Tónlist

This is a very good word, made from two parts. First you take tón (it means “tone”) and then you add list (it means “art”). When you take tón and list, and join them together, you get good things like this:

As part of my “winding down” of my Icelandic obsession, I’ve compiled an index of (almost) all the Icelandic musical acts mentioned in Flippism is the Key.

I saw most of these groups at Iceland Air Waves, some in Minneapolis, and some in Seattle. I've made numerous references to IAW: it is truly unique. When I first went (in 2006 and 2009) I found it to be a five-day-non-stop-hallucination. I’ll never forget it.

UPDATE: The list now includes 2018 acts!

Now, seven years later, I’m out of the loop concerning most of the acts playing this year but, if I were there, one group I would definitely see is Gangly:



A paradox: As the Web becomes more commercialized, there are fewer and fewer places to actually find in-depth coverage of this event! I did find Neil Minton, an old-school blogger, attending as well as Columbia College, who covers Airwaves every year. KEXP, out of Seattle, has the most coverage, although I've found their site to be almost impossible to navigate. Erik Valebrokk has great writing and photo coverage of the event, unfortunately it is in Norwegian! Google translate (without pictures) version.

Looking backward, at the names of the acts listed below, I’m almost overcome by the amount of great, original and honest music I would have never been aware of had it not been for this festival. A heartfelt thanks to all those acts and especially to Auður Ösp Olafsdóttir, who planted the seed of my Iceland Airwaves adventures with her blog posts in 2005.

Here is the list of the various Icelandic (as well as other Northern Atlantic) acts I've mentioned in FITK over the years (and a few fellow travelers †.)

* = music actually purchased:

Agent Fresco
Amiina *
Apparat Organ Quartet *
Árný
Ateria 
Áuslaug Magnusdóttir
Æla
Baggalútur *
Bára Gísladóttir
Bárujárn
Bedroom Community
Benni Hemm Hemm
Between Mountains
Biggi Hilmars
Björk *
Björt
Bláskjár
Borko
Buff
Cosmic Call
Daníel Bjarnarson
Ditka
DJ Margeir
Dr. Spock
Egill Sæbjörnsson
Eivør*
Evil Madness
Fufanu
Gabriel Ólafs
Ghostigital
Gróa *
Grúska Babúska
Guðrið Hansdóttir
GusGus
Gyða
Hafdís Huld
Ham 
Hekla
Hekla Magnúsdóttir *
Hellvar/Heiða Ericksdóttir
Hildur
Hildur Gunðadóttir
Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson *
Hjaltalín
Hjörvar
Högni *
Hraun
Hudson Wayne
Hugar
Jakobínarína
JFDR *
Jóhanna Elísa
Jóhann Jóhannsson *
Júniús Meyvant *
Kalli
Kevin Cole †
Kimono
Kira Kira
Kiriyama Family
Kitchen Motors
Langi Seli Og Skuggarnir
Liva Mo
Ljáðu Okkur Eyra
Mikado
Mezzoforté
Múgsefjun
Múm *
My Summer as a Salvation Soldier
Mysterious Marta
Nini Julia Bang
Nive Nielsen
Nóra
Oculus
Ojba Rasta
Ólafur Arnalds
Ólöf Arnalds *
Orphix Oxtra
Páll Óskar *
Pascal Pinon *
Peter Evans †
Petúr Ben
Red Barnett
Retro Stefson
Reykjavíkurdætur
Rokkurró *
Samaris *
Screaming Masterpiece *
Shadow Parade
Shahzad Ismaily
Sin Fang Bous
Sindrí
Siggi Ármann
Sigur Rós *
Ske
Skúl Sverrison
Sóley*
Sólstafír 
Sprengjuhöllin
Stórsveit Nix Noltes *
Svavar Knútur
Team Dreams
Toggi
Úlfur Eldjárn
Ultra Mega Technobandið Stefán
Uni
Unun *
Útidúr
Valgeir Sigurðsson *
Vicky
Wim Van Hooste †


Hatnote from Every Single Word in Icelandic