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| "There is probably a forest worth of flyers lying all around town with parties for all tastes and times. After party here, after after party there..." |
Reviewer: Bruno Saenz de Miera. DJ, Let's Frolik!
When: June 2008
The line-ups: Justice – Not impressed, they were a lot better when I saw them at the Astoria in London.
Theo Parrish – Very funky set, take my hat off.
Radio Slave – I think they played... but can't remember... I wonder why?
Contact – Richi Hawtin and the minus crew. Nothing spectacular, too much of a show.
Miss Kittin – Pleasantly surprised, best I’ve seen her perform so far.
Soulwax – AMAZING!
Dubfire – Killer set, if not the best performance, one of the best.
Ricardo Villalobos – As usual, impeccable. Drove the crowd crazy with his folky tunes, first time I hear the trumpet track by SIS, which has been hammered all throughout the summer.
What is Sonar? To those that are not familiar with the festival, Sonar is the festival for Advanced Music and Multimedia Art, based in Barcelona. It brings together the top bands and DJs in the world as well as providing a trampoline for up-coming artists.
Sonar by Day: The festival goes on for three days and nights. Sonar by Day is located right in the middle of Barcelona at the MACBA (the museum of contemporary art, just of the Ramblas) and showcases the more experimental performances. It has one main open air stage located in a huge courtyard inside the museum and 3 more tents/rooms where different type of artists play. The variety of genres is vast but each has electronic-edge. I have only been to the day-time gigs two out of the four years I have gone.
By far the unforgettable best act was performance by Birdy Nam Nam (Sonar 2006). It is a group of four French DJs that had one technique each and pulled out a tune by scratching. The energy of their performance and delivery to put everyone on their feet was amazing. There are plenty of stalls where the different record labels sell their most recent releases. There are different art exhibitions with quite a lot of interesting IT-techie stuff. I don’t know much about it as I have just gone for the music.
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| "Sonar by Night is absolutely nuts" |
Sonar by Night: It is absolutely nuts. The venue is just outside Barcelona at La Gran Fira, a massive warehouse where motor shows and many large events are held. It can hold tens of thousands of people. Within the complex you have four massive rooms: Sonar Club, Sonar Lab, Sonar Pub, and Sonar Park. The likes of Miss Kittin, Jeff Mills, Richi Hawtin and the Minus Crew, Laurent Garnier (absent this year), Ricardo Villalobos are all there. If you are more of a hip-hop fan your taste is also catered for at the Park.
This year Soulwax and Dubfire performed flawless sets. It was the first time I saw Soulwax and they blew everyone’s mind. When you see electronic music being performed live with a drummer, keybord, guitarist, base, synthesizers, it adds so much dimension that even if you are not into the genre, it is impossible not to enjoy. Dubfire, one half of the former Deep Dish was one of the winning sets. Tune after tune, he kept everyone going.
Sonar week: It isn't just the festival. It attracts thousands of electronic music fans from all over the world. As a result the number of parties that take place, apart from the main festival, are countless. There is probably a forest worth of flyers lying all around town with parties for all tastes and times. After party here, after after party there... If you don't want to sleep it's very easy not to! Not that I'd know.
As soon as Ricardo Villalobos closed the festival with his set at Sonar Pub on Sunday morning, our group went straight to the beach to enjoy the sun, walked up the shoreline and talked endlessly about the previous night. We sat by the "Chiringuito" for fresh beer, although it must of been around 8am and we had to wait another 3 hours. As we chatted our voices were muted by the sound of a base drum that completely hypnotised us.
We looked at each other wondering the beach party was. The sound became a little louder, we could almost hear the tracks. There in the sea we saw the party boat that was carrying the beat away from us. WHY ARE WE NOT ON THAT BOAT?, one of us shouted. We laughed and we hope that we will be on it next year. We'll be back Barcelona!
www.sonar.es
