A look back at Iceland Airwaves 2015

Reykjavik, Iceland - November 4-8, 2015

Participating in Iceland Airwaves as a Canadian is sort of like stumbling into a house party full of someone else's tight social circle—except everyone is excited and glad you came and there are one thousand other people who accidentally stumbled into the party too and now you're all friends. It is the kind of festival were almost every shop, café and hostel along the main downtown strip doubles as a venue throughout the week creating space for the "off-venue" no wrist-band-required shows—hugely accessible to people officially participating in the festival as well as people who do not purchase passes.

Most local musicians play several shows over the course of the five day festival, creating an atmosphere of adrenaline-fuelled energy that ensures the word on must-see acts spreads quickly. Say you miss an excellent show Friday afternoon because you are daring to eat (urine soaked) fermented shark in a dark restaurant. Chances are, you will be able to catch that band eight more times throughout the festival, perhaps in the giant hall of the Reykjavik Art Museum, or maybe in a tiny mitten shop off the main street.

The festival is perfectly curated so people who are new to the Iceland party have a chance to figure out what's good and then ample opportunity to catch those acts.

Here are some of the artists who's live shows surpassed their buzz:

QT (United States)

QT is an otherworldly, super-pop singer/product of the mysterious PC Music crew. Her performance was minimal yet energetic. She barely let a smile slip through her Barbie-like plastic persona.

My friend and I had an unusual view of this performance. We managed to grab a spot at the side of the stage, where we were able to see QT from the waist down (a view that was obscured to the rest of the audience by a black table cloth). From this perspective we were able to verify that this otherwise alien-like performer was truly a real person with paint-flecked boyfriend style jeans and flats.

I recommend watching the music video for QT on repeat then checking out the Diplo remix of that same track on Spotify and playing it at your next dance party.

Weaves (Canada)

High-energy, sweaty pop rock group that got everyone dancing. I was eager to see my Canadian friends, Weaves, play in the Kex Hostel as a part of Seattle's KEXP programming. The show felt very much like a house party, being staged in the hostel's common room, but the setting worked flawlessly with the feel of the festival (see the introduction to this piece). Weaves' rocking set was familiar and friendly. Everyone danced.

I recommend catching this band next time you are in Toronto or they are in Montreal as it's difficult to guess how much longer you will have to catch them in a small venue.

Milkywhale (Iceland)

This is a power pop ballad loving artist who flawlessly performed epic dance choreography while showing off her beautiful and strong vocal skills. Milkywhale is one of the acts that I didn't realize I loved immediately. The singer's happy, high-energy tunes are undeniably catchy and have the capacity to stick with you much longer than you expect. Milkywhale is an artist worth checking out online as well. Despite having a scarce internet presence the work that she has out there is warm and fun.

I recommend starting every day for the rest of your life by dancing along to Milkywhale's "Birds of Paradise" music video.

Dream Wife (Iceland/UK)

The musicians in Dream Wife admitted to me that they started a band because they wanted to come to Canada but could not justify travelling here without a mission and thus the band was formed. They played their first shows here in Montreal and have since been on a whirlwind of performances and creation, gaining esteem from many along the way. This band was one of the toughest to catch as every show they played was packed with people who knew that their shows were a must see.

I recommend keeping your eyes peeled for their first EP that I was told has been recorded and is going to be available very soon.

--Christina Bell is CJLO's Volunteer Coordinator extraordinaire. Interested in joining the CJLO Crew? Drop her an email at volunteer [at ] cjlo [dot] com.