Coming out of the community at Hausmania and featuring Don Papa on percussion is Flammer Dance Band. The five piece bursts forth with this debut record on the new lyskestrekk records label with a limited press of 500 copies and we’ve managed to get our hands on a copy of one of the last ones. Most certainly a future discogs legend this record is something that will speak to the diggers and the selectors for its quirky and enigmatic nature.
The spiralling rhythms and sonic melee that ensues when the needle touches the record, takes the audience on a cosmic journey, but as their name suggests, this isn’t some introspective jam session, but rather something more inclusive, a dance record. The repetitive nature of tracks like “Din Ting”, even with its off-kilter contrapuntal rhythm section, distills elements of arfo, psych, funk and disco to a modern dance floor.
They strip the arrangements right back to where the percussive elements often just appear alone in the mix with only the slightest interjections interrupt the incessant beat. Taking their cues from a seventies musical palette, but re-contextualising it in the era of DJs, Flammer Dance Band have created a new kind of fusion, indicative of the kaleidoscopic musical environment in Oslo.
There’s a playfulness to the record, from the lyrics for “Lunsj på Grønland” to the video for “Liverer litt sjel”, that comes across in volumes through the music. These might be very serious musicians, but it sounds like they are having a lot of fun with it. Simple, repetitive riffs with little in the way of lead solos, besides the odd saxophone incursion (which has sounded this good on a record since careless whisper), keep the whole thing grounded and immediate.
Landing the space discoship back on earth in the context of a traditional band format, “Flammer” pulses with an organic sound, like a band on stage. The background yelps and Torb Roach’s processed vocal add to the character of the sound, creating an aura of an event to the album. It’s easy to transport yourself to Hausmania’s basement through this record as the primal urge kicks in to dance the night away, with the only criticism being that the experience is too short.