Hr. Örlygur reads this blog

(That would be Mr. Destiny to you non-Icelandic speakers, a club that I am a member of)

Whomever he/she/they are, at least occasionally anyway, (Takk!) so you are missing an opportunity to SHAPE the next Airwaves festival. What ARE you waiting for? Perhaps “shape the festival” is a tad overblown, but being good businesspeople, Hr. Orlygur (not sure which key on my English language Mac creates the double dot) is interested in what their customers think. And you dear reader, are part of that audience. (The festival sponsors, like Icelandair, Visit Reykjavik, Myspace [a place for friends] and Viking beer are the other part.)

So you can pitch for some jazz with Koop or see if a live performance matches the debut album from the eclectic Little Dragon.

Or perhaps you’d like to see headliners get more than 45 minutes. You have to give Airwaves credit, the shows are on time like Swiss trains are alleged to be, but it is a drag to have complete equality across the board. The bands aren’t quite that equal. Another possible thought of yours could be bringing back an act from the first Airwaves, like say… Thievery Corp? And yeah, they’re worth at least an hour!

I have a grudging admiration for the uniformity of the Airwaves experience. One CD gets played between acts-the official Airwaves CD. In 2006 it was the reason I got hooked on Fields “Song For the Fields,” because I heard it about 20 times. (But man, do I hate the version that is on their Myspace page. What happened to the original? Or is this the original? Either way, me no likey.) The festival format and organization obviously works though, and appears to get bigger every year.

Oh thank god…

You gotta love Iceland Review, for their unshakable earnestness…

Krona wars…

The US dollar advanced to 74.82 against the Icelandic krona before reversing ground at about 3:00 am ET. Currently, the pair is trading at a 5-day low of 74.06, compared to yesterday’s North American close of 74.56.

On the economic front, Iceland’s wages grew at a faster pace of 1.2% month-on-month in March compared with 0.8% rise in February, the Statistics Iceland said today. On an annual basis, the wage index rose 7.8%, up from 6.8% in February.

The whole Krona valuation, Iceland economy story is actually really interesting, especially when you factor in the increasing bitterness of the Icelandic people against “rogue speculators” that are (or are not, depending on who you believe)  adversely affecting the nation’s economy overall.

Iceland Airwaves ‘08, YOUR place for international currency trading news!

Ok, more wish list bands

Detroit rock and roll style.

Thunderbirds Are Now!

The Paybacks

The Dirtbombs

And otherly style:

South

Major air guitar potential during “Here On In”

I’m bound to hit ONE, eventually.  I hope…

Wish list

My now annual public yearning for Airwaves bands. So far I’m 0-fer everything. Which means I am due.

• Belleruche. “Criminally underappreciated” feels like a stock phrase from the professional record reviewers notebook, particularly when it applies to their friends, or some way obscure group that requires many drugs prior to listening. Belleruche is neither. Groovy (yes, groovy, it fits here) catchy neo-soul-trip hop. Infectious, and I’d love to see them live.
• Kraak and Smaak. A guilty pleaasure. They would probably be a lot of fun too, kind of like Gus Gus was last year, and Love Is All was in 06.
• Bonobo. I don’t think this needs a lot of explanation, but his albums have garnered plenty of strange looks on planes as I unknowingly head-dance…
• Borko. Because I am feeling guilty about not seeing him last year. The Amiina show (which was amazing) was at 6p, and we needed to eat before the evening really got started and… Oh forget it.
• The Radio Dept. Shoegaze lives on. I dig shoegaze, and make no apologies for that.
• Moose. See above. I know they’ve been gone for years now, but allow the dream to live, ok? I saw them live once, pretty much by accident. They opened up for the Cocteau Twins in Atlanta and were AWESOME. And that was it. The only live show experience ever.
• The Ghost Orchid. I’m seeing, or hearing, this at the Saturday hangover party.
• Au4. It is a little disconcerting that their website hasn’t been updated in a longtime, but as far as I know, they’re still a band, and this is a terrific disc.  Here’s another very cool site from CBC Radio.

No predictions please, my fragile psyche can’t handle the stress…

Grudge match-Krona vs. $

But man, it doesn’t seem like much of a contest. International finance and currency trading is not normally a strength of music festival bloggers. I know, that is a shock. My first reaction, and honestly only reaction, was “will this make it any less expensive to go to Airwaves this year?”  That reaction, probably not so much a shock.

And the answer is..

Yes, and no.

On Jan. 1 of this year, one dollar=63 krona. A few days ago, it was 75 to the dollar. It’s down to 71 or so now. There’s a lot of time between now and October, and I fully expect exactly none of you to closely monitor the fluctuating exchange rate. And the cynics that you all are, you’ll just think the bars will raise their prices for the weekend.

The krona may be losing ground to the euro, but it continues to pound the once proud US dollar, and force hordes of hipster American music lovers to wear baggy jackets and pants in order to smuggle in contraband liquor, and not pay $15 for a very average light beer.  You know, the Airwaves tradition…

It could be worse though, can you imagine getting a housing loan in Iceland, and with central bank rates at 15%, what do you think the cost would be to an average Johan? 18, 19%? Yeesh.