Who is Swedish Columbia?

• Swedish Columbia is a music/art collective started by old friends, Shelby Cinca (Washington, DC) and Håkan Johansson (Gothenburg, Sweden), who met in the 90s punk scene in Gothenburg, Sweden. Helping grow the underground scene at the time by contributing to putting out records and organizing shows while also screaming into microphones and destroying drumsets. Keeping in contact over the years they found themselves drawn to graphic design and electronic music. With the “Do It Yourself” ethic they learned in the past, Swedish Columbia has become flag that binds together groups of friends and like-minded artists to inspire each other’s creations and contribute sound, visual art and new events around the world.

• But I’d expand on it even more — I (Shelby Cinca), initially started Swedish Columbia as a clothing brand and a traditional record label. Over time and thinking back to my experiences in punk/hardcore bands in the 90s and early 2000s I kind of began to realize that record labels are an old institutional way of doing things. You got signed to labels before to fund recordings and to help get distribution for your album. The digital age really has fixed the distribution problem and brought the distribution to the people with sites like bandcamp.com and the new muxtape.com when it launches. I think people are more comfortable with non-itunes/beatport interfaces so these direct sales are going to be the way to go. So really running a “label” is like theatre of the past.  I see a collective being more open ended, we all have similar tastes and are friends and want to see eachother grow under some sort of loose brand/crew. Any money goes directly to the artists with us all putting a tiny percentage in a pool to print flyers/stickers and maybe even a collectible compilation LP or something in the future. I think the world should run more collectively, so this thinking may be the “Swedish”-ness in the name, being a little more socialist about it all- sharing, giving back to the people.

Who is in the collective?

• Triobelisk
  BMK
  Dmerit
  Jonathan Kreinik
  Tanimura Midnight

DJ Beta-G

• Totoro

When did you start the Masters of the Universe compilations?

• Sakura Night contacted my musical persona Triobelisk on myspace about being on the first MOTU comp – I was a little unsure and cautious about it at first as I wanted to know who else was on it bla bla bla… I eventually gave him a track and then he launched the comp. Afterwards as I saw things come together with his endless promoing on myspace and blogs I realized there was a cool punk/Do-It-Yourself spirit to the whole thing so I wrote him telling him I would host it on the Swedish Columbia server so he can avoid stupid ads on zShare, etc.. It really struck me that his vision on things was similar to mine as we began talking more. His whole take on the comp was with all that artists being on a big collected work together it is a symbol of us all standing alongside each-other as peers and it helps build a DIY/independent community of like-minded artists with zero pretentiousness. Being raised in DC I really felt a strong kinship to bands like Fugazi and Dischord Records which had a similar ethic and I ultimately felt like this whole project had that feel. When the second MOTU comp was being put together by Sakura I was there from the get-go to make sure everything was timed right with my site hosting it and saving the world from crappy adverts while spreading the free music for the people that enjoy it.  But the credit goes to Sakura Night as it was his vision and his insane hard work to organize 80+ artists for these comps, he is the mastermind, I am a mere facilitator and comrade in arms.

Who throws the best parties in your town?

• Marquis, Bliss, Noveau Riche, U.S. Department of Bhangra
• I particularly like how U.S. Department of Bhangra started off the bat giving a chunk of proceeds to charities which helps bring some activism to the night. I spun the first night and I don’t even regularly spin Bhangra and the crowd seemed open and interesting with a mix of people who work in different international organizations. I feel tying in a night to a charity or any sort of awareness seems natural for DC due to the large amount of non-profits and activists in the town. I also think its positive to blend in a little bit of reality to nights just so we all stay humble and realize that we’re lucky that we can even be partying -  even if its like bringing a canned good that could then go to an organization that feeds the homeless. Electronic music today I think is awesome musically and pushes boundaries and I’d like to see it push more in other areas- if it’s “forefront” music with new technology/interfaces to create it and the internet to connect the fans/photographers/bloggers/etc…  then I think that as a scene it can be a huge open forum for the inter-connectedness of humans today and it would be awesome to see more activism/charity/etc…

• Also since I’m moving to Gothenburg, Sweden later this year I’d like to mention Dödselectro which is going to start throwing parties in Gothenburg, Sweden hopefully by the summer and I think it’ll be a great place that will start to bridge newer and younger artists onto a pretty established scene.  And I hope to also start a Swedish Columbia night in Gothenburg too!

Who are your favorite local dj / producers?

• Micah Vellian, Outputmessage, David Nigel Flynn, DJ Beta-G, Will Eastman, Gavin Holland, Miss Modular.

Sweedish Columbia Myspace

-Jason Sturtsman