Datarock
The Next Big Thing from Bergen, Datarock, are ready to conquer the UK with a brand new album and an upcoming NME tour in late September.
Listen to excerpts from Datarock's eponymous debut album
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Listen to and download Datarock releases here
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Linguistic key: In Norwegian a computer is called a data (-machine).
-Which means that the name of this incongruous outfit from Bergen -that fountain of sonic freshness- refers not to some quaint exercise of making information-rock, but rather refers to the actual piece of computing machinery and the musical possibilities it is known to represent.
“Our first musical love was thrash metal and punk guitars,” says the Ketil Mosnes and Fredrik Saroea, “but we discovered that electronic music was so much more fun. Still, love for monstrous guitars is not something that goes away, so we just figured we’d combine the two and make datrock.” Simple as that…
This atavistic formula appears to have something exceedingly robust about it, and it seems that on such foundations anything is possible in the new world of free, whimsical artistic enterprise. For these guys are not only a recording/performing outfit, they are sole wardens of a whole artistic edifice and in their hometown they have a status more akin to that of Hezbollah; providers of everything for artists in need, and beacons of guidance in the darks of conformity. In fact the simile to an organization is not so far flung, for in Bergen Datarock is something one might almost become a member of, or perhaps would swear allegiance to.
Britain’s NME don’t hesitate to call Datarock “Pop music’s most aggressive sect since the Polyphonic Spree.
In the linguistic vein of that publication the phrase entails pure praise. And the conclusion reads: “Doubting Datarock is the future of indie dance? You're taking the piss, right?"
Such hype is not exactly unprecedented from those quarters, but with Datarock the story continues. The band will soon embark on the massive and much hyped (sic.) NME tour, crisscrossing the UK with Klaxons and Shitdisco.
Not that Datarock are not used to being on the road. In fact few outfits can possibly have done more shows the past few years, doing tours as far from Bergen as Australia. Their track-suit-clad thrash-catchy show, always boiling down to what one might call weird sexiness (Datarock could well have propelled a Wes Anderson movie), has drawn hectolitres of dance-floor sweat, as well as brainfulls of bemusement from all corners of the pop sphere. But despite this, their debut album only appeared last year. “Datrock Datarock” (so spellbinding is this concept it appears) was received warmly by Norwegian critics, most of whom had already learned to appreciate the fresh weirdness through several EPs. The record was released in the UK on July 3rd, and also the British establishment acknowledged that the duo have made a record well out of the ordinary. NME went on to call it “a record of great singles waiting to happen.”
The first gig of the imminent NME tour will be at Norwich’s waterfront on September 27th.
Datarock's next single, Fa Fa Fa, is out on the 25th of September and it features remixes by Bjørn Torske, Princess Superstar and Shakes.
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