The Kaizers are back in town (review Kaizers Orchestra, Paradiso 26-03-2011)

Kaizers Orchestra are a 6-piece band from Norway, singing their not every day rock songs about not every day events in Norwegian. I first heard them in a record store that no longer exists and my curiosity was awoken. Long story short, I bought the albums, went to see them live, and live they are one hell of a party. It's not for everyone. You either frown and think they're a bunch of posers or you'll love them. For that reason I stopped recommending them to people. If you decide to check them out after reading this review, great! If not, that's okay too.

They're released their latest album Violeta Violeta volume 1 little over a month ago. The last time they played Paradiso, almost exactly 3 years ago, not many people turned up. It looked like people had seen the Orchestra and the novelty had worn off. This Saturday it wasn't sold out either, but it was packed and this time they also opened the balcony section, opposed to last time. A good sign. Also, it being a weekend, a lot of Norwegians decided to take a weekend break to Amsterdam. The band quickly was aware of that. And would use it, maybe not entirely in favour of the Dutch audience.

With a new album in their pocket, the band started with the classics, the oil-barrel oompa sound with songs about civil wars that never have been, the mob, betrayal, friendships and the doom and gloom of life. The sound of the band may appear happy on the outside, the songs are anything but. With the old songs, mainly from their first two albums (they got 6 under their belts, plus 2 live albums) they really pleased the audience. Especially singer Janove Ottesen knows how to play his audience and the audience lets him. Whether this is because we want to or to please him, it doesn't matter. This was an old-school Kaizers party with singing, clapping, dancing and jumping. And loads of it.

'Why are you Norwegians here?' Ottesen asked already early in the near 2-hour set. 'There's a football match on!' Norway played Denmark in the qualification round for the European Champions football cup. Leading 2-0 that called for a celebrations. The Norwegians were happy, the Dutch were happy - up until Ottesen challenged the Dutch by sincerely believing that Norway would then have to beat the Dutch and would in fact beat the Dutch. To do this once, that's fun. Even for the Dutch. But he took it a little to far, even when Denmark equalized. But luckily for them, Norway won 3-2 and would beat the Dutch in the final European Cup in 2012 as they now had qualified. In reality, after reading the newspaper today, Norway never lead by 2-0 but were down 0-1 for a very long time and had a lucky escape by equalizing in the final minutes. We could have known when Ottesen started calling out the names of Dutch football players of course. Van Basten, Gullit, Cruyff. What century was he living in when saying that?

This was the only negative side to the concert, it really was a big party. Not just on stage with the guitarists Geir Zahl and Terje Winterstø frequently coming to the middle of the stage, oil-barrels were smashed in front of our eyes, Rune Solheim stood on his drums frequently, double-bassist Øyvind Storesund really was the most modest of them all and organist Helge Risa wasn't always wearing the trademark gas mask but of course he did when smashing a rim at the stage centre. And Ottesen danced like a madman, conducted the audience, controlled the audience and tap danced until the rest of the band dragged him away.

The new album had a relatively small place in the show, only playing a handful of them. This was of course a bit odd, especially leaving out the leading single 'Hjerteknuser' but Violeta Violeta is a 3-album affair, we might get more of that when the other albums are released as well. The main focus were really the older songs but no one who really mourned that.

The crowd was most of all loud. And knowing that the last time they were here it turned out great, the set ended with 'Min kvite russer', a slow song, played only with the organ and Ottesen sitting on an oil barrel (the rest of the band joined the stage later for the vocal harmonies). The song ended in a beautiful sing along of the audience (!) impressing the band big time.

Going to a Kaizers Orchestra concert is entertainment. Without losing grip of what the band is about in the first place, the music. They're all very professional musicians, but they like to turn their shows into a dancing and singing party. Mission accomplished.

pictures taken by me, click for bigger size

The Kaiser Chiefs and I - a tragic lovestory

As it's more and more evident that Kaiser Chiefs wil return this summer, here's a little something I'd like to call 'Kaiser Chiefs and I'. If it remains an exciting Trilogy is entirely up to the men from Leeds themselves.

In the beginning...
I was majorly into Kaizers Orchestra. I ompaad through my days. Kaizers were King. A band called Kaiser Chiefs came along but I ignored. My sister poked me, saying that I should check them out because they were good. But you know, there can only be one Kaizer and for me that was the Orchestra. Up until I saw 'Oh my god' in the last days of MTV showing music videos. Then I heard 'I predict a riot'. I bought 'Employment' and realised that there can be indeed two Kaizers.
Their club shows were unbelievable. Such energy. I enjoyed everything from the balcony and they became my favourite band. I ignored their 5,000 capacity HMH gig until the moment I thought that I might give the band a go in that venue as well, realising it was sold out. I didn't mind. Slowly I became aware of the fans and how they rocked and rolled. I'm not a big fan of fans (or it has to be the SBS6 tv show 'Fans!'). I've never really fitted in with any fanbase. Though with the Chiefs I became a regular on the forum. And thanks to Ricky Wilson's amazing appearence in Never Mind The Buzzcocks I started to realise that these friends of theirs, The Cribs, are actually pretty nice guys too. Making great music. Heavier. But greatly amazing.

Everything is average nowadays...
Ruby Ruby Ruby!! Album number two was highly anticipated and my sister arranged a special hearing session for me (in our living room) and I loved it upon firts hearing though I already spotted some dodgyness. It sure wasn't 'Employment' but it was good. We went to both Paradiso shows, my colleagues knew me as nothing more or less as a Kaiser Chiefs fan and I left the front row for Interpol at Lowlands to run across the grounds on my own to get a somewhat decent spot to see them Kaisers. My love for Kaizers Orchestra had somewhat run down. There's only so much love for a Kaizer you can have. I met nice people through the band's forum. I never actually met them at gigs but with a select few I kept in touch outside the forum. It's amazing how music connects. I wanted to diss the 5,000 capacity HMH but in some weird run down of affairs I ended up there anyway. It wasn't that bad. Though I liked the support band no one liked a lot more than the band that everyone adored. Something about the band started to irritate me as well. Especially drummer Nick started for no particular reason to get on my nerves. There was something weird about the band and it wasn't just the fans. It was the band itself as well. As my love grew for the Cribs I started to see how much they grew apart, the Chiefs and the Cribs, and that was actually kind of sad. The Cribs due to their raw live shows filled with raw energy and their pure honesty got the best of me. They overtook the band who made me aware of them in the first place. Outch?

Off I say, off with their heads, off, off! (or the Show Down)
Riding high on success, they didn't really want to release an album but then there was Mark 'Horn section' Ronson and he wanted to work with them, they didn't plan it but they wrapped up an album for ragerdless. Of course, the fanbase loved it. To me it was the most uninspired piece of garbage compressed in 30 minutes. I couldn't get myself around on spending money on that album. I found it later for 3 pounds in Tesco's and I still couldn't get myself to spend even 3 pounds on that piece of crap. I was quite vocal about that commercial suicide, honesty doesn't pay off well. But to me, how could a band that always claimed to stay true to themselves, sell out so shamefully? Hanging out with celebrities they hated so much, making bland music, claiming they were doing so well where instead I wasn't the only one who thought the album was by all means really shit.

I did go see them volunteerly in the HMH. It was sold out. I met up with the girls I met at a radio show earlier which was the highlight of the entire event. I stood front row and hated, absolutely hated the support act. What was I doing here? This is the new indie and I hate the new indie. Kaiser Chiefs had become the new indie. They had sold out. It became so evident when they hit the stage. And I realised the love is gone. The band I had adored for the past years was gone and it was a tough thing to swallow. I knew that it would stop right here right now. Early on in the show they played 'Modern Way' from their first album and I let myself go, I sang my heart out, that song still is my favourite. I cried, front row, I was sincerly sad to know that this band is not my band anymore. It sounds overly dramatic now but I wasn't having a good time in overall as they played most from their latest album. The grand final 'Oh my god' was cut short which didn't do my mood very good.

One person however told me to get over myself for not liking what they were doing right now. He had seen me at the gig and wondered why on earth a person on front row would cry and look so incredibly depressed. I know I have no pokerface but that this person was telling me he saw me in that state was quite shocking. This person was band member Simon Rix. I stood on the left side of the stage, he on the right side. And he had seen me. It's not a nice knowledge to know that the band is indeed able to see the people in the crowd. Fuck my life really. After that came anger. Who the hell was he to tell me to get over myself and that they were doing so well with great songs they loved playing? Kaiser Chiefs from then on were a done deal for me. What a band of wankers.

The Kaiser Chiefs make a return this summer with a festival tour and a new album. I'm curious but I don't have my hopes high up. I think them Chiefs have showed their true faces and I didn't like them. It's not a big deal. Loads of people will like it and that's fine. There will always be something special attached to the Kaiser Chiefs for me. But that awful third album will never make it to my record collection and I doubt the fourth will as well.

The Kaizer's empire will fall down, it will fall down.

It's the sad ballad of anyone who loves a band. There will be a point in your life that this band will end. No more new albums, no more tours. No more. Up until the time this band runs out of cash, but that's another story. Let's just asume that when a band calls it a day, it's over. The end. Finito. And even though you know bands come and go, that there are other bands in the sea, the world won't end, every ending of a band is a heartbreaking affair for any fan.

I had my first favourite band in 1981 and have been through numerous band-endings with various reason such as breaking up due to popularity of the band, band members fighting, dying, running out of inspiration, not feeling up for it anymore, you name it, it has happened. A band member dying always has a double effect, any break up of a band hits hard. No more new music, no more gigs. It's a tough thing to swallow.

But what happens when you know that the band you like has just released an album, will be releasing another two albums, is touring and really don't hate each other at all, make it known that in two years it's over. 2013 it's going to be all over. That's in two years, you know that now already. What is that all about?

It's weird and a little unreal. It makes you aware of that you need to enjoy that show because it might be the last, in fact, it'll be one of the last. You know that. I've left a show thinking 'wow, is this the last gig ever?' (known as Gary-Gate), I've been to shows where months later the band announces a 'break', I've been to reunion shows assuming it's the last gig I'll ever go to see them. This is different. There's two more years, two more years of two new albums, new tours, two more years of regular fan behaviour. Or isn't it?

It hasn't sunk in yet but Kaizers Orchestra will be no more after 2013. A band active and about more than ever. This is their grand finale. And they're doing it with a bang. With a final trilogy. The Kaizers very last story. It really hasn't sunk in yet. But I will be try and enjoy it to the max.

Review: Violeta Violeta (volume 1) - a modern tragedy

The album is dead, they say.
The concept album is dead and long burried, they say.
A good pop song need to follow the usual ABC, they say.
Whoever they are, they are wrong. Because halleluja for Kaizers Orchestra and their new album 'Violeta Violeta vol. 1', which is part one of a trilogy telling the story of little girl Violeta who's mother Beatrice is a first class psycho who makes her husband run away with his daughter and hide in the world for Beatrice who as a result of losing her husband and daughter not only goes even more insane but cries 7 buckets of tears, pours gasoline over herself wearing her wedding dress, smokes a cigarette, lights herself on fire, saves herself with her tears and then vows only one thing: revenge. This in Norwegian, Stavanger dialect, playing a style of music with influences ranging from rock, pop, gypsy, ompa, psychodelia, using organs (the instrument!), oil barrels, guitars, standing bass, a string orchestra, and that's doing them way too short.

In case you never heard of Kaizers Orchestra, this Norwegian 6-piece rock the airwaves since 2001. Their first three albums where oil barrel goodies telling a maffia story about a country that doesn't excist suffering from a war that doesn't excists. Corruption, battles, betrayel, sing and dance, depression, mental illnesses, that's roughly what it's all bout. Their very loyal fanbase growing ever since, also outside Norway where most may not understand a single thing from their absurd but fascinating stories (I speak Swedish which makes it a tad easier to understand) but sing along anyway. Kaizers Orchestra live is pure energy. If they'd recite the phone book of the town Bergen in the same way they're playing their songs it would be the same energy. They even manage to make ME dance. After releasing a live album, a sort of compilation album of lost goodies they did lose a bit of following which only means more room to dance. They rock, they ompa, they fascinate, they make you happy. That's Kaizers Orchestra. If you don't feel these things you're most likely to not particularly like them much.

Volume one of the Violeta Violeta trilogy comes in 10 songs which belong together, tell you a story, sketch the atmosphere but the songs are perfectly capable of standing on their own two feet (or organ, oilbarrel, ...). Opener 'Philemon Arthur & The Dung' takes you not only away in a strange but catchy rhythm, it also invites you for a coffee (honestly). There's no turning back from their. 'Violeta Violeta vol. 1' is catchy to the bone, invites to dances which make your body bent in unnatural ways, contains wonderful ballads (single 'Hjerteknusser'), even a pure pop song 'Tumor I Ditt Hjerte' which is more brilliant than radio friendly. 'Diamant Til Kull' doesn't follow any sensible rhythm or chords and makes it brilliant that way. For the old school Kaizer fans there's 'Psycho Under Min Hatt', which is already a live favourite before being played live.

Isn't there anything that is a little disappointing? Well yes, it's 'En For Orgelet, En For Meg'. In essential it's a great song honouring the organ (orgelet). The downside is that there's a tiny rap in there. If you manage to get the Norwegian version of the song you're lucky, a Norwegian lady raps for about ten seconds which is okay. The guys in Kaizers Orchestra though thought it would be a nice way to thank their most loyal foreign fanbase with a rap in their language. Which means, there's a German rap for the Germany, a Dutch rap for the Netherlands. I'm not sure if this song is supposed to go on the actual CD or is download only because despite buying the album in the Netherlands in a store on disc, I got a Norwegian rap which I'm only thankful for. Nice novelty, thanks but no thanks.

Bak ett hallelujah for Kaizers Orchestra because they have something beautiful in their hands right now and this is only the beginning. Bring it on, this is good stuff. If you're up for it, that is.

The king is dead! No, really.

The albums of 2011. I was quite happy to hear the Decemberists not just releasing a new album but also playing live in Amsterdam this year. Double score. I picked up 'Picaresque' in 2005 when it came out by pure curiosity as it was displayed at the 'new arrivals' table at my favourite record store in Rotterdam, Sounds, which sadly no longer exists. I made many great music discoveries there, it's the place that made me a big fan of Kaizers Orchestra. It was a sound I didn't listen to much at the time, but I loved that album and took it home upon first listen in the shop. Fast forward, a few albums later, maybe it was time to finally go see them too? The first song from the album 'Down by the water' was tremendously promising. That's how I love my Decemberists! Impatient as I am, I listened into the album already, 'The king is death' which is out next week. Bummer is, apart from 'Down by the water', of what I heard so far of the album, it's all pretty much country. With me you can swing in various music directions (honest), hip hop is not one of them - and nor is country. Which in the end made me relieved I hadn't bought a ticket for their show yet. I might go after all, but if I have to judge on 'The king is dead' I probably won't.


Which is the first album I was looking forward to this year being a little bit of a disappointment. Shame. Here's good hoping for Kaizers Orchestra ('Violeta Violeta' out january 31) and The Boxer Rebellion ('The cold still' one week later).

2011, will you do me good?

Hello 2011, how do you do? So far, my first day at work has been a bit of a drag. I'm a down right moody bitch and it's annoying myself even. There's something about a new year, like you should start it jolly and fresh and enthusiastic like 2010 did not happen. I guess that just rubs me the wrong way. There are however a few things to look forward to in 2011 and here's three of them.

Kaizers Orchestra
The Norwegian band has completed recording their Violeta Violeta trilogy and will unleash it to the world these two years, its first release is scheduled for this month and in March they'll be playing in Amsterdam which show I will obviously attend, if only it was to meet up with one of my best friends who I met two years ago at the same venue for the same band. As with the first Kaizers Orchestra albums, these albums tell a story. It's a trilogy after all. It tells the story of a family with a small child. The mother gets seriously insane and the father takes the child and runs away, hiding in the world. The mother obviously goes more insane, doesn't leave her house for 7 years, crying buckets filled with tears. During one of her moments of pure insanity, she wears her wedding dress, goes crying through the house and pours gasoline over her dress. She catches fire and gets seriously burned. She survives and her sadness turns into anger and vows to hunt down the father and the child. Expect a grand finale. I can't wait!

Janet Weiss
With Carrie Brownstein, Mary Timony and Rebecca Cole she has formed Wild Flag which will be recording an album and release it as well. If that isn't enough, it's known that the Jicks, as in Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks where she drums as well, have been messing about in some exciting basement in Portland (the one of Jick Joanna Bolme and husband and Crib Gary Jarman) and the band has already recorded and apparently Beck (yes, that Loser guy) is involved as well. Goody! Quasi is also touring in 2011 so Janet Weiss is very busy. Which means good for music. Let's hope she'll find her way to Europe once more.

Photography
I have a Fisheye 2. I have a Diana F+ Edelweiss. Hello??!! When I picked my pictures from the lab (department store HEMA) yesterday, there was one picture that made it all worth while. Do you know these pictures of highways, where you can only see the lights of the cars as a beautiful string of light? That's the kind of picture I made (with the Diana mini) and made me very excited about making more pictures. I want layers! Light effects! Long exposures! No more just snapping the pets (which is a fun thing to do), let's go mess up photos and take pictures of each other in silly settings and poses. 2011, I'll capture you good!