Surferosa is a rock band from Norway formed in 2000, known for its distinct costumes and trashy electrified pop music. The band's musical style is primarily rock with punk/new wave and dance music influences and has been labeled "thrash pop". Most songs make integrated use of synthesizers, and Mariann provides a spunky vocal lead. The group is often compared to New Wave acts such as Blondie.
Hailing from Bø in Telemark, Surferosa became popular in Norway after winning a tour and studio recording in a band contest called So What. It has received several positive critical reviews. Surferosa has completed tours in Asia, America, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. It also made the soundtrack for the movie Bare Bea. The group's song Royal Uniform from the album The Force was used on the soundtrack for the computer/video game FIFA 07 released by EA Sports. The song has also been released as a downloadable track for Singstar on the PlayStation 3. Scandinavian Decay, another song of theirs, was also used as a song in the Sims 2.
The name Surferosa is taken from a record by the Pixies.
In December 2009, Surferosa announced on their Myspace blog that they are taking a break from performing and recording, and have not made any further announcement since.
Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup of the group was its mid-1970s trio of Froese, Christopher Franke, and Peter Baumann. In 1979, Johannes Schmoelling replaced Baumann until his own departure in 1985. This lineup was notable for composing many movie soundtracks. Since Froese's death in 2015, the group has been under the leadership of Thorsten Quaeschning. Quaeschning is Froese's chosen successor and is currently the longest-serving band member, having joined in 2005. Quaeschning is currently joined by violinist Hoshiko Yamane who joined in 2011 and Paul Frick who joined in 2020. Prior to this Quaeschning and Yamane performed with Ulrich Schnauss from 2014 to 2020. Schnauss only played two shows with Froese in November 2014 before Froese's passing.
Men Without Hats are a Canadian new wave and synth-pop band, originally from Montreal, Quebec. Their music is characterized by the baritone voice of their lead singer Ivan Doroschuk, as well as their elaborate use of synthesizers and electronic processing. They achieved their greatest popularity in the 1980s with "The Safety Dance", a worldwide top ten hit, and "Pop Goes the World". After a hiatus for most of the 1990s and 2000s, Doroschuk reformed the band in 2010, and released Love in the Age of War (2012). The group, based in Vancouver, has continued to perform, including tour dates in support of the release of two studio albums, Men Without Hats Again , in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Archive are a musical group based in London, England, whose music spans electronic, trip hop, avant-garde, post-rock and progressive rock. Over their 28-year history, the band has released twelve studio albums and enjoyed established success throughout Europe.
The Notwist are a German indie rock band. Formed in 1989, the band moved through several musical incarnations, despite maintaining a relatively stable line-up. While their early records moved through heavy metal into dark indie rock, their recent efforts for which they have received the most attention have been strongly influenced by the electronica scene, along with other groups on the record label Morr Music.
Okkervil River is an American rock band led by singer-songwriter Will Sheff. Formed in Austin, Texas, in 1998, the band takes its name from a short story by Russian author Tatyana Tolstaya set on the river Okkervil in Saint Petersburg. They began as a trio made up of Sheff and friends he had met in his native state of New Hampshire but, over time, have gone through many lineups.
Christopher Branford Bell was an American musician and singer-songwriter. Along with Alex Chilton, he led the power pop band Big Star through its first album #1 Record (1972). He also pursued a solo career throughout the mid-1970s, resulting in the posthumous I Am the Cosmos LP.
The Album Leaf is an American musical project founded in San Diego, California, in 1998 by Jimmy LaValle. He is known for his use of electronics, synthesizer, and Rhodes piano. His performances often feature projected visual art.
Scandinavian Leather is an album by the Norwegian band Turbonegro that followed the band's reunion in 2002 and was released in April 2003 on Burning Heart Records in Sweden, on Bitzcore Records in Germany, on JVC/Victor Records in Japan, and on 6 May 2003 on Epitaph Records in the United States.
Matchbook Romance was an American pop-punk and emo band from Poughkeepsie, New York, initially formed in 1997 under the name Fizzlewink (1997–2001) and then The Getaway (2001–2002). They were signed to Epitaph Records and released two full-length albums, one EP and one split EP with Motion City Soundtrack with them. Their EP West for Wishing, released on April 8th 2003, was their first professional record and was produced by Brett Gurewitz from Epitaph Records; and then on September 23rd 2003 they debuted their first full-length album, Stories and Alibis.
Rogue Wave is an indie rock band from Oakland, California, and headed by Zach Schwartz who created the band after losing his job in the dot-com bust. Their first album was Out of the Shadow which was released privately in 2003 and re-released in 2004. In the fall of 2004 they went on a national tour of the United States. Their most recent album, Cover Me, was released on February 17, 2017, through Easy Sound Recording Company.
Gravenhurst was the musical pseudonym of the English singer-songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and journalist Nicholas John Talbot. Talbot, from Bristol, England, signed to Warp Records. He died aged 37. His cause of death is undisclosed.
Solefald is a Norwegian avant-garde metal/black metal band that was formed by members Lars Are "Lazare" Nedland and Cornelius Jakhelln in August 1995, with Nedland singing and playing keyboard/synthesizer/piano and drums, and Jakhelln singing and playing guitar and bass. The duo experiment with a wide array of musical styles, frequently work on other projects, and rarely perform live under the Solefald name, leading them to describe themselves as "two stubborn goats pretending to be a band." According to the duo, their name is an Old Norse word for "sunset," taken from one of Theodor Kittelsen's paintings illustrating a poem of the same name by Theodor Caspari, published in the 1901 book Vintereventyr.
Peachcake is an American electronic group from Phoenix, Arizona.
Koufax was an American indie rock band from Toledo, Ohio.
"Overkill" is a song by Australian pop rock band Men at Work. It was released in March 1983 as the second single from their second studio album Cargo. Written by lead singer Colin Hay, it peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100; No. 5 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart; and top 10 in Canada, Ireland, and Norway. The song was a departure from the group's style of reggae-influenced pop rock, featuring a melancholic feel musically and lyrically.
Torch is a Norwegian metalcore band from Trondheim, Norway.
Ancestral Legacy is a Norwegian gothic metal-band, started in 1995 as Permafrost.
Neon Trees are an American rock band from Provo, Utah. The band received nationwide exposure in late 2008 when they opened several North American tour dates for the band the Killers. Not long after, the band was signed by Mercury Records. Their first single, "Animal", climbed to No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Alternative Songs chart.
Oceanhoarse was a Finnish heavy metal band started in January 2018. They released three full-length albums, with their debut, The Damage Is Done - Live!, being released in 2020.
Lukas Kasha is a Norwegian rock band, based in Oslo. They released their debut album, Animated People's Republic, on January 29, 2007. The first single off the album was Love Abuse', which was played on heavy rotation on Norwegian radio from the fall of 2006 to early 2007, and was later included in the soundtrack for the video game by EA Sports, FIFA 08. Over the last few years, Lukas Kasha has played at the Popkomm festival in Berlin, the Eurosonic Festival in Groningen, the Reeperbahn festival in Hamburg, Liverpool Music Week and the IUSY festival in Alicante, besides touring Norway, including Øyafestivalen in Oslo and by:Larm. They have supported or shared stage with, amongst others, Juliette & the Licks, Shout Out Louds, Infadels, The Dears, The Raveonettes, Dungen, Johnossi, Telex and Brakes.