Skatebård / Skatebard

Originally a heavy metal drummer, Bård Aasen Lødemel, aka Skatebård, got into techno and rave during the '90s. Hailing from a small town called Ørsta on the Norwegian west coast, Lødemel moved to Bergen in the year 2000, where he quickly became part of the student town's growing club scene. After handing over a homemade demo to Tellé Records label boss Mikal Telle, Lødemel got signed to Tellé offshoot label Tellektro in 2001. His first release under the name of Skatebård, a 12" EP called Skateboarding Was a Crime (In 1989) was released in 2002, and slowly but surely Skatebård's reputation as an excellent techno/electro producer started spreading beyond Norway's borders.

In addition to seeing his own club scene credibility grow in Norway as well as abroad, Lødemel suddenly became a hip-hop cult figure in his home country during 2004. Being the sidekick MC in the hip-hop group Side Brok, Lødemel got a taste of domestic pop stardom with an ensemble that eventually grew to become one of Norway's best-selling hip-hop acts that year.

Despite his sudden hip-hop stardom, Lødemel never left his techno roots, and continued to release 12"s on different international quality labels such as Keys of Life. Although being busy with production, remixing, and hip-hop as well as DJing all over the place, Lødemel still found time to start his own label, Digitalo Enterprises. His debut album, Midnight Magic, was released in 2006, after Digitalo Enterprises landed a lucrative distribution deal with the German distro/label Kompakt. The album, which had a strong Italo disco feel to it, received great reviews both in the Norwegian and international music press.