Album review by Jordon Shinn, published in The Oklahoman and on NewsOK.com, June 11, 2010, Oklahoma City, USA.
ALTERNATIVE (Polyvinyl Record Co.)
With all the claps, cowbells, cymbal crashes, shakers, hiccups and drum taps of a children's keyboard, backed by trolling bass beats and lots of reverb, "Topp Stemning På Lokal Bar,” the U.S. debut from Casiokids, is a lo-fi, electronic peach smoothie. An electro-pop dance band from Norway, Casiokids gleefully emerges in an array of Christmas lights from behind an overpowering Scandinavian death-metal scene.
The album cover features the fur-hooded face of a fair-skinned girl, whose half-closed eyes bleed mascara — a picture taken perhaps the morning after an epic night of dancing. The album opens to two peach-colored discs, as appealing as the fruit itself. "Topp Stemning På Lokal Bar,” or "Great Vibe at Local Bar,” is Casiokids' second album, distributed in the U.S. through Polyvinyl Records Co.
The band's strength is its ability to achieve simple sounding, spacey grooves over a chorus of complex electronic textures and synthesized bliss. At times, Casiokids can be as dancy as Daft Punk, as quirky as Björk and as chill as The Postal Service. The band's vocal venture into the occasional falsetto, with its Norwegian lyrics, sounds like Sigur Rós picked up a keyboard and went to the club.
Casiokids plays it cool on Disc 1, displaying sophisticated synth beats that sound effortless and '80s. It is a step backward in the right direction toward lo-fi dance music. The disc's grooves are simple and sober from overly electronic distortions, but the occasional wailing of a theremin, standing in yummy opposition to more experimental electronic groups like Black Moth Super Rainbow. Disc 2, however, is mostly a showy remix of the Disc 1 songs, showcasing the band's technical ability to creatively augment its beats and realize the full potential of a chaos pad.
If Of Montreal's former tour mate is successful, Casiokids might become as much a North American dance party staple as MGMT. If not, the band likely will remain a soft-spoken, lo-fi, electronic treasure in all its Norwegian obscurity. Let's hope so.
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This episode is also available as a blog post: https://jordonious.wordpress.com/2021/08/11/album-review-casiokids-topp-stemning-pa-lokal-bar/
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Album review originally published by The Oklahoman: https://www.oklahoman.com/article/3467609/cd-review-casiokids-topp-stemning-pa-lokal-bar