Sonar is going through
an awkward stage. After last summer’s spectacular
tenth birthday blowout, Europe’s biggest and sunniest
celebration of all things electronic has attracted more
media attention, commercial sponsorship and mulleted
crowds than ever before. The festival’s natural
city chic is in danger of being replaced by an over-styled,
self-conscious attempt at cool. Local residents are
rebelling against the noise and crowds of riotous foreigners
who ram Barcelona for five frenetic days. Is it still
the music that matters or has Sonar become little more
than an international style parade?
Thursday is the warm up day with some chilled sets,
the odd upcoming label showcase and a separate evening
event in the beautiful L’Auditori. The festival
slowly takes shape as crowds continue to trickle into
the city and early arrivals claim their patch on the
specially imported astro turf.
By the time we had sorted our passes, studied our programmes
and had a restorative sip of San Miguel, the afternoon
sunshine was beating down on the day venue, the gloriously
white washed Museum of Modern Art. My Sonar started
with a classically experimental performance in the smoky,
underground space of the Sonar Hall.
Famed contemporary composer and Albert Einstein look
alike David Behrman added a layer of electronic innovation
to the sound of a classically trained string quartet
using new interactive software. Behrman has been at
the fore of musical innovation since the sixties, and
this outing was no exception. His intense expression
illuminated in the eerie glow of a computer screen,
he masterfully messed about with musical structures,
exploring the relationship between man and machine.
Emerging blinking back into the sunshine, we settled
into the Sonar Village vibe. This is the communal gathering
point, where casualties from the night before stretch
out in the sun, industry types chat their chat and posers
populate the trees that line the courtyard constantly
striving to see and be seen.
Leftfield hip-hop label Botanica Del Jibaro’s
showcase was nicely underway with a happily chilled
crowd swaying in appreciation. BDJ are the hip-hop extension
of the highly 'under-the-radar' Beta Bodega electronica
label. Head honcho Manuvers executed the fatal hip-hop
error of taking himself far too seriously, drowning
out the lyricism of his flow with overly politicised
rantings that left the crowd cold. Matters were redeemed
slightly by Force Fed throwing some well-timed breakcore
into the mix. But they still came across as a rather
over-hyped collective who need to dramatically improve
the quality of their emceeing.
Extra entertainment was provided in the form of text
updates on the state of England’s Euro 2004 bid,
which at this stage was going breathtakingly well. A
fair few Sonarites succumbed to the Brit abroad bug
and toddled off to catch the game in one of the faceless
Irish bars along the Ramblas. I found myself swept along
by the Sonar spirit and the thought of a premature departure
from the site seemed plain silly. A friendly hippy named
Gripper, a sound engineer for Faithless, kept us abreast
of the score and injected the required amount of patriotic
fervour. It was well after ten o’clock when hunger
finally forced us back to reality and onto Barcelona’s
narrow streets.
That night was the official warm up party at Razzmatazz,
a mini Sonar style venue on the outskirts of the city.
Officially it was a Sonar event for press, professionals,
artists and anyone else who managed to blag a pass.
These hang ostentatiously around people’s necks,
adding yet another layer of elitism. The sacred few
are granted hassle-free access to the day and night
events, a private bar and this excellent party featuring
some of the festival’s best acts. Roots Manuva
proved he is firmly back on track and ready to release
his third album in September. A storming live band added
a required layer of energy and depth to Rodney’s
classic UK sound. Even the most overplayed tracks, like
Witness, sounded fresh, sending tingles shooting
through spines.
Caroline Herve aka Miss Kittin provided the high point
of the night. This feline heroine is one of the most
compelling, androgynous and genuinely cool figures of
the last few years. High Priestess of the electroclash
scene and famous mainly for her robotic voice and subversive
lyrics, she has put glamour back into the dance scene.
Celebrating the release of her first solo album, ICom
on Novamute, she provided the perfect Sonar warm up,
tunes with lines like ‘show me your tits and let’s
make a hit’ delivered in her individual sonic
style. A rapturous set of blippy, bleepy, hip-hop goodness
infused with her sweet attitude of sheer independent
energy, proved that real women sing and sweat their
way till dawn. As she screeched to a triumphant halt,
we made our way outside in the midst of an incredibly
up-for-it crowd that poured out onto the pavement whooping
and cheering in appreciation of the night’s blinding
brilliance. Deeply Cool was my mate’s
spot on summary.
Despite going to bed outrageously early on Friday morning,
the heat and holiday excitement were enough to get us
up and, almost, at it by mid afternoon. Wandering back
towards Sonar by Day it was hard to go fifty yards without
bumping into some familiar face from the London music
scene.
Advanced Music is keen to consolidate Sonar’s
status as more than a music festival. Art and sound
installations fill the upper spaces of the gloriously
air conditioned CCCB and the record fair is guaranteed
to make any geek salivate.
After dosing up on culture and cooling down, we headed
outside for some more musical delights. Prefuse 73’s
set was far too sweaty and a real disappointment after
last year’s glorious glitch hop fest. We left
after half an hour and headed over to Sonar Dome for
what turned out to be one of the best label showcases
of the whole festival. Ghostly International is one
of the most forward thinking labels on the electronic
scene producing everything from abstract electronica
to avant-pop. Matthew Dear may be the most recognisable
name on their roster but Dabrye is their hottest act
of the moment and with Dear lined up to blast out his
trademark funked-up minimal techno later that night,
Dabrye reigned supreme in the sun. Tadd Mullinix, the
man behind the mysterious pseudonym, has been winning
over the prophets of underground hip-hop (from Jay Dee
to Jurassic 5) with his head-nodding hip-hop beats,
saw-tooth bass lines and complex musical patterns that
put even the most resilient sound systems to the test.
The final highlight of a long, hot and happy day was
Shitkatapult’s Apparat who stole the day festival
show. Fed up with a lacklustre Lex showcase we squeezed
through the rammed crowd into the cool confines of Sonar
Hall. Great visuals combined with a perfectly arranged
set, an awesome sound system and processed live instruments
produced beautifully melodic electronica. Apparat brought
out the sonically fascinating side of Sonar, at times
teetering on the brink of pretentiousness but always
pulling it back, effortlessly flitting between styles
from glitchy and Autechrey to hard and techny style
bass.
As the sun set on Friday, the mood in the city stepped
up a gear and you could almost smell the festival in
the air. Mindful of last year’s transport nightmares
and reluctant to leave the day venue until all was silent,
we decided to dine out in festival style. Falafel is
Barcelona’s answer to fast food; stupidly cheap,
ridiculously tasty and satisfyingly filling. Eaten on
the steps of a beautiful old church on a balmy summer
evening it filled every hole perfectly.
A few detours later, we found ourselves in a taxi speeding
to the hills of Montjuic. Faffing over getting in, finding
people, eating the space cakes sold outside by friendly
crustys meant that we missed all of Brazillian booty
bass pioneer DJ Marlboro’s set. Irritation seeped
away as Ryuichi Sakamoto and the awesome Sketch Show
(Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi) took the stage,
rebaptised as one off project The Human Audio Sponge.
This was the first time the members of the legendary
Yellow Magic Orchestra had played together for ten years
after being at the fore of the burgeoning Japanese eighties
electro scene. Thankfully, eighties nostalgia was rejected
by this formidable trio who, aware of current electro
developments, spread their array of keyboards and laptops
along an illuminated table on the stage of the Sonar
Park.
Outside in the lively confines of Sonar Pub the So
Solid Crew were jumping with manic intensity in front
of a surprisingly responsive crowd. Despite the popular
appeal of champion bootleggers 2 Many DJ’s, Matthew
Herbert’s effortlessly experimental set provided
me with my perfect festival moment. Not only did he
sample live the sound of 600 people biting into an apple
but his rendition of Louis Austen’s Hoping
from Second Hand Sounds had all of us swaying
in a state of ecstatic bliss.
The night’s hyped highlight was the showdown
between the two masters of minimal techno: Richie Hawtin
and Ricardo Villalobos. These two sound experimenters
went head to ear bleeding head in the massive Sonar
club arena, which I can safely say is the biggest club
space I have ever experienced in my raving life. Although
this sound duel occasionally strayed into the realms
of techno by numbers, the calibre of the DJ’s
lifted the music to another level.
A shock awaited us when we emerged on Saturday afternoon;
there were clouds in the sky and the smell of rain in
the air. This was not Sonar as we knew it! Luckily the
highlight of the afternoon was the Accidental Showcase,
which took place inside the Sonar Hall. As rain started
to plop down on the preening hordes, the Spaniards ran
for cover in a petrified frenzy, while the stoical Brits
revelled in this chance to moan about the weather and
were silently grateful that our sunburns were not going
to get any worse. The wonderful Max de Wardener was
up first with his haunting blend of classical and electronic
sounds. Mara Carlyle followed showcasing her sensual
vocal tones which made her stand out on Herbert’s
Goodbye Swingtime and will hopefully ensure
the success of her forthcoming debut Lovely.
Iceland is famous for producing musical oddities and
Ornelius Mugison is the current cream of the crop. He
has pioneered a one-man band style, breaking out of
the boring laptop mould and this performance was his
best yet. Beautifully broken pop songs merged with glitchy
static and Beatlesy guitar hooks conjuring the fragility
and isolation of the Icelandic landscape. His banter
was consistently endearing and amusing enhanced by the
presence of his partner Runa, who joined him on stage
for three tracks to play the accordion.
Rain only really stopped play during the long awaited
Domino showcase. A degree of criticism has to be levelled
at bad organisation as To Rocco Rot got sadly rained
off and Four Tet was relegated to the DJ booth at the
side of the stage. Kieran Hebden’s masterfully
scrunched up set gave me my festival highlight as in
an almost crowd-pleasing mood he romped along the borders
of house and drum'n'bass.
Leaving Sonar by day for the final time was a real
wrench especially after such a bewitching set. Filled
up again by trusty falafel we set about commandeering
a cab. No easy task in a city where the last night of
Sonar is the biggest clubbing event of the year. Several
hours and many shenanigans later we finally arrived
having missed most of headliners Massive Attack. A curious
site awaited us in the normally banging Sonar Club.
Hoardes of Sonarites nodding their heads almost imperceptibly
in a trance like slumber. The lushness of Massive Attack’s
Bristol sound filled the colossal venue surprisingly
well. An array of guest stars kept the crowd happy and
provided a nostalgic trip through their vast back catalogue.
They may not be the hottest new act around but Massive
Attack’s musical prowess is undeniable.
Pre-festival, the hype was all about the invasion of
hip-hop and Madlib’s quality performance more
than proved the point with Prefuse making a welcome
appearance on the last tune. Kid Koala showed why he
really is a supreme DJ, cutting and pasting, chopping
and scratching his way through a set which ended with
Moon River as a tribute to his mum who doesn’t
understand the rest of his music. The main man Mills
did what was required, producing the most polished and
dense techno set of the whole event. Sonar by Night
is the ideal arena for his type of techno; deep, dark
and properly banging with spellbinding visuals showing
his magic hands in motion. We ended the event on a Barcelonan
note with 2D2 rinsing it out right till the end with
his trademark blend of the finest glitched up hip-hop.
Sonar’s energy comes from the city that spawned
it. Despite the talk of a backlash, the scattered cries
of Sonar No and the inevitable, creeping commercialisation
it remains Europe’s most diverse and dynamic party.
Serena Kutchinsky
Photo Serena Kutchinsky |
