, inebriated cheer of woos and yeahs erupts from the crowd, and the DJ tries to keep his cool, although secretly he’s bursting with pride.”

And then GusGus follows up, with a performance that was kind of slagged by the Grapevine reviewer as a 90’s holdover, but no one cared one damn bit. Think it could have been affected by alcohol? Nah, not in Reykjavik.

See, I wasn’t lying about my crappy camera. The type of issue I had even has it’s own url, not just a Wikipedia link. Not a great photo obviously, but how many different types of finger symbols can you find? Party on Wayne.

Begin the evening at Iono, and end it there, with Jaguar. Samuel Samuelsson changes out of the suit, keeps some of the same bandmates, and funks it up, Iceland style. This one actually came out ok.

And oh yeah. We stopped by the big church earlier before going to the local pool (350kr) where we ran into two charter members of the Of Montreal traveling party. And yes, we all scrubbed. Vigorously. Just not together. Both are standard stops on the Reykjavik visitor tour, but you should do them anyway. Especially the pool.

A full Thursday re-cap

Unfortunately, devoid of images. My formerly trusty Canon digital camea (2.1 Megapixels!) gave up the ghost last night. The power button elicits only a gear crunching groan. It could have had a heart attack looking at all of the blonde faux Icelandair flight attendants. (Note to anyone that has ever asked me about “those Icelandic women” and have been confused with my less than totally gushing response. I take it all back now.)

First stop, after some Brit took the pizza we ordered at Pizza Pronto, was Grand Rokk. Great venue. Intimate (bad venues are small and cramped, good ones are this) and no doubt marinated in stale beer and rock history. A couple of songs with local duo the Nanas were ok, (singer has a great voice) but it was on to the Art Museum, where Lay Low had just hit the stage. Any form of country, even the non-country label known as “alt” has to be a hard sell at a festival like this one. Just peruse the handy pocket Airwaves guide, or since you probably don’t have one, I will do it for you. “Glitzy electronica,” “funky cacophonic rock,” “heavyweight stoner rockers,” “a metal machine par excellence,” “intense, choatic and energetic beyond belief” and “epic pop rock.” Compare this against “country blues artist” Lay Low. She has talent and ability, and the crowd was respectfully engaged, but the style was a hard sell.

So we went off to NASA where the award for “longest line so far” was handed out. Apparently Retro Stefson had a SRO crowd inside, judging by the amount of people that came out when they were finished. A brief set from the Teenagers was pretty ok, but the next act was THURSDAY’S BEST. (Ok, Marketing is not my forte.)

That would be Friendly Fires from the UK. What a kickin’ show. Enthusiasm, skill, great songs and stage presence, the whole package. The guitarist used a dustbuster instead of a pick on one song. I will not fall into the trap of calling them the next anything, or compare them to pre-or-post rock genres. Their myspace page says “pop, punk, shoegaze.” It is no wonder I like them then, no matter the slagging that shoegaze music has received over time. Long live My Bloody Valentine y’all.

Big mistake in hindsight #1 was sticking around for Late Of The Pier at NASA. Not that there was anything wrong with them, especially the lead singers silver sparkle jumpsuit, but we walked into Iono right at the end of Ben Frost’s set, and he was leaving to wild applause. Damn! C’est la vie. Iono is a fab spot for music, and we will go out of our way to see another act there, along with Ben Frost at the off-venue program Saturday.

The evening looked to be over, following two flights, about four hours sleep, double that amount of drinks and generally unhealthy food, Icelandic Fish and Chips (Alda, if you’re reading, it wasn’t crowded and they couldn’t have been more organically, sustainably farmed nicer) notwithstanding, a walk back to the lovely Odinsve was interrupted by the Lido. Ah, another venue, we must go in, and a good thing we did.

More shoegaze! And if they’re not, The Duke Spirit (UK) had to have spent some quality time getting stoned to “Loveless” so of course, I loved them. Interesting basement venue. Felt like a hip Moose lodge, with acoustics to match, which is to say, not very good. The band overcame the sound though, with a lot of guitars and a frontwoman with charisma.

Which brings us to Friday. One of us, I will not mention any names, did not make it for breakfast today, choosing to catch some extra z’s. Can’t blame her them. Food we can find anywhere. Quality sleep is priceless. More music today anyone?

Thursday early

Nice of the good folks at Icelandair to throw a pre-party for all of their friends in the media.  You are guaranteed a good turnout when you offer free transportation, copious amounts of alcohol, some food, a slew of blonde faux flight attendants, (they weren’t actual flight attendants, no clue on their level of true “blondeness”) and special sets from FM Belfast and Retro Stefson.

One can see how the late night crowd would love FM Belfast, they make up in enthusiasm what they lack in dancing ability.    And they do answer the call for more cowbell.

Retro Stefson?   I think their bass player is 11.   It felt like you were at Reykjavik High School’s battle of the bands.

Onward indie rock soldiers

So what are you bringing?

• Passport
• Suitcase full of fashionable black…
• …and clothes for that “just thrown together” look, which most likely is well thought out
• Raingear. Damn.
• The blissful ignorance of the credit card bill not showing up for a month
• About 10 words/phrases in Icelandic
• The earnest hope to do a cultural activity…if there is time
• Aspirin and/or a personal hangover cure
• Your patience
• Plans not etched in stone, and the ability to roll with it
• An open mind for bands you’ve never heard of, in a style that you normally wouldn’t dig
• A smile and handshake for people from different nations speaking different languages who have gone to the same place at the same time for the same reason.  How much more in common do you need?