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Nils Frahm (obviously a press photo and not one of mine)
Seattle’s Decibel Festival turns 10 this year, which means it was born just about the same time I quit following electronic music. While I wasn’t paying attention, Decibel grew into a world class celebration of underground and experimental electronic music. The only reason I went this year was to see Ólafur Arnalds. But what I will remember most is Nils Frahm.
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Last summer, I took another small step against prejudice and genre-ism by beginning to explore the romance genre. Results have been mixed. But now I have found my favorite romance so far, and in a most unexpected place – the Icelandic Online language course. Read More
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Gone Postal
Far more interesting than my usual navel-gazing posts are the interviews I had with Icelandic musicians who are among the most intelligent, interesting, and entertaining people I have ever met. I left every interview with a better understanding of not only their music, but of music in general.
Earlier I listed some of these interviews. At the time I was still working on more, each of which, in one way or another, posed some kind of writerly challenge. Even though my mistakes are perhaps more apparent here than on the first batch, I hope you get more from these interviews than just my lessons-learned. There is some great music here. Read More
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Not the city, the band. They were one of the best surprises of my Airwaves, and I later realized they shared the same joyful vibe as the old band Black Happy. I took a break from metal night at Amsterdam to cross the street to Gamli Gaukurinn and check out Reykjavík! on the strength of their video “Hellbound Heart,” which documents the flight from Reykjavík to the band’s home town Ísafjörður. (Unsurprisingly, this is the work of Bowen Staines.) Read More
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When I saw Sigur Rós at Airwaves this year, I was surprised by the dark imagery that came to mind. I always thought of Sigur Rós as very positive. They are named “Victory Rose” after the singer’s baby sister; even their creepiest-sounding album, Von, means “Hope;” the song “Starálfur” was the sound of wonder reborn in Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou; and when I first discovered the band, the lyrics were all in “Hopelandic.” But most of all there is the sound. How can music be dark when it sounds like sunlight shining through ice? Read More