In The Studio With | Skudge

Techno purist Elias Landberg’s fourth Skudge album displays a master craftsman at work. Danny Turner dives in

Initially a duo, Elias Landberg’s now solo project Skudge arrived in 2011 with the economical techno LP, Phantom. Following Gustaf Wallnerström’s departure, Landberg widened his sound palette on the flawless, cerebral-sounding album Balancing Point and 2020’s equally intricate yet more house-oriented Time Tracks.

An in-demand DJ, oft found residing at techno hubs such as Fabric and Berghain, Landberg has kept a low profile while continuing to release music on his own Skudge Records. His refusal to compromise couldn’t be more apparent on his latest Skudge album, Soundworks, where sparse yet adrenal techno merges past and future with uncanny precision.

Did Sweden have a buoyant techno scene when you were growing up?

“The legal scene, if you can call it that, was very small, and the ‘rave police’ closed down a lot of the clubs because of a problem with drugs. The parties were great and there were lots of them. The best club in Stockholm back then was called Docklands, which was open from 10pm to 10am but they closed it down in early 2000. It’s still called Docklands, but they rebuilt it and people are now living in that building instead. When we started Skudge, there was a club called 2.35:1 at Berns in Stockholm where most of the DJs and artists were playing. That was great too, but now it’s become more commercial.”

“I’VE CREATED MY OWN SAMPLE LIBRARY USING THE SAME SOUNDS SINCE 2010. EVERY RELEASE HAS A LOT OF THE SAME NOISES; PEOPLE MIGHT NOT HEAR THAT”

Did you start making music before the birth of the minimal techno sound?

“I’ve been making music since 1997, if not longer because I played drums when I was a child and was in a grunge/punk band. I have pretty broad tastes, but when I listen to music it’s mostly ’90s hip-hop and I get a lot of influences from that because I like the sounds and the gritty, lo-fi production. I also like a lot of ’90s techno, like Mr. G, G-Man, Jeff Mills and Robert Hood – all the obvious ones. But I don’t see Skudge as minimal techno, it’s somewhere between techno and house.”