Tag Archives: reykjavik calling

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Your Live Music Bets for the Weekend of October 12th through the 14th

It’s getting colder and wetter out there: All the better for you to catch some live music this weekend.

Tonight (Friday, October 12):

Reykjavik Calling with  Apparat Organ Quartet, Sudden Weather Change, Asgeir Trausti, and the Redwood Plan @ Neumo’s. Free Admission. Doors at 8pm.

This is the third year that Seattle’s hosted a musical summit with its sister city of Reykjavik, Iceland. As we’ve reported once or twice in the past, the shows are customarily wonderful. And like the preceding two, this one should be a kick and three-quarters. The Icelandic contingent includes the wonderful mechanoid pop of Apparat Organ Quartet, an epic blast of jagged guitar rock from Sudden Weather Change, and suave dance pop courtesy of Asgeir Trausti. Super-special bonus: cross-continental songwriting collaborations will pair Apparat Organ Quartet with local writer Ryan Boudinot, and Seattle new wave marvels The Redwood Plan with Icelandic author Sjon. Oh, and it’s totally free, too, so arrive early.

Corin Tucker Band, Houndstooth, Dude York @ The Crocodile. $15 at the door. Show at 8pm.

One of the trilling, thrilling voices that fueled Sleater-Kinney, Tucker’s work with her self-named ensemble augments S-K’s angular post-punk guitar attack with warmer melodies and Tucker’s more romantic melodic sense. The openers represent the yin and yang of the headliners: Local boys Dude York cover the art-punk end, while Portland’s Houndstooth generate dreamy pop with a  twist of shoegazer atmosphere.

Rodriguez, Donnie and Joe Emerson, Michael Chapman. $15 advance, SOLD OUT. Doors at 8:00pm.

If you haven’t seen the fabulous rock doc Searching for Sugar Man yet, the very existence of this show provides one spoiler right out of the gate: The doc’s subject–enigmatic singer/songwriter Rodriguez–did not shoot or immolate himself onstage. He’s headlining this Tenth Anniversary Tribute to Light in the Attic Records, the crate-digging label that lovingly reissued his lost-classic records, Cold Fact and Coming from Reality. Also on the bill are grown-up pop-wunderkinds Donnie and Joe Emerson and veteran British folk-guitar wizard Michael Chapman. It should be an amazing night, but if you’re not one of the lucky humans who already holds a ticket to the sold-out gig, Searching for Sugar Man‘s still playing at the Varsity…

Lushy, Summer Aviation @ The Skylark Cafe. $5 at the door. Show at 8pm.

West Seattle’s best live-music venue (from a programming standpoint, for sure) serves up some serious, chic swankness in the form of Lushy. The long-running lounge-pop act has been proffering their incalculably cool tropicalia for years now, and they always sound smooth as silk live.

Saturday, October 13:

Bananarama @ The Hard Rock Cafe. $15 advance. Show at 9pm.

Just a week after the Psychedelic Furs’ Showbox gig, another fondly-remembered band from the Reagan Years hits the stage at the Hard Rock. It’s anyone’s guess as to how many original members of the chirpy new-wave girl group will be onstage tomorrow night, but you’re damn sure to hear “Cruel Summer,” and 100% of the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society’s fight against breast cancer.

Drew Grow and the Pastor’s Wives, Fort Union, Ole Tinder @ The Comet Tavern. $10 day of show. Show at 9pm.

Yeah, Bob Dylan’s playing on this night, but for my money, you’ll get a live singer-songwriter show much closer to the heart at the Comet with Portland’s evangelically-powerful Drew Grow. If there’s a human being who hurtles himself more into live performance than Grow, we’ve yet to locate them. Middle-slotters Fort Union have more than proven their awesomeness as a live act already (and have delivered a sparkling new long-player to boot), so repeat after me: Get there early.

Sunday, October 14:

JEFF the Brotherhood, Diarrhea Planet, Moldy Castle @ The Crocodile. $15 advance. Show at 8pm.

JEFF the Brotherhood have been kicking around for about twelve years now, bashing out a style of rock that somehow combines Camaro-worthy arena riffs with indie-rock raggedness, all without any post-modern irony. Good as their recordings are, though, they pretty much rule live. Plus the opener’s named Diarrhea Planet, for God’s sake.

Woods, Night Beats @ Barboza. $10 advance. Show at 8pm.

I won’t prattle on yet again about the abject awesomeness of Texas expats Night Beats too much, except to say that their unhinged live performances scorch synapses faster than a mug of electric Kool-Aid. Headliners Woods hail from Brooklyn, and their sound normally leans towards a mellower, folk-infused variety of psychedelia–a mild contact high to Night Beats’ acid-induced freak-out.

Eats, Food, Restaurant

At a Taste of Iceland, Warm People from a Cold Country Make Magic

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Pickled herring with green apple and curry mayonnaise - my favorite bite of the night with its varying flavors (slightly sweet, sour, and spicy) and textures

Smoked salmon

Cod and potato fritters with seaweed aioli

Grilled Icelandic langoustine - so buttery soft, cooked just enough to be almost creamy inside

Harðfiskur - this is an Icelandic hard, dried fish typically made with a white fish like haddock, cod, or flounder and served as a snack (almost like a Triscuit cracker) that would go well with beer

Cold-smoked and poached Iceland Arctic char - nice texture to the fish

Atlantic shrimp and pickled vegetables with lumpfish caviar

Baked Iceland Cod with parsnip purée, leeks, fingerling potatoes, micro greens, organic barley, burnt butter, soy, ginger and Icelandic dulse “Söl” (seaweed)

Seared Icelandic lamb filet with glazed root vegetables, juniper berry-infused lamb jus reduction, and a dusting of dried wild Icelandic herbs and dried blueberries - tender and delicious!

Skyr of the Vikings: this Icelandic Skyr mousse (Skyr is a fat-free dairy product with a slightly tangy taste) comes with crispy oats, hazelnut crumble, cinnamon rhubarb compote, and red currants

Chefs Ethan Stowell and Hákon Már Örvarsson away from the heat of the kitchen - can you guess which is which? (Photo by our own Michael van Baker)

Chef Hákon Már Örvarsson at work

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Thirteen years ago I planned a trip to Reykjavik, signing up for a tour that would have me on an Icelandic horse to tölt my way across the interior of the country. I had just toured Ireland’s Ring of Kerry on horseback, and was hot on this new way to be a tourist. Complying with Icelandic law, I bought a new helmet, chaps, and riding boots to avoid bringing contaminants into the country, and even visited an Icelandic horse farm in California where I could practice riding a tölting horse.

Then, unexpectedly, someone offered to buy my home in Vermont. I used it as an opportunity to move cross-country to Seattle, canceled my trip to Iceland, and neglected my riding gear, except for one-time use as part of a Halloween costume. Some would say that today I’m more likely to ask about eating horses than riding them.

I’d still like to get to Iceland someday. If you’re like me, now is the best time to get close to that experience, as “A Taste of Iceland” has come to Seattle.

To experience some sounds of Iceland, Neumos is hosting the third Reykjavik Calling concert, featuring musicians from Seattle and Iceland. (The October 12 concert starts at 8 p.m. and is free, open to ages 21+.) And for a look at some of the people of Iceland and their stories, the Nordic Heritage Museum is hosting an exhibit entitled “Fabulous Iceland: From Sagas to Novels–Portraits of Contemporary Icelandic Authors.” (The exhibit runs October 12 through November 11.)

I’m most interested in experiencing the tastes of Iceland, and had the opportunity to go to Staple & Fancy where chefs Ethan Stowell and Branden Karow worked with Bocuse d’Or and World Culinary Cup winner chef Hákon Már Örvarsson in developing an Icelandic menu that’s available through October 13. Techniques were traditional (check out the harðfiskur) and modern, with an as-expected emphasis on seafood. I enjoyed the use of many Icelandic ingredients, some of which Örvarsson transported himself.

The food was fabulous, and the Icelandic people I met (for example, Ásgeir Trausti, one of the visiting musicians, performed a song) were soft-spoken and warm. If you’d like to experience the Icelandic dinner, there may be very limited seats still available by calling Staple & Fancy.

Otherwise, follow Icelandair on Facebook or Twitter to find out how you can play a clue-based game to win airline tickets to visit the country itself. You’ll have to compete against me, however, as I’m now inspired to get to Reykjavik in January for Thorrablot–the “Stinky Food Festival” that serves the fermented shark, pickled ram testicles, and maybe even the sour whale fat that I didn’t get at the Seattle dinner. (Check out the entire menu in the slideshow above.)

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Reykjavik Calling @ Neumo’s (Photo Gallery)

Friday night was the much-anticipated Reykjavik Calling showcase of musicians from Iceland (and the Faroe Islands, this time around) playing with Seattle musicians. (If you missed the free show, here’s a little video preview courtesy of KEXP.)

Neumo’s was already jammed when I arrived–too late for the first set, thanks to electrical gremlins in Skillet‘s wagon–despite the night being rainswept and cool. Icelandic weather, in other words. (Seattleites who visit Reykjavik find it very familiar, climate-wise, and vice-versa.)

Maybe the most successful cross-cultural meeting of the night was between Grand Hallway‘s Tomo Nakayama and the Faroe Islands’ Gudrid Hansdottir–they seemed really to have clicked, temperamentally. Hansdottir sang a song about fog; Grand Hallway has an album called Winter Creatures.

David Bazan and Snorri Helgason also seemed to get along famously, but Bazan seemed to determined to play what he called “bummer” songs, and it was a mood hard to square with a Friday night with sidewalks filled with people in costume. I wanted to put on headphones and hang on each word. Helgason, not to be outdone, sang an old folk song, “Butcher Boy,” about a young girl who, seduced and abandoned, hangs herself. He also played the more uptempo “I’m Gonna Put My Name on Your Door,” in honor of a new acquaintance’s engagement.

For Sean Nelson, relationships may not go together like peanut butter and chocolate, at least to judge from a few of the songs he sang. Happily, he knows that a spoonful of waltz-time helps the medicine go down. He’s another lyricist who stretches what you think of as popular music–one song is about neurophysiology and perception. Another, “Advance and Retreat,” is about a prototypical ambivalent attachment. I was taken by the Wordsworthian triplet in which he says that when two clouds collide, you expect rain, but also that the rain will subside.

Ólöf Arnalds reminds me of someone’s favorite aunt, grown-up but game for just about anything, including singing late before a restive, partly soused Neumo’s audience. She opened with a cover of Nirvana’s “Polly” (the concert closed with a messy, all-hands version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”), talking about how she’d learned guitar by playing Nirvana songs. This song has just four chords, she thought to herself, I can do that! However, there are five, and that fifth one is a nightmare. She invited the crowd to sing along with the chorus to “The British Army.” Then it was time to attempt to tune her armadillo-backed ukelele.

This brings up the moral dilemma of Reykjavik Calling: Do they have to go back home? Why can’t we keep them?

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Now, a Report on Icelandic Music in Seattle

A few Icelandic things of musical note: KEXP is broadcasting live from Iceland Airwaves, the music festival going on now in Reykjavik. As I type this, I’m listening to Lay Low. Tune in tomorrow for more. (We are sister cities with Reykjavik, as a side note.)

And then on Friday, October 28, there’s a free music showcase: Reykjavik Calling at Neumos. That’s another KEXP-sponsored enterprise, so thanks for donating, and thanks as well to the City of Reykjavik, Icelandair, and Iceland Naturally.

John Roderick, at the 2010 Reykjavik Calling (Photo: MvB)

Last year’s Reykjavik Calling was one of the best shows I saw all year–to emphasize the sister-city relationship, the show throws Seattle-ish and Reykjavik-ish musicians together to see what happens. It’s a short runway, just a few hours of rehearsal, but the results can be spectacular.

This year, our visiting musicians include Ólöf Arnalds, Snorri Helgason, Gudrid Hansdottir (Faroe Islands), and Nive Nielsen (Greenland). From the home team, we have Harvey Danger‘s Sean Nelson and Kyle O’Quin, The Long Winters/Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground, David Bazan, and Grand Hallway‘s Tomo Nakayama.

To stay up on this, you probably want to follow @hipstericeland on Twitter (sample tweet: “I used to be in a band with the Faroe Islands, but I quit to focus on my solo career.”). Hopefully, Katla won’t erupt between now and then and spoil the event–and a lot of other things besides, most likely: “Named after an evil troll, Katla has a larger magma chamber than Eyjafjallajokul’s.”

UPDATE: But wait, there’s more! On October 29, the Neptune screens the new Sigur Rós concert film by Vincent Morisset, INNI. It’s presented by the Northwest Film Forum in a collaboration with Seattle Theatre Group, which is why it is being shown at the Neptune. It’s a heavily manipulated, mostly black-and-white experience that seeks to turn Sigur Rós songs into extreme close-up light and shadow. If you are a fan of the band, this is the next best thing to catching them live. Hopefully the Neptune will test the limits of their sound system with this one.