Guitarist and improviser.
Composer and arranger of music for film and stage.
Solo project Dream Radio.
Co-leader and member of several ensembles.
Based in Stockholm, Sweden.
Mikael Karlsson started playing the guitar as a 6-year-old kid, inspired by his dad and his brother. He spent the first couple of years picking out chords on an acoustic guitar, trying to figure out how to play the songs that he heard on his parents' records - a music collection that very soon came to stay permanently in his room. Thus, his first encounters with music was through artists such as Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Hollies, the Rolling Stones, Simon & Garfunkel and Bob Dylan. Only slightly later did he come across the stuff that his schoolmates listened to at the time of the early 90's (Nirvana, Bad Religion and everything in between). He spent his school years forming skate punk bands with friends, rehearsing and writing songs for hours and hours in suburban basements, practising Rush riffs in school (yes, skipping classes) and making his first live appearances at local festivals around his hometown. At about the age of 16, he began investigating the theory of music and guitar playing more thoroughly. He started studying jazz improvisation, spending most of the following years playing in jazz settings as well as gaining invaluable live playing experience doing countless cover gigs at weddings and such. Parallell to this, he began to form a sound of his own as a guitar player, influenced by The Edge and David Rhodes, in different pop groups such as Coy and later playing with Nejra and Thyselius. During this time, he also developed an interest in composition, which led him to further studies in music theory, composition and arranging. At about the same time the fascination for improvised music took a turn into free form improvisation, which has led to many rewarding musical collaborations.
In 2016 the album "Mest ibland tistlar" was released, featuring new arrangements of Allan Pettersson's Barfota songs. The album features singer Ola Sandström, vibraphone player Johan Renman, and cello player Anja Strautmanis. And in April 2018, the solo project Dream Radio was finally launched. Dream Radio is both the cinematic music writing and the live solo guitar thing combined into one. Since then, a lot of music has been released under that name. The EP On This Day, featuring guitar based music, was released on June 28 2019. It’s available on all major platforms and features the first recording of the solo guitar live looping concept.
The latest single, Pacific, was released on May 15, 2020.
In August of 2021, season 1 of Paramount+ original production The Dark Labs premiered, featuring Mikael Karlsson’s original music in episodes 4-8.
During the past couple of years, Mikael Karlsson has been invited to write music to the works of choreographer/dancer/producer Ellinor Ljungkvist, artistic leader of Gala Dance Bergslagen and Rosea Dans. Their collaborative work has so far resulted in four dance pieces featuring Karlsson’s original scores: Jaguaren, Barbie, Päls, and The Dark Knife. Read more about the pieces here. New dance pieces are in production for future premieres in 2023 and onward.
A major re-release of all Dream Radio titles in re-mastered versions is planned for the fall of 2023, together with a bunch of new singles marking upcoming full length releases in the future.
In the latter half of 2023, all original music written for the above mentioned dance pieces will also be released on streaming services. There will also be a long awaited release of the OST for episodes 4-8 of The Dark Labs.
Photo: Alf Anderås
MUSIC FOR STAGE AND SCREEN
Read more about the works here.
Zeina & Nalle - music for theater, co-written with Karin Webjörn and Johanna Aveskogh, Teater Martin Mutter (2005)
Mannen i båten - music for theater, Teater Martin Mutter/Västerbottensteatern (2010)
Så fungerar samhället - music for theater, Teater Martin Mutter/Verklighetens Salonger (2011)
Fyndet - music for an exhibition, Örebro County Museum (2018)
Sensationella gravfynd från plaståldern - music for an exhibition, Örebro County Museum (2019)
The Dark Labs season 1 - A Paramount+ original production, music for episodes 4-8 (2021)
Jaguaren - dance piece produced by Ellinor Ljungkvist, Gala Dance Bergslagen (2021)
Barbie: a performance about dance history - dance piece produced by Ellinor Ljungkvist, Gala Dance Bergslagen (2021)
Päls - dance piece produced by Ellinor Ljungkvist, Gala Dance Bergslagen and DansPlats Skog (2022)
The Dark Knife - dance piece produced by Ellinor Ljungkvist, Gala Dance Bergslagen (2022)
DISCOGRAPHY - solo projects and sideman
Nejra - Headstrong (single, 2007)
Thyselius - Waiting for your call (single, 2009)
Thyselius - Crashing towards daylight (album, 2009)
Nejra - In hindsight (album, 2009)
Nejra - Stay for a while (single, 2011)
Nejra - Commonplace heroes (EP, 2011)
Fredrik af Trampe - Tysta slag (album, 2016)
Sandström, Karlsson, Strautmanis, Renman -
Mest ibland tistlar (album, 2016)
Coy - No compromises (album, 2005, digital release 2017)
Dream Radio - We let go (album, 2018)
Dream Radio - Lives (EP, 2018)
Dream Radio - Music from a play (album, 2018)
Dream Radio - Roseman Bridge, 1965 (single, 2019)
Dream Radio - On this day (EP, 2019)
Dream Radio - Pacific (single, 2020)
Grupp mot hetsfolk - Den visslande kylen och alla dess hemligheter, from Förnuftets yttersta förödmjukelse
(EP, 2021)