For a genre that only exists due to the advancement of technology, the dance music world has a bizarre attitude towards a lot of things. Many would have you believe, for example, that in order to play a role within the scene, you must be based within particular cities – places like New York, Berlin and London are frequently named as such.

There’s just one problem with this logic – it simply isn’t true. One man who’s making an impact right now, admittedly in quite a niche way, is Viljar Sæbbe – Norway’s finest contribution to Bandcamp, it seems. Now, Norway is known for many things, even if clubbing is not the first thing that comes to mind. Yet here’s someone having an impact – blowing apart the notion that you simply must be based in certain places to hold any sway.

First Floor’s Shawn Reynaldo, having wondered who on earth this mysterious man was who kept reviewing music on the site, decided to do the journalistic thing. He contacted him and asked if he fancied doing an interview for First Floor. Was this guy just someone who spent his entire days writing about nothing but music – or was there more to it?

The full article is behind the paywall, but we thought we’d highlight one or two things in it. Sæbbe reveals that he’s a 25-year-old who books the DJs for a nightclub in Trondheim – and after completing his masters degree in around a year’s time, he hopes to become a teacher. Oh, and sorry to disappoint any of the ladies reading this – but he does say he has a girlfriend.

Anyway, Sæbbe goes into a lot of detail on his background and why he does what he does. We’re not going to ruin things for First Floor by revealing everything here for free – although he curiously says he “finds it hard” to consider what he does as a form of music journalism. But what does he think of the trade? Well…

“When it comes to discovering fresh new releases, I don’t think that the magazines are the most relevant source at the moment. A lot of Substack writers are doing a much better job, and I do spend a lot of time sweeping through their recommendations and checking their playlists.”

How the mighty have fallen, eh? Time was that a positive review in the hallowed pages of a print magazine could drive up sales of that release – whilst a negative one could potentially sink it. Nowadays, almost none of them review music at all – and on the rare occasions they do, you’re left wondering just why they published it in the first place.

Be in no doubt – Viljar Sæbbe does more for dance music journalism than a lot of dance music press writers put together…