There are always more bands – the biggest question is who do you listen to when it comes to recommendations? Obviously Dork, your new music bible, should be your first port of call, but there are others too. This month we ask Tord Øverland Knudsen from The Wombats.
Hei Dork! And thanks for letting me write about some of the new music I like. I live in Oslo, and there are lots of exciting things happening there at the moment.
Spielbergs is one of the bands I am really into. Somewhere in the landscape between And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead and Japandroids. The frantic EP opener ‘We are all going to Die’ has made Frank Turner and Biffy Clyro fans of the band. While the eight-minute-long epic ‘Ghost Boy’ shows that these guys have a more experimental side too. I was lucky enough to get to co-produce their EP (already out) and their debut album that will be released later this year.
The Basement Shake is another Oslo based band that just released an EP produced by Emil Nicolaisen (Serena-Maneesh). I really like the track ´Toothless Shark´ which is a really dark and distorted number, but still melodic and dreamy in a My Bloody Valentine kind of way.
Sassy 009 make electronic pop music and are starting to make a name for themselves outside of Norway, as well as at home. ‘Are you Leaving’ is a track from their EP that I really like and the production by electro artist BAYA (also worth checking out) is spot on.
Although none of us live in Liverpool anymore, we still have a strong connection to the city and the scene there too. So on our last UK/European-tour, we had our favourite new band from the area, The Night Café supporting us. They are brilliant lads -both on and off stage. They just released a new EP called ‘Bunkbed’, and I really like the track ‘I’m Fine’ at the moment, but check out the whole EP if you get a chance.
Another band we’ve had supporting us, BLOXX just put out a new song called ´Second Opinion’ that is great. And HAARM are another local Liverpool band I really enjoy (check out their track ‘Valentine’). Nation of Language supported us on our US-tour, and they are a great live band and lovely people.
I hope some of you can find something you haven’t heard before that you might like!
Taken from the September issue of Dork. The Wombats’ album ‘Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life’ is out now; they tour the UK from 25th January.
