We talk to Lindstrøm about his label, playing live, his fascination with synthesisers and Space Disco in an extensive Q&A ahead of Norwegian Disco Lights this Friday
If the Belleville Three are considered the holy trinity of Detroit techno, then Oslo’s space disco scene needs its own trifecta. We would like to nominate Prins Thomas, Todd Terje, and Lindstrøm into the position. Over the years they’ve become Norway’s answer to second-wave disco pioneers, laying much of the foundation for what would evolve into one of the country’s most distinctive musical exports; following in the footsteps of artists like Bjørn Torske and Rune Lindbæk.
As one half of the duo Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas, and through his extensive solo work, Hans-Peter Lindstrøm has played a central role in shaping what journalists would later dub the “space disco” sound. Early tracks like Boney M Down, I Feel Space, and Arp she said became dance floor staples; records that not only achieved classic status but also helped dismantle lingering stigma around disco for a new generation of listeners.
They proved the genre had depth and longevity, capable of evolving far beyond its late-70s caricature of sequence flairs and syncopated beats. Decades later, disco’s revival shows no signs of slowing, its influence now woven into everything from crate-dug obscurities to contemporary pop and over the past 20 years, Lindstrøm has continually redefined that sound, pushing it into unexpected territory.
Originally from Stavanger, he arrived in Oslo at a time when DJs like Prins Thomas and Todd Terje were energising dance floors with eclectic selections of boogie and disco. With a background in rock bands but a fascination with synthesizers and Italo disco, Lindstrøm began collaborating with Prins Thomas while also developing his own productions.
His debut album, Where You Go I Go Too, opened with a sprawling 30-minute progressive composition; an audacious statement that made even the extended works of Giorgio Moroder seem concise by comparison. Rather than settling into a formula, he followed it with a vocal-driven record next, setting the tone for a discography defined by constant reinvention.
From collaborative projects like his album with Todd Rundgren to his widely praised 2020 live recording at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Lindstrøm has remained committed to avoiding repetition. His career is marked by a deliberate unpredictability, each release exploring new ideas rather than revisiting past successes.
After two decades releasing albums on Smalltown Supersound, Lindstrøm has now turned his focus fully to his own label, Feedelity. His 2025 album Serious Symptoms inaugurates the label’s LP catalog, with a compilation of his earliest singles set to be released on vinyl for the first time in 2026.
With a live performance at Norwegian Disco Lights this Friday, the stage is set for our conversation. As one of the key architects of the space disco movement, Lindstrøm’s influence is well documented, but was he aware of what he was helping to create at the time? And how exactly did that sound come together?
We explore these questions and more in our interview with Lindstrøm.
Let’s start with the next release, which is a compilation of your earliest 12 inches from Feedelity records. Why re-issue it now and why remaster it for vinyl?
I’ve been thinking about re-issueing it for a while, because it was previously only available on CD, which made sense back then, 20 years ago. While it was available as 12 inches on vinyl before, there are a lot of people that missed out and would like to have it on vinyl too. Also it was nice to mark the 20th anniversary of Feedelity in this way.
After working with Smalltown Supersound for the last 20 years, this record and last year’s Serious Syntoms was released on Feedelity. Why work exclusively on your own label again?
I was never really signed to Smalltown Supersound. When I first met Joakim Haugland (owner of Smalltown Supersound) I had just had kids, and he proposed that he could help distribute my music to help unburden the workload. I’ve only been licensing all my tracks to Smalltown since then.
If you’re working with too many people, you lose touch with the rest of the creative process of running a label. I ended up only doing the music – which was amazing – but around 2017, I realised I missed working on every aspect of my release. Even though it takes a lot of time, I really enjoy it and it’s easier now more than ever to work on the label.
20 years ago, everybody wanted a major deal, but that’s all changed now.
Yes, it seems to be working for you. I saw Serious Symptoms is already sold out.
It’s been so long since I put out my own records, and I was really surprised.
Is there something about having all this creative control with running the label and making the music?
I even wish I could do the artwork as well, but I realised I really can’t. I hooked up with my old friend Ole Martin Lund Bø, who did all the early Feedelity artwork and after 20 years he was keen to pick it up again. That was also a nice full-circle moment for me.
Talking about going full-circle. I Feel Space is on the compilation, a track that is a dance floor classic by any measure today. What is your relationship with the track today; and are you ever tempted to revisit it creatively?
I’ve been playing that track live since it was released, so it’s something that’s been with me for 20 years. When playing live I can make some small changes, but when I remastered it, I wanted to make sure it was remastered on the same files as the original.
Listening back to the pre-master from 2005, I can definitely hear that it would sound different if I made the track in 2026, but if I’m listening to something, I will always prefer the original.
Have you ever thought of recording a live version of that or any other track?
No. To be honest, I’m not too preoccupied with live recordings. It’s not that interesting for me. I did do a live version with Why Kai, when we had a few gigs and last year I did a version in Manchester with the Vålerenga Mannskor, but I don’t think it was even recorded.
You do all these live concepts and shows like the equipment heavy show at Hennie Onstad a couple of years back; your annual Christmas drummer boy performances; and things like the male choir version of I feel space you just mentioned. Is there a reason you keep changing and developing these performances?
I like to change things up when I get too set in my own set with the laptop and Ableton. The Hennie Onstad set was without any computers. I don’t really do that too often. I did it too at Stavanger Konserthus with a church organ and a lot of modular synthesisers.
It’s usually too much hassle doing all that stuff, so that’s when I prefer the laptop setup again. But really, my focus will always be working in the studio and making new music. I used to travel much more and these days I have a few gigs in Norway and suits me much better. I got a little fed up travelling around the world, doing this.
So the studio is your happy place?
Yes, that’s where I enjoy it.
What about DJing… While people might not know you as a DJ, there was a time you were doing it regularly in and around Oslo.
I haven’t DJ’d for about 20 years. I stopped DJing because I was surrounded by so many great DJs. My background is from playing in bands and playing instruments. I hadn’t DJ’d until the late 90’s so after 3-4 years of DJing; Ableton came along and I could perform my own music.
You mentioned playing instruments in bands, and I’ve read that it wasn’t just the piano, but also the organ through which you developed your skills as a musician. How did that come about?
Just to be clear, it was the Hammond organ and not the church organ. It’s basically a church organ without the pipes.
Still, not an obvious choice for an instrument. I know of a few bands in the 70’s that used the instrument, but were they fashionable when you started out?
They were just coming back into fashion again. A lot of bands started using Hammond organs and at the same time they were selling really cheap analogue synthesisers. In retrospect, I should have probably started collecting synths instead of buying an expensive hammond organ.
What made you buy the Hammond?
I was a big fan of Deep Purple, and they are famous for using a Hammond.
When did the move to synthesisers eventually happen?
I had always been into synthesisers, because when I was 14 or so, I had gotten myself a Juno 106 synthesiser. I thought it wasn’t an interesting synth at the time, and I only realised later it was an amazing synth.
I was listening to a lot of Italo Disco back then in Stavanger and I liked the sounds, but I couldn’t programme it at all. There were no Youtube videos back then and nobody to teach me how to use it.
But were there people in Stavanger that were into the same thing you were, the Italo Disco sound?
Nobody I knew. All my friends were into rock music. I played in a Deep Purple cover band and I played in a gospel choir. Nobody I knew was into synth music, so I guess abandoned it quite early. I rediscovered it when I was introduced to club music.
And that would’ve coincided with your move to Oslo?
Yes.
Arriving in Oslo at that time, hanging out with Prins Thomas and Todd Terje, were you aware that you were becoming part of something new, a new scene or musical culture.
No! (Laughs) I was just making music. I was definitely inspired by what Terje and Thomas were doing in terms of the DJing, the tracks that they found, and the music they made. We didn’t have that instant feedback from our music that you get today with instagram and such. Sometimes I would get a text months later saying something like ; “It’s crazy! Francois K was playing your track at Space.”
At least I didn’t think at that time it was something special.
When people and especially the media started labeling it as Space Disco, did that make sense to you?
It made sense that the media needed some kind of thing to make people click and read. It wasn’t something that we tried to focus on. I just happened to be one of the guys to be associated with the Norwegian thing.
Were you even thinking about it as Disco when you started making it?
I remember speaking to people in Italy that said: “it’s crazy how you guys are labelling this as Disco; if we were to label it as Disco in Italy nobody would be interested”. I think that in Norway there were no rules and I was just making music that I wanted to listen to. Nobody told me I couldn’t do it or that it wasn’t in the tradition of dance music.
Talking about something that wasn’t in the tradition of dance music, your first solo LP, “where I go, you go too, ” that really broke the mold as a record where a 30 minute dance track could be a viable thing. What was the concept behind the record?
I wanted to do something different and Thomas and I had been doing some longer workouts on the 2nd album. I was introduced to a lot of Krautrock and I was thinking maybe it would be fun to do something like that.
At the same time Nike asked me to do a running track. James Murphy from LCD soundsystem did it first. In the middle of the process, I realised it was too good to give away for a commercial.
It was fun to do something different, because working on a longer track you have more time to build up your music.
Typical of me, I did the vocal album with short tracks directly after that. If I do one thing then I want to do a different thing the next time. I might come back to that, because I really like the idea of making a long track like that.
I thought I heard glimmers of the Who in there, and I know you’re a fan of prog rock too. Was there anything from that musical world that still influences your music?
I always listened to a lot of krautrock rock and synth music. I guess whatever I listen to at the moment, that’s what inspires me.
On the subject of prog…working with Todd Rundgren must have been like these worlds of influences colliding. How did that come about and was there something coming full circle with your earliest influences from Rock?
I asked Emil Nikolaisen from Serena-Maneesh to join me and we met Todd Rundgren in Oslo once to record as much as we could. I’m really proud of that album, but it was a big hassle to finish it. There were a lot of ideas and a lot of different ways we could go with the tracks. It was a very conceptual and experimental record. Emil and I were big fans of Todd Rundgren’s experimental phase in the 70’s and we tried to channel something of that into this project.
Was it intimidating working within your hero?
No, he’s such a great guy!
Are there any other artists or projects on your bucket list you are looking to complete soon?
Not really. I’m pretty focused on what’s in front of me — finishing the new album and keeping things simple!