In 2010 Popkomm is back on its feet, this time in collaboration with Berlin Music Week and Berlin Festival. This year, ten Norwegian acts will perform in Berlin during the days of Popkomm.

As part of the new jazz section of Popkomm, Jazzkomm, Rune grammofon and Jazzland, in collaboration with Music Export Norway, will present a label night on September 8th at the Frannz Club in Berlin. The event starts at 8:30 PM and includes a great line up consisting of vocal groovy jazz by Beady Belle, speed Balkan bookie from Farmers Market and progressive jazz rock from Elephant 9.

On September 9th the well renowned label Smalltown Supersound will host a label night at the Watergate Club in Berlin. Here you will experience live performances by Lindstrøm & Christabelle and Mungolian Jet Set, while Diskjokke and Annie will play DJ sets throughout the night. The event starts at midnight.

- It is an honor for us to be able to do a showcase in Berlin. The city is a Mecca for club music and historically the city has been important for the kind of music that we at Smalltown Supersound love. This is the first time that we do a label night in Berlin and we're very happy about that. We also think we have a line up that will make Berlin go crazy for a few hours. Come and dance with us, says Joakim Haugland of Smalltown Supersound.

There are also three other Norwegian acts performing as part of the official Popkomm showcase program. These are The Megaphonic Thrift, Simon Says No! and Therese Aune. The schedule is as follows:

The Megaphonic Thrift

THURSDAY 9th SEPTEMBER:
VENUE: C-CLUB, KREUZBERG
TIME: 19:30-20:00

FRIDAY 10th SEPTEMBER:
VENUE: HANGAR 5 STAGE, BERLIN FESTIVAL
TIME: 18:15

Simon Says No!

THURSDAY 9th SEPTEMBER:
VENUE: COMET CLUB, KREUZBERG
TIME: 20:30-21:00

Therese Aune

WEDNESDAY 8th SEPTEMBER:
VENUE: C-CLUB & CRYSTAL ROOM, KREUZBERG
TIME: 19:00-19:30

THURSDAY 9th SEPTEMBER:
VENUE: LA VIE EN ROSE, TEMPELHOF
TIME: 16:00-16:30

FRIDAY 10th SEPTEMBER:
VENUE: HANGAR 5 STAGE, BERLIN FESTIVAL
TIME: 14:30-15:10

About the acts:

Beady Belle (www.myspace.com/beadymusic)

In the end of the 90s Beady Belle became an insider tip due to their new sound full of soul and jazz, elastic grooves somewhere between energetic house, relaxed funk and artful appeals to drum 'n' bass. In a playful way their music created a connection between the club music of the 90s and intelligent popsongs with a jazzy tune. Beady Belle are the Norwegian singer Beate S. Lech and the bassist Marius Reksjø, who have been in a long-time musical partnership. A short time ago the drummer Erik Holm joined the band as a permanent member.

Farmers Market (www.myspace.com/farmersmarkettheband)

Farmers Market's music is a mixture of Bulgarian folklore, jazz, pop music and humour. The band first started as a free jazz quintet but they quickly discovered their common interest in Bulgarian folklore with its oriental spectrum, its odd numbered beat and its exceptional possibilities for jamming. Farmers Market is one of Norway's most popular live bands and they not only perform at jazz festivals but also at rock and world music festivals.

Elephant 9 (www.myspace.com/elephant9theband)

Excellent trio consisting of Ståle Storløkken (Supersilent, Humcrush) on keyboards, Nikolai Eilertsen (The National Bank) on bass and Torstein Lofthus (Shining) on drums. Storløkken mostly concentrating on organ and electric piano gives the album a late sixtees, early seventees flavour with traces of rock, jazz, prog and psychedelia. The rock solid rhythm section gives it all a contemporary edge and we get an extremely tight little unit with a high degree of great musicianship as well as pure joy in their playing.

Lindstrøm & Christabelle (www.myspace.com/lindstromandchristabelle)

After the release of Lindstrøm’s critically acclaimed solo album Where You Go I Go Too, in 2008 and 2009`s collaborative album with Prins Thomas, II, Norway’s maestro of disco returns once again. This time he teams up with sultry vocalist Christabelle, to bring us Real Life Is No Cool, an edgy pop album of structured chaos and hypnotic beats.

Mungolian Jet Set (www.myspace.com/mungolianjetset)

Emerging from the fallout of Oslo's Grunerlokka club-jazz scene, Mungolian Jet Set have built a new empire from the debris of musical civilizations both recent and long considered lost. Led by Paul "Strangefruit" Nyhus and Knut Saevik with Reidar Skar lurking in the shades, the Jetset have created a Sonic Laboratory at the heart of their growing empire, and it is from there that strangely beautiful and funky audiomutants issue, their numbers growing day by day.

Annie (DJ) (www.myspace.com/anniemusic)

Norwegian disco queen Annie knows more than how to create catchy pop songs. She is also a great DJ! Expect quality music and danceable beats during her DJ set. 

Diskjokke (DJ) (www.myspace.com/diskjokke)

Like Annie, Diskjokke performs both with a band and as a DJ. For years diskJokke has been closely connected to Norway’s premiere club night, Sunkissed, where he is resident DJ with G-HA, Olanskii and VinnyVillbass. He is part of the Oslo scene that has revolved around Sunkissed, as well as the Nomaden and The Villa clubs in Oslo, with Rune Lindbaek, Linstrom, Prins Thomas and Todd Terje

The Megaphonic Thrift (www.myspace.com/megaphonicthrift)

The Megaphonic Thrift is based in Bergen, Norway and comprises Richard Myklebust of Stereo21, Linn Frokedal and Njaal Clementsen both of post-kraut rockers The Low Frequency In Stereo and Fredrik Vogsborg of Casiokids/Syme. The Megaphonic Thrift mix equal parts of noise and harmony for their music, best described as noisepop with shoegaze elements. Their premier references are acts like Sonic Youth, Built To Spill,Dinosaur Jr, Guided By Voices and My Bloody Valentine.

Simon Says No! (www.myspace.com/nosayssimon)

Their raw sound recalls the glory days of Seattle grunge and the spirit of ‘77 in London, but the band is nuanced enough to flesh things out with a fuzziness that wouldn’t seem out of place at a Slowdive or My Bloody Valentine gig.

Therese Aune (www.myspace.com/thereseaune)

Therese Aune plays evocative dream pop on piano, toy piano and other intruments she likes. She started playing the piano as a ten year old, and has over time developed a personal expression which at times is restrained and calm and occasionally ramshackle and playful.