Casiokids

Portland Arms, Wednesday 25th January, £5 adv

[rating: 4/5]

ABBA. Robyn. Aqua. a-ha. When it comes to great pop music, it’s not exactly a well-kept secret that the Scandinavians know what they’re doing.

We can only guess how this situation has come about. The paucity of daylight hours? Something in the fjordic water supply? Perhaps it’s better for me to just shut up and keep listening to Casiokids, a brilliant synthpop outfit from Norway. Despite just having just released their third album ?Aabenbaringen over aaskammen? (no, me neither), they have never received a great deal of attention over here in the UK. I can only put this down to the fact that they sing exclusively in their native tongue, as the music itself is fantastic.

The thing is, the language barrier really isn’t a problem at all. True, if you’re fluent in Norwegian, then you might be able to derive even more enjoyment out of this, but the vocals seem to me more like just another instrument in the mix, rather than a device to get a point across. And anyway, Casiokids deliver a truckload of wobbly, addictive synth noises that render any potential meaning fairly redundant by comparison.

At its core, this is just really enjoyable dance music, propelled by pounding drums and funky bass. There have been quite a few Metronomy comparisons being thrown around recently, which are actually pretty accurate, if Metronomy had learnt how to stretch out their compositions without becoming boring. I guess Casiokids lean slightly more towards the experimental side of things, but they sure know how to bring the fun.

The audience took a while to warm up (no fault of the band’s), but there was a lot of movement when they finally got going, and even a conga line that snaked from wall to wall – not actually too difficult in the Portland?s tiny back room, but fun nonetheless! The atmosphere was great though, leaving me wishing that every band could meet such a good reception in Cambridge. Sadly this is not the case, though that may be a rant for another time.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM1H5K9JjDY&ob=av2e

Casiokids- Det Haster!

I’m afraid I can’t single out any highlights by name as my Spotify is broken and my Norwegian is a bit rusty, but I think we can assume that the band leant quite heavily on new album material. In any case, there wasn’t a weak moment in the set, and for a group whose audience banter was understandably limited, Casiokids kept up a decent momentum. The best song was very strongly reminiscent of Tom Tom Club?s version of ?Under the Boardwalk?, while I swear I can’t have been the only one getting vibes of Toto?s ?Africa? later on in the set. Everything just seemed to be tied together with an effortless charm and energy, and if you ever get the chance to see them, I would recommend you jump at it. Or, simply go and buy the new album. You can’t leave mp3s to your grandchildren.

Maybe, because of bands like Casiokids, we might even be able to forgive the Scandinavians for giving us Basshunter. Now that’s high praise indeed.