Bogus Blimp

The cinematic, noir-ish avant-rock band Bogus Blimp formed in January 1996 in the small Norwegian town of Sanderfjord. One of the earlier signees to Norway's Jester Records — the imprint of Ulver/Arcturus frontman Christopher Rygg — Bogus Blimp fit in well as part of that label's roster, sharing some of the experimental/electronic tendencies and dark, cinematic moods of acts such as Single Unit, post-Nattens Madrigal Ulver, and Disguised Masters-era Arcturus; meanwhile also maintaining a distinct, hard-to-classify sound of their own. As a strange consequence of being on Jester, they have received press in numerous metal-friendly publications (especially ones dedicated to black metal) and have been embraced by a subset of that audience, even though their style isn't really metal at all, black or otherwise. Bogus Blimp's lineup consists of vocalist Christian Mona, organist/keyboardist Aslak Larsen, guitarist Hilmar Larsen, bassist Kyrre Bjørkås, sampling keyboardist Bjørn Larsen, and drummer Ragnar Berg. Their first release, the 25-minute mini-album Men-Mic, came out in 1999 on Jester. That was followed in 2000 by their first full-length, cords. wires. By the time of cords. wires' release, most of the group had moved to the larger city of Oslo in order to be closer to the action in Norway, as well as closer to Europe. Showcasing frontman Mona's visual talents (and concluding their initial "five year plan"), Bogus Blimp issued a home video, the strangely titled By Five 0=Clock Tea, in 2001.