Until The Light Takes Us documents the rise in popularity of Norwegian black metal and death metal in the early 90s. Based loosely around two instrumental band members of Darkthrone, the film peeks into the origins but focuses heavily on the cultural aspect that, politically, turned the country into a frenzy. While never really skewing one way or another, Until The Light peers into the somewhat torn soul of Fenriz, who focuses all his energy and passion on the music he creates. Throughout the film, we come to …

The self-titled release by I Was A King was pretty solid, but Old Friends is another beast entirely. The album is a stunning portrayal of original pop music. Heavily-strummed acoustic guitars are complemented by pop vocals and offset by thick brass orchestration. And the band forays into experimentation of occasion.
“Echoes” features highly prominent trombone and erratic staccato percussive drumming; this is a commonality on Old Friends. Throughout, the album the band’s unique rhythmic section adds punchy, precision percussion using the entire trap set. The added …

Casiokids‘ “Finn Bikkjen!” is a video about a man and his dog. On his dreamscape journey attempting to catch his best friend, he comes across strange dancers. From there, things get a little weird. The video goes well with the Casiokids style of psychedelic electro pop. “Finn Bikkjen!” lives up to the band’s recent hype, collecting hip beats and fronting it with their Norwegian tongue. The result is a fun tune, a fun video, and an exciting new band.

To celebrate Silence Is Sexy’s full year of success after 2009’s Euronet sensation This Ain’t Hollywood, the Netherlands’ finest group has developed quite a treat for the listeners they picked up over the last 365 days or so. Teaming up with the fantastic Cuban Royal Republican Orchestra, these electro-rockers have developed the very cleverly titled EP, This Is Hollywood. Their high paced energy and strong verbal stamina can now be heard in an all new fashion — one which prefers tears way over fears.

Consider expectations defied. Black Feather seemed like such a folk-worthy name; to a somewhat minor extent, Black Feather fulfills folk sensibilities, but the emphasis is minor. The same can be said for pop, though to an even lesser extent. Where this band comes full circle, however is in combining these two genres with experimentation. There’s a weighty portion of eclecticism here that simply cannot be denied.