Words | Molly Horan
lights flashed blue, green, pink, and the floor was alive with people jumping up and down, swaying and leaping.
Casiokid's new album dropped two weeks earlier. Aabenbaringen over aaskammen is the first album they were really able to take their time with explained Enderson, allowing themselves three months to record. They created their own world for the album, which is driven by the narrative of a fictional explorer. They'll be traveling to Japan in November, which both Johnson and Enderson said was somewhere the band had wanted to play for a long time.
Their second song brought in some vocals, soft and fluid, complimented by a sound reminiscent of an organ grinder. The bass was deafening, the kind of beat you can feel go through every inch of your body, which made it all the more necessary to dance.
With the tracks from the new album, both musicians said the band was facing the new problem of having too many songs to fill a set, and that they sometimes improvise choosing songs that fit the mood of the audience. Johnson points out it's great when people come to an earlier show and tell them they'll be back for a second show that night, because they'll have the opportunity to see some different songs. The band members spoke with me until they were called away to set up. The room was packed by the time I entered, and everyone was excited and ready to dance. The show started with a pounding beet and dreamy synth. The guitar was buzzing, making a strange, almost alien sound. The woodwinds in the background sounded tranquil, almost like music that would be played at a spa, but the tempo and volume built and built covering any sense of tranquility. The
The third track got a little intro, the band explaining they had written it in honor of the Olympics. The song was anchored by claps and violent shakes of the Shekere (beaded gourd) and you could tell the band was passionate about it because they were really getting into it, jumping up and down on stage. Later in the set they got in even more movement, waving their arms in anticipation of a song's crescendo into a sound explosion. Other instruments were added in later in the set, including,much, much more cowbell and steel drum. When they announced it was their last song the crowd wilted a little in disappointment, but kept dancing until the very end.
images provided by: Casiokids
I
was able to speak with Ketil Kinden Endersen and Omar Johnson of Casiokids in a cramped corridor of Pianos just before one of their sets. We talked of their experience with various music festivals, their new album, and of course their plans for the future. Enderson explained his best festival experience he had had was in 2008 in Denmark, saying he was amazed by the positive feedback from the audience. Johnson added that it's a huge change from playing small clubs to have a thousand people cheering for you, it's a huge kick. He mentioned they'd been able to see a label mate, Erica Spring play earlier, but because of the number of shows they were doing for CMJ they had to find other artists to listen to by luck. The band has done about 150 shows over the last few years by Endersen's estimation, traveling extensively. He didn't notice much difference in audience reaction between countries, and as Johnson interjected, people everywhere like dancing. Enderson did say there's a difference on audience
reaction based on time of day and size of the venue. And, of course, he added the audience sing along in Norway when they sing in Norwegian.
Nov. - Dec. 2011