Oslo Synth Band ‘Stress’ EP out now – screaming beats to battle the summer heat
Oslo Synth Band from Norway have been quiet for a time now, but today they released their EP ‘Stress’ on digital platforms, including three remixes and an instrumental version of the song.
(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange) Oslo Synth Band from Norway have been quiet for a time now, but today they released their EP ‘Stress’ on digital platforms, including three remixes and an instrumental version of the song.
We got hold of Tarjei Krogh to elaborate on this release and the process leading up to these tracks!
S-L: Long time since last OSB release – what have you been up too?
Tarjei Krogh: OSB has always been more focused on live gigs, than producing music. We love that type of energy that we get from the crowds and see that most of the fans tending our gigs are punkers and rockers. Our goal is to express a kind of kick-ass party vibe which our fans deliver the minute we start playing! That said, we have currently been occupied with other projects in the electronic genre, mostly due to the pandemic which inhibits gathering of crowds, but this track felt so good we had to get back into the game and release it even though we can’t play it live at any venue for the time being. People will with this release be able to play our music at home and still always have the same kind of kick-ass party available.
OSB was established in 1993, were we started with picking up dull moralistic Norwegian songs and tried to make them harder sounding, industrial and more electronic. We have been making these cover songs and our own material side by side without any bigger vision. The track ´Stress´ is one our own creations, a kind of art by accident if you will.
S-L: Tell us more about ‘Stress’ – and the remixes!
TK: ´Stress´ is a crazy story. This is originally one of the most kick-ass basslines I have ever come up with and was recorded on a cassette / tape back in 1996. It was supposed to be used in either one or two other bands I´m involved in: Anstalt and Solar Temple / Order of the Solar Temple. But nothing really happened at that time. I found the tape a few years ago, sampled the whole track and tried to make something new out of it. On a road trip to Norway’s highest mountain, vocalist Jomar and I stopped his car and totally improvised the whole lyrics screaming them out loudly.
I must admit that a car is a brilliant place to record hard and punky vocals if you don´t mind the staring of all the people around your parked car. In our case we were two grown-ass men screaming our heads off, all the while surrounded by Norway’s, or even Scandinavia’s highest beautiful mountains where people surrounding our car usually come to find their bliss with the breathtaking silence and views of our remarkable nature, at that moment we couldn´t care less, we had art to make. We hope that that feeling of freedom that comes from letting all aggression out in an unorthodox matter like this can inspire others in our genre to try it, and just se what happens.
All remixes on this track are made by our own collective / family. For people who are into the electronic genre, Anstalt first appeared on the ´Sex, Drugs & Ebm´ compilation under three different projects: Hexagon, Agenda & Aggressiva, together with bands like Apoptygma Berzerk back in 1992. Also participating on lots of compilations and releasing their own album in 1995, ´Brilliance without fase´.
Stanley Cupid is a project focused on taking ebm and mixing it with house/techno music and bringing it to the clubs as Empirion did with their remix of Prodigys ´Firestarter´ back in the days. Or like Primal Scream did with their fantastic ´Miss Lucifer´. Stanley Cupid is most known for remixing of Apoptygma Berzerk and Substaat (also released on all digital platforms). Cupid will in the near future release a 4th album, this time focusing purely on electronic body music.
´Norwegian chill´ is a project trying to take ambient/chillout in the direction of more experimental/industrial soundscapes and has already released 4 albums on our label: Norwegian Giants.
S-L: Other releases or plans now that restrictions are being lifted?
TK: OSB will in the near future focus on making a digital collection of the best tracks from 1994 to present time… and we will definitely play live again, now for a bigger audience than ever before screaming our lungs out and loving every minute of it!
Do also check out another project Tarjei has been involved in – Norwegian Beats by Norwegian Giants, 20 volumes released so far! Also read our story about the project from a year ago: Norwegian Giants beats up the summer with weekly album releases.
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can - and we refuse to add annoying advertising. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.
