Pitchfork

Photos by Leó Stefánsson. Click for parts one and two.

As the Reykjavik weekend got into full swing, night three of Iceland Airwaves found the venues completely packed, the streets flooded with music fans, and the city full of staggering drunks roaming about until six in the morning.

The night began with the wonderful Benni Hemm Hemm at the Reykjavik Art Museum. Benni's sentimental ballads draw as much from lo-fi indie as they do from country, and are enhanced by a full brass section that flares up at the appropriate moments, lending his performance an epic quality.

Up next were crowd-favorite Canadians Islands, dressed all in white and playing their indie-rock showtunes like their lives depended on it. Nick Diamonds even graciously busted out a new tune for the eager audience, a promise of good things to come from this band.

This was a hard act to follow, but Iceland's Apparat Organ Quartet (pictured above, and really a quintet-- doesn't the drummer count?) was up for the challenge. Playing a mad scientist array of vintage synths and organs, the Quartet, crisply attired in smart suits, blazed through poppy electro and massive industrial waves of analog sound.

Over at Gaukurinn, Icelandic favorites Jeff Who? pressed their new wave-influenced power-pop into the faces of what seemed like a dangerously over-capacity crowd. If one person moved, everybody moved in this morass of flesh and beer. And move they did, as the audience sang along over throbbing basslines and caterwauling synths, clearly showing their approval for this popular band.

But the obvious focus of the night was Wolf Parade. After taking the stage and dealing with some feedback problems, the band launched into its catalogue of quirky rock with boundless energy. The vocals may have been buried in the mix and two keys may have broken off a keyboard, but nobody gave a shit. Wolf Parade owned the night, creatively enhancing the songs from their debut, Apologies to the Queen Mary, with moments of improv and uninhibited gusto.

Click on by tomorrow for Pitchfork's final Iceland Airwaves installment.

BENNI HEMM HEMM


ISLANDS




APPARAT ORGAN QUARTET


WOLF PARADE


THE GO! TEAM


GOJIRA


BAGGALÚTUR


HÖGNI LISBERG