The 99th Floor - Little Painkillers (Reissue) (1988)

The Norwegian rock band The 99th Floor was formed in 1986 by Morten Solli (b. 1966), Kjetil Moberg (b. 1966) and Jakob Børdahl (b. 1970 - d. 1990). The band name is taken from a song by the Texan garage rock band Moving Sidewalks from 1968. The name points to 1960s garage rock and psychedelia, but the inspiration also came from blues, soul and the late 1970s punk and new wave as well as rock trios such as The Jam, Hüsker Dü and Violent Femmes.

After a number of concerts in Oslo clubs such as Sardine's and Rock Alive, Uffa in Trondheim and Hulen in Bergen, in 1988 the band signed a contract with the small record company VEPS. VEPS also released records with e.g. Jokke & the Valentines and Electrobugs. In September 1988, the debut album "Little Painkillers" was released. Shortly after the release, Jakob Børdahl quit and was replaced by Leif Ovesen.

The album was very well received by critics. In February 1989, The 99th Floor was featured in NRK TV's new venture "Rock-89". In June of the same year, the band opened the Kalvøya Festival. An EP was recorded by Svein Solberg, and released on his own label (Nine records, distributed by Voices of Wonder) in 1990. A number of demos were recorded from 1989-1991 - some of the songs from these demos were released in re-recorded versions first in 2007. After a break of a couple of years, the trio was in the studio again in 1994, with Jørn Christensen (De Press, Mercury Motors) as producer, but under a new name, Swim. "Swimsical" came out at the end of November 1995 on the small, new company Smalltown Supersound.

The opening song on "Swimsical", "Miss Being Miserable with You", was the A-list of NRK P3 for 6 weeks. In 1996, Swim signed a contract with the Dutch record company Arcade Records, which was then newly established in Oslo. New demos were made and a producer meeting was set up, but the agreement with Arcade did not lead to a release, due to changes in the parent company. Swim entered a less active period, but continued to work on new songs in the studio. Drummer Leif Ovesen quit in 2001, after contributing to a number of new recordings. He was replaced by Bjarte Jørgensen, while technician and producer (and Bjarte's brother) Rune Jørgensen joined the band on guitar.

In 2004 came the EP "Big Boys", and only in 2007 the official second album of The 99th Floor, “Eclectic Guitar”, after a switch back to the band's original name again. The album contained up to ten years old recordings made over a long period of time. After many years of hiatus, The 99th Floor returned again in 2018, now with new songs with Norwegian lyrics. The single "Cycle Through the City" was released in June 2018.