Tim Staypuft knows what’s what. For a couple years now he’s been touting Skweee! Skweee’s this crazy, kind of simple but kind of infectious strange combination of dancehall, R&B, 8bit music and instrumental pop that basically only comes from Finland, Sweden, and now Norway. The big labels to know are Flogsta Danshall and Harmonia, but recently Oslo has gotten into the act as well with the Dodpop label and put out my two favorite releases so far, entirely Norweigan artists. Apparently 003 and 004 are on the way, can’t wait! Skweee’s weird stuff, but it’s all worth checking out, and I’ve definitely been bitten by the skweee bug! Basically it’s homebase is here, at Nation of Skweee. The added bonus about the whole genre is that it has great art (see below)

Just recently, the awesome Ramp Recordings has put out a whole comp of the stuff called Skweee Tooth that’s an excellent primer on the whole scene. And I wrote an article about it for XLR8R, which is finally up. Check it out!

Currently I’m listening to something that has nothing to do with Skweee … it’s Mux Mool! Check him out!

*Closed the comments to entries on the blog older than 3 weeks old, I was just inundated with spam. This goes along with some general housekeeping that’s designed to get me blogging more often (I know I know, a perpetual promise, but things are different this time…)

*Updated my fav tracks section of the moment. Looks like I’m actually listening to a lot of dubstep again, which wasn’t the case for a while. But really favoring the stuff that’s so complex and ethereal in some ways that it reminds me more of icelandic electronica or Vladislav Delay or almost field records/tape music … Specifically I’d shout out Rich Reason and Fantastic Mr. Fox, who clearly have a level of sonic detail that leaves many others in the dust. A lot of this stuff now gets featured on Rob Booth’s Electronic Explorations show, which I’ve been catching up on back episodes of. Highly recommended.

*I’ve done the recording, but not the editing for, a mix for Modyfier. I’m sort of not happy with it at the moment, but I want it done. I’ll go back and edit it, and then probably discuss that process, since that’s the whole point. Rayna might get a big ramble from me, but hey, when you access Kid K to process, he takes it there. The funny caveat to making this mix was meeting the woman of mystery herself at GAFFTA meeting, an organization we’ll both have a nebulous connection to in the coming months. Very cool. Keep and eye here, Gaffta.org, and at Modyfier for more info.

*Getting very excited for Surya Dub this weekend, I’m still convinced that Mala and EPROM is a great Surya Dub pairing. But I’m not sure how much buzz there is around the show (and only partially because I haven’t been paying attention). If you’re reading this and are coming or even if you’re not but support us, send folks to the going link and have them get their tickets early! www.going.com/suryadubmay30 Or just have them come out! Maybe it’s just pre-show jitters.

*PS – More meta – my god, I just realized how different this blog looks on FF vs Safari. I can only imagine what it looks like on IE. If anyone knows specific resources about alignment/layout/photos/embedding in working with the Royale theme in WP, hit me!

A week before Surya Dub, I had the awesome fortune to put together a show for Mary Anne Hobbs, who was coming out to LA and San Francisco to meet some of the artists that she plays on her show. The whole experience was awesome for me since Mary Anne stands at the pinnacle of not only a certain type of music, but also a certain presentation style, and, like most of the best connections, I got to know her over 24 hours, not just through a show. She was a joy to hang out with, and one of the things that made her click to me is that like so many artists that I now both enjoy and enjoy hanging out with, she has journalistic blood in her. Her stories of global travel both for Bikes and Music are inspiring, and off camera/off air she’s a touch more snark-y and critical, which just makes her all the more fun!

The gig itself was great (well, the upstairs room was great … for my room, meh …I have to say that’s the least people I’ve played to in a long time … until the next gig at 103 Harriet!) But the coolest thing was the two videos that it produced… One by Mary Anne for her Youtube channel and one by Professor Smith and myself for XLR8R. Check ‘em out below. Couple notes: one is that I’m SUPER happy with the location and the sound for the XLR8R one … I loved that location but was worried about the wind on the mics. So that was a win for me. Also … yes, that’s me asking Mary Anne a long ramble of a question in her video …

XLR8R’S WEST COAST ROCK’S SPECIAL

Finally, looks like someone has ripped the BBC show that she did! Get it HERE from Rapidshare (where all good things that don’t live on What.CD live). Track list below. Big tracks here for me are Zoning by EPROM, WLTA by Teebz who I had the good fortune to meet last week, The Architeq vs TAKE track, and Sonido Del Principe track on Bersa Discos.

0200
Mono/Poly – ‘Red & Yellow Toys’ (Dubplate)
12th Planet – ‘Smokescreen’ [Jack Sparrow Mix] (Dubplate)
Exile – ‘We’re All In Power’ From the ‘Exile Radio’ (Plug Research)
Bookworms – ‘How Can I Remix’ (Dubplate)
Samiyam – ‘Bricks’ (Dubplate)
Teebs – ‘WLTA’ (Dubplate)
Alice Coltraine Ft Pharoah Sanders – ‘Journey in Satchidananda’ from the EP ‘Journey in Satchidananda’ (Impulse)
DJ TOMAS INTERVIEW
Flying Lotus – ‘Auntie’s Harp’ from the LP ‘Los Angeles’ (Warp)
Architeq – ‘Sleeping Bear’ [TAKE Remix] (Dubplate)
Jega – ‘Soul Flute’ (Planet Mu Dubplate)
Daedelus – ‘Touchstone’ [Jimmy Edgar mix] from ‘For Withered Friends’ (NinjaTune)
Vaccine – ‘Radiate’ (Dubplate)
GLITCH MOB INTERVIEW AND LIVE SET, LOW END THEORY, LA
Dam-Funk – ‘Killdat* (Stones Throw)

0300
Ras_G & The African Space Program – ‘Crazy Alien’ (Dubpate)
Madlib – ‘J.D. & J.B.’ from ‘Beat Konducta Vol 5-6 Bonus 45′ (Stones Throw)
EPROM – ‘Zoning’ (Dubplate)
Kid Kameleon Interview
LAZER SWORD LIVE SET, 103 HARRIET
Bassnectar – ‘Boombox Sketch’ (Amorphous Music)
Ghosts On Tape – ‘Mogadishu Nightlife’ (White label)
Clubroot – ‘Sempiternal’ (Lo Dubs dubplate)
MIA & Rye Rye ‘Tictok’ [Ant-Ten-Nae remix] (Dubplate)
Nobody presents Blank Blue – ‘Blank Blue’ from the LP ‘Western Water Music Vol II’ (Ubiquity)
DADDY KEV INTERVIEW & MIX, LOW END THEORY, LA
Nosaj Thing – ‘Coat Of Arms’ (Alpha Pup)
Sonido Del Principe – ‘Cartagena’ from the compilation album ‘Bersa Discos 4′ (Bersa Discos)
THE GASLAMP KILLER INTERVIEW & LIVE TRACK, LOW END THEORY, LA
Dorian Concept – ‘Yorktown Recreation’ From ‘Maximized Minimalization’ (Affine Records)
Legion Of Two – ‘And Now We Wait’ (Planet Mu)