In science there is only physics. All the rest is stamp collecting. – Ernest Rutherford.
Maybe it’s because I used to be a stamp collector (molecular genetics lab tech), but I can’t resist the urge to measure things that don’t really need to be measured. Iceland Airwaves was a five-day MFA program in music that quite literally changed the way I hear music. When I came home, I put on my old CDs and sometimes I could barely recognize the once-familiar music – I just heard different things.
That should be enough. But no, useless data must follow.
Just the Facts, Ma’am
Number of shows watched1: 42
Number of artists watched2: 36
Number of venues attended: 14
Number of artist interviews performed3: 9
Complete list of artists
1860
Agent Fresco
Angist
Apparat Organ Quartet
Ásgeir Trausti
Beneath
Benni Hemm Hemm
Eldar
Exit Music
Ghostigital
Gone Postal
HAM
The Heavy Experience
Lockerbie
Momentum
Mr. Silla
Myrra Rós
Nova Heart
Of Monsters and Men
Ojba Rasta
Paul Corley
Retrobot
Reykjavík!
Shabazz Palaces
Sigur Rós
Siinai
Skálmöld
Sólstafir
Stereo Hypnosis
Svartidauði
THEE Satisfaction
Tilbury
Úlfur
Ultra Mega Technobandið Stefán
Valdimar
Valgeir Sigurðsson
Footnotes
[1] Incomplete performances are included; however, if I only caught the first or last song, it didn’t count. For example, Exit Music is included, even though I left just past the midway mark. The Barr Brothers are excluded, because I only heard 1 ½ songs. Performances where I could not see the stage, such as Agent Fresco at Nordic House and Apparat Organ Quartet at KEX, were also included, as long as I could clearly hear the music. Shows that happened to be going on in the same space where I was busy doing something else, such as the folk singers who performed at KEX on mornings when I was writing, or bands playing in venues where I met artists for interviews, are excluded.
[2] I attended multiple sets of several artists, so the number does match the number of shows. Also, in one case, two bands performed together.
[3] Includes interviews with Airwaves performers that were performed before or after the festival.
