Month: July 2004

That Random Thing

Barry Kavanagh attended the Random System Festival 2004 in Norway in April... Oslo, Norway, 15-18 April 2004. I am inside Oslo’s Parkteatret only five minutes when a Norwegian music journalist tells me “the extremes thrive in Norway.” It’s Thursday and I’m at the first night of the first ever Random System Festival, a festival of electronic and “adventurous” music featuring both international and home-grown acts, and we’re waiting for one of the latter, Jazzkammer, to begin. “Metal, jazz, electronic noise,” the journalist says, “are the extremes of music.” I suppose he is right. This is what Norway is known for. Parkteatret, in Oslo’s Grünerløkka area, was built in the 1920s as a theatre for the working class. Now it’s an interesting space for film screenings and unexpected art events. Tonight there are two performances by the duo Jazzkammer, Lasse Marhaug and John Hegre, best known for their album Timex (2000)...