Vialka

Vialka are back in Oslo to play at Spasibar October 11th. This is going to be great. I saw Vialka a few years ago. It's an insane mix of balkan rock, and french. What can I saw about this band....its got be be witnessed.
They are playing all over Europe in the next few weeks.

(right click save, listen, buy, repeat)
Vialka - Village Mentality Part 2
Vialka - Trop Tard



Purchase info and more sounds:
http://vialka.com/
http://www.myspace.com/vialka

Future of the left

So I've been to some shows in the last few weeks, and there is more to come. I saw Grazhdanskaya Oborona who are an old punk band from Siberia, Russia. Sounds cool right? Well it it's better on record. The band seemed bored and just going through the motions. The booze was cheap so I didn't mind.

I wasn't going to go see Against Me! but I found out Future of the left is opening. Future of the left include ex members of some band called Jarcrew and Scottish legends Mclusky. Like me, I know you love Mclusky. (what? no?) If there is one band I regret not going to see it's Mclusky. Didn't know anybody that was able or cared to go when they played in Seattle a few years back (this happened several times) Instead of going I sat at home...I've regretted it for years. One thing Ive learned is to just say fuck it and go to shows even if its by yourself. So basically Future of the left is as close as I am going to come to seeing Mclusky. It might not be as intense as Mclusky, but worth the Tuesday outing.

Here is some ear candy:

Future of the left:


Here is Mclusky on some teenybopper TV show:



Mclusky - To hell with good intentions


Future of the left is playing with Against Me and Steriogram at Garage in Oslo on tuesday.

Info: www.myspace.com/futureoftheleft

What makes the grass grow?! Blood, BLOOD, BLOOD! What are we gonna do?! Kill, KILL, KILL!"

Yes Yes Y'all!
Back from vacation in London. While in London I got drunk with Matyi from The Fighting Cocks....a weekend well spent.
The Fighting Cocks are a bunch of lunatics from Essex who play Gypsy electro-punk. (They haven't robbed or killed me yet on my visits.)
The Balkan music craze is sweeping large parts of the world now, but these guys (and gals) have been doing it for a long time in one form or another. First as the legendary Szeki Kurva, and now as The Fighting Cocks.
Some noise:
The Fighting Cocks - Love Somebody, Yes I do
The Fighting Cocks - Dance of the Fighting Cocks
The Fighting Cocks - King of the Street
Szeki Kurva - Ramraid
Szeki Kurva - Happy Shopper
Szeki Kurva - Chicken Head
Szeki Kurva - Balkan Express
When I last checked The Fighting Cocks are: Matyi, DJ Assassin, Pinky, Anna, Cherry, Ilaria and Molly.

Some videos:







The Fighting Cocks are ready to play your barmitzva, graduation or dog fight anywhere anytime. I heard there miiight be a Sezki Kurva reunion this xmas too!
Band info:
www.myspace.com/thefightingcocks
http://www.f-cocks.demon.co.uk/
BUY this shit

Bonus:
You can listen to lots more here

Direct flight: Paris - Nomeansno

Got off the plane at 9:45 PM and stood with my bag in hand at Garage in Oslo at 10:30 just in time for Nomeansno. Eventhough I was a total mess, it was fun. Lots of new songs; in other words no greatest hits show.
A couple of pix etc:



They have a new-ish record out called All Roads Lead To Ausfahrt.
Have a listen or whatever....
Nomeansno - In Her Eyes

On tour in Europen now.

info: http://www.nomeanswhatever.com/

--------------------------------------

Paris was nice. Did not make any shows... All I saw was a bunch of neo-hippies dancing their freak trance dancing through the Paris streets.

Next weekend I'm heading for London. Good times!

Paris!

CMA is heading for Paris for the weekend! Maybe I'll find some good music; who knows. Maps played tonight, it was ok. Reminded me alot of Mew. Maps are probably gonna be big with their easy listening electro rock. Next weekend: London! I got the extra mile(s) to find you good music. Don't say I don't love you.

I still got you Icecream

So, it seems like "grunge" is back at Sub Pop. Pissed Jeans sounds like a cross between Tad and Paw...anyone remember those bands?

I don't mean that as a bad thing...honest. I was raised on that type of stuff (for better or worse).

Sub Pop still got it.

Pissed Jeans - I Still Got You (Ice Cream)

Can you believe they still can't say the word "pissed" on american radio? What a bunch of shit.

info: www.myspace.com/pissedjeans

Purchase: www.subpop.com/megamart

My idea of fun...

So the Stooges were great....obviously. Nice to see Mike Watt on bass. Don't think I've seen him since he played the first ever foo fighters gig...? I don't remember. Anyway, Iggy was a wildman on stage as expected. They played in the square of what looked like an old castle. A prefect setting. The Setlist was as follows: * Loose * Street * 1969 * I wanna be your dog * T.V. Eye * My idea of fun * Dirt * Real Cool Time * No fun * 1970 * Mind Room * Fun House / L.A. Blues * Skull Ring * Trollin' - Extra: * Not right * I'm fried * Little Electric Chair * She took my money * I wanna be your dog. (played twice) Well that's the official setlist, I have no idea what really happened due to being in an alcohol fuled state. I do remember Raga Rockers doing a decent opening set and Liliedugg (an old Norwegian punk band from 1980) doing a great set at the after party.
Here are a few terrible pictures and some useless video. enjoy!
Worst video I ever shot, but hey, I could barely stand.

Stooges

Seeing The Stooges in Fredrikstad tomorrow.
I can't wait.

Iggy is 60 and is in better shape then I ever have or ever will be in my life.

Full report at the end of the week.

Let the sleigh-bells ring!

I wanna be your dog

G.A.Y.

Gay Against You are from Glasgow Scotland.

According to the press release they "inhabit the middle ground between Cyndi Lauper and the Locust." I'm not sure that fits, but they do put on an insane show. Last night at Spasibar there was wire strangling, blood and spastic dancing. This show was organized by the good people at http://www.redyellowcab.com/

Check out Gay Against You - Sooo Heat

Band info and more downloads: www.myspace.com/gayagainstyou

Buy: http://www.adaadat.com/

Locust

So the Locust played here the other week. Good energy and a pretty good turnout. Opener was Otto Von Schirach who's insane disco metal was filled with references to farting, puking, buttsex and zombies. In other words, real sophisticated humour.
Somebody filmed some of the Locust show.
Take a look:



I've been a bit burned out lately, so I've missed alot of shows (including the Oslo jazz festival), but I promise to destroy more of my hearing for your reading pleasure very soon. Added a link to http://www.redyellowcab.com/ on my list. This is a new booking company you will hear alot about in the future. Lots of exciting stuff on the way...

Øya Festival wrapup.

Well, the festival is over; people are back to their boring lives at work. What a letdown. I started my week of loud noise watching GTUK at Spasibar who also played later at the festival. He's a wild German guy who screams over insanely fast Nintendo beats....great stuff. Tuesday Magnus Moriarty, Ranheim and Bungalow Ranchstyle rocked Internationalen. Wednesday it all started in the park with expensive drinks and lots of good music. Boredoms were fantastic. 3 drum sets and a wall of noise. Fuck hippie drum circles, Boredoms are the real shit. Tinariwen played heartwarming African desert blues, followed by Woven Hand who's intense singer ...always gives a good performance. GTUK put on a great second set of the day followed by about 3 NIN songs before I left. Thursday opened the day with a Norwegian band called Real Ones and one called Deadends...a nice suprise. Followed by Gogol Bordello. Man, this Balkan rock thing has really catched on lately....where were everyone like 5 years ago? It was just as good then. Malajube played a solid set (not as wild as at garage, but still good) followed by CocoRosie who frankly annoyed me. I like it on record, but got bored quickly live. Justice then put on a great set of hits...the kids went wild. Would have been much better in a club though...they pretty much got kicked off stage for playing too long. The sad thing about festivals is that when a show is great and the crowd is dying for an encore, they cant do it because of the tight time schedule. New Young Pony Club followed Justice....then Tool played. I lasted 3 songs before I left. (I was a fan ca. 1995...I guess I'm getting old) Later that evening I witnessed one of the best shows I've seen in years: (and if you've been paying attention, I've seen alot). Patrick Watson at Øya Night. (Come back to oslo Pleeease) Patrick Watson is a genius...enough said. Norwegian singer songwriter Ingrid Olava opened up and put on a touching show. This turned out to be a brilliant combination and a fantastic night. Woke up Friday really hungover and made it just in time for Architecture in Helzzzzzz.... Later, Spoon put on a good show, although they looked confused by the sunlight in the middle of the day. Can't be the most fun time to play.... Next up Devandra Banhart bored me with mumbling burnout hippy music and I quickly moved on to the best show of the day: Battles. I first saw Helmet in...91-92 wish I'd seen him more often. Hypnotic intense beats. Tight like a drum machine. Other members are from Don Cabellero who I've been a fan of for some years. These guys can play! Next, ...And you won't know us by the sound of our songs played and it didn't do much for me. Keep in mind at this point I'm a wreck so I'm alittle extra critical. The Jesus & Mary Chain was disappointing, yet played an ok set. The sound was horrible and they looked like they were sleeping onstage. They seemed to just be going through the motions. I guess I would do the same if I got alot of money to reunite and play...OK maybe not. Rocky Erickson finished off the night. Where the hell did all these Norwegians hear of this guy? The crowd was insane. Personally I've only heard the 13 Floor Elevator stuff....This guy got to play 3 encores and people would not leave the area. Even the stagehands and people in the back were frothing at the mouth. Good to see and old rocker get his day. I ended the night at a local club where Shining played a"secret" gig. Intense and great as always...as far as I can remember. Should have stayed at home Saturday...hungover and the music was not as great as the previous days, but I fought on trying not to loose the little sense of youth left in my body. Listened alittle to Rockettothesky followed by a set by The Melvins (including Big Business). Good mix of old and new, but the guitar and vocals drowned a bit in the 2 drum sets. Canadian band The Besnard Lakes who I'd never heard of were pretty decent, so was The Go! Team afterwards, but I was mentally and physically far from enjoying live music by that time. The obnoxious Lady Sovereign; who was the only English solo artist that showed up (Lilly Allen was sick, and Amy Whinehouse was hanging out at a rehab in London) played something while I tried to sleep; followed by more female hip hop with Yo Majesty who are famous for playing topless.....meh. I stayed the entire day to check out Primal Scream but I went home after 3 songs this night too. Seems like I cant handle a full week of music and drinking anymore. Oh well, I'll be back next year.
Below are a bunch of pictures and crappy video clips that I took.
Better videos are on Youtube and several full show are here: http://rita.nrk.no/community/oya07/ (read post below for how to see them if you don't speak Norwegian) You can watch em and tell me I'm wrong about some of the shows if you like.



Patrick Watson:

Woven Hand:

Tinariwen:

Spoon:

Rocky Erickson:

Ingrid Olava:

Melvins:

Malajube:

Justice:

GTUK:

Gogol Bordello:

Battles:

Vidoes are below.....

Øya wrapup 2: The grainy/bad video cliporama!

Here are a few short clips I took at this years Øya festival:

Battles:
Tiiight!




Justice:
This kids went crazy even in the afternoon....



Boredoms:
Definetly not boring.



Patrick Watson put on the best show of the festival:



Patrick Watson:
Record out in Europe very soon.



Spoon:
Great, but too early in the day.



Only 11+ months until the next Øya festival...

Øya video!

Go to http://rita.nrk.no/community/oya07/
and click on your favorite artist (not all were filmed unfortunately.)
Listed by day (onsdag, torsdag, fredag, lørdag) on the right.
Then click on "spill" and woahla! there you go.
I'll post my own 30 sec crappy video clips and some nice pictures later this week.
I've got to catch up on email at work first.
Bonus: If you click around on the same page you can also find live shows from the Hove Festival...but then again who wants that? Oh you do? OK.
The quality is good....but it's not up for too long. Rip the audio and video for fun.
They festival was pretty good; lots of solid performances and some not so solid.
Highlights included: Patrick Watson, Spoon, Battles, Boredoms, Woven Hand, Malajube, GTUK, and Justice among others... Pictured above: Battles.
A good week had by all...more soon.

Øya Festival

Ok, so it's finally time for the Øya festival here in Oslo. Øya has one of the most eclectic lineups on the festival circuit. Basically, they have good and varying taste.
Some of the highlights for me this year are Bordoms from Japan, Tinariwen from the desert in Mali, Spoon, Gogol Bordello, Justice (FR), Shining, Patrick Watson (CA), Woven Hand, Battles, Malajube, plus a whole bunch of bands of different styles and sounds from all over the world (plus a bunch of local bands I'll be skipping...well most of them). Headliners are Tool, NIN, Primal Scream, The Jesus and Mary Chain etc. go here to check it out. Monday I'm starting with GTUK at Spasibar followed by a dj set at International before the serious fun starts on wednesday.
If you feel like watching some of these sets live on your computer http://www.nrk.no/ will be streaming a good portion of the gigs online. Some of it will be available afterwards as well. I will post a link when I wake up sometime next week.

Good and bad news...

Yup, still here... The bad news I just found out my parents have to put my dog to sleep. She was a great dog who really saved the family though some tough times. I'm not gonna make you cry now so I'll get to the good news. The good news is I'll be deejaying at Internationalen in Oslo on tuesday during Øya Festival Club night. More about Øya festival very soon. Tuesday, Bungalow Ranchstyle (ex- cato salsa experience / ex-Fairfuck.) and Ranheim (Norway's answer to shellac) are playing. Gonna be a insane week. 6 days of music and drinks.

This one is for Marte:
Miles Davis - Blue in Green

Silver Daggers

OK, so I've been asleep at the wheel. NO post for over a week? I'm sure you're crying yourself to sleep. So I've decided to post about the Silver Daggers, or as I like to call them, the silver dags. "Joy" is the new "single" from the new record on Load Records. I saw this band a few years ago in Seattle, and they rule. Spazz Jazzcore from LA or something....I'm too drunk to write any more info, they are just great.

Just look at this: JOY Yes, lots of balloons.

And dl the track here: Silver Daggers - Joy
Rate this track:

Band info:

http://www.silverdaggers.tk/

www.myspace.com/silverdaggers

Purchase: http://www.loadrecords.com/

Crash Normal

Crash Normal is another great band from Paris France. If you liked my Cheveu post earlier, this is for you. This band is all over the place. From speed metal, to electro noise, to art punk.
Here is a little taste:

Crash Normal - 2 Bonsaïs Dans Mon Assiette
Crash Normal - Nothing I Can Tell
Crash Normal - Cook Some Meat
Crash Normal - Audioradio 2
Crash Normal - Pink Panty

...and the number one hit on all the top 40 charts (at least mine):
Crash Normal - Flying To New York (demo)
Go here to download it yourself (sorry, can't link to it)
This post is really just about this great track.

Purchase from Byte Burger Records.
and rococorecords.com and s-srecords.com

Band info:
crashnormal.free.fr (with a lot more mp3s)
www.myspace.com/crashnormal

Enon

New Enon record October 9th 2007 according to uber-indie pitchfork.
You heard it here last.

The record is called "Grass Geysers...Carbon Clouds" and is guaranteed to rock.

Read the article.
Listen to some old hits:

Enon - Natural Disaster

Enon - Conjugate The Verbs (temp link)

A tour is in the works (hopefully here)

Go see this excellent live band.

Band info: Enon.tv

www.myspace.com/enonmusic

Kongsberg Jazz Festival (Ornette Coleman, Offonoff, Wilco etc etc)

So, it's been quiet here, I know. I've been at 15+ konserts last week in a little Norwegian town called Kongsberg. The National Guard was called in to try to limit damage from flooding. It was the biggest flood in 50 years. It did not ruin the festival though. I got what's called a "særings pass" loosly translated a weirdo pass. This gets you in to all the avantgarde shows. First up was Gjerstad & Nilssen-Love 4tet. Frode Gjerstad started Ultralyd, a great Stavanger band. (Some of the people in Ultralyd play in Noxagt)
Paal Nilssen-Love is one of the best drummers I've ever seen.
(Han Bennink beeing my other favorite.)
Anyway, lots of free jazz and a good start to the festival. Saw a Kurt Weil cover band also that day.
Ornette Coleman kept asking people to come join him on stage. Pretty cool stuff; they even played a Vivaldi cover/interpretation. This was followed by Norwegian band Huntsville, part jazz, part country, part techno, part noise. Joining them onstage was couple of guys from Wilco for a one time colaberation...pretty cool. More avantgarde jazz by Big Satan, some great stuff by the drummer from Shining (Lofthus/Eilertsen/Storløkken), Bull of the year, Triacria (metalheads enslaved+Fe-mail) and Erika Stucky Trio who rocked the house tuba and jodeling style. I don't listen to free jazz on cd, but live it is a pretty amazing experience.
Wilco played a fantastic 2 hour+ set with a ton of extra numbers. You can get the show here or on http://www.dimeadozen.org/ (or so I read).
Here is the Wilco setlist:

01. Side With The seeds 02. You Are My Face 03. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart 04. Kamera 05. Muzzle Of Bees 06. Handshake Drugs 07. A Shot In The Arm 08. Impossible Germany 09. Sky Blue Sky 10. Shake It Off 11. Hummingbird 12. War On War 13. Jesus, Etc. 14. Walken 15. I’m The Man Who Loves You
Encore 1:
16. The Late Greats 17. Via Chicago > 18. Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Encore 2:
19. Heavy Metal Drummer 20. Hoodoo Voodoo 21. Outasite (Outta Mind) 22. I’m A Wheel

Not bad eh?
Jeff Tweedy seemed to enjoy himself immensely, wearing a king Olav T-shirt and proclaiming himself the king of Norway...which people seemed to be OK with.

The festival highlight for me was OFFONOFF. Offonoff is Paal-Nilssen Love (The Thing, Atomic), Massimo Pupillo from the Italian band ZU and Terrie Ex from Amsterdam's The Ex. Hard to describe this stuff, but its great. Part jazz, part punk, part noise, all good. Seen them a couple of times before, plus I'm a huge fan of their other projects as well.
According to Paal, the record will be out in November. I didn't ask what label, but my guess is on Smalltown Superjazz. (They released Original Silence with Love, Thursten Moore, Terrie Ex, Massimo Zu, Jim O'Rourke and Mats Gustafsson..check it out.)

If you ever find yourself walking around Norway in July, I highly recommend this festival. A lot of variety of excellent quality.

Here are some photos and videos from Kongsberg:)

Huntsville and Wilco

Paal Nilssen-Love w/ Offonoff

Terrie Ex

Massimo Pupillo


Terrie/Massimo

Offonoff

Offonoff

Offonoff

Ornette Coleman and band

Wilco


Wilco "Heavy Metal Drummer"

Wilco

Erika Stucky Trio



Erika Stucky Trio.

They also did My Sharona and a Brittney cover.

Sounds horrifying, but it was great.

(I can post more if someone requests it)

So that is just a taste of the great week I had at the Jazz festival.

Good times!

Deerhoof at Cafe Mono, Oslo

OK, I'm back from vacation. I've gotten millions of angry letters wondering why I haven't written anything in a while so here goes. Lets start with the great Deerhoof show last Tuesday.
The atmosphere was top notch. They played both old and new "hits". Some of the most intense and wild drumming I've ever seen. It was Deerhoof's first time in Oslo, and they seemed to have a great time. They did learn one Norwegian syllable: "Takk".
Here are some short video clips and random photos I took.

Photos!

Videos!

HJ and I deejayed before and after the show and had a blast...looks like we will do it again soon. We played what we wanted, got paid and got drunk for free. Yeah, I miiiight be up for that again.

Stuff on the Kongsberg Jazz Festival and other news soon.