Professor Pez
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Professor Pez

Bergen, Hordaland, Norway | INDIE

Bergen, Hordaland, Norway | INDIE
Band Alternative Pop

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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"Professor Pez - Hordaland"

Professor Pez - "Hordaland" cd (Galant)
This Norwegian sextet released a pair of brilliant albums that were fun and lighthearted, but for their third release, they've tightened up and pulled out all the stops! There are still hints of whimsy on this record (particularly in some of the lyrics), but the overall feel of the record is much more mature in a way, with many of these songs having much more complicated arrangements than their usual fare (which benefit greatly from the better production style heard throughout the record). The two opening songs - "The Hordaland Man" and "Papillon (Escape From Ulfsnes Island)" - are perfect examples of this, though you'll still find some songs that fit with their older style, like the shambling "The Wizard Of Os", the rollicking "Elevator Shaft" and the shuffling "The Names Of Our Shoppingmalls". Lyrically, the whole record tells the story of their homeland (the county of Hordaland in western Norway), but in true Professor Pez style, with funny augmentations here and there. This band just keeps getting better and better! MTQ=13/15
- Indiepages


"Professor Pez - We Found the Beach"

We Found The Beach is the second full-length from Professor Pez, Norwegian lo-fi label Galant's signature act. This time around we get even more delicious pop music, this time even better produced and with a bit more energy and rock flare. The press release calls them a "happy Belle and Sebastian," which is a pretty decent description - cheery almost to a fault, PP makes lush, vaguely folk-tinged music with no aversion to strings and brass accompaniment. I'd describe the sound as fuller than that of B&S, but the common elements will probably endear fans of the band to this material. The vocals, meanwhile, have more in common with those of Elf Power's Andrew Rieger and Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes. One thing I noticed is that the naively fun-loving Professor Pez formula gets tiring after awhile; they don't have the uniqueness of Of Montreal or the psychedelic undertones of the Apples In Stereo to stave off tedium. Instead, We Found The Beach kind of plateaus as the type of album you pull out every once in awhile, when you're in the mood. There's no denying the fun in "What Do You Do?" and cutesy "Singing Computers" (a tale of musical doomsdayism), and as long as you don't let yourself get tired of this all, even the less notable songs brandish their charm. - Indieville


Discography

Let us follow the evil balloon (2004) LP
We found the beach, where is the ocean? (2005) LP
Hordaland (2007/2008) LP

Photos

Bio

It all started nine years ago when Petter got a guitar for Christmas. Most of his friends were in bands and it kind of annoyed him that he wasn´t able to play any instruments. Two months later he had made his first songs and his friend Pål invited him over to record the songs on his fourtrack tape recorder. The recordings soon became a weekly ritual, and every Monday they would continue recording new songs of dubious quality. Pål would sometimes even make his famous lasagne, and when Petter went back to his apartment after an evening of recording, he would not have to eat for days.

The first live show was acoustic at a birthday party for a friend´s older brother. Mads who was known as the loudest drummer in Hordaland joined in playing tambourine and drumming on a cardboard box. Pål played keyboard. The crowd of about 25 were mysteriously quiet, but applauded courteously. The infamous Father Police also played at the birthday party. The second show were at Hulen, which is a 350 capacity venue in Bergen. About 50 people had the pleasure of seeing Petter, Pål (extra guitar) and Mads (drums) playing five songs. With only one rehearsal it must have sounded fairly strange. Mads did not know the songs at all and Petter was excessively drunk.

Silje Nes (now on Fat Cat) started in the band playing cello, but when the cello mysteriously disappeared during a thunderstorm she had to play keyboards instead. After having more luck as a solo artist she moved to Berlin and joined up with drummer Mads there. Luckily the extraordinarily talented Sgt. Petter joined on guitar.

Gro began playing with us after a very late night drinking, when she claimed she could play the trumpet. To our surprise she was very good at it too. And she could move around like nobody else in the band. When she is not playing in Professor Pez she does weird experiments on brains. She is also one of Hordalands (our norwegian district) best female armwrestlers.

In addition to this Ingeborg suddenly joined on keyboards. She was originally recruited as a dancer, but due to stage fright she had to settle with playing her nord organ and singing with her sensual voice. She lives a quiet life in a nice blue house and likes to pick flowers.

Our first two albums were mostly recorded in our livingrooms. All of the persons mentioned above put a scare into their neighbours whilst housing the recordings of very loud alternative popmusic. Except for Gro who lives in a very dangerous part of town where noone of the others in the band dares to go.

In 2007 the band got a new drummer (BK). That was fortunate as the old drummer Mads had left Bergen for
Berlin due to the citys cheap kebabs.
They band has plyed with notable acts such as Why?, Herman Dune, Magic Numbers, New Pornographers and toured with bands like Ladybug Transistor and Great Lakes.

Inspired by everything from Television, Go Betweens, Sonic Youth, Deerhoof, Built to Spill, Field Mice, Fiery Furnaces, Olivia Tremor Control and Guided By Voices. Professor Pez is energetic and catchy. A liveexperiernce out of the ordinary.