#1 // Mesak / BB & Mousepad / Donky Pitch

the essential skweeelection

This episode from Wavy Graves features two slow compact funk mixes from two producers who create very different variants of the skweee sound. Showing off the more traditional forms of the Scandinavian funk is Ben Butler and Mousepad with a ten track skweee primer that "tries to cover all bases of skweee, from the awkward, funky, dissonant, soulful, icy, dumb". He followed Frans Carlqvist (Pavan, Limonious, head of Flogsta Danshall)'s original tenets of Skweee and kept everything to 105bpm. With a mix of recent US and unknown releases is one of skweee's kingpins: Mesak.

Also featured in this episode is an interview with UK imprint Donky Pitch who via their label and club nights support and promote some of the purveyors of the crooked synthline, dutty hiphop UK sound of Ghost Mutt and Slugabed.

// Ben Butler and Mousepad (LOAF)

Joe Howe (aka Ben Butler & Mousepad) left Glasgow for Berlin to collaborate on the Joemus project with "electronic vaudevillian" Momus, before that he was recording and performing with one of the best twisted pop duo OF ALL TIME: Gay Against You. Since then he has taken on a number of projects including a series of recordings at WORM studios in Amsterdam and most recently a sound piece to accompany an opera about synth pioneer Wendy Carlos. His performances have licks of improvisation, sometimes accompanied by a live drummer, welding the keytar for extended solos, or just some tight synthetic funk jams. A prolific artist, working on a number of synth centric projects, including his own brand of thick rocking skweee available on LOAF Recordings, his Souncloud, his Bandcamp and a split 7" with Sprutbass on Dødpop .

//Donky Pitch

The Brighton imprint have been some of the first in the UK to put on Coco Bryce, Randy Barracuda, Mweslee, Slugabed...they've even pressed a split 7" with Slugabed and Ghostmutt (whos love for Keith Sweat can be heard again on his latest mixtape Jam Your Boner). They talk about upcoming Donky Pitch releases, their seminal skweee record and losing their skweeeginerty

// Mesak (Harmönia)

The CEO of Harmonia, one of the originators of the so-called skweee sound and one of the chillest guys you'll ever meet. He's proven to be one of the most versatile "skweee" producers with deeper techno cuts on Klakson, putting out a collection of Pavan's recordings from 2003-2006 and some sweet live MPC performances.This is an exclusive set of strictly 7"s.

Posted at 18:15, 17th January 2011

mesak (harmönia)

// Mesak (Harmönia)

Whats your name? Who are you?

Mesak. "CEO" of Harmönia record label...

How would you describe what skweee is, or what it could be?

Retard electro funk from the north

Who or what is proto-skweee?

i think this is why the scene is so vivid and heterogenic; everyone has his/hers own roots for inspiration and vision for "proto skweee". i've heard so many different versions of how the music sounds and what are the origins etc... but at the same time there is some things that define skweee more than others. i'd say that Randy Barracuda and Daniel Savio, the biggest crate diggers in the scene, have defined so called proto skweee most. hopefully they give more precice answer.

Do you love skweee? If so why, if not why not?

I love skweee, it made me meet many great ppl who i would have not otherwise met.

Where, when, or who was there when you first heard/performed skweee?

First i found weird Swedish releases in Snickars Records in Stockholm, among them was a Påve (later Pavan) 10"... couple of years later i saw the man playing in Bergen's Ekko Festival 2004. That's when i lost my skweeerginity.

Which skwee label/artists do you favour? What differences do you perceive between the labels/artists?

All new labels and artists are welcome. we're always looking for new inspirational musicians to harmönia roster and new labels are considered friends, for sure.

Why is the 7” king? Is the 7” king?

Nice size, cheap postages... and it doesn't fit "extra" shit in it, only the essential tunes! practical in these digi-releases-overflow times..

What was the first bit of technology that inspired you? What was the last bit of technology to inspire you?

Oh, it goes way back! but some very very first "music" i made with a turntable and an open reel tape recorder which functioned as 4-tracker.. making tape loops etc... that was like -91 or so.

What are you doing today?

Administration

Posted at 22:02, 14th January 2011

sprutbass (dødpop)

Skweee labels have been slowly emerging around the globe since 2007, last year American imprint Poisonous Gases started pressing in Portland, making that 3 Skweee labels based in the USA. In the UK, Donky Pitch have just put out their first release, a split between Slugabed and Ghost Mutt, who are both based in Brighton.

It all started in the Nordics with labels Flogsta Danshall and Harmonia releasing some of the first Skweee records. Flogsta Danshall takes its name from a community hall in the small town of Flogsta in Sweeden. Pavan who started the label says that the last time he went to the single floor Danshall, he saw “a guy stood on a table trying to knock himself out with a whiskey bottle...we never held parties in there, but its kind of a fantasy that people going there and going crazy to this kind of music. Its kind of its true home.”

Although the sound is almost sophisticated, or slick, its the kind of Danshall stupidity thats at the heart of Skweee, it isn’t ponderous muisc it wants to create the biggest impact with the smallest amount of effort.

//Sprutbass (dødpop)

Whats your name? Who are you?

Eivind Henjum, Sprutbass.

How would you describe what skweee is, or what it could be?

To meeee skweeee is more a way of attitude towards music and the process of making it, rather than certain sounds, rythms and different musical parameters. Skweeee is a positive, unpretentious way of thinking that goes to the core of what i think the real essence of music should be. Without all the nonsense and unmusical bullshit that often goes toghether with modern, popular music.

Who or what is proto-skweee?

Hmm....those genres.....Not shure here....maybe....my all time favourite germans Kraftwerk, old videogamessoundtracks like Atari or Nintendo, some old hip-hop and early works of some of the Darmstadt- composers like Stockhausen, early electronic music.

Proto means first, so i guess proto-skweee also can be a mark on the early skweee like the oldest Flogsta and Harmönia stuff by Pavan, Joxaren or early stuff by Mesak and Randy Barracuda. Really minimalistic soundscape and sort of naive melodies, and "cheap" sounds, although they are really complex works and true masterpieces.

Do you love skweee? If so why, if not why not?

I really LOVE some skweee artist, and some i dont like, or understand, to put it diplomatic. Im not a fan of all skweee. If it lacks a certain vibe and melodic structure and progression, i get bored. But i try not to think to much if somethings is "skweee" or not. I dont see the point of doing so, its limiting.

I love the skweee- way of thinking (see quest. 1), its a great way for me to work. Its a "play first, think later" -mentality that i find really healthy and inspiring. The "do it yourself" way of thinking really opened up for me, as i always played in bands or different groups making compromises all the time. I love collaboroating, but the skweee- scene made me do it all by myself. I dont think i would have started the Sprutbass- project if it was for the skweee scene Beatbully and Melkeveien introdused me to. So yes, i love skweee.

Where is it all going? It seems like fewer skweee records are being made at the moment, or am I just being dumb?

Hmm. It lives its own life now i guess, but i know Dødpop got a busy year ahead with many releases coming up, myself, Beatbully and Daniel Savio + + all with full length albums. And Chelis and the guys in Zaragoza got something coming too, soon i hope. And Harmönia, since im about to send them some new material...

I play alot live these days, and people seem to take interest in the "unfamiliar" typical skweee sounds. Especially people who usually dont listen to electronic music or are especially dedicated towards it. I often hear people say to me after the show: "I did not know i enjoyed this kind of music..." So, maybe skweee can be a eye-opener to more people; that electronic music and a laptop on stage dont have to be hard-trance, techhouse or a dj just spinning mp3s. Or to put it in a different way: its ok to take a beer and just listen or nod your head and whatever u feel like..its just music.

Where, when, or who was there when you first heard/performed skweee?

The first time i heard of skweee was back in 2008 when my dear friend Bård Beatbully asked me to join his liveset for the now legendary Norrköping skweee summit. I brought my old Korg Ms20 and Bård used a mac, and a old beaten Mikrokorg and off we went. Lots of impro on his songs, wich probably was the first skweee i ever heard. It worked quite nice: Only one laptop got stolen, and there was (maybe...) two or three others in the audience who didnt play, besides the 12 or so of us who did play. Thats the skweee-curse.

But we had a great time, meeting up with the Flogsta and Harmönia- guys, even my man, the legendary Thomas Wankers United came all the way from Paris playing. I think we all immediatly hit of with eachother, same crappy humor and a great hunger for beer, old synths and grandmas slippers. It was my first meeting with the both skweee and the scene, if u could call it that in 2008. Anyhow, it was a blast, and all of a sudden i released my first 7" along with Bård on dødpop some months later (hjemmebrentfunk/ulykke 7" -dødpop 02)

Which skwee label/artists do you favour? What differences do you percieve between the labels/artists?

All of them! Who i listen to varies from day to day.

I love the differnces and variations internally on all the releases. Anyone could hear the difference between my stuff and..lets say Pavan or Mesak, or Beatbully. I dont bother thinking of the difference between the labels, its som much variation internally anyway. And all the artists releases their stuff on all the different labels and we all play togheter. So..to me its kind of a blurry border between the different labels

In the big picture, the difference between the labels is mostly geographical.

Why is the 7” king? Is the 7” king?

Its cheap, small and without broadband. For me, its about giving the music the focus it deserves. You dont get the same ears with Spotify or digital releases. Guess im old school.

What was the first bit of technology that inspired you? What was the last bit of technology to inspire you?

First and last: My Korg Ms20. Its the main instrument for all my work, along with the Roland 707 drum- machine i got/still borrows/haventpaidforyet, from Bård and a Microkorg. I concider myself "technicially disabeled" , so not much softsynths or fancystuff.

What are you doing today?

Watching all the Harry Potter movies in a old monastery in the norwegian countryside. Saving up energy for all the hardcore skweee shows in 2011.

Posted at 11:07, 14th January 2011

wankers united (disques mazout))

Randy Barracuda says “its an attitude”, Mesak calls it “retard electro funk”, Sprutbass says its “positive, unpretentious” and wiki just pinned it in a paragraph.

This is not London centric, po-faced or steely electronic music, its awkward, homemade and ramshackle. The sound palette has as much in common with Megadrive game soundtracks like Streets of Rage or Road Rash than DMX Krew’s synth geekery. Each record is so different, from the galactic low end perversion of Slugabed or Shlohmo, to the 8 bit g-funk of Pavan or Box Kite.

Skweee has the ability to confound, as Randy Barracuda says “its slow but complex”, subverting whats considered club music and spilling all its synthline juices onto its favoured format...the 7”. It has a totally community feeling to it and the artists really egg each other on, the releases are small and there isn’t loads of money wasted on press.

I sent a series of questions to skweee labels and artists. This is the first in a series of interview sthat take the form of both text and audio. The audio interviews will be part of an upcoming show with exclusive mixes and musics from Wavy Graves and Ben Butler & Mousepad.

//Wankers United ( Flogsta Danshall, Harmönia, Disques Mazout)

Whats your name? Who are you?

My name is Wankers United and I'm an arrogant french guy responsible for a few tunes on the funkin' fresh skweee labels Flogsta Danshall and Harmönia. I also founded Disques Mazout with the help of my brother Poborsk. We released a few 7”s by Cuverville, Poborsk, Daniel Savio, and soon V.C. We both run this Cuverville project aswell.

How would you describe what skweee is, or what it could be?

Skweee is a monster! It is the Scandinavian Synthetic Funk, or conflict RNB, or Kebab Krunk or whatever... It is mostly made out of synths and usually is slow on the tempo. It is the perfect blend between the good and the bad. Though it's good not to try to describe it too much because it can lead to integrism which is not so good. Grand Wizard Randy Barracuda said «Skweee is an attitude »

Who or what is proto-skweee?

Skweee from the past. Here is an awesome mixup by Frans Carlqvist aka Limonious aka Pavan himself! http://s3.amazonaws.com/luckymedia/_MIXTAPES/39.mp3

Do you love skweee? If so why, if not why not?

Hell yeah i love skweee. I do because it helps me not being too ashamed of making tunes.

Where is it all going? It seems like fewer skweee records are being made at the moment, or am I just being dumb?

Yea i think you're dumb. Lately there were american labels (Poisonous Gases, Losonofono, and soon Digital Vomit) pooping out 7 inches and LP vinyls! I highly recommend Daniel Savio's Nekropolis LP on Losonofono.

Where, when, or who was there when you first heard/performed skweee?

That was a few years ago. I was following Mesak on Klakson, and i really loved « Back to the Future ». Which led me to Skandinavian Skweee Vol.1 & 2 and to Museum of Future Sound vol.1. And it blew my mind. Then there was this Pixelache festival (a finnish festival i think) in Paris and Mesak & Spartan Lover were invited. That was a great show! Then, as they were in Paris, the 3 of us played at the Batofar's cantine a very very tiny place. And that was fun!

Which skwee label/artists do you favour? What differences do you percieve between the labels/artists?

Flogsta Danshall & Harmönia of course! Favourite artists??? Mesak and Limonious and Savio and Joxaren and Mrs Qeada and Randy Barracuda and Claws Cousteau and Poborsk and V.C. and Sprutbass and...and...and....and.... They're all so goooooood!

Why is the 7” king? Is the 7” king?

The best thing in 7”s is that there's always a B side.

What was the first bit of technology that inspired you? What was the last bit of technology to inspire you?

The very first piece of gear I had the chance to put my hands on was a Roland dr550. It was not mine, but I was the one who programmed it :D That was in the early 90's. Then I bought a Korg Ms10 at the fleamarket for about 20€ (yes), there were feathers and chicken shit on it. A friend of mine opened it and cleaned it for me and I still own it :D

What are you doing today?

The flat needs some cleaning... Having sex would be fantastic!

Posted at 17:11, 9th January 2011