Pitchfork

Photo by Kathryn Yu

Fun facts about Moi, Norway: it has a population of about 2,000, it's the home of Serena-Maneesh frontman Emil Nikolaisen, and it will soon play host to a Nikolaisen-curated festival show featuring Sufjan Stevens.

The event sweeps through the NorDan factory in tiny Moi on August 23, as part of the month-long Dalane Festival of Culture, according to a Stavanger 2008 writeup. Along with Sufjan-- an unlikely friend of Nikolaisen who played on Serena-Maneesh's self-titled LP-- Danielson will also perform, while members of the Ladybug Transistor and the Loch Ness Mouse (for whom Nikolaisen used to drum) will collaborate as the Loch Ness Transistor.

The bill thus far is rounded out by Minneapolis' Happy Daggers and Nikolaisen's fellow Norwegians Black Feather (aka Harald Frøland of Jaga Jazzist), Ingrid Olava, Frode Jacobsen (of Madrugada), Elvira Nikolaisen, and I Was a King. A "psychedelic chamber-pop version" of Serena-Maneesh known as S-M Intergalactic Makkverk will grace the stage as well.

Nikolaisen put together the concert in conjunction with Smalltown Supersound label boss Joakim Haugland (also on the bill under his Disk guise) and I Was a King's Frode Strømstad.

Thanks to reader Magnus Heie Gregersen for the tip.