Style Of Eye

Lock up your genres - Linus Eklow, aka Style Of Eye, is ripping up the rule book with his debut artist album, difficult to describe as anything other than the sort of music that makes you want to call your boss and tell them you’re not coming back to work on Monday.

The Stockholm born and based DJ/producer is making a name for himself in techno, but his productions are essentially a journey through everything from techno to house via raw percussion and minimal, floaty melodies and downright weird noises.

Both intelligent but jaw-wobblingly satisfying at the same time, Style Of Eye’s productions are testament to the hotbed of talent springing forth from the underground scene. After growing up in a jazz and soul oriented family, graduating from banging pots and pans to a drumkit aged 10, he realised electronic music was his calling after getting his first computer aged 15 and making “weird downtempo dubbeat and trip hop.“ DJing upbeat drum and bass followed at 16, and Linus was a firm fixture in the studio before long, developing his unique style of music with releases and remixes on such labels as Classic Recordings, Tiny Sticks and Rabid Records.

His most recent productions on Dirtybird and John Dahlbäck’s Pickadoll label have been immense - “The Big Kazoo” E.P (Dirtybird) (#1 on the Heavy Rotation in IDJ´s February Issue), was followed up by “The Prophet” (Pickadoll), and the album, out in September 2008 on Pickadoll, will be preceded by new single “Girls” in May.

As you’d expect from someone who cites influences as diverse as Stevie Wonder, nineteenth century classical composer Edvard Grieg, and Yello, Style of Eye isn’t keen to be pigeonholed. His moniker comes from a desire to put everything out under one name, regardless of what it sounds like... Says Linus: “Since I take in so much different music and put it in a blender I wanted to be able to put everything I see and that inspires me into one project. This album is a huge step from my first release but you can still hear that it’s me.“

The album, which features vocals from the likes of Stephen Simmonds and Emmma, comprises Style of Eye’s productions mixed together: “it was a way to make stuff I could use in my sets, which I build around my productions. I guess my gigs are a bit like artist sets in a way, but it’s just me and my vinyl and CDs on stage. The album was almost a year in the making, and felt like the perfect time to try and put things in a bigger perspective rather than concentrate on two tracks. So I wanted to make a dancefloor album but one that could also be heard as one CD, that could travel through different styles, but you could still connect the dots between the first and last tracks,“ says Linus.

With a remix for Moby under his belt and a tour in the pipeline, Style of Eye is proof that cutting edge house isn’t Sweden’s only hottest export...