Svek

Diving into the catalogue of the seminal Swedish label

Svek

Svek is a Swedish label that ran from 1996 to 2003. It is primarily known as a house label, but it also put out techno, downtempo and even the odd drum & bass cut. In tandem with Drumcode, it is probably the most well known Swedish 90's electronic music label. While the two could hardly be more stylistically different - deep and lush house versus rapidfire, slamming techno - they both drew from the same pool of Swedish producers, who would often simultaneously release house on Svek and techno on Drumcode. Even Drumcode boss and future business techno superstar Adam Beyer ended up doing a few deep cuts for Svek.

As such, almost everyone that released on Svek is Swedish. In today's hyper-connected, cosmopolitan electronic music scene, such stark geographic specificity may feel somewhat quaint, yet, it is also impossible to deny that there's something romantic to that. While it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what it is, there is something quintessentially "nordic" to the sound of Svek. Just like nordic jazz did decades earlier, Svek took on a pioneering American sound and made it its own.

In the process of traveling all the way from the world metropolis NYC to the nordic periphery, the sound of house inevitably underwent a transformation. Even in the more mellow and minimal cuts of classic American deep house (think Prescription), you can still feel the dense hustle and bustle of the city. In contrast, the tracks on Svek feel more rural; they are usually light, easy-going and display a great deal of patience, often making do with very sparse, wide and open arrangements.

Also, while classic American deep house was able to draw from the primordial soup of black music - blues, jazz, funk and soul - in a relatively direct manner, the Swedish producers’ way of sampling the same records is noticeably different, both for a lack of cultural proximity and the fact that their approach was filtered through the sound of the burgeoning techno movement. Most of the producers on Svek got their start making banging rave tracks, an influence that can still be heard in their attempts at house. While the results accordingly rarely reach the "authentic" musicality and soulfulness of the American records, they do offer a spin on house that has its own distinct charme.

Svek's last release came out in 2003, a year that more or less marks the end of the "long 1990s" and the start of the 00's, which brought with it a drastic shift in dance music culture (the end of techno as a mass youth culture in Europe, the collapse of the vinyl market, the advent of computer-based production and DJing). As such, I've always associated Svek with a certain lightness and carefree naivety that is common to a lot of electronic music from the tail end of the 90s. As the spoken word intro to the track "Midsummer" goes:

“I always think about those long midsummer nights in late June, when you sit by the water till five o'clock in the morning ... you know, it never really gets dark, because the sun is coming up shortly after the sunset, so you're just sitting there by the sea and having fun with your friends ... and before you realize it, it's a new day!”

The Persuader - What's The Time, Mr. Templar? (1997 - Discogs)

If there is a defining Svek track, it's almost certainly the (originally untitled) b2 track "What Is The Time, Mr. Templar?" on Jesper Dahlbäck's debut of the The Persuader, his first foray into house after having previously released techno as Lenk. Resident Advisor has some background information on how the rather curious name came about:

"Svek's 11th release was The Persuader EP, a name Dahlbäck took from a detective series starring Roger Moore on Swedish television. The record's artwork was a photo of Dahlbäck during a modelling shoot for a watch company. He's in a leather jacket with his ear to a watch, channeling the slick Roger Moore look he had seen on TV. On the artwork was written, somewhat randomly, ‘What Is The Time, Mr. Templar?’, a reference to Simon Templar, a character Moore played in a different show at the time."

The track is based around a short looped sample of bass and keys from Biddu Orchestra's "Rainforest". Listening to the original, it is astonishing how drastically Dahlbäck transforms the sample through astute sampler programming (according to the RA piece, Dahlbäck used an Ensoniq EPS 16+, a common favorite at the time). Towards the end of the loop, the sample gets stretched and transforms into a pad-like mass of sound. This tension between the rhythmic and sustained parts of the sample drives the track in a call-and-response manner, looping around and around as it constructs its own little world of groove.

Stephan G & The Persuader - Kaos (EP, 1997)

This one's a cult classic among fans of minimalist, tracky house. The track consists of little but a muted, mid-tempo kick and a seductive, extended tom bassline in the lowend; on top, skitty hats, percussion and tiny filtered, watery chord fragments. There's not much going on here, just a basic groove and the occasional dub delay throw. But what a groove! While obviously indebted to the mother of all dubby techno-house grooves,"Phylyps Trak II”, "Kaos" goes in a slower and house-ier direction, serving as an early blueprint for the kind bass heavy and dubbed-out house tracks that have long become a popular DJ staple. A quietly influential classic that fellow Swedish producer Elias Landberg aka Skudge recently paid homage to with a track entitled "Svek".

The Persuader - Stockholm (1999)

Dahlbäck's debut album Stockholm (fun fact: the vinyl version is the very first release ever listed on Discogs! The founder Kevin Lewandowski was a hobby DJ) takes the sound of his 12"s into a less tracky, more refined and classy direction. Named after what I assume are various places in Stockholm, this is a classic city album. The opening track "Slussen" is a bright and breaksy funk number that only turns into something resembling house track about halfway through. "Strömbron" mixes raw, noisy lowend with synth-string sweeps and jazzy keys and guitar samples. "Mosebacke" is based around organ chords, glistening synth strings and a big, extended sine bass. Funnily enough, it also makes use of the stab sample also found in the opening track, but here it is drowned in dense tape echo feedback. "Östermalm" comes with a dry, looped bassline, lush rhodes keys and swooshing, phased pads. The last two tracks are somewhat awkward lounge-y downtempo numbers that are undeniably corny, but also charming in their unrepentant kitsch.

Mr. James Barth - Stealin' Music (1998)

Cari Lekebusch made his name with raw and boisterous techno on Drumcode and his own H. Productions label. While his Mr. James Barth alias turns to house-ier climates, it is clearly still a techno artist having a go at house. Lekebusch is having a blast on this side project, not taking anything too seriously and frequently employing his own voice for silly little vocal flourishments (the intro track "Boatride" is a rare techno album skit). This is a collection of tracks full of big basslines, slamming, saturated drums, warm stabs, techy funk and cheeky vocals and vocoder lines. "Tech-house" in the good sense, bringing together the energy and rawness of techno with the funk and warmth of house.

Conceiled Project - Pattern 1-4 (1998)

Early deep tracks from Adam Beyer. Much like the Cari Lekebusch record, this is clearly a techno artist making house, as evidenced by the technoid programming and swing that’s all over this EP. "Part 1" is driven by a killer distorted tom bassline, running below blubbery and echoing chords. "Part 2" features heavily compressed 909 drums, warm, oozing pads in the background and a brassy, fluttering synth sequence in the middle. Deep cuts just right for late nights and early mornings.

Brommage Dub - Dub One (1999)

This one's a CD-exclusive. As you might know, in the 90s, CD compilations were still the primary way to get electronic dance music - usually released on specialist 12" vinyl - into the average music fan's living room. Svek had its own Lords Of Svek CD-compilation series that serves as a nice overview of the label. Fittingly, Brommage Dub’s (Jesper Dahlbäck and Jean-Louis Huhta), compilation contribution "Dub One" is a light, wide and melancholic track that was clearly not made for the club, but for extended home listening. It only lasts about six and a half minutes but is the kind of dub that could feasibly go on forever, dubbing and cascading towards infinity.

Forme - Moonraker (2000)

Another CD compilation track. Although Svek was primarily a house and techno label, it did release the odd drum & bass track. Here we have drum & bass legend Sebastian Ahrenberg - better known as Seba - as “Forme”, an alias he exclusively used for appearances on Svek. Fittingly for the sound of the label, this one's a lush and deep half-time cut, slower than typical drum & bass, with light, organic percussion, a warm, gooey bassline and slowly cascading, mysterious string pads.