Formed three years ago, Norwegian act Casiokids have an all important tour of Norway’s Kindergartens under their belt as well as more ‘on the circuit’ gigs such as Brighton’s The Great Escape Festival and a previous appearance here at the Luminaire.

They’re back again tonight as part of a Norwegian showcase arranged by the Øya Festival, and also to celebrate the recent release of their 7” on Moshi Moshi’s Singles Club.

Name-checking Ivor Cutler, King Tubby and Fela Kuti as influences, Casiokids promise to be a pretty eclectic mix. They open with a likeable and melodic bass-heavy pop song complete with Norwegian harmonies, sounding not unlike an inspired jamming session between Stereolab and Sigur Rós.
Later is a disco-inspired track that sounds like a funked up Loney Dear, which is not a bad thing at all. The penultimate track is “yet another love song” and, as befits the best of love songs, with a massive Korg bass line supplemented by dinky little sounds from what’s probably the ‘vibes’ setting on one of their cheap Casio keyboards.

It must have been a toss up when naming the band between Korgkids and Casiokids. You have to wait for set closer, ‘Fot I Hose’ for any afrobeat influences to become apparent. As well as banging drums it’s a truly, truly monstrous bass sound that outdoes even Casiokids’ earlier bass-heavy efforts.

It’s very, very likeable indeed. The only disappointment tonight was there was no sign of the puppet theatre that usually accompanies the Casiokids experience. That’s something to look forward to next time, then.

Jake Bickerton