New international record for by:Larm
Thanks to fortunate financial support and increased attention for Norwegian music, a record number of international music people will attend this year’s by:Larm in Bergen. Danish Roskilde Festival, German Rock-Am-Ring and Rock-Im-Park, French Transmusicales, Japanese Wood Records, and American label Emperor Norton are all confirmed. As well as legendary music critic Robert Christgau from Voice.
“We have 80 international guests from festivals, record labels, booking agencies, managements, and journalists confirmed so far, but we expect about 100,” Vegard Waske are happy to announce to MIC.
During the by:Larm conference, the Alarm award, the alternative Norwegian Grammy will be presented. Totally 40 bands/artists are nominated within nine categories, and the artists who get the most votes on the alarmweb.org site, run off with the prize. So far, 2,4 million hits are registered on www.alarmweb.org. 220 000 users have visited the site.
“Three weeks before the festival, we have already passed last year’s numbers. In 2003, we got 2,1 million hits at the web site, so we are very pleased, Bjarne Zachariassen, Alarm’s managing director says.
Most voted on
One day before the Alarm show, Friday, 13 February is the last day for online voting. The polls, which show who are ahead of the race, will be closed 1 February to save the excitement for the big show. Right now, these are the artists who have attracted most votes:
Turbonegro – Scandinavian Leather (rock), Thomas Dybdahl – Stray Dogs (pop), Dimmu Borgir - Death Cult Armageddon (metal), Spetakkel – Spetakkel (hip hop/rap), Ralph Myerz & The Jack Herren Band - A Special Album (electronica), Come Shine - With The Norwegian Radio Orchestra In Concert are even with Supersilent - Supersilent 6 (jazz), Turboneger - Fuck The World (Petreprisen: Song of the year), Turbonegro (live), Karin Park (Lydverketprisen: Best debut).
The festival is also proudly presenting the living legend and mentor Robert Christgau, often called "The dean of American Rock Critics" - at by:Larm. Christgau have inspired a whole generation of music journalists, if not two.
Controversial music critic
Robert Christgau started as a rock critic for Esquire in 1967 and for Village Voice in 1968. He was also a popular critic at Newsday before he became music editor of the innovative New York publication Voice in 1974, where Christgau still is in charge. He has also freelanced for Rolling Stone, but similar to several journalists, he left the traditional magazine for Blender.
All the time, Christgau has ignored conventional journalism, and his opinions are literally unpredictable. His style is quick, sharp, and challenging, and Christgau has provoked lots of bands. Sonic Youth addressed the legendary song Kill Yr Idols to, yes, Christgau.
At by:Larm, Christgau will be interviewed by Marit Karlsen. He is asked to talk about what he think requires to become a great rock journalist, and to characterises a good music critic. A panel discussion with profiled music journalist from England, France, Sweden, and Norway will follow after the interview.
Headlines:
Himmelkvad
Celebrated vocal ensemble Nordic Voices is currently out on its promo tour for their new outing ‘Himmelkvad’, a critically acclaimed album presenting Norwegian composer Lasse Thoresen’s unique vocal universe. MIC Norway takes a closer look at the cutting-edge vocal ensemble and ground-breaking composer.
I was the devil in my younger years
Late Feb sees Enslaved heading out on a month-long European tour. MIC Norway hooked up with Enslaved’s Ivar Peersen to talk about musical cross pollination, inspirational sources, humour and his fascination for singer-songwriter Stein Torleif Bjella.
