Slowly but surely my (Marcel’s) time in Iceland is drawing to a close. I’ll be leaving from Keflavik airport on Thursday morning, arriving in Dublin somwhen in the afternoon. And as the last weekend was my last one in Reykjavik, we maybe overdid the beer and Brennivín-research on Friday and Saturday a bit, hence the radio silence on the blog over the last days. What we however kept diligently on doing was meeting Icelandic musicians.

Day 18 of Sonic Iceland – Friday

In the afternoon we met with Sváfnir and Sigurdór of Reykajvik pop/rockers Menn Ársins for a coffee at Babalú on Skólavörðustígur. We chatted about the recordings the guys did in Denmark, and were surprised to discover that the band was one of the Icelandic candidates for the Eurovision.

After a well-deserved Hot Dog and another coffee, we attended a showcase of Kimi Records at a new (and very cosy) cultural centre near the harbour, where we watched performances of Nolo, Snorri Helgason and Sudden Weather Change.

The noise-boys of Sudden Weather Change kindly agreed to an interview at their in-store record release show the next day, so we could lean back and enjoy their Sonic Youth-esque 3-guitar mini-epics with a cold one in our hands. After that, we had to change venue to see the show of one legendary Icelandic band, Gus Gus.

The band was playing at Sódóma, as part of a 2-day concert series to raise money for a rehearsal space complex down at the harbour where many Icelandic bands rehearse, and which is threatened to be closed down. Amidst a very mixed crowd of teens, hipsters and (ahem) elderly people we watched an interesting show, somewhere between an EBM-influenced one-man-show and a very mellow drum-and-bass set. But the crowd was happy, and so where we. Our evening finished in our second office in Reykjavik city, bar Bakkus, just around the corner of Sódóma.

Day 19 of Sonic Iceland – Saturday

While we where drinking beer and chatting at Bakkus, someone had secretly put the clock forward, so we suddenly found ourselves on Saturday morning, bathed in the early morning sun at around 6. But we still needed some sleep, so we quickly headed home. And slept so long that we almost missed the record release show of Sudden Weather Change at the Havarí record store downtown, where the band presented their new 7″, “The Whaler” and played an in-store-show. We did however make it on time (Kai points out that he was there 15 minutes before the start of the set, clutching his water-bottle, and this time it was me who almost did not make it), and had a relaxed chat with the band about touring, their decision to release only on vinyl and online, and the perception of Icelandic music abroad.

The next stop was the aforementioned rehearsal complex down at the harbour, where we had a free hot dog, a coffee (again, I spot a pattern) and witnessed a very strange show in the concert room of the rehearsal house. Loads of interesting Icelandic bands (among these were Sudden Weather Change, Feldberg and Nolo), playing to an almost empty house, mostly to fellow musicians and a couple of visitors. The highlight was definitively a set by Icelandic electro-legend Biogen, played to an audience consisting of 10 people sitting on the floor, and a 2 year old doing some breakdance-moves in front of the stage.

My last Saturday evening in Reykjavik concluded in Dillon, Kaffibarinn, Karamba, Bakkus, a very strange afterparty at the house of someone whose name I forgot, and with the last pizza slice of a stand on the way back to the appartment. Mission complete.