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2LP
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HRMN 016LP
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"Harmonia Family Album includes 12 artists from 7 countries giving their own interpretations of skweee, the synthetic Scandinavian funk. This double album features both skweee -innovators and brilliant second generation rookies like Finnish dub specialist Levon Zoltar and Japanese child prodigy Neo Hetare. The process of compiling these twelve tracks took more than six months, since each track was carefully handpicked from a selection of more than hundred songs from around the world. Harmonia's previous Skandinavian Skweee Vol. I &II and International Skweee Vol. I&II -compilations were immediately sold out after release and nowadays go up to 100 euros on internet. Because skweee owes so much to the so-called world music, we thought of taking the whole thing to the next level and asked our artists to make their own versions of 'ethnic' music. As you will soon hear, the idea took off like a lazer beam in an Ethiopian desert. The results are breathtaking: music so contemporary yet still so archaic! It gives a great deal of pleasure to the listener to hover through the native American mantras of BMMB's Huuhka-Eno, tribal chanting of Ransta Congregate and slavic pfunk of Eero Johannes. Viva Harmonia!" Housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve.
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12"
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HRMN 015EP
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"Easy and the Center Of The Universe we already know from their Flogsta Danshall 7 inch release and some skweee compilers -- remember 'Legend Of Selda' on Skweee Tooth?!!?!? This new release on Harmonia is as the previous ones infected with Arabian soundbites. We recognize the details from our nights in the Medina of Marrakesh, we slip into our caftan, smoke the water pipe and drink mint tea, and are bodypoppin' like an Egyptian. No kiddin', this record is so imaginative and so true to its style that you can't go any other way. Details of the percussion on 'Halloumi' are so good with the details in the orchestration (references to Uom Kalthoum records come to mind) the pitch and modulation wheels used intensive. With this release Easy & Center Of The Universe proves again that skweee is one of the most evolving styles at the moment. This is exotic and exciting music."
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LP
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HRMN 014LP
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"You're about to experience the first long-playing album of Pavan, the originator of Skweee-music. Skweee, also known as the synthetic Scandinavian funk, is a worldwide phenomena hailing originally from the frosty alleys of Stockholm and Helsinki. The raw, unpolished electronic funk tracks of this album were recorded in 2003-2006, when the term itself didn't yet exist. Now, half a decade later, these rough diamonds finally see the light of day. This magnificent album is sprinkled with analogue synthesizer magic, extraordinaire soundscapes and body rockin' grooves tight as spandex. But don't listen to us, judge for yourself. Take a trip through the electro ragga of 'War' and 'Buttons' and simmer down with the trippy krautness of '1000 Years'. In this world overpopulated by soulless throwaway electronic music it's very rare and touching to hear something as pure and honest as Holy Volt."
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12"
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HRMN 012EP
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"After a decade of bitter tears and hopeless trying our Finnish funkster Randy Barracuda has finally reached his ultimate goal as an artist. He has managed to combine successfully the music of his two favourite composers: Klaus Schulze and Lil' Jon. 'Impossible', You may say. Well, don't believe the hype. Take a listen to 'Streisand Effect''s booming crunk beats, heavy basses, epic synthesizer leads and cristallic arpeggios and choose for yourself. Dubstep hero Tes La Rok's outstanding remix stays true to the original but adds some extra dubby aesthetics to Randy's storming soccer stadium skweee vibes. Backside of the record is dominated by more moody and naturalistic atmospheres. 'Tako To Ama (The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife)' is Randy's homage to the grandiose tradition of Japanese tentacle erotica. In its Asiatic moods and sharp synthesizer stabs you can almost feel the slippery tentacles of an octopus wandering around in your bodily cavities! Record comes to an end with 'Lebensraum,' an eight minute long meditative disco reggae. On 'Lebensraum' the listener finds a totally new aspect of Randy Barracuda's aural art: gone are the rapid staccato melodies and usual stiff funkiness. Maybe Credit00, a mysterious East-German bongo player, gave the track its naturalistic charm and the comfy aura of a forest in the springtime."
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7"
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HRMN 009EP
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"Slug Hit is the most important electronic track of 2009." -- Ryuichi Sakamoto. "Aryan afro beat? Gothic kebab crunk? Electronic body music? Scandinavian new beat?!? Putting finger on Yöt's art is an extremely unrewarding enterprise. Why so? You may ask. First of all, because Yöt sounds very alienating and unfamiliar: Stiff and loose at the same time, disturbing yet sentimental. Secondly, because I do not know them. Like literally, I don't know the individuals behind Yöt. I've stumbled upon them few times during the sweaty, restless nights of Helsinki. (Funny, because 'Yöt' means 'The Nights' in Finnish) Still, I can not really define what sort of people they are or what do they think. I guess that by their looks you could define them 'urban,' but their mental states remain unknown. Like oysters, the members of Yöt are a mystery."
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12"
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HRMN 008EP
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"The 'new sound of Scandinavia,' skweee combines very simple synth leads and basslines with the rhythms of funk, RnB and soul. It is a flourishing community based around online networks that are moving beyond those frontiers thanks to their personal overhaul of dance music. Finland's Harmönia label is one of the standard bearers of the new sound that is coming in from the cold and which they themselves have christened skweee -- simple but effective synths and basslines, coated with funk, R'n'B and soul. Discover it for yourself, courtesy of the Finnish school."
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12"
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HRMN 007EP
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"A banger brought to you by the most dynamic duo of the Finnish Skweee pioneers: Randy Barracuda & Mesak! I would love to tell you briefly about their previous achievements on the field of aural arts, but it would take ages. Let's just say that you've heard their productions during the years in the sets of Dave Clarke, Kode9, DJ Dimitry of Deee-Lite, Billy Nasty, Cari lekebusch, Two Lone Swordsmen and Rob Da Bank to name a few. So, what's cookin' this time? The hydraulically pumpin', epic Kraut-trance-groove of Black Vaseline is based on a nightmare Mesak had on a cloudy August night back in 2002. In his mystical dream, Mesak was drowning in quicksand, watched by a muscular cyclops. When Randy heard about Mesak's dream, he got enthusiastic and, as a devoted Jungian, asked Mesak to bring out more figures from his subconscious. Based on visionary fragments, they crafted a boomin' mountain of heavy motorik dub -- and by the way it sounded, named it 'Black Vaseline.' Eero Johannes, the duo's super-talented young protégée, also participated and made a tear-jerking modern soul remix of it with the kind permission of Planet Mu. The phuturistic RnB of 'Adult Games' was born when the legendary falsetto vocalist Michael Black Electro saw Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty and wondered if Liv Tyler's character could be brought to life. Michael's erotic longing for Lucy Harmon was translated into the most superbly funking space age-synth jam in three summer night sessions at the acclaimed Short Cut Street Studio, Helsinki."
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