From old theaters with a modern touch to hole in the wall bars with loads of character, Oslo lets you know what’s important while visiting from overseas, and what’s important is live music and the buildings that house it. And the music, well, it’s not so bad either, and last night may have been the best overall night for music here at by:larm 2010.

To kick off the night, I went over to Stratos, for the Stereogum party, where I not only found one of the more beautiful venues in the city, located on the 11th floor, but also found a few American blogger types to chat with to start the evening. And kudos to the boys from Stereogum, who not only pulled their weight earlier in the day at a blogging panel, but also managed to put together one of the most interesting lineups of the weekend. While I wasn’t around all night, the city seemed to be buzzing about their bill of Kira, Kira, Kråkesølv, the post-rock of Altaar (who I caught the night before), Finnish trio Joensuu 1685 and diskJokke. Overall, a full evening of great stuff, if only that was all that was going on.

Of course, alot more was brewing around town, and while last night I found myself listening to bands for the first time, the evening was more about some familiar names that I made a point to see Friday. Oh No Ono recently released a really fun, quirky pop album in the states, and I caught their live set first. The general wierdness that the band pushes forward paired with the high pitched vocals of all band members makes me think they might be a great opener for Of Montreal in the states. The set was not exactly my favorite thing, but I can certainly see the appeal and I’m glad I got to see them live.

After that, I stayed put and caught the indie pop sweetness of Efterklang, whose album Magic Chairs has been a favorite of mine since I first got wind of it. The band really fills the stage, employing 8 members with each person playing an important role, and each layer adding an element that makes their collective effort sound effortless. “I Was Playing Drums” was a standout during their set.

Larry and I hoofed it through the snow and dropping temperatures next to see Twins Twins from Denmark, and then braved the cold again to make it over to Gamla, to see Seabear. Gamla is the best bar I have been in this week, and boasts the charm of a place that has seen alot of people and live music through the years. Seabear are another band that features alot of musicians, seven in all, and they seemed as confident and tight as any band I have seen all week. Their new album, We Built A Fire, is out next month on the Morr label and I’m making sure I see them again when they are at SXSW.

We were pretty tired at this point in the night, but there was no way we were missing Serena-Maneesh. Arguably the most well known band playing by:larm this year, the band had this one performance and filled one of the larger venues to capacity. The set started off with a couple big burners and hooked me right away. The band continued the intensity and pulsating rhythms throughout the set and although I was physically and mentally exhausted, it was worth every minute. Yet another reason to look forward to thier upcoming album SM2 – Abyss in B Minor.

Keep up with Joe & Larry in Oslo by watching our video journal.

Efterklang

Oh No Ono

Serena-Maneesh

Sure, that sounds like alot, but it wasn’t enough to deter Larry from Future Sounds and myself from exploring the city some as well. We went walking into the cold and snow in search of food, and after finding some, got lost, about a mile out of our way, into Oslo. We didn’t mind it though, and even took a moment to acknowledge it here. After finally finding our way back, it was just enough time to gather our strength and head out for the first full night of hopping around town watching live music. It’s the main course of our meal after all, and we were ready to consume.

Sadly, the first half of the night was nothing short of disappointing. The first few acts we saw were not really by choice and seemed to fall into a “not ready for the stage” kind of category. From some amateur Norwegian hip-hop to a duo trying to mimic every important DJ on stage, the night was not off to the start we expected. Throw in a band that seemed Nordic to the core, until they started playing their version of American Alt-country, which really made me cringe, and we were beginning to wonder if we would see anything good all night.

The tide turned in a big way though with our next experience. I had been impressed with the opening night performance of The Megaphonic Thrift and recommended them highly to Larry, who was already firmly seated on the bandwagon. He and I chatted up the band earlier in the day and they remarked that this performance (one of their 5 during the fest) was the one not to miss and was on the biggest stage of their young careers. Yes, the perfect storm was brewing, and then TMT took the stage, the thunder and lightning show was one to remember.

The band clearly are a few steps ahead of most of their countrymen in terms of sound and stage presence, ripping through a fast but thick four song set of straight up rock n’ roll thunderbolts. Young American bands like Grooms and Twin Tigers might envy the sound of “The Thrift”, who seem to effortlessly cause your jaw to hit the floor. Whether it was the early disappointments that set up this slam dunk or possibly they are the next big thing here and abroad, Larry and I both felt like they were the highlight of our first evening. And proving that the tide was in fact turning, Casiokids took the stage right after TMT and played a set that can be described as nothing less than fun. It’s as if they are actors on a children’s television show that also churn out some amazing dance beats and vox. Trust me, it’s more of a party than it sounds like.

So the night was a success despite our early struggles, and with the jetlag tugging at our eyes, we called it a night. But the festival is young my friends, and we plan to take our wisdom from Day 1 and apply it to the rest of our week. Stay tuned.

Check out Joe & Larry’s Video Journal on You Tube.

Video of The Megaphonic Thrift below.

It’s a cold and snowy 8pm here in Oslo as well, and as I walk from my hotel to the makeshift venue for the night (the shows for opening night are being held in a tent), I wonder why winter festivals don’t really happen in the US. Maybe it’s just the weather, maybe it’s the massive amounts of summer, spring and fall fests that already fill up the calendar. Or maybe, it’s just that we don’t have the creativity that the by:larm folks do.

After all, tonights show is in a tent, and its a brisk 18 degrees outside. But the tent is climate controlled and comes complete with a large stage and plenty of heat to make you forget the temperature. Of course, the bands did their part as well, helping the thawing out attendees enjoy the kick off to a big weekend of live music.

The Megaphonic Thrift started off the night, not only kicking off by:larm 2010, but also a big week for themselves as well. Consisting of members from Casiokids and The Low Frequency In Stereo and fresh off of the release of their debut-EP, TMR are playing 5 times over the next four days, as much as any band at this years festival. I was most impressed by their ability to go from pop song to full on fuzzed out guitar ear bender quickly and efficiently. Their distortion heavy closer was the best of the set.

After that, the synthesizer driven pop of The New Wine took over, I only caught about half of their set but I can see what the buzz is about surrounding these guys. I look forward to seeing them again before the week is out and providing a little more analysis.

And Datarock took the stage next, much to the delight of their fans. Donning signature red jumpsuits and over the top stage show, Datarock were able to make the typically subdued Oslo crowd jump up and down for most of their set. Have a look at a quick video I took below of the opening song.

You can see my entire video journal of the by:larm festival on our You Tube channel, with more to follow.

This hour-long performance is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a very long time. Aziz covers a myriad of topics, but hits his stride when he tells stories about harassing his younger cousin Harris on Facebook and the night he went out on the town with Kanye West.

Here’s a clip from the special where Aziz decides to have a little fun with the employees at his local CVS.

Thanks to our friends at The Syndicate and Comedy Central, we have 5 copies of the Intimate Moments For A Sensual Evening dvd to give away! It features the full, uncensored hour-long special (along with a bonus encore performance from Aziz’s “Funny People” character RAAAAAAAANDY) and also a bonus 30-minute performance that was filmed at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade in Los Angeles last fall.

If you would like to win a copy of the dvd, just send an e-mail to woxycontests at gmail dot com and put Aziz in your subject line for a chance to win. Please include your mailing address in the body of the e-mail
so that we can ship your dvd to you if you win. We’ll accept entries thru February 10, 2010 and notify the winners via e-mail.

Aziz Ansari website

Facebook Fan page

View the rest of our WOXY Is On The Move Videos here….