Casiokids: "Verdens Største Land"

“Verdens Største Land” starts out with some clattery Architecture in Helsinki-esque percussion noodles, but slowly all its parts start clicking into place, leading into one glorious off-beat synth line. That particular bit, which—and this has become my favorite point of comparison in 2010—murders anything on This Is Happening, only returns once, towards the end of the seven-minute song. But half the fun of any music’s danceability is anticipation (like surfing, swimming out into the ocean until you hit the perfect wave), so the wait here is sloppily perfect, a ramshackle combination of guitar, cowbell, keyboards, and Norwegian vocals that come off like a Jónsi remix of Hercules & Love Affair.

The rest of Topp Stemning På Lokal Bar ranges from chipper, electronic twee to a bonus disc (awesomely longer than the album itself) of dance remixes. Tellingly, there are three varieties of “Verdens Største Land” on the extra disc, the song’s fluid elements tweaked in ways that prove both the sturdiness and suprising interchangability of its constituent parts. It could be said Casiokids are tapping into the Scandanavian traditions of Ikea and Lego sets, making peers like Delorean look chunky, unwieldy, and tacky by comparison. It could be said Casiokids rip off some themes from other brands (some xx guitar here, some Of Montreal bpms there). But a focus on how the many, many sounds at their disposal can interlock and separate so efficiently is what sets this, their US debut, apart from their obvious contemporaries, treating dance music like a science of catch-and-release. Leave it to the Norwegians to make it work.