Music From Norway: Just how important is it, really?

[proggosaurus]

Thanks! I'll have to look into them.

Just last night I was looking at the Scented Gardens Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock. Norway had only 40 artist entries, yet Sweden had 150! So it's not just me that seems to be miscalculating what Norway has to offer. I'm happy to discover new music though.

well, there have been a few more good European bands that have come about since 1980...but just a few.

[Trane]

i'm just pointing out that if you asked a generic someone to name a band from Norway, you would probably get a-Ha.

I guess you're right... though I didn't find out they were from Norway until 5 or 6 years ago.

Just last night I was looking at the Scented Gardens Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock. Norway had only 40 artist entries, yet Sweden had 150! So it's not just me that seems to be miscalculating what Norway has to offer. I'm happy to discover new music though.

interesting... I don't have my book at hand, but how many does Denmark and Iceland have in their respective section (I know Finland is more than Norway)

But as I said (and others), Norway's strength was always in jazz or later on in Black Metal

[Zeuhlmate]

Generalization (and rude, I know but): Denmark stopped making original prog or jazzfusion in the early seventies.
Denmark is a jazzcountry = american mainstream jazz.

There are of course exceptions (a short list) to this 'rule', but we are way behind in many ways.
We have a big one week jazzfestival coming up in Copenhagen with big international names http://jazz.dk/copenhagen-jazz-festival-2016/forside/, but this year there is just one event I am interested in (Ståle Storløkken from Norway, an its free), the rest is just more or less meh...

[Trane]

Efterklang is a post-rock band of sorts, isn't it??

[Zeuhlmate]

Efterklang is a post-rock band of sorts, isn't it??

yes - and they would be on my moderately short list
+ Robin Taylor, som of John Sunds efforts... a.o.
Efterklang is developing and getting more interesting here is some minutes from a small festival I attended: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl4s1AKU_mw

There are some prog in DK, but in comparison to no, swe,fi it will be a very short list, and the Iceland list would probably be longer even though the whole population is the same size as a danish provincial town.

[Trane]

There are some prog in DK, but in comparison to no, swe,fi it will be a very short list, and the Iceland list would probably be longer even though the whole population is the same size as a danish provincial town.

Yes, their ID and culture is very strange (in a good way)

[Zeuhlmate]

[proggosaurus]

There are some prog in DK, but in comparison to no, swe,fi it will be a very short list, and the Iceland list would probably be longer even though the whole population is the same size as a danish provincial town.

Finland might take the best band name (Sperm)

my count might be off a hair but I got it like this from Scented Gardens (not counting VA or specific labels)

Sweden - 152
Denmark - 79
Finland - 58
Norway 39
Iceland - 17

you find anything interesting on NRK?

[Zeuhlmate]

you find anything interesting on NRK?

Look at post #148

79 progbands from Denmark ?? Sounds very kind.

[proggosaurus]

Look at post #148

79 progbands from Denmark ?? Sounds very kind.

huh? I meant from their archives where that video came from like this Nucleus

[Scrotum Scissor]

Just last night I was looking at the Scented Gardens Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock. Norway had only 40 artist entries, yet Sweden had 150! So it's not just me that seems to be miscalculating

Scented Gardens of the Mind was compiled by Dag Erik Asbjørnsen and isn't intended as an ecyclopedia, but as a collector's guide from the more or less selective perspective of another collector - covering the 1967-83 period exclusively. In other words a span happening some 33-49 years ago. What's usually regarded as "important" today implies developments, trends and tendencies not limited to what went on nearly half a century ago, seeing how music is supposedly alive and kicking. I believe John K. (OP) has specified this at least some three or four times in this thread already. The question of general "importance" and the phenomenon of "Prog" do not appear as particularly interactive dimensions in this overall picture.

[Scrotum Scissor]

There are some prog in DK, but

There's some solid and sometimes either very refined or intentionally "primitive" adventurous rock music going on there, like the above mentioned Efterklang, On Trial, Under Byen, Spids Nøgenhat, Lis Er Stille, Papir, Frisk Frugt, Causa Sui, Slaraffenland, Klimaforandringer, Svin and Magnus fra Gaarden. They're all worth investigating, IMO.

[yesstiles]

Norway's strength was always in jazz or later on in Black Metal

I certainly am not interested in Black Metal, but Jazz I am. Finland has some of the very best Jazz the world has to offer (Sweden far less so in my experience) but if Norway has good Jazz too I'd like to investigate and appreciate.

[Zeuhlmate]

There's some solid and sometimes either very refined or intentionally "primitive" adventurous rock music going on there, like the above mentioned Efterklang, On Trial, Under Byen, Spids Nøgenhat, Lis Er Stille, Papir, Frisk Frugt, Causa Sui, Slaraffenland, Klimaforandringer, Svin and Magnus fra Gaarden. They're all worth investigating, IMO.

One could easily add:

[Trane]

Host & Ruphus (first two albums for the later) are about as good as Norway got in the 70's prog dept.

Though I like some of those Folque albums as well.

[Mark Newman]

Is there a website that lists shows for cities in Norway? I will be heading to Oslo and Bergen in a couple of weeks and wondered if there is a way to find live music other than checking every specific band or club individually.

[proggosaurus]

Oslo 07/01/2016 - 09/01/2016

Snarky Puppy - Monday, August 15th @ Sentrum Scene

[jkelman]

Is there a website that lists shows for cities in Norway? I will be heading to Oslo and Bergen in a couple of weeks and wondered if there is a way to find live music other than checking every specific band or club individually.

Well, in Oslo you will want to check out Nasjonal Jazzscene Victoria, the city's primary jazz club. For something smaller, grimier and funkier (the best place to see Elephant9!), check out the listings for MONO. Also, check out Rockefeller, a larger venue where Jaga Jazzist's Live with Britten Sinfonia was recorded.

There are other places and I suspect there are listings for both cities (being the two largest cities in the country) but am afraid I am unaware as I was generally in Norway on invite, so had my destinations already largely predetermined.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

for Symph Rock Prog it's Ruphus and Vanessa
for Jazz Rock Prog there's much more, including Terje of course, but also Moose Loose, Jaga Jazzist, Elephant9 and Grand General to name a few

[Trane]

for Symph Rock Prog it's Ruphus and Vanessa
for Jazz Rock Prog there's much more, including Terje of course, but also Moose Loose, Jaga Jazzist, Elephant9 and Grand General to name a few

wouldn't Vanessa fit in the second line of your post?

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

some might say Ruphus would too

[thedunno]

This:
http://www.shamblemaths.com/

"Shamblemaths are based in Trondheim, Norway. At the heart of the enterprise are Simen Å. Ellingsen (PhD, PhD) [guitars, saxophones, vocals] and Eirik M. Husum [bass]. Formed in their student days in 2004 under the moniker Fallen Fowl, a couple of demos and an EP were recorded before a hiatus ensued when Ellingsen moved to London to pursue postgraduate studies.

2016 sees Shamblemaths return with a vengeance with a new album, «Shamblemaths». The new sound is decidedly edgier and more demanding, citing such influences as Magma, Univers Zero and Egg, while retaining a strong melodic presence and quirky lyrics. The album draws on the talents of a number of guests, most prominently Eirik Øverland Dischler on keyboards and Jon Even Schärer on drums, both featured throughout."

Get the album! It is f**king fantastic!

[Zeuhlmate]

This:
http://www.shamblemaths.com/

Its amazing what comes out of Norway, thanx !

[Scrotum Scissor]

This:
http://www.shamblemaths.com/

The new sound is decidedly edgier and more demanding, citing such influences as Magma, Univers Zero and Egg, while retaining a strong melodic presence and quirky lyrics.

Get the album! It is f**king fantastic!

They have a great thing going, too bad they're only a studio project. But perhaps that'll change? Their music sometimes reminds me faintly of that of Birds & Buildings or Deluge Grander, other times even a bit of Simon Steensland, Maxwell's Demon, Änglagård et. al. Some of it is surprisingly radical.

[mellotron storm]

They have a great thing going, too bad they're only a studio project. But perhaps that'll change? Their music sometimes reminds me faintly of that of Birds & Buildings or Deluge Grander, other times even a bit of Simon Steensland, Maxwell's Demon, Änglagård et. al. Some of it is surprisingly radical.

Simen sent me a copy of their cd and it blew me away. He said they work painfully slow so you can almost see with each track who was influencing them. He mentioned Gong, Magma, Canterbury, VDGG and Tull. He said some of the oldest stuff from the mid 00's were even PT and Marillion influenced. I hope he doesn't mind me saying this. He's a huge Prog fan anyways and a very smart guy.