Iceland Airwaves have announced the first 28 acts from over ten countries for their 20th-anniversary edition of the festival that takes place from November 7th to 10th across the city of Reykjavík in Iceland.
International acts include:
Fontaines D.C
Girlhood
Girl Ray
Jade Bird
Jockstrap
Mavi Phoenix
Naaz
The Orielles
Sassy 009
Scarlet Pleasure
Soccer Mommy
Superorganism
Tommy Cash
Icelandic artists:
Agent Fresco
Audur
Between Mountains
Bríet
Cyber
Hugar
Júníus Meyvant
Kiriyama Family
Rythmatik
Snorri Helgason
Sykur
Úlfur Úlfur
Una Stef
Vladimar
Warmland
Early bird tickets are now on sale now priced at €122/14,900 ISK. International packages are also available.
This week’s episode features Aoife McCann and Dan McIntyre from AE MAK talking about being accepted to Festival Republic’s ReBalanced programme – a new initiative that aims to address the gender imbalance in the music industry. Dan meanwhile, discusses his just-announced acceptance to the Red Bull Music Academy later this year in Berlin.
Niall and Ellen also talk albums of the week from Young Fathers, Fickle Friends, Soccer Mommy and Spook Of The Thirteenth Lock. There are tracks of the week from Sigrid, BARQ, Fenne Lily, Sofi Tukker and The Voidz (Julian Casablancas interview with Vulture mentioned.)
We also talk the Electric Picnic lineup, the return of Block Party and Spotify’s new urban playlist.
Feedback so far has been really positive since we kicked back into the podcast gear so if you like what we’re doing please like and subscribe and leave a review on iTunes. It helps us get noticed by the podcast gods.
Soccer Mommy is the music project of Sophie Allison, a Nashville songwriter who has come on our radar through her taut indie-rock music, will play a show at the Grand Social, Dublin on Friday 7th September this year.
Tickets €13.35 incl booking fee on sale Wednesday 7th March at 9am from Ticketmaster
Sophie Allison is just 20 years-old and has released one of 2018’s best indie-rock songs so far with ‘Your Dog’:
Allison has toured with Mitski, Jay Som, Slowdive, and others, and has just released her debut full-band studio record Clean.
Berlin-based Peggy Gou is a DJ and producer who has been steadily building her profile over the last couple of years.
It was ‘Gou Talk’ and subsequent high-profile building DJ slots at the likes of Dekmantel that helped in that regard.
Gou has a new EP coming on Ninja Tune on March 2nd on Ninja Tune and ‘It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)’ is a polychromatic piece of electronic house music infused with summer shimmers and tropical vistas. Gou also sings quite capably in Korean.
Dear Annie, Rejjie Snow’s long awaited debut album finally gets a release on February 16th and he’s released two EPs featuring 8 tracks from it so far (for some reason). ‘Egyptian Luvr is a smooth jam. He plays the Olympia on March 12th.
3.
Superorganism — Everybody Wants to Be Famous
London-based eight-member pop crew Superorganism show off their off-kilter electronic pop with their second big single. An album comes out on Domino on March 2nd.
4.
David Byrne — Everybody’s Coming To My House
David Byrne will release his first solo album since 2004 on March 9th and it’s called American Utopia. He has made albums with Eno, St. Vincent and Karl Hyde, but it’s his first solo album. It’s produced by The xx cohort Rodaidh McDonald and features guests, Jack Peñate, Oneohtrix Point Never, Jam City and Thomas Bartlett, and its choreographed live shows to come, Byrne has suggested are “the most ambitious show I’ve done since the shows that were filmed for Stop Making Sense.”
Talk about expectations. ‘Everybody’s Coming To My House’ is Byrne at his best – melding acoustic textures, brass and Afrobeat textures with his trademark pop songwriting.
Kendrick is curating Marvel’s Black Panther movie soundtrack and ‘All The Stars’ is our first offering from it. So that’s both creators of album number 1 and 2 of 2017’s best albums collaborating (they are on the same label). SZA outshines Kendrick on this – her honey-dripped voice beholden with power is very suitable for a superhero movie. Kendrick can’t compete.
One of DFA Records’ new artists released one of the best tunes of 2016 with ‘Rocketship’, an electro-robot funk track that brought the Londoner to the attention of many a DJ. His recent single ‘High Times’ goes for a more minimal aesthetic, sounding like a French Touch Daft-Punk-esque house track trying to stay under the radar while remaining under the skin.
The Go! Team are back with a new album Semicircle, which is a return to their exuberant indie jams. And it works. The bandleader Ian Parton travelled across the US and recorded young choirs and brass bands and they add to the genuine schoolyard buzz of the record. ‘ If There’s One Thing You Should Know’ is a giddy highlight from it.
9.
Lone — Temples
Lone releases Ambivert Tools Volume Three this month, the latest in series of EPs that have been worthy listens and ‘Temples’ is an abmivert jungle-tastic acid banger.
Young Fathers seem immune anyone outside their clique, operating as a gang who were more interested in offering genuine healing through music that crosses rap, gospel and lo-fi sonics. ‘In My View’ is another idiosyncratic uplifting gem from these outliers, but if there’s anything obvious from their new material, it’s an increasing softness and directness that wasn’t present on their first two records. Their new album Cocoa Sugar is out in March.
January is all about renewal and looking forward so with that in mind here are 18 acts from around the globe who we reckon will be on your playlist rotation this year. Some you may know, but our criteria is based on picking acts you won’t see in other lists or new acts we already love and support.
Signed to Domino Records, Superorganism is made up of eight musicians from London, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, seven of which now calling London home in the same house. Their electro-pop sound is making waves around the world with the latest track ‘Everyone Wants to Be Famous’ already clocking up over three hundred thousand views on YouTube since it’s release three weeks ago. Their debut album is out on March 2nd and you can catch them at Forbidden Fruit festival this year.
Dublin-based band Tribal Dance is made up of Adam Smyth, Stephen Dowling and Leo Clarke, formed with the explicit desire to play live shows. Their first and only release so far, ‘Flongo’, sent out waves of excitement, relying on intricate guitar notes, garage-rock vocals and interlocked percussion. Math-rock has returned to the Irish music scene.
Californian born 16-year-old Billie Eilish’s debut track ‘Ocean Eyes’ was written and produced with her brother Finneas O’Connell when she was only 13. It was originally posted on Soundcloud with the intent to show it to her dance teacher and class, within two weeks the track hit 1 million views. Her debut EP don’t smile at me came out on Interscope Records last year and embodies her moody teenager aesthetic. Ruth Cronin called her style ‘petulant pop’.
4.
IDER
Harmonic electro-pop duo
London-based duo Megan Markwick and Lily Somerville or IDER signed to Glassnote Records last year. With singles such as ‘Nevermind’ and ‘Learn To Let Go’ they have encapsulated a sweet electro-pop sound for themselves with majestic harmonies. They made their Irish gig debut at Electric Picnic last year. You can catch them at Rich Mix, London next month.
Australian five-piece synth-pop group Parcels were discovered by Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter at a gig in Paris, he then went on to co-produce their debut single ‘Overnight’ which has reached over 15 million streams on Spotify. They play an impressive 25 sold out shows around the world this year. They were due to play Body and Soul last but due to technical difficulties Ireland are still waiting on a gig.
Liverpool-based five-piece band Pink Kink spent last year touring with Pussy Riot. They released two infectious wordy neon-pop singles last year ‘Bubblebutt’ and ‘Munchie Magic’.
