This year’s Øya program has recieved a lot of praise and kind words. This has confirmed our suspicion that this year’s program is the strongest program in Øya history. Norwegian newspapers like VG and Dagbladet are accompanied by international media like Guardian, Times, Art Rocker and NME in saying that this festival is an absolute must. Adding to this, the ticket sales are going great and there are very few day passes left. So far, the tickets for Friday the the 13.th of August are the quickest selling ones. On this day, The Flaming Lips, Robyn, Susanne Sundfør, John Olav Nilsen & Gjengen, The Specials and La Roux are amongst the favourites. The tickets for Saturday are also selling very well, and we expect these two days to sell out within a short time.

The Øya Festival 2010 presents what’s best in Norwegian pop and rock right now. combined with hot international names. Many of the international artists have never seen Norway before or they rarely visit our part of Europe. Amongst the most exclusive concerts you’ll find Motorpsycho performing their classic Timothy’s Monster, Paul Weller’s first ever visit to Norway, diskJokkes premiere of his project in Indonesian music and lots of other exciting stuff.

We will soon be releasing the program for The Club Day the 10th of August, the bands playing at Camp Indie and the program for the free shows at the Skate Park.
This year’s Øya festival area has been changed quite extensively, providing more space for the audience and also more seating. This has been achieved partly by placing on of the stages on the asfalt area behind the park and building larger restaurant areas. The new stage which will be called “Klubben” (The Club) will be replacing the “Odden” stage. The goal of these changes is to free more space in the park. Adding to this, we have upgraded the Sjøsiden stage and built a tribune in connection to this. All of these changes will improve the festival area for the audience. We will not be selling more tickets than before, but we have chosen to upgrade the area to improve the conditions for the same amount of people as usual.

YEASAYER (US) Thu 12/8
Yeasayer was the name on everyone’s lips when they released their acclaimed debut album All Hour Cymbals in 2007, described by the band itself as “Middle Eastern-psych-snap-gospel”. On this year’s follow-up Odd Blood, the organic jam sound has been replaced by a focus on catchy pop and dancy rythms, but the unique Yeasayer will of experimenting and joy of playing are still the most prominent ingredients. This is where you’ll find the irrestistible sing-a-long songs like Ampbling Alp and O.N.E. next to the more challenging The Children and Mondegreen, before the beautiful folk ballad Grizelda rounds up the parade. Yeasayer sound good on record, but they are even more convincing live, something they proved at Rockefeller in March. Chris Keating and Anand Wilder’s sparring vocals – one of them with force and the other light and sensitive – and Ira Wolf Tuton’s ingenious bass lines takes the performance to a whole new level accompanied by visual effects and lights. Welcome back, boys! Yeasayer performed one of the best afternoon concerts in the sunshine at Øya two years ago. Keating, Wilder and Wolf Tuton are now ready for a comeback in The Medieval Park. The band will colour in the festival with their playful and lively approach to pop and rock. We know this will be a joyous reunion for both band and fans.
MYSPACE

THOM HELL Wed 11/8
This year, the amazing Thom Hell will be opening the outdoor part of the Øya Festival. He has become one of the country’s most acclaimed and popular singer/songwriters. Thomas Helland has released four strong albums and recieved two Grammys during his career. Many probably became familiar with his soft but determined songs when Missing Home was first aired on radio in 2003. His debut album I Love You came the year after. The successful records God If I Saw Her Now and All Good Things have given Hell a big and growing audience throughout Norway. The latter album was released earlier this year, and the review in national paper Aftenposten said: “He manages in a clever way to join the best from the past with his own without sounding like he’s purely copying. His sound is impressively rich. But most important, in all good pop music there is some melancholy”. Thom Hell’s music has clear references to amongst others the west coast sound, The Beatles and other high quality pop music. This will be a great kick off to this year’s Øya Festival, and Hell’s melodies will fell like a comfortable breeze in your ears under the hot summer sun.
MYSPACE

WARDRUNA Thu 12/8
Wardruna is based in old nordic traditions and music. They use traditional instruments like bone flutes, Jew’s harp, wooden horn, traditional fiddles and old percussive instruments. Two of the central members have earlier played brutal black metal, but the sound is now acoustic, which means the dark and mysterious has taken on a whole different sound. Wardruna wishes to make music with close ties to the Norwegian nature, something you can tell by listening to their debut album Runaljod – gap var Ginnunga from last year. At The Øya Festival, you can experience this Bergen group’s mixture of folk music and ambient elements. This is guaranteed to be a festival concert outside the ordinary.
MYSPACE

THE BLACK ANGELS (US) Thu 12/8
The Black Angels released their fantastic debut album Passover in 2006. Inside the cover, you can read the quote “illness, insanity and death are the black angels that kept watch over my cradle and accompanied me all of my life”. These words were originally spoken by famous Norwegian painter Edward Munch. It might seem a bit strange that a band from Texas that is so preoccupied with Munch has never before played in Oslo, but there just hasn’t been a good time before now. With their debut album and the follow-up Directions To See A Ghost, The Black Angels have been gorging on great sounds from American psychedelia, heavy blues and modern shoegazing. References like 13th Floor Elevators, Velvet underground, Spiritualized and The Jesus & Mary Chain are often mentioned when describing the band’s music. When Norwegian music website Groove.no wrote their review of the debut, they were fascinated by the unrest of the record: “There is an atmosphere of something gone very wrong in Passover; the hope that was crushed and the future that was bombed to pieces whilst the lovechildren dissappeared into the rainbow”. We are very much looking forward to the third album, which is going to be named Phosphene Dream. We are excited about presenting a band that has mesmerized us several times on our visits to the USA to the Norwegian audience.
MYSPACE

RUBIK (FI) Fri 13/8
The Finnish orchestra Rubik has quite a few members, and can be described by coupled antonyms. They are simple and complicated, soft and sharp, straight-forward and experimental. The contradictions are not ruling eachother out; Rubik is all of this at the same time plus a bit more. Their music is still founded on pure pop, and this always pushes it’s way through the sometimes experimental wrapping. Many were impressed by their performance at By:larm this winter, where they proved themselves to be a solid live band. Someone wrote that this band sounds like a synthesis of the best alternative rock from the last decade, but without ever using minor. This is not far from the truth, and this makes Rubik a perfect start to the Friday at Øya.
MYSPACE

TORGNY Wed 11/8
One of Norwegian the strongest personalities in Norwegian rock is ready to present some new music to the Øya Audience. Torgny Knutson Amdam positioned himself as one of the most charismatic front figures in the country when he was the vocalist in Amulet, a very loved and deeply missed band that quit by throwing an amazing show at Øya in 2007. Now Torgny is finally back, and even though he has dropped his surname and has a new musical approach, he still has the same charm and energy. The cool single The Only Game is the first part of a beautiful melancholic video cooperation with the director Emil Trier that is like made for the transition between lazy summer days and rainy autumn. The debut album is coming in September and comprises of electronic pop, organic art rock and everything inbetween.
MYSPACE

DIE ANTWOORD (ZA) Fri 13/8
Waddy «Ninja» Jones is quite a legend on the South African Hip Hop scene. As an mc in the stoner rap group The Original Evergreens, he won several prizes and awards in his home country, but in 2009, he felt that the time was ripe to try something different and fool around a bit. Ninja recruited the girl next door, Yo-Landi Vi$$er and friend DJ Hi-Tek and formed the Die Antwoord. They play what they themselves call zef africaans rap rave, in other words tacky but trendy rap at high speed. Their record is to be released on American Interscope (home of yeah Yeah Yeahs, Eminem, Queens Of The Stone Age, ++) on the 17th of July. It’s not every day that a South African band gets such a huge record deal, is hyped by Pitchfork or sounds as cool as Die Antwoord. The Trio is famous for throwing insanely funny live shows. What could be more appropriate than booking the new musical hope of South Africa to Oslo, after a summer where all eyes have been on this particular country? Be there while this trio blows away Øya – and the world.
MYSPACE

KENNETH ISHAK & THE FREEDOM MACHINES Wed 11/8
Kenneth Ishak has been an uncrowned price of pop for a long time. He has not yet had his great break through with the masses, in spite of always making airy and nice pop deserving a big audience. Through the band Beezewax, in collaboration with people like The Little Hands Of Asphalt, Hiawata! and Marte Valle and some solo releases, he has been one of the most solid pop songwriters for the last decade. Norwegian national paper VG once wrote “Ishak writes beautiful and elegant songs with harmonies and atmospheres that can make even the most callous soften up”. This fall, he is releasing his new album, which he has worked on for quite some time. On this album, he is accompanied by the backingband The Freedom Machines. In the studio, they have been helped by Bent Sæther (Motorpsycho) and Jörgen Wall (Fatboy). Expect lovely melodies and a sound that reminds quite a bit of classic power pop. People we have talked to who have heard parts of the album speak of big, wonderful sounds and music that makes the summer last longer. Kenneth Ishak & The Freedom Machines is the first band to play at the Sjøsiden stage at The Øya Festival 2010. A perfect start, with cool pop and under the warm sun.
MYSPACE

OSLO ESS Thu 12/8
Behind the name Oslo Ess, you’ll find a group of guys who have backgrounds in bands like The Upstrokes, Anton Ruud & The Wrong Way Home, Silver, All Friday and Pale Kids. These days, they are making asfalt rock in Norwegian, inspired by bands like Rancid and Elvis Costello, The Clash, Petty and Springsteen. It sounds dirty and fresh, and the band has written a solid bunch of songs. They were amongst the greatest successes at the Øya Camp Indie night on the 16th of May. This means that you should probably be close to the stage by them time Oslo Ess start their show at Øya.
MYSPACE

YOUTH PICTURES OF FLORENCE HENDERSON Fri 13/8
After releasing their debut album Unnoticeable In A Tiny Town, Invisible In The City in 2005, the band with the weird and long name suddenly became the critic’s new favourites. This seven man band from Trondheim also run the independent label How Is Annie Records, and they released the double album named after the band earlier this year. The elaborate packaging, complete with artistic drawings and gold prints, matches the dreamy and ambisious musical content, and as Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen said, this is “Spectacular music from the Norwegian underground”, and that it “deserves to be compared with Motorpsycho and Timothy’s Monster”. There is no reason to miss out on this.
MYSPACE