The Red Bull Music Academy is a multi-layered conference / marathon studio session / festival / all-out musical extravaganza, celebrating the pioneers of what we call club culture today – and showcase those who will be soundtracking our summer nights in years to come. With the 15th edition currently underway in New York City, we teamed up with them for a series of exclusive mixes by artists from their stellar roster of graduates, covering the full spectrum of electronic dance music and beyond. For this fifth edition we present a mix from Stockholm's deep house don Axel Boman.
Axel Boman: First we decide on the tracks we want to put out. Two out of three from us have to be sure that they're releasable. Then we send the music to our in-house designer, preferably before they're even mastered. So he can hear it and start sending some suggestions. Of course everything always takes longer than we think and then we eventually get the test pressings.Do you see Studio Barnhus as a way to put on for the folks in your circle and for the Swedish music scene?
Yeah, I mean the whole reason we started the label was that we had all this great music from our friends that wasn't being released. If Carl Craig would approach us with some fantastic new material, we would listen to it of course. But we don't really dive into any unheard-of Soundcloud accounts and constantly search for new music. We're part of a big community here in Sweden, and a lot of good stuff keeps coming our way.Why did you decide to go with Hypercolour for your new EP instead of Studio Barnhus?
I've had a long relationship with those guys. I've known them for a long time. It's kind of a friend thing.What's the story behind the title? "Black Magic Boman" seems a little contradictory to the music you're putting out…
In the center of the storm, everything is calm, you know? Maybe that's what it sounds like in black magic rituals. It might be a pure and a nice feeling at heart. There's that, but also how can I resist having titles that play on the word "woman"? The next EP for Hypercolour will be "I'm Every Boman." No, I'm just kidding. I just thought it was quite fitting. Alex, who does the artwork, sent me over some pictures when I mentioned the title and I just thought, "yeah, this is gonna look really nice. This is gonna add something." I also just like contrasts. Maybe the songs are really escapist and wonderful, but it's also nice having another theme on top of that. I like creating themes, creating stories.And then there's the "Look What You've Done" video, with its shamanistic vibe…
Yeah, that was really fitting. I think that song also fits the title the best. It has the melancholy vibe to it, but at the same time it can also strike you as happy.How did the Man Tear project come about and how did you end up going to DFA for that?
I've been making music with Johan Jonason, who is my cousin, for many years actually. It was all pretty good, so I don't really know why we didn't release much of it. He sang on my "Holy Love" record for Pampa. So now we finally decided that we wanted to make something serious. We approached Petter on whether he wanted to be part of the group, as he is just a really good musician. And then we went to the countryside and stayed at this barn for a week in total isolation, just making a lot of music. We came back with an album and wrote a list of labels we wanted to release this on. Cause it's more of a pop thing, Man Tear. My cousin is the most eccentric weirdo you've ever seen, so he needs to have a big stage. DFA was at the top of our list. Marcus from Pampa got us in touch with them and they liked it.
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With his buddies from Studio Barnhus, Axel Boman has constructed a familial stronghold for Swedish electronic music over the past couple of years. Run with care and dedication by Boman, Kornél Kovács and Petter Nordkvist, the label has served as a major anchor point of the scene, ever since its inception in 2010. The year also marked a pivotal point in the career of blitheful Boman, as he graduated from Red Bull Music Academy in London, and scored a major breakthrough with his outstanding Holy Love EP on DJ Koze's Pampa Records, catapulting his name into the setlists of the big players on the DJ circuit. This year has seen the congenial Swede back in full effect, cranking out a strong EP for Hypercolour and landing his Man Tear project on DFA. We caught up with Axel for a quick Skype session straight from Studio Barnhus headquarters, where he is currently in the process of wrapping up his long-awaited debut album.What does the process behind a Studio Barnhus release normally look like?
Axel Boman: First we decide on the tracks we want to put out. Two out of three from us have to be sure that they're releasable. Then we send the music to our in-house designer, preferably before they're even mastered. So he can hear it and start sending some suggestions. Of course everything always takes longer than we think and then we eventually get the test pressings.Do you see Studio Barnhus as a way to put on for the folks in your circle and for the Swedish music scene?
Yeah, I mean the whole reason we started the label was that we had all this great music from our friends that wasn't being released. If Carl Craig would approach us with some fantastic new material, we would listen to it of course. But we don't really dive into any unheard-of Soundcloud accounts and constantly search for new music. We're part of a big community here in Sweden, and a lot of good stuff keeps coming our way.Why did you decide to go with Hypercolour for your new EP instead of Studio Barnhus?
I've had a long relationship with those guys. I've known them for a long time. It's kind of a friend thing.What's the story behind the title? "Black Magic Boman" seems a little contradictory to the music you're putting out…
In the center of the storm, everything is calm, you know? Maybe that's what it sounds like in black magic rituals. It might be a pure and a nice feeling at heart. There's that, but also how can I resist having titles that play on the word "woman"? The next EP for Hypercolour will be "I'm Every Boman." No, I'm just kidding. I just thought it was quite fitting. Alex, who does the artwork, sent me over some pictures when I mentioned the title and I just thought, "yeah, this is gonna look really nice. This is gonna add something." I also just like contrasts. Maybe the songs are really escapist and wonderful, but it's also nice having another theme on top of that. I like creating themes, creating stories.And then there's the "Look What You've Done" video, with its shamanistic vibe…
Yeah, that was really fitting. I think that song also fits the title the best. It has the melancholy vibe to it, but at the same time it can also strike you as happy.How did the Man Tear project come about and how did you end up going to DFA for that?
I've been making music with Johan Jonason, who is my cousin, for many years actually. It was all pretty good, so I don't really know why we didn't release much of it. He sang on my "Holy Love" record for Pampa. So now we finally decided that we wanted to make something serious. We approached Petter on whether he wanted to be part of the group, as he is just a really good musician. And then we went to the countryside and stayed at this barn for a week in total isolation, just making a lot of music. We came back with an album and wrote a list of labels we wanted to release this on. Cause it's more of a pop thing, Man Tear. My cousin is the most eccentric weirdo you've ever seen, so he needs to have a big stage. DFA was at the top of our list. Marcus from Pampa got us in touch with them and they liked it.