Skatebård’s debut album Skateboarding was a crime: In 1989 has become a coveted gem for the Discogs community in recent years. Fetching anywhere between €50 to €200 its collector’s appeal has installed the fairly inconspicuous album into the realm of left-field treasure, and with good reason. Originally a limited release on the small Tellé records sub-label Tellektro, the mini album is a modern classic today, but until now, you’ve only been able to find the record floating around on Discogs at eye-watering prices, traded like a commodity rather than the endearing electronic dance record it is.
Fortunately today we can finally get our hands on a relatively inexpensive copy of Skatebård’s debut with the first re-issue of Skateboarding was a crime: In 1989 in 2017 making its way onto record shelves everywhere.
The mini LP has stood the test of time and Skatebård’s analogue sequenced sound has only aged like a fine wine. The comparative energetic tempos to today’s standards are the only thing that eludes to its age, and densely textural compositions still stand-out amongst modern day contemporaries; utilising the same sonic palette that’s been informing electronic music since the eighties, but combining them in a way where they truly come alive off the temporal recorded format.
Skateboarding might have been a crime in 1989, but in 2002 in Norway’s electronic music scene, everything went anywhere and this album went some way in establishing a new Norwegian sound alongside records from Bjørn Torske and Prins Thomas & Lindstrøm, a sound that the media coined Space Disco, but travelled much further into unknown dimensions. Incorporating everything from Trance to Disco and House, records like Skateboarding was a crime: In 1989, laid the foundation for a whole new generation of music producer in Norway that would take the entire globe by storm throughout the first decade of this century.
Records like Trøbbel, Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas and Skateboarding was a Crime: in 1989 installed Norwegian electronica into the alternative popular consciousness at an international level, but unlike the aforementioned records it might have been somewhat overlooked in the past, appearing on a sub label in a limited pressing. The collector community never doubted its importance however and it’s due to those passionate heads that the album stayed relevant and probably in some part due to the excessive prices they were asking for their rare copies that the reissue eventually saw the light of day.
Today’s Skateboarding was a crime: In 1989 is ready for a whole new generation of music enthusiast to enjoy, while some of us to become reacquainted with an old friend.