Words About Things

I’ve only known what Skweee is for the last half an hour so I’m hardly an expert but here is what I know so far: It’s a style of Electronic music emerging from Norway and Sweden that is very funky and simple. Skweee is normally referred to as electronic funk. It is minimalist yet unlike a lot of minimalist music it is fun and playful. The influences seem to be funk, soul, 8bit, and electro and there is some cross over between Skweee and Dubstep or more specifically Dubstep’s woozy, synthy offshoot Wonky. There also seems to be elements of Ragga, including a disregard for traditional instruments in favour of cheap sounding keyboards and anything that bleeps.

Beem is producer Fredrik Mjelle from Stockholm, Sweden who’s latest album The Future is available to download for free from his site (see below). I recommend you check it out if you are into electronic music or just interested in hearing something fresh. If like me you have been enjoying Joker and Zomby’s recent output you will probably be right at home amongst the beeps and synths.

Check out the video below for a taster.

More info on Skweee

Download the album from Beem’s site.

The way that we feel about the different mediums used to transport songs can tell a lot about our age. I suppose it’s like how people think the television was better when they were young because when you were young even Neighbours was good.

In my experience those who are slightly older than me tend to talk about the warmth of vinyl and the relatively faceless nature of mp3s. They bemoan the loss of 12″ artwork and the smell of a record. Presumably they don’t mind only being able to listen to records at home and having to get up a flip them over half way through.

Then there are those (mostly younger than me) who will quite happily play an over compressed mp3 through the tiny speaker on their mobile phone. This wouldn’t bother me if they used headphones rather than blasting out the latest Basshunter abomination like a cheesy call-to-prayer to other cretins.

Personally my favourite medium is the mp3 for a variety of reasons. They are cheaper than CDs for a start (the fact that the record industry charged us £12+ for an album for all those years makes me less sympathetic about their current plight). They are much easier to get hold of, you can go from 1st listen to owning the track in minutes. Even if you count the cost of downloading via pay as you go mobile broadband the average album is cheaper than via any other medium.

You can also skip through files and rearange them into mixes and playlists. Whilst you could do this with tapes it took much longer and the eventually wore out. You can carry your entire music collection around in your pocket and listen to anything anywhere. On a recent train journey I took my laptop with a mobile broadband dongle and my mp3 collection. I felt like I had access to every song ever (bank balance permitting), stick that on your turntable

A nice mix for you to stream to celebrate the arrival of spring. This is by dp and is hosted by the service 8tracks which I thoroughly recommend. This mix features James Yorkston, Swayzak and Gui Boratto. More info about dp can be found on his blog here or you could just enjoy the music

Renaissance Man are a duo from Helsinki who specialise in minimal/tech house. They have just released their Spraycan EP on Dubsided. I found this mix on Curb Crawlers which has a wealth of great mixes.

“Drenched in jackin’ tech house minimalism, Renaissance Man’s upcoming EP to be released on Dubsided marks an welcome turn in direction for the imprint. The horn laden title track Spraycan, with a it’s stripped down rhythm track and low filtered sub shifts the gold standard label’s path more in line with the likes of Made To Play or Dirtybird…”

Rene’s Party House – February 2009
1.Herbert – Moving Like A Train (Smith & Hack Remix)
2. Sis- Trompetta
3. Zombie Disco Squad – Esperanto
4. Radioclit- Secousse (Brodinski Remix)
5. Obi Blanche – Beetle Fight
6. Mixhell – Boom Da (Downtown Remix Instrumental)
7. Green Velvet – Thoughts
8. Renaissance Man – Aloha Dub
9. D.H.S – House Of God
10. Thomas Schumacher- Picanha
11. Renaissance Man – Spraycan

Download here [zshare].

Renaissance Man’s myspace.