Iceland

Reykjavík

ZAMILSKA

has long been a treasured addition to the festival circuit - standing out for picturesque location, slick organisation and showcasing emerging acts across genres - from avant-garde electro-pop and heady club sounds to rootsy Nordic folk. 

Iceland may feel like an isolated country - yet, slap bang in the middle of New York and London, Reykjavik is in a unique position to bridge European and American audiences through music alone. The festival showcases both international acts while placing an emphasis on homegrown talents, with Icelandic capital Reykjavik serving as an impressive backdrop. 

As the festival takes place in multiple venues all within walking distance of downtown Reykjavik, there's ample opportunity to explore the city while you hop from gig to gig (potentially under the glowing emerald skies of the northern lights).  Polish techno-noise producer 

 moved to the city over a year ago, and now calls Iceland her home. Ahead of what promises to be a pummelling Iceland Airwaves set on at Reykjavik's Gaukurrin club on Thursday 6th November, she shows us her favourite spots in town. 

, there's flight and ticket packages on the website. 

In Iceland we have many wonderful things: clean water, clean air, breathtaking views, volcanoes, geysers, glaciers, LGBT marriages. But what we don’t have is specialty coffee – even though Iceland ranks high when it comes to coffee consumption. And I am an awful snob about this. I bring back kilos of specialty coffee from Poland, but sometimes my supplies run out, and then I’m always saved by the baristas at Reykjavik Roasters. They have three charming locations scattered around the city. A quick coffee, a long meeting with a friend, a nice date after a walk – it always turns out I end up meeting people there. Relaxed, casual atmosphere. You can drop in to work, read a book, or just stare blankly into space.

I come from Poland, and when it comes to pierogi I have serious standards. Pierogi is life. Can you imagine the relief Polish people in Iceland felt when Kemuri, a Polish pierogi place, opened? What’s more – these pierogi are so good they bring tears to your eyes. On top of that – excellent cakes, incredibly kind service, and a super cozy interior. It’s practically the meeting center for young Poles. Don’t have time, or simply don’t feel like making pierogi for the holidays? Kemuri always comes to the rescue. I think no Polish grandma would ever be ashamed of their pierogi.

In English that means 'the good shepherd.' Why? I have no idea. If you need dopamine in your life and at the same time you’re a fan of buying second-hand things, this place will be like paradise for you. Paradise with no way out. A paradise where you enter and come out a week later. The strangest, most wonderful second-hand shop. They have EVERYTHING. Furniture, dishes, electronics, books. It doesn’t even make sense for me to list them. Want a lamp shaped like a dinosaur? No problem. Need a toaster? Here you go. Everything checks out here. You can dig out design pearls for small money, furnish a flat, discover wonders, and at the same time take care of the planet by not adding to the production of more things that later float in the ocean. 90% of the things in our apartment come from this shop, and we already have the reflex that if we need something, we first go check whether they have it second-hand. Win-win.

For me, after sound, smell is the most important way of “remembering” reality. If you want to take a piece of Iceland home with you, you should definitely go to Fischersund. It’s a perfumery founded in 2017 by Jónsi from Sigur Rós and his family. Perfumes are handmade using high-quality Icelandic oils, poured and packaged by hand in a sustainable way in Iceland. They are inspired by Iceland’s pure, unique nature, using herbs and oils gathered in Iceland’s wilderness. Each perfume also has its own visual and… musical identity. The perfumery itself is absolutely magical. It’s like crossing an Icelandic door in the center of Reykjavík that suddenly takes you right into the middle of nature. Here everything makes sense, and scent and sound have never been so perfectly matched.

In Icelandic it means “Bad Taste,” and that’s also the name of the record label located in this space. First, there was a radio program hosted by Ásmundur Jónsson and Guðni Rúnar Agnarsson from 1975–1983. It was practically a progressive music school for Icelanders. For their final broadcast in July 1983, they gathered a “supergroup” of musicians who, in their view, represented the most interesting elements of the musical wave that had swept Iceland since the early 1980s. Among them was Björk Guðmundsdóttir. Since the radio performance was meant to be a one-off, the group initially had no name, but soon decided to continue – and the band was named Kukl. They performed across Europe to positive reception, though their music was considered dark, complex, and hard to digest.

The people behind Kukl shared more than just the desire to make innovative music – they aimed to create a foundation for a self-sustaining culture that could thrive without the support of the state or mass media. That foundation later transformed into Bad Taste. The name comes from Pablo Picasso’s manifesto: “Good taste and frugality are the enemies of creativity.” Bad Taste is also the birthplace of the band The Sugarcubes. The first work of Smekkleysa was a postcard drawn by Friðrik Erlingsson, then guitarist of Sykurmolarnir (Icelandic for The Sugarcubes), the band led by Einar Örn and Björk. It featured the faces of Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan, a map of Iceland, and the flags of the USSR and the United States in the background, due to the Reykjavík Summit in October 1986.

Smekkleysa is now a record shop named after the label, located in downtown Reykjavík. Besides a huge assortment of records, books, and merch, it’s also a hub of independent music. Countless events, concerts, and regular DJ sets organized by Björk and her friends take place there. Just imagine the faces of tourists strolling downtown Reykjavík when through the window they suddenly see Björk bouncing like a ball, blasting her gabber set in the middle of the day.

Another center of independent music in Reykjavík. Founded in 1998, 12 Tónar is truly a legendary record store and record label in the heart of Reykjavík. I remember walking in for the first time on shaky legs because I only knew it from legendary stories. In 2019 they also opened a bar and café, which became very popular among locals. They regularly host concerts and events in the store or in their beautiful garden.

This is a small lake right in the center of Reykjavík. Supposedly nothing special – but there lives a very special swan. I’m not sure if it’ll still be there, we feed to check first; lately it disappears for long stretches. It’s a swan with a crooked neck, famous among locals. It looks like a periscope. Nobody knows what happened to it. Some say it was born like that, others that it was attacked – though it would’ve had to be bitten by a whole pack of coyotes. I don’t know. Anyway, it melts my heart completely. It always swims off to the side because it’s different. I’m so fond of it that I even decided to tattoo it with the inscription J’adore Hardcore…

Gòði Hirðirinn

Related Guides