Accompanied by a sensational sea view in the background, a group of people packed in hiking gear stand on the stony edge of a hill, dancing to the progressive psy trance played by one of the Ute resident DJs. The island party, which was part of a bigger festival, might have been the beginning of fulfilling the dream of a small-scale festival of what now is the Oslo-based ambient and fast-paced trance label Ute.Rec.
The footage of the party, which took place back in 2020 on an island five hours sailing from the main coast of Norway, shows the roots of the label: organising raves in and around Oslo, to fill the gap of proper trance events and to provide an escape from the popular tech-house sound of that time. But when the pile of productions from Ute owners Teo Bachs Larsen (Ekkel), Filip Storsveen (Oprofessionell) & Marius Bø grew, a second venture was born; the innovative and idiosyncratic label Ute.Rec. This is now the home of their personal releases, a range of aliases and productions from close friends, held together by an ever-strong label design and a shared fondness for ‘90s esthetics.
After hosting the crew in Amsterdam during the Minimal Collective X Ute party earlier this year, we caught up with the three Ute founders. The trio appears to envelop themselves with a down-to-earth, no-nonsense aura, letting the core of their profession speak for itself: the music.
Hey guys! How are you doing? How did you experience your first Ute event in Amsterdam?
Teo (T): I had a great time. The venue (Doka) was super interesting with the best booth I have ever touched!
Marius (M): It was an amazing party, with a sick vibe and crowd. It felt like people were down for everything and were always interested. Playing 3,5 hours felt too little, and went by too fast! But all the other sets were also really good, I enjoyed all of them a lot.
Good to hear, we loved it too. People here in Amsterdam are still talking about that weekend on this day!
We are curious about the name 'Ute'. How did you come up with it?
T: It’s a straightforward name actually meaning ‘outside’, named after the parties that we hosted outside. The full name is even Ute Club; ‘outside club’. There wasn’t a big rave scene or techno scene in Oslo when we first started. Only the tech-house and psytrance scene had some good raves. But since our first parties, the scene is blossoming with more and more raves that match our taste.
Can you tell us about those first Ute raves?
M: We hosted the first raves in a park, ten minutes outside of the city centre of Oslo. Those were super intimate, quite unorganised and the music was a bit all over the place. Nonetheless, after the first couple of parties, the raves started to get bigger. Too big even, because the police started showing up. Three years ago we decided to move the rave to a more remote location in the forests. It’s a beautiful spot surrounded by pine trees, where the sunrise lightens the dancefloor directly through the trees.
We also organized a one-time festival up in the north on an island which was located five hours sailing from the mainland. It was a sub-festival of a bigger festival. We had our own island where we could do exactly what we wanted without any limits or restrictions. Under some very harsh conditions, we managed to bring the entire sound system up the hills.
"We don’t want to convince people to be interested. People who like the music will find it anyway."
When did you decide to turn the rave into a label?
T: We started the label in 2018 when we had a lot of music that we wanted to release and this felt like a good project.
F: We were also interested in creating a community around the label.
So the idea was mostly to release your own music?
T: Yes, we are not really pursuing to release music from other artists, because it simply takes a lot of time and resources. We only include friends on the compilation of the sub-labels to establish that community.
M: It makes sense to us to make all the choices and decisions regarding our own music ourselves and release them the way we want to. We don’t have to make compromises now.
Did you have some sort of main vision or philosophy when you started the label?
T: I think that everything we do, from parties to the label, we do it as it goes. We rarely talk about our plans in a visionary way.
It’s usually a natural process?
M: Yes, we are all on the same wavelength and have the same view on most of the work. It is a natural flow of doing stuff.
F: I guess we all just do it for fun really and we don’t pursue big plans per se.
T: We also never expected anything to happen. We just threw one party and then another one and another one and this suddenly grew into something more serious, but we still do it with the same motive of having fun.
M: Our approach is also quite organic, we don’t want to push anything or to grow and become big just for the sake of it. We stick to doing what we like, and if things grow, it will happen organically in a more healthy and sustainable way.
Are there labels or events that inspired your label and parties?
M: We have been really inspired by the Copenhagen scene and the emergence of trance there some years ago, with labels like Bunkerbauer and VALIS. We have also been and still are highly influenced by the ‘90s overall aesthetics and specifically ‘90s goa trance and ambient. Both the graphics, the music and the whole aesthetics of these genres.
F: The early closing times of clubs in Oslo were also an inspiration haha. There was nothing to do after three AM, so we took matters into our own hands.
This ‘90s sound seems to be part of a vast underground trance movement in Scandinavia and for a while already. Why do you think this sound is so entangled with your region?
T: Well, trance has been super big in both Sweden and Denmark for a long time already, but not in Norway. We only had a big commercial trance scene around 2004, the big room stuff. Norway, Sweden and Denmark are really feeding off each other. The whole thing started in Copenhagen with melodic techno a few years ago and it evolved in other parts of Scandinavia with each scene having a different take on it. And we took the ‘90s road.
Which ‘90s sound is this in particular?
T: Probably the ‘90s trance of Sweden. But I think it happened mostly by going to one specific record store called Filter Musikk in Oslo, which is our favourite record store stocking a lot of ‘90s records. It exposed us to a lot of music of that time. Roland Lifjell, who runs the shop is a big trance head, so he mostly has had a big influence on what we like, play and buy.
M: He also was a big goa trance DJ in the ‘90s, so he has a very big collection. He still sells records from his old collection in the store. It is a goldmine to dig into.
We would like to know a bit more about the Ute sub labels, Translusid and Sinensis. On Sinensis you release a one-hour ambient track on the A side, and on the B side often a way faster trance track. Why did you choose that combination?
F: Well, both tracks are trance music, but two different types of it. The ambient track is basically a fast trance track without the beat.
T: The B-side tracks are not peak time tracks, but more like trippy cruisers. These fit well with the ambient tracks.
Are there labels or events that inspired your label and parties?
M: We have been really inspired by the Copenhagen scene and the emergence of trance there some years ago, with labels like Bunkerbauer and VALIS. We have also been and still are highly influenced by the ‘90s overall aesthetics and specifically ‘90s goa trance and ambient. Both the graphics, the music and the whole aesthetics of these genres.
F: The early closing times of clubs in Oslo were also an inspiration haha. There was nothing to do after three AM, so we took matters into our own hands.
This ‘90s sound seems to be part of a vast underground trance movement in Scandinavia and for a while already. Why do you think this sound is so entangled with your region?
T: Well, trance has been super big in both Sweden and Denmark for a long time already, but not in Norway. We only had a big commercial trance scene around 2004, the big room stuff. Norway, Sweden and Denmark are really feeding off each other. The whole thing started in Copenhagen with melodic techno a few years ago and it evolved in other parts of Scandinavia with each scene having a different take on it. And we took the ‘90s road.
Which ‘90s sound is this in particular?
T: Probably the ‘90s trance of Sweden. But I think it happened mostly by going to one specific record store called Filter Musikk in Oslo, which is our favourite record store stocking a lot of ‘90s records. It exposed us to a lot of music of that time. Roland Lifjell, who runs the shop is a big trance head, so he mostly has had a big influence on what we like, play and buy.
M: He also was a big goa trance DJ in the ‘90s, so he has a very big collection. He still sells records from his old collection in the store. It is a goldmine to dig into.
We would like to know a bit more about the Ute sub labels, Translusid and Sinensis. On Sinensis you release a one-hour ambient track on the A side, and on the B side often a way faster trance track. Why did you choose that combination?
F: Well, both tracks are trance music, but two different types of it. The ambient track is basically a fast trance track without the beat.
T: The B-side tracks are not peak time tracks, but more like trippy cruisers. These fit well with the ambient tracks.
The other sublabel is called Translusid, which you describe as ‘direct access to the source’. Can you elaborate on the idea behind it?
T: With Translusid we do more spontaneous releases that don’t need lots of time to finetune and to mix down.
M: The production time on our main label is so big, sometimes even two years. With Translusid tracks, the process goes faster. Mastering and releasing happen on the same day, which is a really fun approach.
With one main label and two sub labels, I wonder: when do you decide on creating a new sublabel?
T: We had a lot of music on the shelf and wanted to put that out, but we didn’t want to spam on the Ute label. We don’t like to spam in a lot of fashions, also on social media we try not to post too much. People who like the music will find it anyway. We don’t want to convince people to be interested.
Why did you make the decision to release on CD with the Sinensis label and with some of the compilation albums of Ute.Rec? Does that have to do with the continuous mixes on it?
T: Yes, but we also liked the idea of a collectable. People like to collect stuff.
F: It’s also nice to release physical things that will live longer.
Rumour has it that there is another new sub-label project in the making? We are curious!
F: We are working on a vinyl sub-label!
T: It’s going to be more progressive, a bit different from what we have made so far. It’s very expressive. There will be faster, more emotional and bigger tracks, but at the same time home listening material on the same record. It’s a project that wouldn’t make sense on the other labels.
Let’s talk about the cover art of Ute.Rec, because it stands out and establishes a clear Ute identity. I was wondering which aesthetics you are pursuing? And how does this resonate with the sound of the releases?
T: A lot of it is again inspired by the ‘90s, just like the music. At the same time, it’s modern and clean. We collaborate with artists that we are into. Same as with the music, this process goes quite naturally without having a super-defined aesthetical concept beforehand. Collaborating with artists that are into the music and know what we are doing is crucial for this natural flow.
Which artists that you work with should we really know?
M: Ross Paul McEwan and Haider Ahmad. Thelatter is also our resident DJ Haider, and he made the blue Mikkel Rev album UTE007 and the grey UTE004 one, which are both beautiful. Ross is doing most of our event posters. Working with him since the first release makes him really connected to us, the label and our overall style.
"Maybe those super cool crowds that know everything about the music are not the best crowds"
What about visual art during your events? If we're not mistaken it is not something you have done before. Could this be a project for the future?
T: Yes, definitely. We want to get into contact with a local artist, but it’s hard to find someone. Most people focus only on light and sound.
M: The combination of retro aesthetics and the futuristic medium of visuals is interesting here. It would be nice to create a deeper and more immense psychedelic and mind-altering experience with this during events. Artists like Refik Anadol, Heleen Blanken and Children of the Light have done some super interesting work.
What makes a label a good label?
F: Good music, haha.
T: Releasing your own music helps and not releasing too many genres on one label. You should be able to hear on which label a track is released, or at least recognize the sound of the label in the track. But in the end, it has also to do with taste. A good label for me is not a good label for someone else.
M: Your own sound identity is essential, but every release must still be unique and forward-thinking to keep the label interesting and relevant. Distinctiveness, originality and uniqueness are all important elements.
What about events? What does a succesful event look like from your perspective?
M: Good programming.
F: The timetable indeed.
T: That’s the thing we talk about a lot. The scheduling. We don’t like this Berlin way of programming which is often the same hard techno for seventeen hours straight. Instead, we like the music to go up and down in tempo during the night to make it more interesting and create some sort of journey.
M: Giving DJs the time and space to evolve themselves with their music is important as well.
T: Indeed, if you have twenty DJs playing one hour each, it’s going to be horrible, no matter which DJ is playing.
So, which clubbing experience changed the way you look at nightlife and how it should be curated and shaped?
F: My first time Tresor in Berlin when I was 19 was mind-blowing. I literally thought: ‘This is it!’ It was so good compared to what I knew at that time. The amazing sound systems and music changed the way I looked at music. So yeah, the classic Berlin trip, haha.
T: I went to Barcelona and saw Marcel Dettman for eight hours, which was the proper journey making me realise what we had to pursue back home.
M: For me, it was Amsterdam. Some years ago I saw Mama Snake and Courtesy playing in the basement of De School, which was an eye-opening experience for me. Compared to many clubs in Oslo, this club was big and properly designed in every aspect. The sound, the lightning, the vibe, the duration. It was different from Oslo in so many ways.
How would you describe the clubbing scene in Norway then? Is it comparable to your experience in Amsterdam for example?
M: In Oslo, the contemporary clubbing scene is still quite fresh. At our parties, we have a fan base coming, but there are always many people that are not that much into the music. The potential is there, and I think and hope in a few years it will be great, but at the moment Oslo is lagging behind the rest of Europe.
T: However, we can appreciate parties where the crowd is a mix of music fanatics and random people who are there without knowing who is playing, but who are still curious. Maybe those super cool crowds that know everything about the music and artists are not the best crowds, because they are also very picky.
With such a strong trance-oriented vision we are wondering: which artists or records inspire your productions?
M: This is a hard question, haha! But three goa acts that really inspired me are Blue Planet Corporation, Subcouds and Orichalcum. The early releases from BPC are so beautiful and harmonical, but at the same time super trippy and psychedelic. Orichalcum and Subcouds made some sick, weird, spaced-out goa-trance which is super groovy and well produced. This to me is the best of both worlds of the old school goa-universe. The ‘90s ambient trance era is also a goldmine and inspiration. Currently, Battle of the Future Buddhas is pushing boundaries, with a super sick combination of ‘90s goa-trance influences and refreshing forward-thinking elements. And of course our good friend and amazing producer Alpha Tracks is truly one of the most talented and innovating producers in the scene these days.
F: I would say Point Blank a.k.a Secret Cinema, Robert Leiner a.k.a The Source Experiment and Pete Namlook.
T: I am very inspired by the Swedish and Danish early ‘00s vibes like Spiral Trax and Creamcrop Records and artists such as Noma, Son Kite and Gus Till.
Besides music, what do you guys enjoy in day-to-day life? Any side projects going on or hobbies or interests?
M: I enjoy being outside, and taking in the beautifulness and calmness the nature of Norway offers. The summer in Norway is the best.
F: Music, sounds and everything around it have my main interests!
T: Other than a full-time office job I have been skateboarding since I was six, and I enjoy hiking and camping in the forests here.
If there were no restrictions at all, what would you want to create or establish in three years? What is the wildest creative dream? We are keen to know what to expect from you in the upcoming years.
M: A festival! We have been dreaming and talking about it for many years now. We keep saying to each other ‘next summer we will do it’! So hopefully next summer we will do it, haha! It will be a full-on trance festival for the whole weekend somewhere in Norway.
T: And it will not be super big. Probably five hundred people max.
M: We like it when the setting is intimate and cosy. We are also very into chill-out scenes, so it would be nice to have one dance area and one chill-out area.
When the new Ute.Rec sublabel will be launched is not yet known, ‘maybe end of this year’ they tell us. Guess we will have to let the organic process do its work… Meanwhile exciting new releases are on the schedule for later this year, next to another collab fundraiser. But secretly we are waiting for that small intimate festival between the Norwegian pine trees where we will find ourselves in chill-out scenes on the moist mossy soils surrounded by spacey ambient sounds…
