Last week, for the second year running, i-D hosted a stage at by:Larm in Oslo — the Nordic answer to SXSW and a big old showcase for Scandipop. It was cold. There was snow. Everything was expensive. But damn there was some great music. Our pals Slowthai and Flohio showed off the best of British, local pop ruled supreme and the Norwegian metal taking over the Vulkan Arena for by:Larm BLACK seriously killed it.
Over at Blå on Thursday night — the place to be, ask anyone — we had our own thing going on. Kicking off proceedings was half-Norwegian, half-Kenyan angel Lil Halima in a very Molly Goddard-esque tulle creation. The 20-year-old delivered a Proper Popstar performance across a set that included songs from her new Def Jam-released EP for the dark days as well as addictive 2018 single Train.
Next up was ethereal pop duo Otha, who won over audiences with their early Grimes sound and relatable awkward dancing. Previously described as “club music for introverts”, after quietly obsessing over One Of The Girls live, we wholly agree with the sentiment.
And then there was Pan. Berlin-based producer and performance artist Pan Daijing appeared on stage in an oversized suit behind a table of wires, her face obscured by a red mask. As though she was leading us through a dark sound bath session, her haunting vocals took the cathartic experimental noise to another level. Visceral to the max.
We love South London artist Otta and her talented jazz band of school friends. “We’re gassed to be here,” said the 21-year-old, taking to the stage. Sounding like we just crashed their jam session, in a good way, the group danced, sung and casually wowed the room with their serious sax skills. Get to know them here.
Tacobitch was the name on everybody’s lips. As it happens, it was the first proper show the eccentric Oslo collective of interdisciplinary artists had ever done. Born from a multitude of other bands, punk performance artists Tacobitch formed late last year, submitted their demo tape and bagged a slot at the festival. “It’s meant to be fun,” they told us backstage before their theatrical show. When you consider the facepaint, balaclavas and mad dance routines across the incessantly genre-bending set, I guess you could say it was.
Copenhagen producer and songwriter Erika de Casier was up next. Still hooked on her latest 90s R&B inspired single Do My Thing, we were very impressed by her live performance — just as polished as on record and totally at ease on stage. Taking things from the party to the bowels of a Berlin club, Oslo producer Fakethias delivered a live industrial techno set paired with frenetic strobes and red glowing landing strip lights. The set up was awesome. The music was better. It was a full-on and fitting end to a cracking night, if we do say so ourselves. Tusen takk, by:Larm!
