sonar 2008
And the traveling continues. Not satisfied with Detroit and Montreal at the end of May and beginning of June, I decided that I needed to go to Barcelona last week for the Sonar conference. Boy am I glad I did:
Certainly not for the city, which I saw little of sadly, but more for the amazing music on offer. Sonar—a “progressive music and multimedia arts festival” that’s now in its 15th year—is one of the premiere dates on the electronic music calendar each year. If you’re into getting down, stroking your chin, or a little bit of both, Sonar’s got you covered. In spades.
As my roommates and I were hamstrung by the fact that we had one key for our four-person apartment, we made a lot of joint decisions on what to see. That and the fact that I had stupidly decided that I needed to get back to work on Monday morning meant that I didn’t spend a lot of time seeing some of the things that I had planned on seeing (i.e. Mike Banks and Jeff Mills playing together for the first time in years, Ricardo Villalobos). And, yes, I did end up seeing a lot of things that weren’t on eMusic that were great. (We can talk about all of that later.) But there were highlights that must be…er…highlighted!
Justice
Sonar By Night is held at an enormous arena-type structure that has about five acts going on at once. Don’t like Justice? Walk about 500 feet and you’re witnessing Roisin Murphy. Don’t like avant dance pop? Go ahead and walk another 500 feet and you’re smack dab in the middle of Richie Hawtin and friends bringing minimal techno to life. A friend of mine had never seen Justice before, so we ended up going to watch them for a bit and somehow found ourselves at the side of the stage for much of their performance. As anyone who has seen them can attest, Justice is a physical group that bludgeons you with distorted beats and then gives you pop hits just long enough so you can bear the barrage for a bit longer. Sometimes it seems like they’re playing a game: how can we twist our most recognizable/best-loved tunes before people won’t recognize them? This night, the crowd seemed up to the challenge. When the duo dropped the word “we” and nothing else, about 10,000 people immediately responded with the words “ARE…YOUR FRIENDS!”
Conforce
The last party of the festival that I attended was one of the best. Credit is mostly due to the dubstep/house/whatever DJ Martyn, but what I heard from Conforce before I had to leave and catch my plane also had me impressed. He played live from his laptop, which can often be a rather boring experience, but somehow the consistent sound of his Detroit techno-influenced tracks didn’t bother me all that much. Perhaps because they’re really that good? Or was it just one too many Mojitos? Either way, I’d suggest trying out “Junction (Peak mix).”
Henrik Schwarz
Click the above link and you’ll hear a pretty good approximation of what I heard at a (very) sweaty Barcelona club. That said, hearing it live on (pretty) good speakers is a lot different than listening to it on headphones while typing up a post for 17Dots. If you ever get a chance to see Henrik live, don’t pass it up. An awesome house set “built around African percussion, playful House piano chords and chunky fingered jazz keyboards,” as Derek Walmsley wrote in his eMusic review of Live.
I’ve just got back from Sonar also, great festival. The night stuff is hard to put into words, the scale of it is just unbelievable. I’m sorry to report that X-102 were fantastic too, my mind was blown.
“I’m sorry to report that X-102 were fantastic too, my mind was blown.”
Wait! What? You are sorry to report that they were fantastic?!?!?!?!?
Sigh I’m beyond confused
I went to Sonar back in 2001 and have been longing to go again. I saw Masters At Work and was blown away. I hated “house” music before hearing them. Great festival in a truly beautiful city!
I only managed to get there for the last night unfortunately, but it was still great. Ricardo Villalobos was a great end to the night, Miss Kittin rocked the place, as did Dubfire, and Soulwax tore the place apart! I only caught a little of the other acts, but I remember “x-102 discovers the rings of saturn” being an interesting techno act and Oscar Mulero was pretty decent. Neon Neon and Yazoo gave some interesting 80s style tunes (keytar?).
hat was my first Sonar (thanks to a friend I have in Barcelona, and not being able to afford Global Gathering tickets this year. I think I’ll go again, though didn’t find the crowd as friendly as I’d hoped - maybe I need to see the whole thing next time!
Sounds like a blast, I’m jealous!!!!
“Wait! What? You are sorry to report that they were fantastic?!?!?!?!?”
Because he said he didn’t see it but wanted to? Well, it made sense to me - my bodyclock is all over the place at the moment so my coherency isn’t what it should be.
I think Soulwax were the best thing I saw all weekend, the main hall is pretty much a perfect venue. Only disappointment was Konono pulling out, but the El Guincho/Ruby Suns set was a great substitute.
I’ve seen Soulwax twice in SF and they were amazing both times as well.
Hey guys- Yancey or anybody,
sorry this is completely off-topic, but apparently there’s a new Atlas Sound EP called “Another Bedroom” coming out 6/30.. Do you know if eMusic is getting it? Thanx!
So who’s paying for that?
(just jealous….)
me, myself, and i.