Festival guide: Rock music at Oslo World!
Seven rock-centric recommendations: Amazonian psych, metal from Togo, postpunk from Poland/Norway and the Netherlands, Bergen-Moroccan prog, Japanese sci-fi psychedelia and the heavyweight champions in Norwegian jazz rock.
In a week, Oslo World once again takes over the city. The program is packed to the brim with experiences – whether you're looking to see something you've never heard before, to meet a true legend, or throw yourself on the dance floor.
What should you choose? Ahead of the festival, we're sharing some guides that might be able to guide you through this year's many experiences.
Read our festival guides here!
In this edition: Rock, quite simply. It's not necessarily the first word many people would associate with Oslo World, but this year's program is packed with it, from sixties legends to futuristic fusion – and postpunk – both legends and the next big thing.
Here are seven rock-centric recommendations: Amazonian psych, metal from Togo, postpunk from Poland/Norway and the Netherlands, Bergen-Moroccan prog, Japanese sci-fi psychedelia and the heavyweight champions in Norwegian jazz rock.
A psych rock sensation, the Japanese trio KUUNATIC combine tribal drums, pulsing bass, atmospheric keyboards, and haunting vocals with traditional Japanese instruments like the sho, ryuteki, and wadaiko. With this vast array of influences, they tell tales of worlds unknown, exploring the planet Kuurandia. KUUNATIC released their debut album “Gate of Klüna” on Glitterbeat Records. Produced by Tim DeWit (Gang Gang Dance), the record garnered widespread acclaim for its experimental and wildly catchy universe. In April this year, their second album Wheels Of Ömon dropped. Expanding on the mythology of their first album Gate of Klüna, the trio continues to explore the planet Kuurandia and its celestial companions, conjuring tales of prophecy, magical lakes, and fleeting seasons within a 45-hour orbit of the sun Ömon. Wheels of Ömon is a bold, genre-crossing creation—part rock opera, part myth, part science fiction. Live, they go even further, inviting the listener to lose themselves, both in body and mind.
Read more and buy tickets HERE!
This metal fusion band represents a new, extreme West African sound, both rooted in regional rhythmic cultures like Gazo and Blekete, as well as being deeply immersed in the metal universe of the 80s and 90s. The rhythms and sounds of the land make up the cultural base of the band’s music - called “asrafocore”, meaning the music of the warriors. Their values are conveyed in the groups hard hitting lyrics, written in Ewe (one of the languages of Togo), English, and the occasional nod to French. Arka'n Asrafokor are musical explorers, constantly playing around with different facets of metal, between trash, speed, Neo and death influences. Between guttural vocals and rapped flows, heavy riffs and regional rhythms, they represent something new on the rapidly growing, global metal scene. There are also rhythmic parts where the percussion instruments take over the rage of the guitars, and moments of grace with acoustic solos and fluid Afrofunk.
Read more and buy tickets HERE!
De Press - Few tickets left!
This is by far the most intimate concert De Press has played in Oslo in a long time, and a rare chance to experience true legends up close! The Polish-Norwegian band spearheaded the Norwegian new wave scene of the eighties, and with Block to Block (1982) they released one of the greatest Norwegian classics – an album that still feels immediate and fresh. Since then, vocalist and frontman Andrej Nebb has taken the De Press name through a number of different constellations – constantly searching, experimenting, still as expressive and powerful as ever. This year, the new album Harnaś juś nie żyje (Leader is Dead) (Apollon Records) dropped. Here, De Press sounds harder and more uncompromising than ever, without losing its melodic nerve. The songs are inspired by themes such as the atrocities of World War II in Norway and Poland, historical events from the Tatra Mountains, and the urge to rebel during the pandemic in 2020/21.
Read more and buy tickets HERE!
Los Wembler’s de Iquitos
Los Wembler’s are pioneers of cumbia amazónica—a groundbreaking fusion of psychedelic rock, surf, Afro-Latin rhythms, and indigenous melodies. They were the first band in the Amazon to play popular local rhythms on electric guitars. The band fell in love with the sound of the wah wah pedal, using it to transform local rhythms into something new. Now revered as elder statesmen of Latin alternative music, they've inspired a new generation of artists across the Americas and Europe. Their recent EP Ikaro del Amor, produced by Olivier Conan and with key tracks remixed by their musical heirs in The Meridian Brothers, channels the spirit of Amazonian shamanism with a heavier, more hypnotic sound. Los Wembler’s continue to shape the ever-evolving legacy of cumbia, proving that there’s still plenty to discover in their music.
Read more and buy tickets HERE!
This year, at Oslo World, the post-punk sensation Tramhaus will perform at Goldie. The members of the ferocious five-piece from Rotterdam has said that they founded the band out of pure boredom. It must have done the trick – in a short timespan, the band has built a reputation as one of Europe’s most ferocious live acts, combining wild energy with tight precision. In just a few short years, the band has toured relentlessly — from a sold-out Paradiso show in Amsterdam to a buzz-generating Japan tour, and a massive European run in 2024 that cemented their status as one of the continent’s most vital live bands. Their long-awaited debut album, The First Exit was released in September last year to rave reviews. This autumn, one of the most vital new rock bands will come to Oslo World.
Read more and buy tickets HERE!
When Full Earth and Red Kite take over Goldie together at this year's Oslo World, one can talk about a meeting between two generations of bands that have contributed greatly to the Norwegian music scene being known for heavy, experimental and improvisational rock. With members from elephant9, Bushman's Revenge, Shining and Grand General, Red Kite has achieved cult status for its way of drawing on the great, deep seventies heritage, with room for both headbanging and freaking out. Full Earth is the brainchild of drummer Ingvald Vassbø (Kanaan/Motorpsycho), and with the help of all of Kanaan and a few other members, he combines suggestive riffing with inspiration from minimalists like Terry Riley and searching jazz. You can also get the thrill of Sleep, High on Fire and Elder, in addition to both noise and electronic avant-gardism – but first and foremost, the debut album Cloud Sculptors revealed that Full Earth is a band that writes good and unique music, with a unique sixth sense that makes the music soar far and land just in time.
Read more and buy tickets HERE!
A cool, playful wind blows through the music of the Bergen based band H:e:B. They draw on Moroccan musical traditions, and will also appeal to fans of adventurous prog rock, jazz and offbeat electronica. The bass lines are pulsating, Simen Walle's guitar playing is exploratory and distinct – and Hassan El Bouzidi's vocals tie it all together with strong melodic hooks and storytelling. Here and there, accordions, drum machines and electronic textures crash the party – the result is curious, intuitive, with an irresistible outsider appeal. The album Demi-volee (part 1) was mentioned as one of the best albums released in 2024 when NRK P2 summarized the year in music. And why not? H:e:B represents some of the most effortless genre mixing found in Norwegian music at the moment. Their concerts are energetic, hypnotic, and refreshing.
Read more and buy tickets HERE!
