We kick off 2012 with a UK tour to mark the UK/European release of our album Aabenbaringen over aaskammen on Moshi Moshi Records! The album will be out Jan 16th. Can’t wait to see you all again, and to come to Cambridge for the first time!

19.01.12 UK, Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
20.01.12 UK, Manchester, Deaf Institute
21.01.12 UK, Glasgow, Captain’s Rest
22.01.12 UK, Newcastle, Cluny
24.01.12 UK, London, Cargo
25.01.12 UK, Cambridge, Portland Arms
26.01.12 UK, Bath, Moles
27.01.12 UK, Tunbridge Wells, Forum
28.01.12 UK, Canterbury, The Farmhouse

Casiokids Japan Tour!

10.11.11 Tokyo, Marz
11.11.11 Tokyo, Unit – Nordic Night – 8pm
11.11.11 Tokyo, Chelsea Hotel/Milky Way – TokyoIndie Party – midnight
12.11.11 Nagoya, Party’z
13.11.11 Osaka, Shangri la

Out now on Moshi Moshi. Get it here. Including of Montreal remix!

Yes, please.

17.10.11 Washington DC, DC9
18.10.11 Philadelphia, Kong Fu Necktie
19.10.11 New York, CMJ: Under the Radar Party 13:35 @ Public Assembly
19.10.11 New York, CMJ: Windish showcase @ Piano’s
20.10.11 New York, CMJ: Glasslands
21.10.11 New York, CMJ: Spike Hill
22.10.11 New York, CMJ: AAM Inc party 14:30 @ Knitting Factory

Cover art by Blank Blank & Jaakko Pallasvuo

‘Aabenbaringen over aaskammen’
by Casiokids

1. Aabenbaringen over aaskammen
2. Det haster!
3. Dresinen
4. Golden years
5. Olympiske leker
6. Dr. Tarzan Monsoon
7. Selskapets triste avslutning
8. Elefantenes hemmelige gravplass
9. Kaskaden
10. London Zoo
11. Aldri ska me ha det gøy

Download first single “Det haster!” for free and pre-order the album from Polyvinyl here!

to be released by the Un-United Nations; on Universal Norway Oct 14th (Available at the release party at EKKO sep 30th), Polyvinyl Records (USA) oct 11th, Flake Records (Japan) Oct 19th and Moshi Moshi (Rest of the world) Jan 16th 2012.

Here’s a little Q & A by Seth (Q’s) & Ketil (A’s):

Q: Why was “Aabenbaringen over aaskammen” chosen as the album title?

A: The song themes and sounds on the album are shaped around and inspired by the story of adventurer Dr. Tarzan Monsoon, and his discovery of a hidden rainforest. ‘Aabenbaringen’ translates to ‘the revelation’, and ‘over aaskammen’ as ‘over the mountain’, something that appears from over the mountain top. Two of the words are written in old Danish-Norwegian with the double A, instead of the more common modern-Norwegian Å, and a ‘B’ to replace the more modern-Norwegian ‘P’ in ‘aabenbaringen’. This gives the title a hint of being older, in Norwegian grammatical terms, 100 years or so.

Q: What was the writing process like? How did writing for an album differ from the past few years where you were just writing singles?

A: The writing and production are shared by Fredrik, Omar, Kjetil and myself (Ketil). This time around we did the main chunk of recording within a 3 month period, very different from our record-and-run schedule on earlier output. Doing the recordings within the same timeframe (bar a US-Norway-Mexico-Russia weekend tour in April) left us more focused in the studio, shaping ideas from sketches into the finished songs with the whole album in mind. We wanted this to feel more like an ALBUM, and we knew we had to finish it before friends started to forget our names (again).

Q: If you could pick one song on “Aabenbaringen over aaskammen” that you’re most proud of, what would it be and why?

A: This is the kind of thing that will often change, depending on when songs were made and the situations related to them, but if you ask me today I would say “Selskapets triste avslutning”. Not only was it the last song to make the cut on the album and perhaps then also most fresh for me, but how it came together was in many ways a bundle of luck and joy. I had the idea for a lyric and suddenly discovered a sketch Omar and Fredrik had been working on which had been filed away in the ‘maybe?’ pile. I browsed through some sketches to try my idea, and this ‘maybe?’ one fitted together almost immediately with the vocal melody and the build-up of my lyrics. Right after this little discovery the entire of Montreal collective was visiting our tiny studio in Bergen, and “Selskapets triste avslutning” was one of the songs Kevin Barnes, K Ishibashi, Bryan Poole and the others helped us on the most.

Q: There are new kinds of songs and instruments on this album compared to your previous output. What was the reason to expand your palette with new song styles and new instrumentation?

A: Our first release “Fück MIDI!” was done mainly in Fredrik’s father’s office in Stavanger, the second album “Topp stemning på lokal bar” was done in an old cantina and in the hallway of the Bergen Jazz Association, whilst on this record we wanted to sit in our little grotto at Bergen Kjøtt (Bergen Meat) studio and dig a bit deeper and experiment more with production possibilities. For me the production sounds richer, a natural development as all of us are more used to recording and more eager to find possibilities with the equipment we’ve gathered (stolen) over the years. Fans of our earlier recordings (and fellow workers at Fredrik’s father’s office) will not be disappointed though, as we´re bound to remain categorized in the lo-fi-electro genre (forever). Even though we’ve become more interested in production possibilities, we still want to retain the rawness of the first two records. The dulcet tones of the Casio will always be at the core of our manifesto.

(Wondering about something (anything)? Write to us at hotmail@casiokids.com)

Love

Ketil

JAPAN TOUR

10.11.11 Japan, Tokyo, Marz
11.11.11 Japan, Tokyo, Unit
12.11.11 Japan, Nagoya, R.A.D.
13.11.11 Japan, Osaka, Shangri la