Oslo

Thanks to Tristen for the Oslo cd and getting me on the list to see the band play at XOXO last Saturday night! We got to XOXO a little after 9 pm and Oslo was setting up. I noticed on the door that Oslo was billed as members of No Doubt. I wonder if the other members of the band have issues with being billed this way; maybe they don’t care if it brings people to see them. Things that make you go hmmmm.

I got Oslo’s cd The Rise and Fall of Love and Hate about a week before this show, it is a decent release. I listened to it twice during the week, I enjoyed the tracks: Slowdive, Things Fall Apart, and Crowded Room. The disc began to wear on me about half way through sounding like the same repetitious drone. I was hoping to be more impressed with the live show, and I am happy to say that the band sounded crisp and exhibited less drone.

The lead singer is quite a character; he makes some god awful facial expressions, and does some very fancy tongue wagging (not creepy) along with the songs at times. He entertained me. The rest of the band seem very diverse musically; the bass player was very-low end, and he has some badass dance moves combined with the typical bass player rubberneck (I love that, by the way). The drummer was stuck in the corner of the small XOXO stage so I didn’t see much of him. The lead guitar player had a High on Fire shirt on and he looked very metal. The guy on keys was great; he looks like he stepped right out of the tv series Fame. My girlfriend loved his looks; she kept singing the Fame soundtrack in my ear. All in all, seeing Oslo was a good time; it’s nice to check out new music, and support up and coming bands that come through Reno, as it doesn’t happen often. I think there are good things in store for Oslo, check them out on the space.

myspace.com/oslo