Typical instruments Synthesizer | ||
 | ||
Stylistic origins Chiptune
minimal techno
electro
funk
R&B
soul
Middle Eastern rhythms Cultural origins Late 2000s (decade), Sweden and Finland | ||
Skweee is a musical style, with origin in Sweden and Finland. Skweee combines simple synth/chiptune leads and basslines with funk, R&B or soul-like rhythms, overall rendering a stripped-down funky sound. The tracks are mostly entirely instrumental, though there are exceptions. The name Skweee was coined by Daniel Savio, one of the originators of the emerging sound. The name refers to the use of vintage synthesizers in the production process, where the aim is to "squeeze out" the most interesting sounds possible.
The current producers are both newcomers and old, experienced producers from the Scandinavian electro and electronica environment.
Skweeelicious, a blog dedicated to skweee, and community sites such as MySpace and Nation of Skweee have played a major role in the distribution of skweee music and public exposure of the genre.
The major outlets of skweee music are the Swedish record label Flogsta Danshall and Finnish record label Harmönia. Norwegian Dødpop, Canadian Ancient Robot, US Losonofono, US Titched, US Poisonous Gases, Spanish Lo Fi Funk, Finnish Mässy, and French Mazout have since been added to this family. The preferred media format of skweee enthusiasts is the 7" vinyl record. Early releases were exclusively released in this format. More recently, however, a series of 12" vinyl records, digital releases and CD compilations have been released through these outlets as well.
The increasing notability of the skweee genre has resulted in releases such as the Eero Johannes album on Planet Mu and the Skweee Tooth compilation on Ramp Recordings.
Skweee and dubstep
Skweee has, during late 2008 and early 2009, started to influence the sound of dubstep. A thread started on the dubstepforum made the scene aware of skweee. Producers such as Rusko, Gemmy, Joker, Zomby, Rustie, among others, have given their take on the sound, resulting in several releases on the boundary between skweee and dubstep. The gap between dubstep and skweee has been further bridged by artists such as DJ Pontificate and underground ambient artist Chohmo, as evidenced by the former's release "Skweeeal."