Festival guide: Loud Neighbours
A good number of concerts at this year’s festival draw nourishment from punk, noise and alternative underground music. Here are three: solo performances by Ava Mendoza move between avant-garde guitar and powerful songwriting; South African underground punk phenomenon Twenty One Children are set to turn Kafé Hærverk upside down – and at the same venue, noise legends Melt-Banana will play two sold-out shows. But make sure to also check out bands like Dirty Three and BCUC!
Twenty One Children
Kafé Hærverk
29 October
Twenty One Children are the new rebellious punk sensation from South Africa – a fearless trio tearing the alternative music rulebook to shreds. The band was formed by friends Thula and Abdula, who eventually brought drummer Biko into the fold. They share roots in gospel, kwaito, hip-hop, R&B and South Africa’s underground traditions. But when they play, Twenty One Children fuse American punk influences with the heartbeat of Soweto, creating a subversive whirlwind of noise and soul.
Read more and buy tickets HERE!
Melt-Banana
Kafé Hærverk
30 October
Melt-Banana from Tokyo will play at Kafé Hærverk during Oslo World this year. Founded in 1992, the band has over the years become a cult phenomenon and an institution in the alternative music world. Through countless concerts and recordings, they have explored noise and musical complexity from a multitude of angles, while collaborating with experimental artists including Lou Reed, John Zorn, Mike Patton, Wire, Tool and Underworld. Melt-Banana consists of Yasuko Onuki (“Yako”) and guitarist Ichiro Agata (“Agata”). Agata’s guitar sound is often described as a battery of turntables, synths and samplers hidden between the six strings, creating what has been dubbed their “hypertension sound”. A Melt-Banana concert can overwhelm you with the physical force and unpredictability of the music. But it also creates space for associations – with art, punk, noise, grindcore, free jazz – allowing the listener’s thoughts to wander freely.
Read more and buy tickets HERE!
Ava Mendoza
Nasjonal Jazzscene
30 October
With her combination of memorable songs and spontaneous musical exploration, Ava Mendoza is undoubtedly one of the most intriguing guitarists to emerge from the United States in recent decades. The Brooklyn-based musician moves fluidly between jazz and alternative rock and has collaborated with other cutting-edge guitarists such as Fred Frith, Bill Orcutt and Nels Cline, as well as renowned avant-gardists including John Zorn and William Parker.
In 2024, she released the album The Circular Train to widespread critical acclaim. On it, Mendoza explores the roots of her own history and the American continent. Drawing on her family’s background in mining communities in Bolivia and Montana, she digs into stories of forced labour, colonialism and cultural loss. But there are also songs about swimming with dolphins in the Amazon, as well as a tribute to her friend, trumpeter Jaimie Branch, who died in 2022. The sound is steeped in blues and Americana, intimate, stripped-down and virtually free of effects beyond the warm, delicious distortion of a Fender amplifier and Mendoza’s laid-back, charismatic vocal style.
Read more and buy tickets HERE!
