Razika - Sweet vocals, ska guitars, endless nostalgia
Taste My Dream by Razika
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Name: Razika
From: Bergen, Norway
Story: Norse teens play twee 2 Tone
Sound: Sweet vocals, ska guitars, endless nostalgia
When ska was embraced by '70s UK punks, the political similarities between struggling/oppressed/stoned youths didn't disguise the incongruousness of the sun-kissed sounds of sweltering Jamaica being played under the slate-grey skies of industrial Britain. Razika take that a step further: making bubblegum, girl-group ska in the snowy surrounds of Bergen, Norway.
The quartet are a crew of childhood pals —Marie Amdam, Maria Råkil, Marie Moe and Embla Karidotter Dahleng— who started playing together at 14, and are still all of 19 years old. As teenage girls playing music influenced by ska and punk, the obvious comparison is The Slits, but it doesn't quite sit: Razika's 2 Tone twee has, for all its off-the-beat playing, much more in common with the shambling masses of C86 devotees.
Their debut album, Program 91, effortlessly bounces along, tossing off awesome pop-songs all the while. Amdam switches between English and Norwegian from song to song, the guitars glint and shine, and the band mines a fine line in youthful exuberance and wistful nostalgia. They cover '60s Norwegian relics The Pussycats —a veritable mop-top tribute act from four decades before— with a wink, recasting an old slow-dance ("Why Have We to Wait," whose title seems like a lament for socially-mandated chastity) as a giddy, youthful pirouette across the dancefloor.
Program 91 comes out August 16 on the ace Smalltown Supersound label. It's a debut disc of endless charm, and seems set to take Razika far from their home in the far-North: the indie-pop world their oyster.
Above Article is an excerpt
--Left side of Forward Media links to Spinner new release, their new album's called Program 91
Listen: Razika, "Nytt Pa Nytt"
Listen: Razika, "Eg Vetsje" (via Pitchfork)
Listen: Razika, "Vondt I Hjertet"