Voting is now open for the Olsoprisen "Album of the Year" award: http://www.nattogdag.no/avstemninger/osloprisen-2009-arets-osloskive
Nominees include Montée, Obliteration (my personal choice), Maribel and Chris Lee and the final decision is 50% jury-based, 50% voting.
A Fist in the Face of God talks to Kenneth, one of the gentlemen who runs the oslo-based specialty metal/punk store Neseblod Records: http://afistinthefaceofgod.blogspot.com/2009/11/interview-with-kenneth-of-neseblod.html
oslo Grammofon is giving away Monobird's album "Christmas greeting me" as a free holiday download: http://www.oslogrammofon.com/
Bouvet, the new oslo act featuring members from Death Is Not Glamorous and The First Cut, have finally confirmed that their debut 7" will be released on January 5. 250 copies, transparent blue vinyl, packaged in a letterpress arigato pack.
OfagHard to get around it: Ofag is a pure ego. Five friends convene in a recording studio to hang out, play a little improv music; someone hits record and then they release it on their own label. It's not as if the end result is unlistenable (it's not), it's more a question of why. Why waste the plastic? I'm sure it was tremendous fun for everyone involved and there's no reason they shouldn't be proud of their work, but why not make it digital-only? Or better yet, offer it as a free download? Do they honestly think that fans of their other bands (Heroes & Zeros, Superfamily, Balkansemblet) will be stoked on it? Or that they'll cross over into the already over-saturated experiment/freejazz scene? Doubtful. This is for friends and family, perhaps even the curious superfan, but most of all, it's for themselves. That's fine, but I can't recommend it for anyone else.
- Avi Roig
oslo Grammofon has signed Rosix-Noir and will be releasing a 2-track 7" from them in early 2010.
Norwegian pop-black-metal-punks Lydia Laska report that their new album is done and mixed and confirmed for a March 2010 release. I'm not sure if it has a title, but they did say that many fellow oslo-based artists make guest appearances on said album including Nattefrost (Carpathian Forest), Emil Nikolaisen and Eivind Schou (Serena-Maneesh), Kjetil Møster (Datarock), Sissy Wish and quite a few others. Read more: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=20281527&blogId=518825652
Eardrums gives us the full rundown on Spoon Train Audio's new local music compilation "oslo2": http://eardrumsmusic.com/2009/11/16/oslo-the-capital-of-pop/
Norwegian indie acts Truls & The Trees and Center of the Universe are putting out a split/collaborative release called "Surfing USB" which of course will come on a USB drive. Download a sample here: http://www.metronomiconaudio.net/mp3/Truls%5ETrees%20vs.%20C.O.U.%20-%20Terrella.mp3
There will be a release show with both bands plus Children and Corpse Playing in The Streets and Pilemil at Parkteateret in oslo on December 5.
A group of oslo-based artist expats (2 Australians, 1 Canadian) have put together something called the "Starving Artist Kokebok", or "cookbook" for the Norwegian-impaired, a book and CD package featuring artwork, stories and of course recipes from 37 fellow oslo-based bands, artists and journalists. Also included is a 19-track CD:
01. Simon Says No! - Sleeping Heart
02. Death is Not Glamorous - Clear Lines
03. Lionheart Brothers - Bring it Down (Kokebok Edit)
04. Maribel - Soothe
05. Pica Pica - The Man with the Magic Hands
06. CCTV - We Belong (Radio Edit)
07. Einar Stray - Arrows
08. Pilemil - Ghost
09. Hiawata! - Valley Boys
10. Happy Dagger - 2012
11. Manhattan Skyline - The Below
12. Spirits of the Dead - White Lady Black Rave
13. Årabrot - The Minute
14. The Bee's Niece - Stolen Bike
15. Norma Sass - Japan
16. The Loch Ness Mouse feat. Stella Mwangi - New Graffiti (Single Edit)
17. Center of the Universe - Sing it Again
18. Rosix Noir - Binden Sie Meine Hnde (Remix)
19. The White Tiger Prepade - Powerful fast forward knowledge pushing scared inprinted gem stones levitating by seemingly apathic sound movement reactions
Other contributors include Benea Reach, Haust, Je Suis Animal, Lydia Laska, My Little Pony, Silver and lots more. There will be a release party on November 18 at Rubber Soul featuring an exhibition of the original artworks followed by a show at Revolver later in the evening. More info: http://starvingartistkokebok.blogspot.com/
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:
01. TALK 1
02. Marit Bergman - Höstvisa
03. Viola - No connection
04. Brothers of End - Why
05. TALK 2
06. Oriel Joans - Knuckles whiten
07. The Bear Quartet - Carry your weight
08. Kornstad - oslo
09. TALK 3
10. The Amazing - Is it likely
11. Erik Enocksson - Non lupi
12. [ingenting] - Dina händer är fulla av blommor
13. TALK 4
14. Sivert Høyem - Empty house
15. Rickard Jäverling - May & Lee
16. Isolation Years - Let's step aside
17. TALK 5
18. Elmo - Young love
Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.
This week's top 20 Norwegian album chart:
01. Sivert Høyem - Moon Landing
02. Jonas Fjeld feat Henning Kvitnes - Den Gamle Veien
03. The Blacksheeps - Blacksheeps
04. Asbjørn Ribe - Ornand Vet Hvordan
05. Minor Majority - Either Way I Think You Know
06. Kings Of Convenience - Declaration of Dependence
07. Diverse artister - Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2009
08. Solveig Slettahjell - Tarpan Seasons
09. John Olav Nilsen & Gjengen - For Sant Til Å Være Godt
10. Anne Nørdsti - Livet er nå
11. Mari Boine - Sterna Paradisea
12. Thomas Dybdahl - En Samling
13. Tommy Tee - Studio Time
14. OnklP & Jaa9 - Sellout!
15. Immortal - All Shall Fall
16. Steinar Engelbrektson Band - Minna Som Eg Har
17. The Cumshots - A Life Less Necessar
18. Adjagas - Mànu Ràvdnji
19. A-ha - Foot Of The Mountain
20. Paperboys - oslo Agreement
A-ha has announced they'll be officially breaking up after 25 years and will be playing for the last time ever on December 4, 2010 in oslo. Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8308829.stm
Victims will be supporting Municipal Waste on tour across Europe in early 2010:
01/19 - Magnet Club, Berlin (GER)
01/20 - Juha West, Stuttgart (GER)
01/21 - Feierwerk, Munich (GER)
01/22 - Sottotetto Club, Bologna (ITA)
01/23 - New Age Club, Treviso (ITA)
01/25 - tba, Hamburg (GER)
01/27 - Debaser, Stockholm (SWE)
01/28 - Betong, oslo (NOR)
01/29 - Garage, Bergen (NOR)
01/30 - Academy, Birmingham (UK)
02/01 - King Tuts, Glasgow (SCO)
02/02 - Cockpit, Leeds (UK)
02/04 - Scala, London (UK)
02/05 - Sneek, Bolwerk (NL)
02/06 - Milkweg, Amsterdam (NL)
This week's top 20 Norwegian album chart:
01. Sivert Høyem - Moon Landing
02. Kings Of Convenience - Declaration of Dependence
03. Diverse artister - Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2009
04. John Olav Nilsen & Gjengen - For Sant Til Å Være Godt
05. Solveig Slettahjell - Tarpan Seasons
06. Thomas Dybdahl - En Samling
07. Mari Boine - Sterna Paradisea
08. OnklP & Jaa9 - Sellout!
09. The Cumshots - A Life Less Necessar
10. Steinar Engelbrektson Band - Minna Som Eg Har
11. Paperboys - oslo Agreement
12. Yoga Fire - Fuck You Eller Penga Tilbake
13. a-ha - Foot Of The Mountain
14. Jan Garbarek Group - Dresden - In Concert
15. Alexander Rybak - Fairytales
16. Röyksopp - Junior
17. Askil Holm - Rolling The Slow Bus Home
18. Espen Lind, Kurt Nilsen, Alejandro Fuentes og Askil Holm - Halleluja Live Vol. 2
19. Christina Bjordal - Warrior Of Light
20. Stavangerensemblet - Samlekasse
