Friday, March 05, 2010

Drum and Bass in Sweden

As I keep saying on this blog, I'm a big fan of drum and bass. I'm also interested in its cousin dubstep. Since England is the epicenter of both types of music, whether or not I can satisfy this musical interest of mine in Sweden depends on whether Swedish promoters invite great DJs from there. In Sweden, a promoter called Traffic organizes drum and bass events from time to time. For dubstep, AllOutDubstep is, as far as I know, the only promoter.

They organize events in Stockholm and in Malmö, the third largest city of Sweden in the south (across the water from the Danish capital Copenhagen). (The letter ö reads somewhere between e and o.) Twice in a row, the event in Malmö looks very interesting to me. Last December, Malmö saw DJ Hype, one of the biggest DJs in the drum & bass scene whose astonishing scratching technique always makes me dance. This weekend, AllOutDubstep invites Breakage, perhaps one of the most important producers in the dubstep scene right now, to Malmö. A couple of his drum and bass tunes that I heard on Fabio's BBC Radio 1 show are incredible.

And what I don't understand is this.

Breakage won't come to Stockholm, neither did DJ Hype. 

Are DJ Hype and Breakage too dangerous to homogeneously tidy-clad people in Stockholm? Come on.

Maybe it's not Sweden but Stockholm that makes my life difficult.

Oh, there is another specific incident about Stockholm that makes me unhappy. A violinist friend of mine has been touring with an Ausie singer as a supporting musician. This singer comes to Stockholm this April, but my friend won't come because the stage in Stockholm is too small to have a quartet performing live. So I won't be able to see this friend in Stockholm.

These are very specific reasons to dislike Stockholm, but they mean a lot to me. I'm just incompatible with this beautiful, safe, and usually regarded as livable, capital of Sweden.

10 comments:

ebba said...

i feel you! there needs to be more drum and bass in Sweden. Sweden just doesnt seem to accept it

Masa said...

Thanks a lot for your sympathy with me, ebba. I guess dnb is exactly the opposite to what most Swedes love: nature, sports, and children. :)

Anonymous said...

Check out our music at http://soundcloud.com/modual more dnb from sweden

Unknown said...

Hi,
I'm a DJ / producer / label own based in London. I've tried to get in contact with promoters in Sweden but can't seem to find any. I'd like to come over and play but also heard that the scene is not that big.

All it takes is for 1 promoter to keep pushing the music and people will follow.

I've just had my 2nd release on Fizzy beats.
http://www.myspace.com/mrjosephdj

Anonymous said...

Hi Trevor or should I call you Mr Joseph?

Check this Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11551570524

Seba, the leading Swedish dnb producer, has been organizing a liquid funk party at a bar called Imperiet. I went there last month, and it was very good: a good sound system and a good DJ play. Unfortunately, no one but me and my Russian friend danced...

For harder dnb, Traffic seems to be the only active promoter at the moment.

Hope I will see you on the deck in Stockholm.

Masa

Oscar P said...

Hi, i feel ya bro. we really need more DnB here in Sweden. Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYMcxtv2bh0


Its a friend of mine, He is only 18 years old so he might get far in a few years, who knows. it think that the song is really good and that it deserves more views than that. I guess you can call that "liquid DnB".
too bad that Sweden doesnt "get it"

Unknown said...

swedes=ignorants, regarding dnb scene.
unfortunately i moved here 1 year ago and i am soo disappointed of how they react when smb mentions the word dnb :/
one of the biggest exporters of music in the world and they are not open-minded at all.
not to mention their reaction to weed. boring alcoholics. sorry for being so judgy but they really piss me off..

Anonymous said...

Hey, Was searching 'drum and bass in Stockholm' since Im moving there in a couple of weeks from England. This is some bad news..i looove raves here in London. And funny enough Masa, Im born and raised in Tokyo as well.

S.U.B. said...

Hi hope someone read this. I am in a trying period to move in Sweden. Eager to find some dnb headz there. Am lost without dnb music if you feeling what im saying. So any help would be good to know people that are trying to push the dnb sound there. Peace.

Anonymous said...

S.U.B.,

Traffic is still running drum & bass nights occasionally. Just last Friday saw Ed Rush & Optical. To keep updated, like their Facebook page. They no longer update the blog linked from this post.
https://www.facebook.com/clubtraffic

Also, on 24 May, Goldie is coming to Stockholm.
https://www.facebook.com/events/548440541867162/