diskJokke

• Genre: Electronica/Dance
• Hometown: Oslo

About

DiskJokke (say it with three syllables to get the, uh, joke) is Joakim Dyrdahl, one of the leading lights of Norway's vital electronic-music scene. Like his countrymen Lindstrom and Prins Thomas, diskJokke is rooted in disco at its most expansive and unpredictable. While he loves his glancing cymbals and bouncing bass lines, making people dance isn't his only motivation. Drawing from the worlds of progressive rock, cosmic disco, experimental computer music and electro pop, diskJokke unites "high" and "low" with a melody-rich sound that's full of a childlike sense of wonder, recalling Bruce Haack or Raymond Scott alongside Giorgio Moroder or Daniele Baldelli.

Dyrdahl got his start in electronic music by making unauthorized edits of disco classics before moving on to composing his own songs, but his career as a musician almost didn't happen. After three years of living hand to mouth and focusing on music, he returned to graduate studies in mathematics. After two months in school, Get Physical tapped Dyrdahl for a single on its Kindisch sublabel, and a contract with Oslo powerhouse Smalltown Supersound followed soon after. Bad news for math; great news for rhythm.

- Philip Sherburne