#3796 Skatebard and Lauer - Volpe

2.5/5 three criminally boring and idea-light songs, not even especially dancable. feels phoned in

#3795 Bjorn Torske - Byen

4/5 almost every song on Byen has a backbone of deadsimple old-school synths, some foundation of tangible, visible, hard-edged waves. And on top of that familiar, elemental crunch comes disco, rumbling drums, sparkling synth lines, samples of birds, and a million ways to bob your head and move your ass. A wonderful hybrid. The Norwegian scene lives.

#3787 Lindstrom - On a Clear Day I Can See You Forever

4/5 you gotta hand these Norwegians one thing - after they found the peak space disco sound 8 or so years ago, none of the big names are stuck in it. Better to become Liars than the Rapture. Of these four long songs, two are beatless and near-ambient and are the best of the bunch. The title track's all interpretive dance, lurching from motion to motion without overarching structure or form, and its, kind of incredible, in its frustrating way. Swing Low Sweet LFO's the other highlight, endlessly paced, rippling arpeggiated patronuses bounding through negative space. Even the closer's a mysterious anticipation of a moment that never really comes. Each song bordering on boring in some interesting way.

#3785 Skatebard - Skateboarding Was A Crime: In 1989

3.5/5 shamelessly repetitive, retro synths, with that signature Norwegian crunch and a sneakily playful spirit

#3378 Prins Thomas - Ambitions

3/5
Thomas explores the acoustic-electronic boundary in subtly new ways here, and some of it works (XSB!) but mostly it just doesn't. Doesn't quite chill you out, doesn't quite get you excited, doesn't quite bob the head. Some soul missing

#2872 Lindstrom - It's a Feedelity Affair

Possibly Lindstrom's best album, possibly the best Nordic space disco album of all time, but I say that about a lot of them. Definitely a good a place to start if you're new to the sound: all those rolling basslines, those textured synths, those flecks of guitar. Everything's perfectly paced, hypnotic and exciting and cool. Great background music, for working or hanging out or driving - hell, it even rewards the armchair listen if you wanna roll around in tones and the shapes they're in 4.5/5

#2867 Lindstrom - It's Alright Between Us At It Is

Those first 13 minutes are as gloriously ethereal and groove-packed as anything Lindstrom's ever done, swooping ever-smoothly between tones and styles. His moves into vocals are a miss though - Frida and Grace have great voices, but they distract from the Lindstrom sound, reducing it to generic club music and breaking up the album flow. Jenny Hval's turn on Bungl's weird enough that it works as 8-slot gonzo diversion, but it's not exactly a highlight.

Still, there's some great stuff here, further cementing Lindstrom's place as the captain of the Norwegian space disco starship 3.5/5

#2830 Diskjojokke - Staying In

Buzzy house with attitude, all that analog muscle working its way through the crowd with stoned swagger. Nothing especially memorable, but it'll put your head on a swivel 3.5/5

#2829 Prins Thomas - Prins Thomas 5

The first self-titled Prins Thomas album was so live, so analog, bristling with real bass and krauty electricity, and I've been chasing that dragon for 4 self-titleds plus. This is lazy, wandering, too undancable to even deserve the term space disco, no particular momentum, no sense of energy, just a bunch of disappointing knob-twiddling 2.5/5

#2819 Lars Vaular - 666 Mening

Brief dips into English notwithstanding ("suck my ballsack!"), don't understand a word of it. But Vaular's got a tight, hard cadence that transcends words, with smooth, funky production that bobs the head real nice 3.5/5

#2649 Mungolian Jetset - Schlungs

What a strange pile of beats and bangers and wobbles and whiplash. Hypnotic, moving in unexpected directions, varying song lengths and tones, attacking the same big, slow bodyrocking weaponry from every angle. The vocals are tacky, mostly, but I'm reminded of Basement Jaxx, who never bothered drawing a hard line between dancable pop and technicolor freakout, in a good way 3.5/5

#2230 Kvelertak - Nattesferd

Reviewed late 11/18

you know what I appreciate?

not giving a fuck about what kind of album you're supposed to be.

this is METAL, legit scandinavian and packed with screaming and tripletime drums and raging guitars and thumpathumpathumpathumpa RAAAGH

but then, through the storm, again and again, a fistful of GODLIGHT, that thing where you just get those fucking //streaks// of light // down // through // the // clouds //

just these searing guitar lines that cut through your heart, these spots where the stars line up, and where all that noise turns into a bird-shaped spaceship and takes you away.

it's impossible to avoid comparison to Fucked Up, who traffic in the same kind of screamy // pristine guitar work, and who, fucking -- well, listen to 1985 and tell me that's not a secret Fucked Up cover.

and every song swings from rough fuckin riffage to full on Boston//Journey sheen and everything in between without a flinch. And fuckit, the latters right fucking enjoyable, so swing hard at it you crazy Norwegian metal gods.

This is how you do not giving a fuck right - not even giving a fuck about how you're supposed to not give a fuck 4/5