We’re really excited to introduce our friends from Stockholm, Sweden; Balearic Corner as one of the headliners in the line up for next weekend’s Edition 5 of the Chill Out Tent, coming live from 18:00 BST on Sunday, 30 August 2020. We spoke to Jac from the crew about the Swedish Balearic scene, what they’ve been up to and what they’ve got planned for the future, don’t miss their session on Sunday!
1. Who’s involved with Balearic Corner, is it just you Jac?
Well, it’s me and my crew of friends, generally speaking. We are a bunch of music lovers who all came together through a place called Hosoi in Stockholm. Thanks to Victor Sanchez who runs that place we have formed a special bond of friendship by hanging out there over the past couple of years. Everyone has their own concepts around music; Love Potion, Kilombo, Hosoi, Balearic Corner, and so on. We all help each other out, but mainly it’s me running Balearic Corner and Mattias Polanco is coming into it more and more.
2. What sort of events have you had so far? and how long have you been running them?
It started about 5 years ago with another concept I call Sky City. But last summer we did Balearic Corner and it’s sort of taken over my heart and all my focus is on that concept now. It’s a hangout that turns into a glorious dance party at night, all in the Balearic spirit, and the DJ sets are always around 9 hours long for the main act, no exceptions unless it’s live. That is definitely a signature for the Balearic Corner parties.
3. Where is Balearic corner based, and what venues have you used?
It’s based in Stockholm, Sweden, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t go international if the opportunity feels organic. It’s like the Stockholm archipelago turned Balearic and we go on long musical ride together, as a metaphor. We’ve done parties at Trädgården and Teatern Under Bron and plan to do much more, including under the radar open airs, although the pandemic did postpone a lot of that till next summer.
4. Who or what inspired you to start these events?
I think being at DJ Harvey’s Mercury Rising parties at Pikes, Ibiza, and meeting him has been super influential. Also, my friendship with Camilo Miranda who books at Pikes and is a resident DJ there has been really important in the development. Fundamentally I think my time spent on Ibiza with my sister and the sense of community with both my friends and complete strangers – that happens in this very unique way in nightlife around the world – has been the biggest driving force.
5. Have you had guest DJ’s or artist at your events? Who would you like to work with in the future?
We’ve had many guests! A Man Called Adam really showed us some love last summer as well as Leo Mas, Chris Coco, Camilo Miranda & Christian Len.. in addition to Jocke Åhlund, HNNY and Jin Mustafa from the local scene. Also we’ve had Lovefingers & Heidi Lawden, not to mention amazing Takaya Nagase! He runs the Joy parties in New York and it was a big highlight last year to hear him play. Well, for the future, we have a bunch planned. I’m working on a compilation that I’m super excited about. So, stay tuned regarding that. I’d like to keep some surprises, but what I can say is that Nancy Noise has been on my wish list for a long time and she was supposed to play at Balearic Corner this summer, and so was Beautiful Swimmers. The broader idea for this season was to also offer a space for less regular names in the Balearic scene to get the spotlight and explore the concept with the attitude of freedom that I think is so key to the Balearic mindset. We hope the pandemic will allow it by next summer! I also want Harvey to come and do his thing with us, of course.
6. What is the Balearic Corner crowd or like?
I think it’s a bunch of open minded, free spirited and gentle people who all love music, dancing and relaxing, lot of our friends are latino and they sure know how to relax…
7. Have you been affected by the COVID lockdown to any great extent?
Definitely. Mattias Polanco and I had a whole series of Balearic Corners, Love Potion parties, and bigger (smaller one-day festival type stuff) happenings this summer that all got cancelled or postponed. However, it’s been a very creative and inspiring time for us despite the financial and social crash. We’ve created a new platform we call Until Further Notice that we are currently working on some really exciting stuff with, fulfilling some big dreams! We announced the Until Further Notice initiative recently with a 30 min music video I directed and danced in together with Mount Liberation Unlimited and a bunch of amazing artists involved like Fredrik Paulsen and Adam Nilsson. It was released on Robyn’s Konichiwa TV as a collaboration.
8. You’ll be presenting a mix and a film to share with the Chill Out Tent event, what can we expect from your part of the show?
An after-party in the Swedish countryside turned listening session turned psychedelic cloud watching. It’s a musical journey that follows the morning light as Mattias Polanco and myself select some of our favorite tracks while our friends unwind in the background.
9. If we get to visit Stockholm in the future what are your essential places to visit? Maybe galleries, restaurants, bars, clubs, natural sites?
Balearic Corner of course! And Hosoi, my friend Victor’s vision; a place for listening to great music and being with each other. There’s no other place like it and it’s hard to explain if you haven’t been there, the way it often is with the best places. There’s also this amazing open air bar that opened this summer within the Swedish restrictions of the pandemic in an area called Reimers Holme. It doesn’t have a name but the guys running it are so relaxed and it’s only good vibes, so go on an adventure and find it! It’s by the Reimers Holme Hotel. Totemo Ramen is one of my favourite places, best ramen in town! If you want great latino street food; Pachanga in Årsta is the place. What else, Bar Oas and Omnipollo are cozy, tasty bars and a must. Other than that, make sure you explore the country side and please be sure to be here in the summer when the sun doesn’t go down and get yourself to a rave in the forest!
Many thanks to Jac and all the crew for speaking to us and being part of the Chill Out Tent Edition #5
Don’t forget we’ll be streaming at LiveFrom & on Mixcloud Live, see you there!
The Chill Out Tent 