Skwee

Skwee

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 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.