As we're on a mission to try and bring you pop music from around the world, it only seemed suitable to trawl through Norway.
After being crowned the winners of Eurovision 2009, it only seemed right to see what else they have to offer us. Surely the country has better stuff then Alexander Rybak?
Norway?s most famous musical export of late has been the electronic duo Royksopp. Though the recent output hasn't really lived to their debut album Melody A.M. It's all been a bit rubbish and reliant on guest vocals from people like Lykke Li and Annie. Thankfully, Flunk don't do this.
We don't really know what traditional Norwegian music sounds like. For all we know, it could just be two people aimlessly smacking a stick off a wall and trying to put some sort of rhythm in to it. As much as we?d like to pick on some twee recording done in a remote Norwegian forest, one of the first bands we searched for grabbed our attention.
With an output spanning over six albums, Flunk have remained under the radar for way too long. Constantly gigging along the way in the UK, Europe and the USA, a small of army of fans have surely convinced them to carry on performing and not to stop. Success to them may not be coverage in Heat magazine, but perhaps a love for the music they are producing.
Annoyingly, Flunk are one of those artists whose output can be loosely classed as electronic, but they use so many styles to create their sound. From diced up guitars that are in turn splashed over dark ambient landscapes, the sharp basslines don't sound at all out of place.
Lazily, we could just tell you that they are the Norwegian version of Portishead. Just like the Bristol trip-hoppers, they also have a vocalist whose powerful vocals are lost in the mix of chopped up drums. The tracks could easily be left as instrumentals, but Anja ?yen Vister?s does a sterling job of enhancing the various tracks.
Not all of the songs require a crisp and clear vocal to hit you in the face. Instead, some are weaved in to the background, making them sound like they were sung into the mic halfway across the studio. Though some clever studio trickery was probably more likely than our cack-handed theory.
Hooray for Norway! Good music is still being created there and it doesn't all sound like that annoying angel-faced git who won Eurovision.
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Bente says
FYI, Traditional Norwegian music (folk music) is very similar to Alexander Rybaks excellent song Fairytale. The fact that he was able to write a song that is modern, yet traditional is one of the reasons we have taken him into our hearts. Thought you might want to know because you praise Norwegian music, but slag Alexander Rybak off.