OT: reykjavik, iceland

Winterpark · Post by **Winterpark** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 5:07 am

anyone in the forum from Iceland?

or for that matter anyone been there?/played shows there?

... going there in July... just wanna know where good places to see music are... good local acts that are worth seeing etc...

-am

FORMAT · Post by **FORMAT** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 9:48 am

am wrote:anyone in the forum from Iceland?

or for that matter anyone been there?/played shows there?

... going there in July... just wanna know where good places to see music are... good local acts that are worth seeing etc...

-am

Wow, I am jealous of you

Well isn't iceland mainly about incredible scenery, glaciers, moors, witches, volcanos etc.... If I were to go there, I'd delve into nature period.

Desiduous · Post by **Desiduous** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 9:50 am

perhaps see a Bjiork concert

Benshik · Post by **Benshik** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:14 am

I've got a few Scandinavian friends who went to work there few years ago. The place seems to be quite interesting... Iceland has one of the highest ratio of artists per capita. I guess isolation and the moon-like snenery makes ppl creative

On the downside, I also heard that Bjork's success created such a hype around the place that in clubs you've got more chances now to bump into drunk British hipsters on vacation than Icelandic ppl
Still I'd love to go too... someday...

Ben

Winterpark · Post by **Winterpark** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:45 am

well, i'm actually really into the music of Sigur Rós and Múm (Bjork too)... that's partly the reason i'm going there... just to see the city that created those artists.

so.. yes i plan on doing loads of scenic stuff too, but really want to hear some good local music in good local venues.

was hoping there would be someone from the Ableton Community who knew some inside info!

hopefully i'll meet some cool icelandic musicians over there...

conny · Post by **conny** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:08 am

Have a look at
http://www.whatson.is/

(One day I'll go there, just have to...)

[Quotes:]
Grand Rokk
Grand Rokk is one of the best places for live music. From thursday to sunday you can see the best bands in Reykjavik live.

Dillon Café
Dillon is very nice bar with live music most weekends. The best bands in town perform at Dillon.

Gaukur A Stong
Gaukur A Stong is one of the best places for live music. Most days and every weekend the offer live music and usually it´s the b

Nasa
Nasa is one of the best venues in town. They offer live music every weekend.

// C

richardbrown · Post by **richardbrown** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:16 am

I spent a couple of weeks there a few (in fact probably 6 or 7) years ago. I was actually there to help get the electronic/technical side of an upcoming Bjork tour together (I was Mark Bell's 'stunt-double' if you like).

Memorable places are...

A bar whose name I can't remember but the sign outside is a London Underground logo. Tiny bar but very cool.

Bar '22'. This is a normal bar downstairs (which I think at the time had a gay bias) and they have a club upstairs on Friday/Saturday nights. Nothing deep or 'challenging' music-wise - just good party/piss-up tunes.

The only gig I went to was in what appeared to be the town hall or other type of old building where there was a bit of a showcase for local bands and DJs. Good fun.

If there's anything good going on, you can't realy miss it because Rekyavik is so tiny.

Also bear in mind that this info is years out of date!

PS. If you haven't got a hotel yet I'd recommend 'The Borg'.

ultima · Post by **ultima** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 12:36 pm

Im from Rvk Iceland.

The bar with the London Underground logo is called Kaffibarinn, its just off Laugavegur which is the main street.
Also just off laugavegur is Sirkus which i highly recommend , extremely small place but great vibe.
Neither of these two have live music but you could go to Gaukurinn,Nasa,Grand Rokk all of these are smack downtown.

For live electronic music , now thats going to be harder as there´s not much of an live electronic scene over here but we are working on it

If you have any more questions , just shoot.

eisnein · Post by **eisnein** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 4:38 pm

actually just went to Iceland to propose to my GF and have an extended weekend vacation.

most amazing country side i have ever seen. i also would be extremely interested in playing there as well!

go to TONAR 11? (name escapes me) but the coolest record shop. they sit you down, play you the music and make you an espresso!

i also like Mum and Sigur Ros, plus new found interest in Mugison and Johann Johannsson.

hotel wise- we stayed in the Hotel Fron which was much better price than the Borg i found, and located just as well. we had a kitchen and living room and such.

def go to a different pool everyday and try and get into the country if possible.

food- exchange rate is horrible so if you can eat cheap food (hot dogs are amazing) and try and go grocery shopping.

ultima- anyway we can organize a show of up and coming American elec acts to come over? i would love to come back asap!

Winterpark · Post by **Winterpark** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 12:32 am

thanks ultima, eisnein, richard, conny, and everyone else.

you've given me some good insights, and made me follow up a few things online.

Thanks also for the accom. tips, although i will definately be doing the whole budget accomodation thing... the prices are outrageous! I've booked a centrally located Hostel.

can't wait to check out some of these places... hopefully there will be some good music on the weekend i'm there. (mid july)

thanks again,

am

ilia · Post by **ilia** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 6:43 am

eisnein wrote: i also like Mum and Sigur Ros, plus new found interest in Mugison and Johann Johannsson.

!

I second the Mugison recommendation, now there's a laptop/guitar performer whose shows are very animated. Check him out live if you get a chance.

- Ilia

ultima · Post by **ultima** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 2:18 pm

I have to warn you that you dont go into a bar and buy a round as beer is very expensive as is everything else in this country.
In the pub its each to his own.

Oh yeah ...I go to every Mugison performance i can.

here´s a typical scenario from a Mugison concert.

Starts playing song on guitar, screaming and then stops...."Hang on people im starting the chorus on the computer, almost there....ah there it is ...here we go "and hits the chorus.
Starts playing a tune and people are well into it and then all of a sudden he stops and says " man i cant stand this tune , im playing something else"
Hilarious.. He uses Live by the way and samples himself screaming and singing and builds these layers of vocals while he´s performing, really cool. He absolutely rocks as a performer,and his music is kick ass as well.
Check out Mugison...."Lonely Mountain" and his latest work "Mugimama is this Monkeymusic ?"

eisnein · Post by **eisnein** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:15 pm

plus the dude hand sew'd his own album covers!

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