SOUNDWAVE : 72 : VARGKVINT

Today’s guest deejay is Sofia Nystrand, AKA Vargkvint.

For months, Sofia’s music kept appearing on my Spotify Discover Weekly playlists. If I didn’t find Sofia’s music there, she’d pop up on someone else’s playlist. Or I’d find her music on Bandcamp. In fact, Brueder Selke (CEEYS), played Sofia’s “Utåt” on their mix for Soundwave a few weeks ago.

There’s a reason for this, of course. Sofia has that magical ability to trasnport you to a world that is uniquely hers yet utterly familiar though her songs. Sofia deftly weaves folk, contemporary classical, pop, experimental music, and ambient. It’s a gorgeous thing to experience and I’m delighted to share her mix with you on today’s show.

If you’d like to hear more music from Sofia, she is featured on the Realismo Mágico compilation album from piano and coffee records. Some of the artists you’ll find on Sofia’s mix can also be found on the album (Klangriket, Sjors Mans, Jakob Lindhagen, Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres, Simeon Walker, Ceeys). Sofia has also just released a rework of the first track, “Pomegranate,” by Sergio Diaz de Rojas.

Sofia has some words about her mix below.

Before I get out of Dodge, I’m happy to report that this weekend I briefly had my wife and kids in the same house. It was short lived, though. My wife headed back to work Sunday evening, and the kids will be visiting their dad next week. But after months and months of being apart, it was a small blessing.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Jonathan Ammons.

See you then!

 

Sofia Nyland, AKA Vargkvint
Sofia Nyland, AKA Vargkvint

When I was working on this mixtape, I wanted it to be centered around collaboration and how music can change when being transformed by another person’s creativity. I’ve just released a rework album where people have reimagined my songs from the album Hav (I have two of them included in the mixtape), and it made me inspired to find other remixes or reworks to include. One of my favorite songs of this year is the rework that Alexandra Hamilton-Ayes have made of Frances Shelley’s ”Evening Star”. Apart from the amazing reworks, I have included a few newly released songs, and a couple of my personal favorites from artists who I really admire.

  • Sergio Diaz De Rojas “Pomegranate”
  • Rockettothesky “Grizzly Man”
  • Tim Linghaus “Love and Dust”
  • Joakim Alfvén “Opinium”
  • Richard Luke “Everything a Reason (Jakob Lindhagen Rework)”
  • Vargkvint “Fyr (Reimagined by Bonander)”
  • Justina Jaruševičiūtė “Prayer”
  • Frances Shelley & Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres “Evening Star (Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres Rework)”
  • Simeon Walker “Drift (Reworked by CEEYS)”
  • Marie Awadis “day 3”
  • Klangriket “Björk (Jakob Lindhagen & Vargkvint Rework)”
  • Bonander“Gone in the Wind”
  • Vargkvint “Stormen Kommer II (Reimagined by Klangriket & Sjors Mans)”
  • Simeon Walker “Compline”
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    Logo by Rik Oostenbroek

    SOUNDWAVE : 10 : PLANET BOELEX

    Well, that was a week.

    Protests blazed across the US, sparked by the killing of George Floyd, from the kindling of over 150 years of police brutality, systemic racism and hundreds of years of slavery. I watched police cars run into protesters. I watched police officers beat and shoot peaceful protesters. I watched protesters raze property, sometimes from their own communities. I’ve even watched a man armed with a bow with an arrow notched aiming it at protesters who quickly took him down.

    It is nauseating.

    It makes me ill that it’s come to this. I want to hope that out of all this anger, suffering and pain that some good will come of it. But I don’t think my country is ready to have an honest conversation about race that might lead to the healing that this nation so desperately needs.

    I’m fried. Once again this show is a balm and a welcome distraction, brief as it is.

    Our guest deejay on today’s SOUNDWAVE is Planet Boelex.

    I met Planet Boelex through Travis Nobles of hiddenplace music. He suggested that I feature one of Planet Boelex’s live sets on solipsistic NATION, the electronic music show I produced. Planet Boelex’s sound music is impressive because aside from being beautiful it was also distinct. His personality is imprinted onto his music. Electronic music often sound anonymous because some musicians use stock sounds and loops. When you hear a song by Planet Boelex you know it.

    I hope today’s show gives you some respite.

    Next week’s guest deejay is Dronny Darko. I hope were all in a better place by then.

    I’ll leave you with two quotes.

    “I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”

    — James Baldwin

    “One is responsible to life. It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we return. One must negotiate this passage as nobly as possible, for the sake of those who are coming after us.”

    —James Baldwin

    1. Snorri Hallgrimsson “Chasing The Present”
    2. Digitonal “Autumn Round (Planet Boelex remix)”
    3. Mikael Fyrek “Bau”
    4. Data Rebel “Collisions”
    5. Mosaik “Heart Racer ft. Maria Seger”
    6. Krister Linder “Other Skies”

    Subscribe to SOUNDWAVE on iTunes, Overcast, Castro and Pocketcasts.

    Logo by Rik Oostenbroek