8 Tracks: Of Northern Disco Lights
Everyone loves Norway. What's not to love really? Sunshine in the summer, snow in the winter, great people, great music, Norway is the best.
This weekend the Doc'n Roll film festival touches down in London town. The highlight may well quite possibly be the feature presentation of a film titled "Northern Disco Lights: The Rise and Rise of Norwegian Dance Music". This instantly sparked our interest over here at Ransom Note who have long since been following the spectacular output of Scandinavian musicians from far and wide. Over the years a great number of artists have emerged out of Norway: from the Sex tags crew through to Todd Terje, Prins Thomas & Lindstrom, from Telephones to Bjorn Torske and Svek Records, Norway punches above its expected weight. We caught up with the festival to talk eight tracks of Norwegian gold…
More details of the film and festival can be found HERE.
Mental Overdrive and Biosphere started the whole ball rolling in the late 80s and early 90s and without them the scene would be very different. At the end of all the interviews we asked who their favourite producers were and about half of them said Biosphere. When the bass comes in on this on a big cinema rig…WALLOP!
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Biosphere - Novelty WavesMental Overdrive and Biosphere started the whole ball rolling in the late 80s and early 90s and without them the scene would be very different. At the end of all the interviews we asked who their favourite producers were and about half of them said Biosphere. When the bass comes in on this on a big cinema rig…WALLOP!
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Bjørn Torske - MøljekalasTrying to pick a favourite Bjørn Torske is nigh on impossible but for me this sums his production up. Melancholy, bonkers, otherwordly, unique and distinctly Norwegian; I could listen to it on repeat all day long.
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Erot - Song For Annie 2The fallen hero of Norwegian dance music and the small catalogue he left behind before his death at 23 still sounds jaw dropping. If any of it was released today it would still stop you in your tracks. This has all the Erot elements of dub and disco, amazing drum programming, his special swing and leftfield arrangement.
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Annie - Greatest Hit (Extended Disco Mix)An Erot production with Annie who is the perfect pop star; it’s the moment the Norwegian scene broke out for the first time.
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Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - Boney M DownA lot of Norwegian music gets labelled as space or cosmic disco and you can hear a nation groan every time it gets mentioned. But like or loathe it these two led the charge and created a new kind of sound that was the starting point for the whole film. Why does a Scandinavian country on the edge of the arctic circle have such a strong affinity to disco?
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Bjørn Torske - Jeg Vil Være Søppelmann (Wow! Edit By Erot)Christ on a bike this is absolutely immense. Heavy, heavy tribal drums that lead in to a disco break which was a Danny Tenaglia favourite. Often cited as the best dance record to have ever come out of Norway.
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Lindstrom - I Feel Space (Original Version)Another case of Norwegians taking a formula that has been done hundreds of times and making something totally fresh. It was played by trance, techno, balearic, house and disco producers and that crossing of genres is very rare. Lindstrøm is a another great example of how they can do pop, underground and avant-garde without breaking stride.
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Todd Terje - Inspector Norse [Hd]What is there left to be said about this? A modern classic from an amazing producer, it’s mind-boggling to think what the future holds for him.
