The experience of missed opportunities has taught me one of the most valuable lessons — to not put things off, to embrace the chaos of going head first into experiences because we have but such a narrow window. (Which is of course easier said than done.) It’s the rare things–the ones you must actively strive most for–that are the most rich.
When I think about the internet today, with its widespread free and seemingly-eternal availability of music, we lose that sense of value. Like anything readily available at little cost or effort it’s so easily taken for granted, and the appreciation is much different, much shallower, and much more about our own pleasure than any sort of rich relationship.
I had that in mind when I released the Ghosts EP as a “temporal release”—one that it came with an unspecified expiration date. Well, that date has come, and Ghosts is quietly disappearing from the internet. If you jumped on the opportunity to downoad it (a very simple act usually taken for granted) you can now appreciate being one of the few people who can listen to songs like City Lights and Turning Into Mud.
Iceland Airwaves is around the corner. There’s an enourmous amount of bands playing, but you have only five days to catch what you can. On top of that, chances are you don’t even have any idea what you want to see most of the time, as there is so much new music, and who has time to keep up on that stuff anyway?
To help make some sense of it all I’ll attempt to introduce the acts I’m personally most interested in. I’ll start with the Icelandic bands since I’ve had the opportunity to see most of these already. I am in no way trying to be all-inclusive, this list is just based on what I am familiar with and appreciate.
On a side note, I personally recommend spending your days catching off-venue performances. It’s a lighter atmosphere — not pitch-black dark, not as loud (both the music and the roar of audience doing their best to be heard over it). It’s a nice excuse to walk around downtown in the daytime. And in most cases there won’t be long lines. My experience from last year was that if you’re trying to catch a more popular band at a venue like Nasa or Iðnó, if you’re not in by 10pm or so, you’re probably going to be waiting in a long line for a long time in the frosty rain. So if you were hoping you could hop from venue to venue to catch all your favorite bands, think again. Most of the off-venue schedule consists of Icelandic bands, so it may be wise to catch as many of them as you can off-venue.
Also, it is Icelandic tradition to stay at home and get boozed up and then show up to shows late. This is unfortunate as many of the best bands are playing early, and often the bands playing around midnight are way over-hyped.
Without further adue,
Let me start by mentioning that members of Just Another Snake Cult are also in Sudden Weather Change, Markús and the Diversion Sessions, and The Heavy Experience. All of these bands have been working on new material, and I can hardly wait to hear the finished products. It’s all looking to be very promising.
And now in alphabetical order:
Bárujárn make dark music with searing surf-rock guitar.
Berndsen does 80s throwback synthpop pop. Reminds me of Duran Duran or Aha.
Wednesday 16:00 @ Hressingarskálinn**
Friday i8 house party**
Saturday 21:40 @ Nasa*
Fist Fokkers is some sort of punk/power violence duo that remind me of XBXRX. They are a testiment to the adage, sometimes big things come in little packages.
Thursday, 23:30 @ Amsterdam*
Gang Related is an alternative/beach pop band with loud guitars and fuzzed out bass. It may be freezing outside, but these guys will still be cranking out the summer jams.
Friday, 19:10 @ Amsterdam*
Hermigervill does some really cool retro electronic music stuff. His last two albums combine Icelandic classics (mostly oldies) with vintage synthesizers, and to great effect. To top it off, he plays theremin. Expect a really great vibe.
Kira Kira falls under the label “krútt” or twee or cutesy ala Múm (I think they share(d) drummers?), Sigur Rós, Amiina, etc. Should be of interest to lovers of Icelandic export music.
Thursday, 19:00 @ Fríkirkjan*
Lay Low plays some good ole’ Patsy Cline-style country blues.
Markús and the Diversion Sessions is a really talented singer-songwriter and his backup band, which includes female back-up singers and a horn section.
Mr Silla is members from a lot of Reykjavík bands (Múm, Seabear, Kimono, …) doing a sort of 90s girl-rocker thing.
Thursday 22:30 @ Amsterdam*
Mugison I’ve had an Icelandic friend describe as “cute blues,” which if that sounds meaningless just goes to show how useless the Icelandic concept of “krútt” is to people with foreign musical upbringings. Mugison is known abroad though, and for reason, he’s a great songwriter, singer, and performer.
Ojba Rasta. If you’d told me two years ago I’d be digging a reggae band I’d have given you a skeptical look. What won me over is that here is a really tight band with catchy songs, fun energy, a live dub-master keeping the chaos in balance.
Wednesday, 00:00 Faktorý Main
Orphic Oxtra is a 13-person balkan folk inspired ensemble. They can be really fun.
This year we are performing once again at the Iceland Airwaves festival. Our schedule has turned out pretty hectic! Looking forward to an extended weekend of lugging our instruments in the frosty rain all over downtown. I’m not kidding. This is going to be so much fun.
To kick things off, we’re playing on Wed, Oct. 12 at 5PM at the Kimi Records/KEXP off-venue showcase at KEX Hostel. This will be broadcast live by KEXP, both on the air in Seattle and streaming on their website. So no matter where you are, you can listen! (5PM in Iceland is 10AM on the US west coast.) RSVP to the Facebook event invite to remind yourself. Other bands playing this show include Gus Gus, Samaris, and Retro Stefson. Worth checking out!
Later that evening at 7:30PM we head over to Barabara, which is Reykjavík’s only gay bar. Like all off-venue shows (with the exception maybe of the Vesterbæjarlaug swimming pool shows?) entrance is free.
The next day, Thur, Oct. 13 at 9:30PM (was 10PM), perfectly timed for you to catch us while on your way out the door to some hot on-venue events, we close up the line-up at the Reykjavík Backpackers hostel.
Come Friday, Oct. 14 we will be playing at 4:30PM at Kaffistofan, which is a cool student-related art gallery at Hverfisgata 44 (one street down from the main drag, Laugavegur).
And then, if you can manage to stay up past midnight, at 1:10PM Friday night (technically Saturday morning) we play our on-venue show at Amstersdam.
Then on Sunday perhaps you’ll find us performing somewhere strange and spontaneous as we galavant around the city with a film crew from La Blogothèque.
Fri Oct. 14 (but technically Saturday by the time we play) @ 1:10AM – (on-venue) Amsterdam
Stay tuned — having spent the time checking out almost every single band listed as playing the festival, I’ll shortly be posting a guide to some of my personal highlights. Follow via facebook, twitter, tumblr, or rss.
Good question! This is something that’s constantly being revised. Today it’s sort of two things. It is and has been from the start something cathartic I do in my bedroom with microphones, instruments, strange chord progressions, and lots of layering. But also, it’s a nearly-10 person psychedelic pop ensemble! I’ve been stealing members from other bands all over Reykjavík — Sudden Weather Change, The Heavy Experience, Markús and the Diversion Sessions and Muck, Útidúr, Skelkur í Bringu, … We’ve got some shows coming up to show it off!
Ok, I’m too lazy to say anything more about this, but here’s the 4th and final part. Don’t listen to it all in one sitting, or you may overdose on mellotron.
Part 1: http://www.mediafire.com/?94391drwc1rd7w2
Part 2: http://www.mediafire.com/?zzzcy7v0ke1t8vq
Part 3: http://www.mediafire.com/?ht2kv86ak2bl22v
Part 4: http://www.mediafire.com/?lm0uekvtg7q38rq
Jason Crest – “A Place in the Sun” – The Collected Works of Jason Crest are suuuuuper lo-fi. The band was never successful. Some of the songs are nice.
The Zombies – “Beechwood Park” — Also from Odyssey and Oracle.
Sagittarius – “The Truth is Not Real” — Also from Present Tense.
White Noise – “Love Without Sound” — Also from Electric Storm.
Beach Boys – “Wind Chimes” — Also from the Smile sessions.
The Association – “Never My Love” — I find most of their other songs hard to stand, but this one is absolutely beautiful.
Chamaeleon Church – “Come Into Your Life” — Chevy Chase played drums and keyboards in this psych pop band. This group is on both the goofy and soft side.
Beach Boys – “Never Learn Not to Love” — The Beach Boys cover of the Charles Manson song “Cease to Exist.”
Flower Pot Men – “Lets Go to San Francisco” — This song is nearly a perfect specimen. Once upon a time I tried to dissect it. Those little bass lines are so cool.
The Zombies – “Hung Up on a Dream” — From the Odyssey and Oracle album. Hard to believe this band called it quits because they weren’t getting anywhere with it.
Billy Nicholls – “Would You Believe?” – From Would You Believe?, a British attempt at taking on Pet Sounds. Much more a rock album though.
Left Banke – “Pretty Ballerina” — The Left Banke are referred to as “baroque pop” for their use of harpsichords and older scale modes. Great schitzophrenic use of falsetto in this song.
Beach Boys – “God Only Knows” — Brian Wilson song (with Carl singing lead) from Pet Sounds.
Curt Boettcher – “Another Time” (demo) — Another version of this song appears on the Sagittarius Present Tense album.
Justin Heathcliff – “You Know What I Mean” – Psych from Japan.
Tinkerbells Fairydust – “Marjorine”
Beach Boys – “Little Bird” — A Dennis Wilson track.
I can remember pretty well how I first started getting into psychedelic pop. I’d for a long time been listening to the likes of Of Montreal and The Zombies, and a lot of 60s pop and its derivatives in general. I’d picked up a record from the dollar bin called The California Sound of the ’60s, and it was really good. This was six or seven years ago. There was on track I’d never heard before by a band called the Flower Pot Men — the mellotrons, syncopated palm-muted bass, and reverb-drenched falseto vocals floored me. Ha. I was hooked and there was no going back! I was also around this time discovering the Beach Boys’ ambitious and creative Smile sessions, which played a huge role in influencing this style of music.
My original intention for Just Another Snake Cult was to recapture the weird awesomeness I’d heard on these 60s psych sunshine pop recordings. I didn’t end up following through on it.
Despite psychedelic pop playing a huge role in the story of rock music — I mean, how many bands today lay claim to the genre “psychedelic pop”.. uh, just about any rock band with a flute or 60s song structures (well, maybe people just use the term because it’s less dorky than calling yourself an oldies band ) — it’s not exactly easy to find.
So I spent some time digging, reading blogs, etc. searching out more and more of this obscure yet nonetheless phenomenal stuff. I present here a playlist that highlights some of the best I found while still trying to represent the range of artists. I’m posting it here to perhaps revive some interest in this music, and in part to close a chapter in my life. I’ve split it into four parts.
Part 1 of 4:
http://www.mediafire.com/?94391drwc1rd7w2
Sagittarius – “My World Fell Down” (single version) — Sagittarius was a studio project of Curt Boetcher, a producer and leading purveyor of the genre. Was the mastermind behind a number of bands including The Millennium. His harmony style influenced the Mamas and Papas. This single version has a music concret break in the middle! The album, Present Tense, is worth listening to in its entirety.
White Noise – “Your Hidden Dreams” — From an early experimental electronic music album, Electric Storm, by a classically trained American, David Vorhaus, with contributions from BBC Radiophonic Workshop composers Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson.
Charles Manson – “I’ll Never Say Never to Always” — An acapella version sung by the Manson girls. Charles Manson’s songwriting was often inspired, though most of the recorded output is very rough and hard to listen to. This is one of his many songs inviting beautiful women to join the Manson family in compound in death valley where they would hide underground as the soon to break-out race war engulfed what they saw as a violent and environmentally-destructive civilization.
The Beach Boys – “You’re Welcome” — One of Brian Wilson’s jams from the extremely drawn-out and expensive studio sessions for the never-to-see-the-light Pet Sounds follow-up, Smile. The original, unfinished, Smile is available in various bootleg formats and is worth having.
Tinkerbells Fairdust – “Twenty Ten” — From their debut self-titled album. By 1969 it was maybe three years too late to be notable, but forty years later who cares. This album really grew on me. It’s lo-fi, soulful-leaning psych pop with lots of covers.
The Flower Pot Men – “Mythological Sunday”
The Millennium – “Prelude” — The intro to their album, “Magic Time.” The album is a little soft/smooth for my tastes, but it starts off with an impossibly big drum break for the time period. Why isn’t this sampled more often?
Harry Nilsson – “Me and My Arrow” — Nilsson, friend of the Beatles, produced albums in a range of styles. This is from his 1971 narrative psych pop album, The Point.
The End – “Shades of Orange” — Their album, Introspection, is pretty good. Talented band, quality production. It was produced by the bassist from the Rolling Stones. But I guess at the time it was bad timing and so it never saw the light of day.
The Beach Boys – “Bicycle Rider Theme” — Also from the Smile sessions.
Wednesday, Aug. 24 @ Faktorý
Tomten (from Seattle, WA)
Just Another Snake Cult
Loji
Ofvitarnir
Tomten are a baroque pop / dream pop band from Seattle, WA. They came here to perform on Menningarnótt, and are squeezing in one last minute show before they leave. Take a listen:
I had that in mind when I released the Ghosts EP as a “temporal release”—one that it came with an unspecified expiration date. Well, that date has come, and Ghosts is quietly disappearing from the internet. If you jumped on the opportunity to downoad it (a very simple act usually taken for granted) you can now appreciate being one of the few people who can listen to songs like City Lights and Turning Into Mud.
) — it’s not exactly easy to find.
