Wednesday, October 05, 2005  

Satyricon
"The Dawn of a New Age"
Nemesis Divina
(Century Media, 1997)

The review of the Oya Festival below was published in the November 2005 issue of Harp. There was no room to rave on about the Satyricon boys in an indie-rock mag, so I just mentioned them in passing. But I spent more time watching them grind away for the devil than I did gawking at Annie grinding away in a hot green dress. What's wrong with me?

I'm eventually gonna do an extended remix of this dinky review, covering a lot more of the festival and featuring photos of more than just Satyricon. But dudes look awesome, no? Satan provides the Pantene Pro-V shiny hair.

Oyafestivalen
Oslo, Norway
August 10-13, 2005

The eco-friendly Oya feels like a Mini-Me version of Bonnaroo: well run, eclectic and ambitious. After a kick-off night of club shows spread throughout Oslo, the all-day outdoor fest opened, its three stages set on an idyllic, islandlike patch of land that was the capitol of Norway a thousand years ago. The ruins of Maria Church still jut through the festival grounds, framed by the Oslo fjord to the South, the Ekeberg Hill to the East and the city skyline to the West.

Nearly 50,000 attendees saw 153 bands over the course of four days, and the styles ran the gamut of Norwegian music--from wispy singer-songwriters (Kings of Convenience) and homoerotic death punk (Turbonegro) to Norsk-language hip-hop (Cast) and garage-rock-influenced free jazz (The Thing)--while also loading up on international acts like Franz Ferdinand, Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, Polyphonic Spree and Babyshambles (whose junkie-singer Pete Doherty managed to barf on stage, disappointing no one).

It was a dizzying and diverse lineup, sure, but one that suits the catholic tastes of Norway's modern-day music fans: It truly wasn't odd to have synth-pop queen Annie play at the same time as black-metal thugs Satyricon--and see people float between the two stages like they were torn between hearing Wilco and Son Volt.

For all the great music coming out of Norway--A-Ha's "Take On Me" isn't the country's only good song, I swear--and the grandly entertaining theatrical sets of Satyricon and Turbonegro, it was an American act that wowed at Oya:

Their deep wounds seemingly buried, Dinosaur Jr.'s reunion brought the noise with gleeful abandon. J. Mascis' Gandalf-like mane and Murph's pillowy midsection notwithstanding (Lou Barlow still looks like a kid), the youthful-sounding trio had a blast running through the almost 20-year-old likes of "The Lung" and "Freak Scene," with the baby-faced crowd singing along throughout the set. --Christopher Porter

Buy some Satyricon.

Posted by CP | Link |

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