bits and pieces from the northern island.
On December 8, 2008 a group of protesters forced their way into the Icelandic Parliament. A years after the incident, nine of these protesters were made scapegoats for the tumults that contributed in bringing the Government down; these individuals risk to be condemned to spend up to sixteen years in prison. The final hearing of … Read the full article →
I could find many excuses not to write an entry about Jónsi’s concert at Laugardalshöll. Excuses like I didn’t really go because: it was too mainstream after all, I had a bellyache — which is the case today but it wasn’t yesterday –, I was kidnapped by a squad of enraged puffins. But I did … Read the full article →
To understand the extent of the Apparat Organ Quartet phenomenon, you should have been present at NASA yesterday night, in the occasion of the release concert for Pólýfónía, their second album. Pólýfónía, containing material that was composed and recorded over a period of three years, emerges after an eight-year-long wait: quite a long time according … Read the full article →
Last Friday, with a couple of friends, we attended Amiina’s concert at the Þjóðleikhúskjallarinn, located in the complex of the National Theatre in downtown Reykjavík. As I didn’t enjoy much the previous big event in occasion of Puzzle‘s release, I was somehow concerned. However, the Þjóðleikhúskjallarinn is not the NASA with its impersonal dispersiveness; among … Read the full article →
Amiina played yesterday at Eymundsson bookstore for admirers, friends and casual bystanders. I got to the bookstore just in time for the show to start, after a walk in the wind that almost defeated me. Eymundsson by that time was crowded enough to force me to find a spot next to the trash bin, near … Read the full article →
This year’s been filled with more musical disappointment than I could take. Many of the major releases I was looking forward to with perhaps exaggerated anticipation resulted in being unbearable earsore or, in the best cases, bland and forgettable works. What’s with all this synthetic crap anyway? Some musicians think that since anybody else is … Read the full article →
It’s that time of the year again. For those who are familiar with it, it’s time to get ready for this year’s Iceland Airwaves, probably the most popular annual music event in Iceland. The first Airwaves was held in 1999 in an airplane hangar. Since its first edition many bands, then unknown and now famous, … Read the full article →
After a long absence that lasted four years, Jóhann Jóhannsson finally got home to perform for his fellow Icelanders in a special concert as a part of this year’s Reykjavík International Film Festival. The austere Hallgrímskirkja for the evening turned into a metaphysical setting, resounding with notes. Jóhannsson, with an accompaniment of a five-piece orchestra, … Read the full article →