Newspaper Sónar 2009 by Aurelio Sanchez

16th Barcelonaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s International Festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art www.sonar.es

18.19.20 June

Sónar Venues and activities

BAR

MACBA

SonarHall

PL. DELS ÀNGELS

C. MONTA LEGR

SonarMàtica Professional Fair Demo Area

Prensa

CCCB

Pati Manning

Accreditations Exit

Press

C. MONTALEGRE

CCCB

Centre de Cultura Contempòrania de Barcelona C/ Montalegre, 5. SonarVillage Pl. Joan Coromines SonarHall Main Hall Professional Fair Floor 2

Convent dels Àngels

How to get there

C/ dels Àngels, 7. SonarComplex Floor 0

CCCB/MACBA

L’Auditori

50, 54, 55, 56, 58, 59, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 91, 120, 141, L94, L95, Tombús & Aerobús. www.tmb.net

N0, N2, N3, N7 and N11. www.tmb.net

Buses 7, 9, 14, 16, 17, 24, 41,

CosmoCaixa C/ Isaac Newton, 26.

At 20:00

Demo Area Floor 2 SonarMàtica Floor -1

C/ Lepant, 150.

MACBA

Friday 19th At 20:30

Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona Entrance via C/ Montalegre, 5. SonarDôme Pl. dels Àngels Editorial Fair Main Hall

CosmoCaixa

Buses 6, 7, 10, 56, 62, B21, B25,

Bus Sónar-CosmoCaixa: Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 19:00. Departs from Hotel Pulitzer (C/ Bergara, 8, next to Plaça Catalunya). Limited capacity Buses 17, 22, 58, 73, 75, 60 and

Metro Line 1 (stations: Glòries i Marina), Line 2 (station: Monumental), Line 4 (station: Bogatell). www.tmb.net Tram Line T4 (station: Auditori/ Teatre Nacional). www.tmb.net

Metro Line 1 (stations: Universitat i Catalunya), Line 2 (station: Universitat), Line 3 (station: Catalunya) www.tmb.net FGC Lines 6, 7, S1, S2, S5 and S55 (station: Catalunya) www.fgc.es

L’Auditori

196. www.tmb.net

Tramvia Blau FGC Line 7 (station: Avinguda Tibidabo).

Sónar by Night DIRECTION Aeroport / Castelldefels L8 Espanya PL . IL D E F ON S C E R D À

L8 Europa - Fira

65-N15-N16-N17

G R AN V IA

PL . D ’ E U R OPA

A Mª . RE CR INA IST INA

AV. DE L

A F ZON RANC A A F RAN CA

ZON

PG.

RME

PG.

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C. DEL CA

SJ O

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PL. DEL NOU

EXIT 18

media partners

COLOM

RONDA LITORAL

Fira Gran Via (M2)

in collaboration with

SÓNAR BUS

PL. DE LES DRASSANES

DIRECTION Llobregat

Avda. Botànica, 62. (Polígon Pedrosa) L’Hospitalet de Llobregat Barcelona

L3-Liceu

L3-Drassanes

Zona Franca

Aptdo. Correos 21.109 08080 Barcelona www.sonar.es sonar@sonar.es

O EST LÍ A M D PI I C

C. D EL

CCCB MACBA

ïc 1

9-37-109-N1 ST PA . J LA O U RD I

A V. CA JOA N RL ES I

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Sónar by Day

A L IT

Renfe 23

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FOC

InfoSónar

L P LO

POBLE ESPANYOL

C. D EL DE

ÉS DE COM RQU IL MA

NAPALAU CIO NA

PL . SAN T JOR D I

L1-L3 Catalunya

GR A N VI A

URA

AR L P

N IC A

BAU

C. BO TÀ

IN I

Fira Gran Via (M2) L’Hospitalet

LUM

C. DE MIG UEL HER NÁN DEZ

Sónar by Night

STR

M L1-L2 Universitat

E . D AV

C . IN DÚ

L1-L3 Espanya 9-37-65-79-109-N15-N16 N17-L72-L80-L81-L83-L87

G R AN V IA

C . DE L ’A R Q U I T E

S LA

SÓNAR BUS TAXI

PL. ESPANYA

AV. DEL MARQUÈS DE COMILLAS

C. DE LES CIÈNCIES

LA RA MB LA

To Fira Gran Via (M2)

* advance sale expenses not included

supported by

PATI DE LES DONES Merchandising

CCCB

Sónar CosmoCaixa concert Online*: www.laCaixa.es/ObraSocial (CosmoCaixa section) Sale & Collection of tickets at the CosmoCaixa Ticket Office From the 18th until the 20th June from 10:00 to 22:00. C/ Isaac Newton, 26.

an initiative of

Magazines

Public Entrance

Sónar L’Auditori concert Online*: www.telentrada.com By phone*: +34 93 326 29 46 L’Auditori Ticket Office C/ Lepant, 150 From Monday to Saturday from 15:00 to 21:00

tickets on sale

SonarVillage

Sonar Dôme

C .A

Sónar by Night Ticket Office: Fira Gran Vía (M2). During the festival from 20:00.

Editorial Fair

ÚRG

Sónar by Day Ticket Office: Centre d’Estudis i Documentació Plaça dels Àngels, 8. From the 18th until the 20th June from 11:00 to 21:00.

Merchandising

A L ·L

Sale & Collection of Tickets: Palau de la Virreina Ticket Office*: La Rambla, 99. From the 8th until the 20th of June. From monday to saturday from 10:00 to 19:30. Sunday from 11:00 to 02:30

BAR

Ticket Office

MET

3 Day Ticket, Sónar by Day and Sónar by Night Online*: www.ticketmaster.es By phone*: +34 934 929 180. Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 22:00 Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 to 22:00 Shops*: In the Ticketmaster sale points throughout Spain: complete list available at www.ticketmaster.es

Service Area

C. D E

Ticket Sales

Professional Area

C. VALLDONZELLA

3 Day Ticket: 140€ (3 days & 2 nights) 1 Day Ticket Sónar by Day: 30€ 1 Day Ticket Sónar by Night: 48€ Sónar L’Auditori concert**: 18€ Lars Horntveth + BCN 216 Sónar CosmoCaixa Concert **: 4€ Evelina Domnitch, Dimitry Gelfand & Francisco López “Ten Thousand Peacock Feathers in Foaming Acid” **The 3 Day Ticket and the Sónar 2009 accreditation do not allow access to these concerts.

C. JOAQUIM COSTA Entrance with accreditation

BAR

CONVENT Sonar DELS Complex ÀNGELS

Tickets & Prices

C. FERLANDINA

Tickets on sale now. Advance ticket buying recommended. Limited capacity.

Sónar by Day from 12:00 22:00 de 12:00 a to 22:00

A V. JO CARL AN ES I

Tickets

Venues and activities

How to get there Friday 19th, Saturday 20th

SonarBus

Buses

FGC

SonarClub, SonarPub, SonarLab Open doors 21:30.

Non-stop bus service from Plaça de les Drassanes to Fira Gran Via (M2). Friday and Saturday from 20:00 to 08:00.

9, 37, 65, 72, 79, 109, L72, L80, L81, L83, L87, N1, N15, N16 & N17 www.tmb.net

Lines: 8, S33, S4, S8, R5 and R8 (station: Europa - Fira) 10 minutes walking distance www.fgc.es

main sponsor

also sponsored by

technological associates

official airline

Sónar by Day Thurdsday 18

Friday 19

Saturday 20

SonarHall

13:00 Néboa (ES) Live 17:00 Roland Olbeter + Tim Exile +

Jon Hopkins (DE-UK) Live 20:30 Konono Nº 1 (CG) Live

13:00 Carrier to Noise Ratio (ES) Live 17:00 Quayola (UK) Live 19:00 Ryoichi Kurokawa (JP) Live 20:30 Micachu & The Shapes (UK) Live

SonarVillage

12:00 Aitor Molina (ES) DJ 14:00 Vidal Romero presenta

12:00 Davic Nod (ES) DJ 14:00 Mark Jones plays Wall of

13:00 Anímic (ES) Live 17:00 Ebony Bones (UK) Live Raster Noton presents 19:00 SND (UK) Live 19:45 Byetone (DE) Live 20:30 Alva Noto (DE) Live 21:15 Atom™ (DE) Live

GO Magazine (ES) DJ 16:00 The Wizard (US) DJ 18:00 Luomo (FI) Live Ghostly International 10th Anniversary presents 18:45 The Sight Below (US) Live 19:30 SV4/Michna (US) DJ 20:15 Lusine (US) Live 21:15 Michna with Raw Paw (US) Live

SonarDôme

Sound (UK) DJ BBC Introducing presents (Highlights on BBC Radio) 16:00 Young Fathers (UK) Live 16:45 Huw Stephens (UK) DJ 17:30 La Roux (UK) Live 18:15 Huw Stephens (UK) DJ 18:45 Bass Clef (UK) Live 19:30 Huw Stephens (UK) DJ 20:30 Omar Souleyman (SY) Live

SonarDôme

SonarVillage 12:00 Fat Fish (ES) DJ 14:00 Txarly Brown presents

Achilifunk (ES) DJ Ed Banger presents GazpaShow! 16:00 DSL (FR) DJ 17:00 Breakbot (FR) Live 17:40 Outlines (FR) DJ 18:50 James Pants (US) Live 19:30 Bullion (UK) DJ 20:40 Busy P (FR) DJ

SonarDôme

Red Bull Music Academy presents 12:00 Mwëslee vs Chelis (ES) 14:00 Miaau (ES) DJ 14:40 Cécile (IT) Live 15:25 d´J`w (ES) DJ 16:30 Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics (ET-UK) Live 17:30 d´J`w (ES) DJ 18:15 Débruit (FR) Live 19:00 Jamie Woon (UK) Live 19:45 Taras 3000 (RU) Live 21:15 Onra (FR) Live

Red Bull Music Academy presents 12:00 Ruari (IE) DJ 13:15 Mano Le Tough (IE) Live 14:00 El Santo (CO) Live 14:30 Midee (ES) DJ 16:00 Muhsinah (US) Live 16:30 Dorian Concept (AT) Live 17:15 Bomb Squad (US) DJ 18:30 Mike Slott (IE) DJ 20:00 GoldieLocks (UK) Live 20:30 XXXCHANGE (US) DJ

SonarComplex

13:00 Rominger (ES) Live 17:30 Joe Crepúsculo vs la Estrella

13:00 Nikka (ES) Live 17:30 Colch-ón vs Suma (ES) Live 19:30 Tarántula vs Orquesta

13:00 Carlos Suárez (ES) Live 17:30 Ben Frost (IS) Live 19:30 Pau Riba i Mil Simonis (ES) Live 21:00 Penca Catalogue (ES) Live

de David y Los Thelemáticos (ES) Live 19:30 Filastine (US) Live 21:00 Institut FATIMA (DE) Live

Caballo Ganador (ES) Live 21:00 Bèstia Ferida (ES) Live

Red Bull Music Academy presents 12:00 K**O (ES) DJ 14:00 Sonicbrat (SG) Live 14:30 Natalia Lafourcade (MX) Live 15:10 Mr Hudson (UK) Live 16:00 Cardopusher (VE) DJ 17:30 Guillamino (ES) Live 18:15 Kornél Kovács (SE) DJ 19:45 Lukid (UK) Live 20:30 Culoe de Song (ZA) DJ

L’Auditori 20:30 Lars Horntveth + BCN216 (NO-ES) Live

Sónar by Night Friday 19

Saturday 20

SonarClub

22:30 Nacho Marco (ES) DJ 23:30 Grace Jones (JM) Live 00:30 James Murphy &

22:30 HD Substance (ES) DJ 23:00 Animal Collective (US) Live 00:15 Beardyman (UK) Live 00:45 Orbital (UK) Live 02:15 Tadeo (ES) DJ 03:15 Moderat (DE) Live 04:15 Deadmau5 (CA) Live 05:30 Henry Saiz (ES) Live

Pat Mahoney (US) DJ 02:00 Richie Hawtin (CA) 04:00 SebastiAn (FR) Live 05:00 Agoria (FR) DJ

SonarPub 22:30 Buenavista (ES) DJ 00:00 Little Boots (UK) Live 01:00 Buenavista (ES) DJ 01:30 Late of the Pier (UK) Live 02:15 Buenavista (ES) DJ 02:45 Buraka Som Sistema

(PT/AO) Live 03:45 Crookers (IT) DJ 05:30 Brodinski (FR) DJ

SonarLab 22:30 DJohnston (ES) DJ Mary Anne Hobbs presents (Highlights on BBC Radio 1) 00:00 Mary Anne Hobbs (UK) DJ 00:45 Joker (UK) DJ 01:30 The Gaslamp Killer (US) DJ 02:15 Martyn (NL) DJ 03:00 Heartbreak (UK) Live 04:00 Erol Alkan presents Disco 3000 (UK) DJ 05:30 Don Rimini (FR) DJ

SonarPub 22:30 Angel Molina (ES) DJ 23:45 Fever Ray (SE) Live 00:45 Rustie (UK) DJ 02:15 Crystal Castles (CA) Live 03:00 Jeff Mills (US) DJ 05:00 Carl Craig (US) DJ

SonarLab 22:30 Cauto (ES) DJ Sunday Best presents 23:30 dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip (UK) Live 00:15 Rob Da Bank (UK) DJ 02:00 Mujava (ZA) DJ Ostgut Ton presents 03:30 Shed (DE) Live 04:30 Marcel Dettmann (DE) DJ 05:30 The Requesters (ES) Live

Intro

Lives and DJs

Sónar Lives and DJs

Sónar celebrates its sixteenth birthday on the psychological threshold of the second decade of the century. Among other things, this means that the festival has been seeking out new sounds, approaches and ideas for long enough for it to include artists in its line-up who were only children sixteen years ago. There are plenty of young artists at Sónar 2009; they are part of a new generation in which musical influences and very varied geographical origins intermingle, and so do a thousand ways of producing music and art. Sónar is therefore once again a vibrant snapshot of the present – a point at which these new talents share a stage with internationally renowned consolidated names, expanding their legacy in a profusion of directions. The “do it yourself” spirit applied to digital art and new musical trends also invades SonarMàtica, in another clear sign of a paradigm shift and renewal: most of the artists on display are also new to their field. Sónar 2009 brings the beat of the planet’s emerging scene to its stages, in an exhaustive overview of current developments in today’s music and electronic art. It is a landscape that is perhaps more varied and multi-faceted than ever, and that is what makes it tremendously exciting.

Sónar by Day SonarVillage

SonarVillage

La Roux

THURSDAY 18 12:00 Aitor Molina (Supernormal/ES) DJ The man behind Supernormal Records, a member of the Proboke Management Agency and above all, a fervent DJ and producer, Aitor Molina takes with his sets, the purism of his technique and his interest in using new technologies with the sound of Chicago house and Detroit techno. However, in order to raise the curtain at SonarVillage, Aitor has prepared a session that is a little more measured. 14:00 Vidal Romero plays

Go Mag (ES) DJ Head of Drone SC, responsible for programming electronica at Territorios Digitales, Electrochock and Espacio Iniciarte (all in Seville), Vidal Romero gives free rein to his more chaotic side in sets where noise and visceral electronica join krautrock, shoegazing and his beloved space disco.

16:00 The Wizard

(Axis/US) DJ In the 80s, before being known worldwide as one of the greatest international techno DJs ever, Jeff Mills revolutionised the then already humming Detroit music scene going under the pseudonym of The Wizard. From the radio waves (WJLB, WDRQ…) and alongside Charles Johnson aka The Electrifying Mojo, he redefined the limits of the DJ persona with an exceptional technique and a mishmash of styles embracing the first sounds of techno, Miami basss, hip-hop, Chicago house and new wave classics.

18:00 Luomo (Huume/FI) Live No introduction is necessary for the pop alter ego of Vladislav Delay. “Convivial,” his fourth album using the Luomo moniker, reveals his more extroverted side. It is full of vocal collaborations, including those with Sascha Ring (Apparat) and Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters). This is a marvellous opportunity to enjoy the finishes and sound

03 of an artist who has reinvented house, r&b, pop and every other genre that has come his way. Ghostly International 10th Anniversary presents

18:45 The Sight Below

(US) Live For his debut LP “Glider”, The Sight Below went to the trouble to record all the edits live. Lover of small details and the unexpected, this Seattle-based artist delights in his melancholic arrangements, made up of guitars processed with pedals and filtered with reverb and delay that manage to slow down the concept of time and space in the form of melancholic, icy drones.

19:30 SV4/Michna (US) DJ The ubiquitous Adrian Mincha, also known as Egg Foo Young and a name that regularly crops up on numerous indies, joins up with the creator of Ghostly International, SV4 (that is, Sam Valenti IV) to concoct a special DJ set for a stylish celebration of the 10th anniversary of Ghostly. 20:15 Lusine (US) Live Lusine is the alias that Jeff McIlwain uses as an outlet for all his ideas for abstract, melodic and forceful electronica. Since he completed his studies of music and design at the prestigious CalArts school, he has recorded on labels like !K7/MAS, Hymen, Delikatessen and Isophlux. In 2003 he joined the Ghostly label, where he has had plenty of hits including “Push”, the remixes of “Flat”, and the “Inside/Out” EP, as well as the highly-praised “Serial Hodgepodge” in 2004. 21:15 Michna with Raw Paw (US) Live In his new incarnation, Adrian Mincha (a usual suspect of outstanding labels like Reprise, Big Dada, and Schematic,) joins forces with New Yorker Raw Paw. Together they sign up to the cause of funk revival, squeezing the best out of the equation technology plus visuals plus live instruments (including trombones.)

FRIDAY 19 12:00 Davic Nod (Loud Music/ES) DJ A believer in always trying something new, David has prepared a hybrid DJ set and live show based on digital glitches, melodic atmospheres, piano rifts and his latest experiments with generative music. 14:00 Mark Jones plays Wall of Sound (UK) DJ Largely responsible for putting names like Röyksopp, The Propellerheads and Les Rythmes Digitales on the map and for relaunching the career of the iconic Grace Jones, Mark Jones – who also runs the independent distributor PIAS – will dig deep into his memory chest and bring back the best moments of big beat and ambient, putting them up against some of the more indie and hip hop sounds that have made his label their home in recent years. BBC Introducing presents (Highlights across BBC Radio) BBC Introducing supports unsigned, undiscovered and under the radar music. New UK artists are encouraged to visit bbc.co.uk/introducing, upload the music they’re making, and allow producers from across the BBC the opportunity to hear what they’ve got to offer.

16:00 Young Fathers

(UK) Live Edinburgh-made, old school, kaleidoscopic hip-hop that takes irony-tinged delight in all the fads and styles of the past. A foray into arcade sounds, 70s aesthetics, partying and good vibes, that puts the vitality and ambience of the late seventies and early eighties back on stage with a touch of pop and a very healthy sense of humour.

16:45 Huw Stephens (UK) DJ Huw Stephens is interested in discovering new names and new sounds, which he showcases in his weekly BBC

Radio 1 shows, central to the BBC Introducing network. It continues in his other professional facets, where he curates festivals and acts as a serial DJ at many event.

17:30 La Roux (Polydor/UK) Live This electropop duo restores the legacy of all-time classics like the Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Prince, without being anchored in the past. After the commotion caused by “Quicksand,” their first single released on Kitsuné Music in late 2008, the duo has signed for Polydor for their debut LP, an album entitled “In for the Kill.” 18:15 Huw Stephens (UK) DJ 18:45 Bass Clef (UK) Live His hard to miss hit “Cannot Be Straightened” was one of the unquestionable dubstep anthems of 2008, but it is his off the wall stage show that makes Bass Clef one of the most unusual artists on today’s British scene. The Hackney bass wizard brings fistfuls of syncopated dub to his live show with the help of an arsenal of analogue and acoustic instruments (trombone, theremin, cowbells…) which give dubstep a new dimension. 19:30 Huw Stephens (UK) DJ 20:30 Omar Souleyman (Sublime Frequencies/SY) Live A true folk legend, Omar Souleyman has over five hundred albums under his belt, all released on cassette and distributed across the length and breadth of Syria. His music combines tradition with a pop approach, creating an energetic mixture of sounds and unique features such as keyboards with Arab reflections, mantric percussion, string instruments and a highly unusual use of his vocal cords, known as “dabke”. This is an exceptional opportunity to experience the sound heard at street level in the Middle East live and direct, with no filters or sweeteners.

SATURDAY 20 12:00 Fat Fish (ARTEC/ES) DJ A vinyl collector, DJ and promoter, Ricardo Ramos has displayed his good taste and eclecticism at both the independent distributor Discorder and at the ARTEC Art and Electronic Music Days. Dubstep predominates behind the decks, but anything is possible. 14:00 Txarly Brown presents Achilifunk (Uptight65/ES) DJ Music lover, record collector, acclaimed graphic designer and art director at Iguapop and Uptight 65, Txarly Brown has also been a catalyst of the rumba resurgence that is taking Barcelona by storm. He runs the already classic Rumba Club and hosts the weekly program “Achilifunk Radio Show”. Even the gypsies admit that Txarly is the “payo” who knows most about rumba... At Sónar he will launch the second volume of the compilation “Achilifunk”, a new, personal depiction of Rumba as it is today, ready to go international. Ed Banger presents GazpaShow!

16:00 DSL (Ed Banger/FR) DJ Coming out of Sarcelles, to the north of Paris, David, Stephane and Lionel (hence the abbreviation) have reinvented the concept of the ménage à trois with an avalanche of hip-hop with an electronic finish, with in-yourface rhymes and rhythms sharp enough to cut yourself, all on a retro tip which gushes the spirit of Ed Banger through each of its pores. “Invaders”, their first EP release, has everything they need to make them an international phenomenon. 17:00 Breakbot

(Moshi Moshi/FR) Live One of the latest to achieve the status of remixer de rigueur is Breakbot, whose hands have already worked their magic on cuts by artists

including Sebastien Tellier, Justice, Fatlip, Arrow and PNAU. Pure spirit of the eighties, three decades on.

17:40 Outlines (La Lettre 7/FR) DJ Few projects have caused as much of a stir as the first Outlines 12” “Lil’ Lovin”. Several vinyls and one album later (the life-affirming “Our Lives Are Too Short”,) this French trio enamoured of good vibes, disco-pop, hip-hop and the seventies sound leave their mark wherever they go. 18:50 James Pants (Stones Throw/US) Live His is the story of a dream come true: he spring-boarded to fame on the label he admired so much, Stones Throw. The magic formula: Texan poise and a mixed bag of musical tastes that range from electro boogie to rap, new wave and disco music. All filtered through and imaginary sieve and reinterpreted with guitars, keyboards and his singular voice. 19:30 Bullion (One-Handed/UK) DJ The powerful beats that were the backbone of his first single, the acclaimed “Get Familiar,” have placed him in the eye of the media storm in record time (his list of admirers includes names like Gilles Peterson, Tricky and Mary Anne Hobbs.) Eclectic but always effective, his live shows, sets and remixes are crammed with syncopated melodies, beats with a capital B and rhythms that you just can’t ignore. 20:40 Busy P (Ed Banger/FR) DJ Pedro Winter is a goldmine: ex-manager of Daft Punk, Ed Banger mastermind, a de luxe remixer and the man responsible for raising the profile of a new batch of electro and house talents such as Justice, Krazy Baldhead, SebastiAn and DJ Mehdi, Busy P has filled the map of France with items that are 100% exportable, which of course include his own productions.

ZOOM Deluxe collaborations This year, the SonarVillage stage is pushing the boat out, with three extra special collaborations with the BBC, Ed Banger and Ghostly. Record label presentations have become a tradition in the Sónar line-up, but these three are obviously something else again. On Thursday, Ghostly International celebrates its tenth anniversary in style: ten years of hits with a menu consisting of mutant funk, IDM and experimental approaches to the dancefloor. On Friday 19, the “BBC Introducing” format goes beyond Britain’s frontiers for the first time. It features a selection of key artists from the current British Isles scene, carefully selected by Huw Stephens. Finally, on Saturday, the “GazpaShow!” devised by the head of Ed Banger – the versatile Busy P – will take the conventional label presentation format to another dimension. The show presents artists that are not in fact on its books, but who instead make up an imaginary map of the influences, interests and acquaintances of this powerful French label (which has been responsible for phenomena like Justice, Uffie and SebastiAn). Among the special guests involved are Bullion, Breakbot and James Pants. This is all in addition to the outlandish adventure of Omar Souleyman, and the genius known as The Wizard (Jeff Mills’ first psuedonym in his early days as a legend on the decks.) 01. Omar Souleyman 02. DSL 03. The Wizard

BCN216

FRIDAY 19 22:00 Lars Horntveth + BCN216 (Smalltown Supersound/NO-ES) Live

Konono Nº 1

SATURDAY 20

13:00 Néboa (ES) Live When Javi Álvarez disembowels and modifies old hardware (Casio keyboards, electronic toys, Atari computers,) he does so without a shadow of nostalgia for the technology of the past. His project Néboa is all about “turning something old into something new and finding the strange in the familiar,” wrapping his critical attitude and punk spirit from yesteryear in the bizarre sounds that will soon materialise in “Todo Volverá a Ser Diferente”.

13:00 Carrier to Noise Ratio (ES) Live This Seville trio have taken their openly minimalist and abstract perspective to many venues, in the context of both art (from NY’s MOMA to the Guggenheim in Bilbao) and the theatre (for the Cirque du Soleil). They produce a sonic landscape and intricate rhythms in which painstaking work on the sound synthesis and an impressive visual approach takes centre stage.

13:00 Anímic (Error! Lo-Fi/ES) Live With a carefully designed aesthetic, this sextet from Esparreguera has received awards and an excellent reception from the critics thanks to their concern for detail and a highly personal sound, in which any object that comes to hand can become a tailor-made instrument.

20:30 Konono Nº 1

(Crammed Discs/CG) Live The Orchestre Tout Puissant Likembé Konono Nº 1, led by Mawangu Mingiedi, who founded the group 25 years ago, is a bridge between tradition and modernity. The musicians play likembés or thumb pianos, with adapted microphones handmade from magnets salvaged from abandoned cars and other instruments made from pieces of scrap, giving a new dimension to the traditional trance music of the Bazombo ethnic group. The result is surprising – it is a sound that is undoubtedly African in its rhythm and textures, but curiously close to punk and western electronica. Their raw and sophisticated sound has led them to work with artists of the standing of Timbaland and Björk. A one-off!

17:00 Quayola (UK) Live Quayola is an audiovisual artist and graphic designer, and his work combines video, photography, installation and live performance as if they were all part of the same language. “Path to Abstraction” is a perfect example of his modus operandi, which explores the relationship between audio and video, and is inspired by the physical representation of sound itself, in order to be able to “see” sound waves while we hear them. 19:00 Ryoichi Kurokawa (JP) Live Kurokawa uses a completely revolutionary approach to bringing visual and sound material together to create impressive audiovisual compositions. In his language, which has become a new international benchmark in digital art, field recordings coexist harmoniously with computergenerated structures, allowing us a glimpse into an imaginary world in which the complex becomes simple (and vice versa) every couple of milliseconds. 20:30 Micachu and The Shapes (Rough Trade/UK) Live At 21, Mica Levi has already composed for the London Philharmonic Orequestra, won over London’s garage and grime scene and debuted on Matthew Herbert’s label with her highenergy pop project with The Shapes. After two much-hyped singles in 2008, they have just released the LP “Jewellery”, produced by Matthew Herbert and brimming over with dissonance, youth, and a serious commitment to fun.

17:00 Ebony Bones

(PIAS/UK) Live This mutant tigress has been accustomed to the spotlight since the tender age of 12 years old, when she started her career as a television actress. With her unusual fashion sense and a renowned sense of humour, she has turned the British music scene upside down, with a combination of post-punk in an electronic style, driving rhythms and rock arrangements from outer space. Raster Noton presents 19:00 SND (UK) Live The sixteen sound-origami pieces in Mat Steel and Mark Fell’s fourth album “Atavism” further expand their personal approach to digital audio: a DNA chain cobbled together from bits of classic techno, a rationalist aesthetic and generative algorithms.

19:45 Byetone (DE) Live

Always halfway between the structures and methods of techno and electro and the rough, abstract sounds that set his work apart from the dancefloor (do not miss his latest album, “Death of a Typographer”) Byetone paints a sound postcard that is cold, organic, dark and overwhelming, all at once.

20:30 Alva Noto (DE) Live Always equally concerned with concepts and aesthetics, over the last twenty years, Carsten Nicolai, aka Alva Noto, has created his own sound universe based on the compulsive exploration of minimalism’s full range of potential (physical and sensorial.) This time, he presents his much praised “Xerrox vol. 2”.

21:15 Atom™ (DE) Live The legendary Uwe Schmidt makes a triumphant debut on Raster Noton with “Liedgut”, which once again pays tribute to his own influences. A symphony of enigmatic electronica packed with interferences, reverberating melodies, white noise and digital micro-cuts to deconstruct the legacy of classics like Oskar Sala and Kraftwerk.

do his influences include artists as versatile as Joanna Newsom, Robert Wyatt, Stereolab and Jean-Claude Vannier. And his most recent composition, the acclaimed album “Kaleidoscopic,” simply reaffirms that idea. It is a monolithic exercise in post-rock with a jazz edge, and infinite layers and readings, full of sub-rhythms and optimistic melodies, which was originally recorded with more than forty members of the Latvian national orchestra in a church in Riga. On the Auditori stage, a total of thirteen musicians will undertake the live reconstruction of the score of “Kaleidoscopic,” transporting the audience back to a no-man’s land (by turns unclassifiable post-jazz, and instrumental avant-rock.)

ZOOM Visual music The relationship between sounds and images takes on a new dimension in several live shows on the SonarHall stage. Work by artists with extensive experience and an understanding electronic art as a language covering several disciplines, leads to an interaction in which music and video become a practically inseparable binomial. Quayola, a highly regarded Italian visual artist based in London, adds colour, form and a physical aspect to the sounds of other artists in his impressive “Path to Abstraction”; his show is a perfect example of the importance of this combination of ideas in SonarHall. Japan’s Ryoichi Kurokawa embodies the philosophy of audiovisual performance like few others. He sees it as a seamless discourse, dominated by reciprocity between what we see and what we hear. Kurokawa considers image and sounds from the same perspective, and creates moving audiovisual sculptures using organic materials and advanced digital treatments. In the still fertile field of minimalism, there is the cohesion of the Seville-based group Carrier to Noise Ratio, and of course the work by the artists in the Raster Noton collective, whose live performance boosts the audiovisual format by taking it to its very essence: frequencies, rhythms and structures that are both audible and visible.

01. Micachu and The Shapes 02. AtomTM 03. Roland Olbeter

CosmoCaixa

FRIDAY 19

17:00 Roland Olbeter + Tim Exile + Jon Hopkins (DE-UK) Live Robotics and electronic music go hand in hand in this collaboration between three very different artists, specially commissioned by Sónar and the UK festival Faster than Sound. Two of the most respected musicians in Britain’s new electronica, Jon Hopkins and Tim Exile, accepted the challenge of composing a piece for a very special group... The Soundclusters line-up consists of five robot-instruments created by Roland Olbeter. Two violins, a viola, a cello and a drum packed with micro-keys and mechanisms allow them to play live with Hopkins and Exile, in one of the most amazing stage shows of this year’s Sónar.

For what is now the traditional concert at the Auditori this year, Sónar offers a very special collaboration between the BCN216 Instrumental Group (an institution in avantgarde music in Spain, which has been playing together since 1985) and the Norwegian artist Lars Horntveth, the composer and main man behind the highly regarded experimental jazz combo Jaga Jazzist, which brought success to the Scandinavian label Smalltown Supersound. Horntveth has always stood out due to his astonishing capacity to write pieces that fall halfway between several styles – not for nothing

THURSDAY 18

L’Auditori

SonarHall

Sónar by Day SonarHall, L’Auditori, Cosmocaixa

JUNE 18, 19, 20 20:00 Evelina Domnitch, Dimitry Gelfand & Francisco López (RU-NL-ES) Ten Thousand Peacock Feathers in Foaming Acid C/ Isaac Newton, 26. Known all around the world for his sound installations and his spectacular surround multichannel performances, Francisco López joins forces with Dimitry Gelfand and Evelina Domnitch for the very first time. The result is a unique synesthesic show, halfway between experimental cinema, VJing, musical performance and real time science demonstration. In “Ten Thousand Peacock Feathers in Foaming Acid”, Dimitry Gelfand and Evelina Domnitch use laser beams to scan and project the surface of the soap film they produce by combining a

variety of chemicals in real time. Unlike other types of light beams, the laser is able to penetrate inside the micro-structures of these soap films and project them on the planetarium’s ceiling. The image that surrounds the viewer reminds the activity and the dynamics of living cells (or, as the title indicates, the complex shapes and colors of the peacock feathers.) Curated by Arnau Horta. Sónar by Day-CosmoCaixa Bus Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 19:00. The bus departs from Hotel Pulitzer (Bergara, 8 next to Plaça Catalunya.) Seating capacity: 20 (first-come, first-served.)

Sónar by Day SonarDôme

SonarDôme

GoldieLocks

THURSDAY 18 Red Bull Music Academy presents

12:00 Mwëslee vs. Chelis (Arkestra-Urbarritmo/ES) DJ Chelis, a pioneer of Aragon’s electronica scene for more than a decade, and Mwëslee, from Vigo, come together in a musical dialogue that speaks of the future and the past from a contemporary perspective. 14:00 Miaau (Marchlewski/ES) Live He was inspired to begin making his own compositions after immersing himself in the club scene of Barcelona. On the flipside to his kicks and snares, his penchant for Badalamenti-styled Twin Peaks melodies and ambience conjure up all kinds of dreamscapes and depths of the human psyche, taking the club environment to an altogether unfamiliar place. 14:40 Cécile

(Mac Mac/IT) Live It might have been a sign when a five-year old Carlo Alberto broke the violin his grandfather gave him, trying to play it like a guitar. However, Cécile’s not just about electropunk aesthetics, and creates a softer, more melancholic palette via his Satie-inspired Color A project.

15:15 d´J`w (Megabeats/ES) DJ Organiser of the first Scratch ITF 2003 Spanish Championship, a standard bearer of the RBMA in Spain, and DJ and producer, d´J`w takes you on a journey across various genres in which the common denominator is the use (and abuse) of low frequency oscillators and analogue filters. 16:30 Mulatu Astatke and The Heliocentrics (Strut-ET-!K7/UK) Live Mulatu combines his jazz and funk training with the roots of his Ethiopian heritage, and has created a sound that is both light and heavyweight, but which is above all undoubtedly Abyssinian. He

03 has just released an album on Strut with The Heliocentrics, who will be his live band. They will show off their synergies by adding hip-hop, funk, jazz, psych rock and a touch of the cutting edge to the mix.

17:30 d´J`w (Megabeats/ES) DJ 18:15 Débruit (Musique Large/FR) Live Xavier Thomas is a producer, DJ, instrumentalist and vocalist from Paris. He released an LP called “Coupé Décalé”, twisting flamenco guitars, field recordings, and just about any sound he can get his hands on, into his electro hip-hop noise Débruit trademark. 19:00 Jamie Woon (One Taste/UK) Live As well as running one of London’s leading music and spoken word gatherings called One Taste, Jamie has supported dons like Tony Allen, Terry Callier and Amy Winehouse, while also clocking up the mileometer with festival appearances this year. Jamie takes the timelessness of folks like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Jeff Buckley and Lee Perry, and brings it to smack up to date with acoustic guitars and loop effects. 19:45 Taras 3000 (Idle Conversation/RU) DJ This disco lover has been fighting for Russia’s right to party for time, promoting two of Moscow’s foremost club nights, and catching an global rep in the process. Alongside international guests like Diplo, Mr. Oizo, or Headman, he got everyone excited about the neon-headed monster rising in Russia. 21:15 Onra

(Favorite/FR) Live His “Tribute” LP project caught the ears of music lovers and DJs like Benji B and Gilles Peterson, Onra has been on a roll, and his “Chinoiseries” LP, made from a crate digging expedition to Vietnam, has been released to the delight of fans of offbeat hip-hop.

FRIDAY 19 Red Bull Music Academy presents

12:00 Ruari (Galway/IE) DJ Whether it’s making ambient tracks, jamming on the keys with his jazz sisters, rocking floors with his deep techy selections or just designing that cybernetic music software helmet, you know Rory D likes to have a good time doing it. 13:15 Mano Le Tough

(District of Corruption/IE) DJ Our Mano in Berlin has already had his first tracks signed to Prins Thomas’ label, and last years split 12” on District of Corruption “Inside Animal Minds” caught the ears of global DJs, Mixmag writers, and Jack Russells alike. As well as improvising his tracks live, Mano’s also quite likely to drop a few surprises in his sets.

14:00 El Santo (Premier Evil Crusher/CO) Live When not playing in bands like El Fat Chorizo or La Superbailable!, El Santo can often be found in the instrument lab, building synths and developing ideas such as street art made with conductive paint and tiny circuits, where bystanders can modify a musical tone by touching the artwork. Somewhere between Ryoji Ikeda, Pan Sonic and Nine Inch Nails. 14:30 Midee (Labolatory/ES) DJ Working as a sound technician and Dolby Stereo expert means that Midee has forgotten more about mixing and the stereo field than most producers learn in a lifetime. He creates a glorious mix of dubby electronica with plenty of Kraftwerk and YMO influences on his sleeve. 16:00 Muhsinah (Circulations/US) Live Anyone who’s dreamt of a better day will feel this lady. Recently dropping her debut LP “Daybreak 2.0”, Muhsinah has scooped nuff props for her compositions, a collision Chopin and Alice Coltrane, as well as Georgia and J Dilla.

16:30 Dorian Concept (Kindred Spirits/AT) Live After dropping an EP on Treble O, he exceeded the expectations with his recent 12” on the Nod Navigators series, fore-running his debut LP ‘When Planets Explode’ – a collection of woozy funk and twisted electronic chord changes which nods to everyone from Dabrye, Trane, Prince, and Boards of Canada. 17:15 Bomb Squad (Shocklee Innertainment/ US) DJ The mighty force behind Public Enemy is also credited with creating seminal recordings for a variety of top artists such as Madonna, Janet Jackson, Slick Rick, and Run DMC. Now, after many successful years in the studio, Hank lands at Sónar to perform one of his banging sets, with the darkest hip-hop and the freshest dubstep as main courses. 18:30 Mike Slott

(Lucky Me/US) DJ He has already released a couple of EPs on the Mecca of Dublin hip-hop, All City Records, as well as four EPs with Hudson Mohawke, and a collaboration with the intergalactic soul diva Muhsinah.

20:00 GoldieLocks (Puregroove/UK) Live Since GoldieLocks wolfed down the whole lot, she’s been creating spangled party anthems with an emphasis on heavy bass, snapping snares and trippy effects. Taking her cue from The Streets, Gwen Stefani, MIA, Spank Rock, and Dizzee, Goldielocks has got the game on lock... 20:30 XXXCHANGE (Fullly Fitted/US) DJ NYC native XXXCHANGE got everyone off the wall with his trax for Philly rapper Spank Rock, and has since been producing and remixing the great and the good, from Santogold, James Pants, and Gang Gang Dance to Space Ghost co-stars Thom Yorke and Björk. Simply XXXplosive.

SATURDAY 20 Red Bull Music Academy presents

12:00 K**O (Desparrame/ES) DJ K**O (pronounced “Kigo”) is known for his love of fat bass, whether it be it hip-hop, bmore, ghetto house or almost anything fresh-sounding. His set today will focus on cuttingedge beats, hyphy, crunk, alien dancehall, grime, purple dubstep, and the like. 14:00 Sonicbrat (NIL/SG) Live Finding as much inspiration in the sounds around him as he does in the works of minimal composers or experimental rock bands, Darren Ng wanders around Singapore sampling cicadas, creating shimmering soundscapes with them on the Tenori-On, or rigging up a broken piano with contact mics. 14:30 Natalia Lafourcade (Sony BMG/MX) Live All of her music comes directly from the heart, whether solo or accompanied by an orchestra. Natalia cites artists like Canadian torch singer Feist or hip hop soul-innovator Erykah Badu as inspirations, and you can hear how she spins that into her unique sashaying bossa on her Latin Grammywinning LP “Casa.” 15:10 Mr Hudson (G.O.O.D. Music/UK) Live Ben Hudson is the ringleader of the r&b supergroup Mr Hudson & the Library (on Kanye West’s label). But as if this wasn’t enough, he decided to surprise the world on his own with the powerful “Straight No Chaser.” This collection of hits based on energetic pop, futuristic breaks, polished synths, galactic rap and vocoder vocals, also blessed by Kanye, turns the concept of contemporary urban music inside out. 16:00 Cardopusher (True Tiger/VE) Live Luis Garbán blurs the lines between dubstep, electro and breakcore as easily as he

crosses geographical borders. Having released his album “Unity Means Power” on Murder Channel late last year, it’s little wonder Fact Magazine named him as one of their producers to watch in ‘09.

17:30 Guillamino (BankRobber/ES) Live Though he says his productions are 50% hip-hop beats and 50% classic songwriting, you can hear wide horizons in everything Guillamino does. Travelling the Sahara desert and Burma has probably affected his recent solo work as much as the fact that he went to NYC to work on it. 18:15 Kornél Kovács (Forza Marginale/SE) Live Since his days as resident at Paradise, Kornél Kovács has done his best to place Stockholm on the international rave map. His contribution to the third Emil.Rulez LP, “Zanga!Zanga,” was his debut on the Hungarian jazz scene, and today he keeps himself busy in the studio, adding the final touches to his tracks with Axel Boman and Petter. 19:45 Lukid (Werk Discs/UK) Live Back in 2007, he released an LP and an EP on Werk Discs, full of emotive abstract electronic beats, as well as contributing to the ‘We Are...’ monthly podcasts, while the start of this year saw his second LP “Foma” receive critical acclaim for his bass-heavy, tripped out grooves. 20:30 Culoe de Song (Innervisions/ZA) DJ Drawing inspiration from producers like Osunlade and Franck Roger, Culoe, whose family name means “Our Song”, has recently delved into production and started dropping jaws with his take on deep afro house, mixing field sounds and powerful strings to euphoric effect.

ZOOM Emerging talent Seeking out new names, sounds and talent has been one of the driving forces behind Sónar since its very earliest days. And in 2009, the exploratory spirit of the festival has linked up with that of the Red Bull Music Academy to make the three days of the SonarDôme line-up full of surprises. The Red Bull Music Academy, an inexhaustible source of talent for years, is the backbone of this stage, which features artists from all corners of the planet, who are coming to Barcelona with the most varied styles. Academy participants, usual teachers on this travelling experience, and special guests brought together for the occasion form a line-up which contains experimental minimalism from Singapore (with Sonicbrat), New York’s dirtiest beats with XXXCHANGE, cosmic funk with Russia’s Taras 3000, the breakcore-cum-dubstep of Cardopusher (Venezuelaborn, but Barcelona-based), the percussive house of South Africa’s Culoe de Song, the infectious British phenomenon called GoldieLocks, and the bright auteur pop of Natalia Lafourcade, a major star in Mexico, where she was born. A bit of everything to suit all tastes, with the added excitement of new discoveries.

01. Guillamino 02. Mulatu Astatke 03. Culoe de Song

Demos

SonarComplex

Sónar by Day SonarComplex, Demos

Espacio Demo

THURSDAY 18 13:00 Native Instruments presents Maschine

Filastine

THURSDAY 18

FRIDAY 19

SATURDAY 20

ZOOM

13:00 Rominger (Pendrive

13:00 Nikka

13:00 Carlos Suárez

Friendly confrontations and local extravagance

Records/ES) Live Although their sound is very personal and recognisable, the universe of Perdi, Leo and Yeray is difficult to define. After releases on the California label Vocoid and on Pendrive, the trio is currently recording their first LP for the Granada net label Miga.

17:30 Joe Crepúsculo vs. la Estrella de David y Los Thelemáticos (Discoteca Océano/ES) Live With two albums under his belt, Joe explores a territory midway between handcrafted and flea market sounds, backed by totally bizarre lyrics that are part mundane, part popular philosophy. Accompanied by La Estrella de David (Beef’s David Rodríguez) and Barcelona-based Asturian group Los Thelemáticos, they promise to lead us by the hand into unexplored territories of pop.

19:30 Filastine (Post World

Industries/US) Live Profoundly involved in the antiglobalisation movement, his 20-piece band Infernal Noise Brigade marked the rhythm of the WTO protests in Seattle as well as clearly revealing which side of the fence Grey Filastine sits on. This Barcelona-based, internationally sought-after artist handles the richest and most complex styles with total ease, allowing him to mix Bollywood with Balkan beats, breakcore and hip-hop and emerge unscathed.

21:00 Institut FATIMA

(DE) Live Inspired by situationism, free improvisation, space universalism and spontaneous creation, Paul and Carsten (two German musicians based in Barcelona) explore new ways of controlling the generation of electronic music. Using small cameras, they operate their machines without touching them with their hands, so that their live act becomes a wireless show, full of movement and surrealism.

(Lovethechaos/ES) Live The most natural thing for Nikka is being among machines: she is reflected in them like a mirror, and gives her audience a complex mélange of sounds, rhythms and feelings that are apparently melancholy, but which have a strong personality. In her live show, she will be collaborating with Alba G. Corral on visuals.

17:30 Colch-ón vs. Suma

(Foehn/ES) Live Colch-ón, the solo project of Frank Rudow (Manta Ray), is a continuous experiment involving tetric and tantric pieces, which are simultaneously circular and broken up, which collide with the organic nature and sweetness of Suma, a new benchmark on Foehn. Music and audiovisuals as part of a single effort to create an experience that verges on the orchestral.

19:30 Tarántula vs. Orquesta Caballo Ganador (Producciones Doradas/ES) Live Vincent Leone, Joe Crepúsculo, Eneko Trece and Daniel Descabello take punk, electronica and transcendental pop to the most surprising iconoclastic, ruffian and erudite corners. They have won over critics and audiences alike through innumerable live shows and unrepeatable albums, sometimes offered to fans for free. Here, the Orquesta Caballo Ganador joins the combo to present one of their most magical moments. 21:00 Bèstia Ferida (Ozono Kids/ES) Live Adrián de Alfonso (Veracruz, Don the Tiger), Arnau Sala (drummer with Les Aus) and trumpeter Mark Cunningham (icon of late 70s New York no wave and long-time Barcelona resident) make up the lineup of this internationally renowned conceptual noise trio with echoes of free jazz and post-rock, who have distortion and free structures as their only guidelines.

(ES) Live Sonic landscapes in danger of extinction, recorded in Venezuela and Galicia over a fifteen-year period, are used as raw material in this concert. These sounds have been processed and reconfigured in order to create a sonic perspective that is the basis for performance, using several instruments in Suárez’s collection. These come from various cultures which the artist has studied, some of which are more than 600 years old.

17:30 Ben Frost (Bedroom Community/IS) Live Ben Frost’s music goes from the most rural ambient to post-minimalism, and though it’s not a light approach, it has easily appealed and worked with artists such Björk, aminaa or Valgeir Sigurðsson. Two years after being published, “Theory of Machines” still represents one of the highlights of nowadays experimental electronica. 19:30 Pau Riba + Mil Simonis (Matriu Matràs/ES) Live Pau Riba, iconcoclastic, multifaceted and transgressive by definition, is a true institution on the Catalan scene, with a solid career as singer-songwriter with an ever-present sprinkling of provocation and controversy. In his current live act he shares the stage with Mil Simonis – with a lineup including members from Mil pesetas, Don Simón and Telefunken – that add colour to Riba’s more hallucinogenic, playful side with an evocative and highly original minimalist instrumentation that sheds new light on the high points of his repertoire.

Since last year’s festival, the more unusual cutting edge side of the Catalan scene has been appearing on the SonarComplex stage. Projects like Institut FATIMA (who are also taking part in “Mecànics,” the 2009 SonarMàtica exhibition), Filastine, Bèstia Ferida and the legendary Pau Riba accompanied by Mil Simonis, will be responsible for showing how far new local experimentation has travelled (and in what directions). Peculiarity, often verging on the bizarre, is a certainty... Another idea returning to SonarComplex is the “versus” performances: shows based on a musical confrontation between two or more projects on the same stage in order to experiment and find new perspectives. There are three “versus” this year at SonarComplex, all of which feature bands that established in Barcelona: Colch-ón vs. Suma (the ex-member of Manta Ray, Frank Rudow with Laura Clark;) Tarántula vs. Orquesta Caballo Ganador; Joe Crepúsculo vs. La Estrella de David y Los Thelemáticos. A thousand ways of tackling sonic extravagance in three days full of experiments.

14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:30 20:30

featuring Sergio Patricio & DJ Turco Steinberg presents Cubase 5 Ableton Live workshop featuring Exercise One Elektron presents MachineDrum / Monomachine M-Audio presents Torq Xponent Red Bull Music Academy featuring Hank Schocklee Mixvibes Cross featuring DJ Tillo Eks Otus DJ Controller featuring DJ Boogie Pimps

FRIDAY 19 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:30 20:30

Eks Otus DJ Controller featuring DJ Boogie Pimps Steinberg presents Cubase 5 Ableton Live featuring Digital 21 Elektron presents MachineDrum / Monomachine Propellerhead presents Reason / Record Red Bull Music Academy featuring Mulatu Astatke Vestax VXM-600 featuring Wagon Cookin AVID presents Pro Tools / Transfuser

SATURDAY 20 13:00 Native Instruments presents Traktor Scratch

Pro / Duo featuring Sergio Patricio & DJ Turco

Boer, Fokke de Jong & Guillamino Caravan presents FreeMix Pioneer presents DVJ Clinic featuring Geordi Lafunk Propellerhead presents Reason / Record Red Bull Music Academy featuring Carl Craig Stanton SC System3 featuring Mischa Völzke Steinberg presents LoopMash featuring Maarten de Boer & Fokke de Jong

14:00 Steinberg presents LoopMash featuring Maarten de 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:30 20:30

01. Nikka 02. Institut FATIMA 03. Orquesta Caballo Ganador

SonarRadio, the voice of Sónar 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

21:00 Penca Catalogue

(Persona Isla/ES) Live Backed up by collaborators like Strand, tape, Castropol, Kresy, Jumbil and Bacanal Intruder, Luis Sierra leads this contemporary pop machine through melodic paths that prove IDM can have choruses and structures just like good old fashioned songs. Luis himself defines “Cocaine Rocks as Cooked Kind” as “eight songs created by and for the heterogeneity of music.”

Showcasing Electronic Worldwide Sounds. Keep up with the latest news at Sónar 2009 minute by minute.You choose what gets most airplay on SonarRadio: visit www.sonar.es and vote for your favourites. SonarRadio by scannerFM www.scannerfm.com

SonarMàtica

Sónar by Day SonarMàtica

Merchandising

Yuri Suzuki The Physical Value of Sound

MECÀNICS “Mecànics” is an exhibition that reflects this return, at the heart of the information society, of the “DIY” philosophy as applied to the creation of sound production instruments. With that in mind, in this project SonarMàtica includes the driving forces behind artistic creation in the twenty-first century: centres of art production. Media labs are the tip of the iceberg of a new cultural paradigm based on the idea of a process, collective co-operation and the exchange of knowledge. This journey takes us around some of the most important centres of production in a renascent and creative Barcelona that is devoted to this new culture. It shows us ongoing projects, workshops, postgraduate projects and open rehearsals. This is craftsmanship for the third millennium, open to all in CCCB, Hangar and NIU.

CCCB. Floor -1 Roland Olbeter (ES) Soundclusters 2 www.olbeter.com “Soundclusters 2”, a series of four string instruments and a drum, is a platform which musicians and composers from any musical genre can use to experiment. Apart from the sound aspect, the work also operates at a visual level, through the movement of the instruments. Ten actuators can be programmed to create various choreographies. For this piece, Sónar and the English festival Faster Than Sound commissioned Jon Hopkins and Tim Exile, two of the most highly respected musicians in the new wave of British electronica, to produce compositions for the quintet of robot-instruments created by Olbeter. Yuri Suzuki (JP) The Physical Value of Sound www.yurisuzuki.com

On sale at the merchandising stands at the festival, day and night and on our website www.sonar.es

“The Physical Value of Sound” is a series of pieces that use vinyl records as a point of departure and principle

medium, and invite users to reflect on the physical value of music. Through several musical toys and a “prepared” turntable with five tone arms that the user can move at will, Suzuki poses questions about the ephemeral nature of digital technology, which he describes as “just data”, purely virtual. Institut FATIMA (ES) El sistema Reacball www.institutfatima.org During the research process that led Paul Rose and Carsten Galle to “Everybody Can Be Wireless Artist,” they came to the following conclusion: “There is no absolute control, but rather a small dose of chaos which stimulates creativity”. Institut FATIMA apply this idea to “The Reacball System,” in which a football, a camera, a computer and a MIDI controller generate a remix of sounds, samples and slips. The ball generates random sequences of MIDI notes which de-control a musical arrangement. The MIDI controller rearranges the chaos dialectically. This creative and intuitive process leads to surprising results. Institut Universitari de l’Audiovisual – Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES) http://iua.upf.edu

The works presented here have been created by students of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra of Barcelona during the present course 2008-2009, in the “Master of Digital Arts” (MAD), the “Master in Cognitive Systems and Interactive Media” (CSIM) as well as in the “Interactive Systems Workshop I” course. Sergi Jordà, Günter Geiger, Marcos Alonso and Martin Kaltenbrunner (ES) Reactable www.reactable.com The Reactable is a new electronic musical instrument with a simple and intuitive design,

which enables musicians to experiment with sound, change its structure, control its parameters and be creative in a direct, refreshing and unseen way. The instrument is based on a translucent and luminous round table, and by putting these pucks on the Reactable surface, by turning them and connecting them to each other, performers can combine different elements like synthesizers, effects, sample loops or control elements in order to create a unique and flexible composition. Dani García Rodríguez, Iván Hernández Gutiérrez and Miguel Ferreiro Novoa (ES) Punk-o-Table “Punk-o-Table” is a tangible musical game created for the Reactable platform that allows music to be created in a simple and fun way, in a style similar to punk-pop bands. Using simple mechanisms, “Punk-o-Table” is a fun and straightforward way of creating an infinite number of themes and variations based on a small amount of stored material. As a result, it is possible to switch from creating punk music to any other musical style just by changing the sound tracks. Roger Pujol, Pablo Molina, Frederic Font and Francisco García (ES) Puckr http://iua.upf.edu/puckr “Puckr” is a collaborative multi-player game that is simple and fast-moving, based on the popular game of air hockey, with added features from other games (including Pinball and Arkanoid) such as rebounds and power-ups. Up to teams of 1 or more people can take part. Each team starts with a fixed number of lives which is reduced every time the puck enters its goal. At the beginning, the participants place their mallets on the tangible surface so that the system can recognise the number of teams taking part. The game starts when the puck is hit and includes different levels, which become more advanced as

the game goes on. Carles F. Julià (ES) SongExplorer www.iua.upf. edu/~cfernandez/songexplorer In a world in which the amount of available music is increasing exponentially, we need new methods to find the music that we might like. “SongExplorer” uses the immense ability of human beings to explore space (depicted by maps) to present a galaxy of songs in an ordered way, in which similar songs tend to be close to each other. Using the functionality of interactive tables, “SongExplorer” allows users to gesture with their fingers to browse this map, create and manipulate playlists and, obviously, listen to music. Sebastián González / Javier Chávarri (CO-ES) WeAreWaves www.wearewaves.info “WeAreWaves” is an interactive installation which invites the participant to explore the qualities of sound based on the body’s movement and forms. In other words, it is a space for considering the concept of timbre as a specific quality of sound waves, using the interface that human beings are most familiar with: their own body. Using a camera, “WeAreWaves” takes the points making up the silhouette of the bodies in the image and converts them into sound. “WeAreWaves” allows viewers to experiment with the feeling of seeing and listening to themselves, and to stop for a moment to reflect on a universe in which everything and all of us are waves.

Sónar by Day SonarMàtica

Reactable Sergi Jordà, Günter Geiger, Marcos Alonso and Martin Kaltenbrunner IED - Istituto Europeo di Design (ES) www.ied.edu/City/Barcelona

The Istituto Europeo di Design in Barcelona works in the field of training and research within the disciplines of design, fashion, visual arts and communication. The school belongs to an international network with branches in Milan, Rome, Turin, Venice, Madrid, Barcelona and São Paulo, which promotes educational and practical initiatives related to business, through the culture of the project. VV.AA. (ES) Voice Constructer “Voice Constructer” is a puzzle and an interactive construction game. The work requires the participation of visitors, who use their voice to construct geometric pieces, with which they complete various drawings on the screen, and use a control to move them around and rotate them. It is a complex multidisciplinary project similar to producing a video game, requiring a script, research and conceptual analysis, storyboard production, graphic design, Processing programming and animation. Medialab-Prado (ES) Ciencia de Garaje http://medialab-prado.es

Medialab-Prado is a public centre for the production, research and dissemination of digital culture and the area where art, science, technology and society converge. Among the programme’s projects is Interactivos?, a production and research platform based around the creative and educational applications of technology. It focuses on collective creation using open hardware and open software tools.

Jay Barros (CU-US) The Sounds of Science http://biomusic.labbs.net “The Sounds of Science” uses cheap and accessible equipment, which is mainly recycled, to create remixes of sounds and images gathered from our microscopic domestic/ urban context. This produces rhythms and frequencies that provide a musical score for a visual journey that shows the astonishing realities that exist beyond our everyday vision. Based on concepts of petri art, bacterial art, bio art and bio punk, “The Sounds of Science” uses a home-made microscope designed with a CCD sensor from a camera and the lens from a CD player. Various image processing programmes such as Pure Data are used to analyse various samples from protozoa gathered in urban environments, in order to make them into algorithms which provide the basis for visual and sound composition. Andy Gracie (UK) Deep Data (extract) www.hostprods.net/projects/ deep-data “Deep Data (extract)” is a working prototype from the current state of development of the “Deep Data” project; a developmental work connecting deep space exploration with terrestrial extremophiles and the science of astrobiology. This prototype focuses on receiving and recreating magnetic field data from the Pioneer and Voyager probes within cultures of tardigrades, a microscopic species being used for current space and astrobiological research. Telenoika.net (ES) www.telenoika.net

Telenoika.net (ES) L’Orquestra dels Luthiers Drapaires http://luthiersdrapaires.wordpress.com The instruments in the Luthiers Drapaires Orchestra are the result of recycling and reuse of technological waste. This installation is a collection of audiovisual automata including a percussion set made of electromagnetic pistons; a theremin made from two radios; an adapted television which works as an oscilloscope; a guitar made of string, a crate of wine and the engines from a hair removal machine; and an interactive visual installation consisting of adapted VGA monitors.

HANGAR

Passatge Marquès de Santa Isabel 40. Barcelona 12:00-21:00 www.hangar.org

Hangar is a centre for artistic production and research founded by the Catalan Association of Visual Artists (AAVC) in 1997. It supports designers and artists and offers services meeting the production needs of the art world. The centre is based in a restored industrial building in Barcelona’s Poblenou neighbourhood. The 1800 m2-space has a capacity for fifteen individual workshops, a medialab, two sets, an equipment hire service, technicians and production advice. Hangar also organises a programme of workshops for training artists, an international exchange programme and provides production grants. Electronic Performers (ES) Rehearsal open to the public: Oscillare http://electronicperformers.in

The Telenoika Cultural Association has been promoting, supporting and participating in the electronic arts scene for almost ten years. The group includes VJs, musicians, programmers, artivists, video artists and cultural activists with a shared social commitment.

“Oscillare” is an interactive multimedia performance that brings together four artistic disciplines – dance, music, video and interactivity – and aims to dissolve them in a new ephemeral language arising from the present moment.

Roland Olbeter Soundclusters 2 Using a wireless sensor device developed on the Arduino platform, a series of accelerometers and gyroscopes analyse the performer’s movements, and control the audio and video aspects in real time during the performance. It is during this metaphorical dialogue between dance and technology when “Oscillare” combines all its elements. This is accompanied by three-dimensional abstractions generated in real time using the Max/MSP/Jitter programming tool. These transmit the events caused by movement, which also produces or modifies sound, using visual sensations. Alex Posada (ES) Workshop: Arduino and open hardware tools www.arduino.cc Arduino is an open source hardware platform based on a simple board of inputs and outputs and a development environment that uses Processing/ Wiring programming language. Arduino can be used to develop interactive autonomous objects and may be connected to programs such as Flash, Processing, Max/MSP and Pure Data. Over the three days of Sónar, a group consisting of artists, programmers and designers, co-ordinated by Alex Posada (the head of the interaction laboratory at Hangar) will be working intensively on several projects based on the Arduino platform. Lluis Gómez i Bigordà / Nico Baixas (ES) Workshop: Hands-Computer-Music Our hands are one of the most powerful, complex and versatile means of physical interaction in existence. They are the means by which instruments come alive and become an expression of our ideas, moods and feelings. They are a part of the body that enable us to control machines and transform elements. But they also have another facet which is perhaps less well known: hands generate shapes. In this workshop, we will look at this ability, and interact with various image and sound management mecha-

nisms (software and hardware) which make it possible to create mosaics, textures and visual and sound effects based on shape recognition. This process will be open to participation by visitors, and to the ideas contributed by those involved in the workshop.

NIU

Almogàvers, 208. Barcelona 12:00-21:00 www.niubcn.com

Niu is an art space located in Barcelona’s Poblenou neighbourhood. It produces, exhibits and disseminates contemporary audiovisual art, multimedia design, digital art and independent electronic music. The focus for study, creation and exhibition is the “audio and visual” culture arising from the emergence of digital technology in the world of art, design and communication. Their activities include exhibitions, services for artists, artists agency, training courses, and an online radio station. Julio Lucio (ES) SoundWalk, Cymatics, i_man:es www.juliolucio.com “Sound Walk” is a human sequencer which users use to generate various musical events with their own movement. The viewers play the central role and are the creators of the work. “Sound Walk” creates an interactive game between the user and the sequencer, making the visitor feel like both the instrument and the composer of the music. Music written by Nikka. “Cymatics” is the visual representation of sound – its embodiment, its shape. “Cymatics” traces sound, its textures, its oscillations, its movements, and even its personality. The work allows sound to be played with, viewed and modulated at the rhythm of the user’s movement and play. A speaker, movement sensors, and a pinch of bicarbonate that shows us the shape and life of the sound. “i_man:es” represents the struggle of magnetic forces to find equilibrium. Oscillating

tension to achieve temporary or momentary stability. Vibration, lines in the void towards a destination… or not. The search for equilibrium and harmony with oneself, and one’s environment... “i_man:es”. Ruin & Wesen (DE) Workshop: MIDI hacking workshop www.ruinwesen.com Friday 19th In this workshop, held by Wesen, attendees will enter the world of MIDI hacking. After a short introduction into MIDI (the protocol, the uses), programming with Arduino and some basic electronics, they will form small groups to build a MIDI controller project. Using the extensive MIDI framework developed at Ruin & Wesen, as well as a multitude of electronic sensors, the projects can go from a simple ribbon controller to sensors involving pressure, temperature, and movement, or traditional MIDI controllers and sequencers. Also, traditional synthesizers and controllers can be hacked to extend their functionality. microBCN (ES) Workshop: Chiptune & GameBoy Art http://barcelona_ hq.micromusic.net Saturday 20th microBCN is a local collective that promotes activities and events related to 8-bit culture in artistic spheres such as music, visual art, net-art and circuit bending. The collective is made up of artists who use “obsolete” computers and video game systems such as Commodore, Atari and Game Boy. The collective is based in Barcelona and the surrounding areas, and has organised concerts and festivals at various venues. Most of its members have travelled around Spain and elsewhere, raising the profile of their music and visuals.

SONARMÀTICA BUS Sónar by Day-Niu-Hangar Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 12:30 and 16:00. Approximate tour length: 2 hours 40 minutes. All buses depart from Hotel Pulitzer (Bergara, 8, next to Plaça Catalunya). Seating capacity: 20 (first-come, first-served).

EXTRAMÀTICA Marcel·lí Antúnez (ES) Metamembrana The interactive installation “Metamembrana” is the third episode of “Membrana,” and was preceded by the two mecatronic performances of “Protomembrana” (2006) and “Hipermembrana” (2007). The installation is a projection in 16:3 format, which shows a single 12-metre image, and four interfaces which allow users to browse hypertext consisting of eight interactive microtales. It aims to create aspects that can be identified with, so that viewers feel as if they have participated in the work. “Metamembrana” was produced by Anella Cultural, the CCCB, the I2CAT foundation and by the towns of Olot, Reus, Granollers, Lleida and Barcelona.

SONAREXTRA Quinquis de los 80. Cine, prensa y calle (80s hoodlums. In film, press and the street). Curated by Amanda Cuesta and Mery Cuesta. CCCB. From 25 May to 6 September. Montalegre, 5. Barcelona. Ingrid. Last Login A project by Eduard Cortés La Virreina. Centre de la Imatge. From May 16 to June 21. La Rambla, 99. Barcelona. Time as Matter. MACBA Collection. New acquisitions Curated by Bartomeu Marí and Antonia Maria Perelló. MACBA. From May 15 to August 31. Plaça dels Àngels, 1. Barcelona.

Sónar by Night SonarClub, SonarLab

SonarLab

SonarClub

Grace Jones

FRIDAY 19 21:30 Open doors 22:30 Nacho Marco (Loudeast Records/ES) DJ Unusually hyperactive, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of his productions, remixes, his Loudeast imprint and everything else he does. This man of a thousand registers and one constant that is always there, high-quality, has put together a special set of space disco and recycled boogie. 23:30 Grace Jones (Wall of Sound/JA) Live Andy Warhol’s muse, catwalk diva, a regular at Studio 54... Grace Jones’ name has survived almost 20 years of recording studio silence. The so-called black panther returns to the international arena with a new album, “Hurricane”, which is aimed 100% at the dancefloor – she really wouldn’t have it any other way. The new Grace Jones prowls stealthily to the beat of techno and jungle, and makes her return backed by a list of associates and remixers to takes your breath away, which includes Brian Eno, Sly and Robbie and Tricky. 00:30 James Murphy & Pat Mahoney (DFA/US) DJ James Murphy, DFA founder, leader of LCD Soundsystem and godfather of dance-punk and worlwide disco revival, comes back joining forces with Pat Mahoney (LCD’s drummer) to pay a tribute to disco music. A set which will represent a time travel under the same directions of the fantastic mix signed by both for the FabricLive series. 02:00 SebastiAn (Ed Banger/FR) Live Ever since he set foot in Ed Banger Records for the first time, Sebastian Akchoté has been forging a reputation which has led to him remixing Daft Punk, Cut Copy and Revl9n, being selected to include one of his mixes on the cult video game GTA IV, and performing soundtrack duties on Mr. Oizo’s film “Steak”. The reason why – his vibrant vision of electro, which is cut to suit all tastes.

Martyn

04:00 Richie Hawtin (Minus/CA) DJ The hypnotic and elegant abstraction of Ali Demirel’s visuals form the perfect backdrop for a new lesson in minimalist groove by the Canadian grandmaster, who is now resident in Berlin. A touch of new generation techno, dry house plated with digital dub and booming frequencies in the best Minus tradition.

00:15 Beardyman (UK) Live A wizard of improvisation, Beardyman has reinvented hip-hop and beatboxing using enormous doses of imagination, humour and charisma. His level of sophistication takes full advantage of technology by using Korg Kaoss Pad III-Live samples, and he achieves an absolutely phenomenal level of audience participation in his live art.

05:00 Agoria (Different/FR) DJ His most recent project took the form of a soundtrack for the film “Go Fast,” which led to his third studio album. The album once again showcases the production talent of the Lyon-based DJ and composer, who is at the cusp between techno and elegant house, with a touch of the retro spirit... pretty much the same recipe that Agoria uses when he takes control of a dancefloor.

00:45 Orbital (FFRR/UK) Live They are back. The most famous duo on the British dance scene returns to the stage to breathe new life into the legend. Orbital were trailblazers in audiovisual shows and pioneers in combining a thousand and one influences to create their unmistakable sound – melodic, accessible and seasoned with political manifestoes. One of the unquestionable classics of electronica.

SATURDAY 20 21:30 Open doors 22:30 HD Substance (Software Music/ES) DJ In this special set, HD Substance invites us on a sixty-minute sonic journey through the more rhythmic stretches of the IDM sound, taking in obscure pop classics from the 80s, dub versions, bootlegs and collectors’ remixes. It will be a quickfire summary of the best dance music of the last 30 years, prepared with love and “on vinyl, like a good forty-something product of the 80s”. 23:00 Animal Collective (Domino/US) Live Animal Collective are coming to Sónar for the first of one of the few concerts they will be performing in Europe this summer. A key group of the first decade of the twenty-first century, and one of the most highly-praised musical projects of recent years, they have recently raised their profile among a wider audience with their latest album, “Merriweather Post Pavillion”. They have achieved this without compromising their artistic approach in the slightest, and followed the trail they blazed with the equally excellent “Strawberry Jam”, winning over both listeners and the specialist press all over the world.

02:15 Tadeo (NET28-Cyclical Tracks/ES) DJ With the meticulousness of a scholar, Tadeo has experimented, researched and developed both his dancefloor and studio sound, and today he is a renowned DJ, producer, and label manager. In his sets, he leaps from minimal to techno and vice versa with consummate mastery. 03:15 Moderat (Bpitchcontrol/DE) Live Modeselektor + Apparat = Moderat. In their LP debut for Bpitchcontrol, Szary, Bronsert and Ring bring together the best from the private domain of each, in order to make their analogue equipment shine and create a new time bomb armed with electro, IDM, electronica, a serious commitment to having fun and visuals by Pfadfinderei. 04:15 Deadmau5 (Play DigitalXfer Records-mau5trap/CA) Live Winner of numerous awards, Joel Zimmerman has the gift of ubiquity: he even has an application on the iPhone allowing users to fine-tune and mix 10 of his biggest hits. His stage presence mixes the latest technology with an audiovisual circus that even includes a futurist mouse costume. A non-stop dance marathon extravaganza.

04 05:30 Henry Saiz (Natura Sonoris/ES) Live Henry Saiz dissects dance music in four, in order to base his sound discourse on four essential elements: trance structures, IDM melodies, a minimal finish and the energy of techno. A lucid, discerning approach that has aroused the interest of labels such as Logical Noise and Global Underground.

ZOOM A more electronic SonarClub than ever

The return to electronica in its purest form, which is apparent in various slots in the Sónar 2009 line-up, is perhaps most tangible in SonarClub. The main Sónar by Night stage has shows by various artists who base their style on a musical approach that is overtly electronic. Of course, one of the highlights in this area is the visit by Orbital, one of the key projects in electronic music in the 1990s. Their techno hymns with an emotional bedrock helped propel club culture to chart success more than two decades ago. Their eagerly anticipated return is the perfect occasion for recalling immortal classics of recent musical history such as “Belfast”, “Chime”, “Lush”, “Halcyon” and “Are We Here?” But this electronic immersion at SonarClub is not only a nostalgia trip... The sonic spectrum is in fact so varied that it easily includes the asymmetrical techno adventures of the new German trio Moderat, hits from the French remixer de luxe SebastiAn, the progressive house of Deadmau5, the almost psychedelic structures of the American trio Animal Collective, Agoria’s truly deep house, and the uncompromising techno of the always marvellous Richie Hawtin. All these shows are a symptom of the maturity and sophistication of the many branches of electronica as a genre, which lead to new directions full of possibilities and optimum results.

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Orbital Animal Collective Richie Hawtin Moderat

FRIDAY 19 21:30 Open doors 22:30 DJohnston (Underhits/ES) DJ The resident DJ at Barcelona’s BeCool brings us the sound of the Look Back Nights, a monthly night dedicated to recovering the most remarkable sounds from our immediate past. Drawing inspiration from the spirit of these sessions, DJohnston fills his suitcase with original disco and Italo music bent on taking further than mere revival. Mary Anne Hobbs presents (Highlights on BBC Radio 1)

00:00 Mary Anne Hobbs (BBC/UK) DJ Each week, on her acclaimed “Experimental Show” on BBC Radio 1, Hobbs unearths new club electronica talent – from the latest in techno to the new breed of hip-hop, and anything in between. The contents of her case reflect this daredevil attitude, which is always apparent when the “godmother of dubstep” hits the decks. 00:45 Joker (Kapsize/UK) DJ

Joker was already considered one of the strongest talents in grime and dubstep on the British scene when he was only 18. Today, this production genius has created a label and his own style, making him the new name to keep a very close eye on. Booming basses with a touch of old school video games, memories of Detroit and razor-sharp beats in a Neptunes style.

01:30 The Gaslamp Killer (Obey/US) DJ California has given the world some of the best cuts of psychedelia and abstract hip-hop. The Gaslamp Killer combines both traditions in a devastating mix which includes slices of B movies, space jazz, esoteric rock and the world’s strangest funk. Turntablism meets Satanism. 02:15 Martyn (3024/NL) DJ Although he lives in Washington today, Martijn Deykers grew up in Holland, where he cut his teeth on the sounds of Detroit and Chicago. That’s why his debut as a producer

02 in 2005 surprised the cream of international DJs (from Kode9 to monsieur Garnier) with a style that is difficult to classify, halfway between drum’n’bass, dubstep and the calculated precision of Detroit techno.

03:00 Heartbreak (Lex/US) Live On “Lies,” their debut on Lex, Heartbreak take the sound of the eighties, from Italo disco to synth pop, to the most hysterical and dramatic extreme, taking full advantage of falsettos, melodrama and over-the-top vocals. It is a very subtle exercise in style with hints of karaoke, in which it is difficult to say where the tribute stops and parody begins. 04:00 Erol Alkan presents Disco 3000 (UK) DJ On his Disco 3000 podcast, Erol Alkan sets his sights on the disco music of yesterday, today and forever, brings it up to date and lets it shine anew under the mirror ball. The merit lies not only in the selection, but also in Erol’s tweaks to the tunes, which take disco to his own dimension and the concept of the mix a step further. 05:30 Don Rimini (Mental Groove/FR) DJ Artists of the stature of Busy P, 2 Many DJs, Digitalism, Tiga, A-Trak and Diplo, are among Don Rimini’s most loyal fans, and his inflammatory and ironic electro-house, which comes straight from the gut and is full of references to hip-hop and the classic rave sound, has raised the temperature on innumerable dancefloors from Paris to Miami.

SATURDAY 20 21:30 Open doors 22:30 Cauto (DisbootDiscontinu Records/ES) DJ With polished productions that hint at his classical music background, Pau Encinas Laffitte was the first producer on the Barcelona scene to echo the British dubstep sound. His works, first released on DJ/ Rupture’s label, mix deep bass with warm, danceable sounds that plunge listeners into a sea of broken, forceful rhythms.

SonarPub

Sónar by Night SonarLab, SonarPub

Marcel Dettmann

03 Sunday Best presents

23:30 dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip (UK) Live Controversial, cutting and hilarious, the Essex duo has carved out a niche in the no man’s land of experimental hip-hop. First with “Thou Shalt Always Kill” and later with “Angles,” the boys have avoided being pigeonholed by deconstructing the pillars of rap, with hammer blows of folk and danceable outpourings. 00:15 Rob Da Bank

(UK) DJ In clubs, at raves or in the studios of BBC Radio 1, Robert Gorham’s ear is constantly alert for the latest ground-breaking sounds and ideas (from pop, to downtempo, to folk). Pure Sunday Best spirit.

02:00 Sinden

(Domino/UK) DJ Graeme Sinden is a unique DJ-producer who has revitalised the club scene, staying one step ahead as musical boundaries become ever blurred. Sinden is renowned for his genre-blending DJ sets, cracklin’ hot radio show, his bumpin’ remixes and most importantly for being the Sinden in hotly tipped The Count & Sinden. Ostgut Ton presents

03:30 Shed (DE) Live Shed incorporates the contagious excitement of old school rave in his music. Steeped in classic techno, his productions for Soloaction and Ostgut Ton explores all the niches of the genre’s history in order to breathe new life into it, as can be heard on “Shedding the Past.” The authentic sound of Detroit, created in the heart of Berlin. 04:30 Marcel Dettmann (DE) DJ A regular face at Hardwax, a programmer and the resident at Berghain club, this Berliner is also one of the favourite remixers of Ellen Allien and Modeselektor. His output on both Ostgut Ton and his own label MDR is a kind of techno that is stylised, dark and especially eager for the latest and most disconcerting sounds.

Fever Ray

05:30 The Requesters (Highlights/ES) Live The Requesters unites Sidechains, one of this season’s biggest hits, with D.A.R.Y.L, one of the key names on the Barcelona scene. Together, they take pop references, 80s culture and the possibilities of electro and house and raise them to the power of two.

ZOOM New urban beats Urban beats are evolving towards new sounds and new latitudes, and creating an intricate map featuring a crossover of rhythmic abstraction, the return of the melody and futuristic beats with a touch of jazz and psychedelia. The SonarLab line-up brings us some of its leading representatives. This year, what is now the customary presence at the festival of Mary Anne Hobbs, one of the stars of BBC Radio 1 and the guru of the British electronic scene, provides a complex snapshot of today’s urban beats. Hobbs brings three key names on the international dubstep scene, although each one has their own individual take on the genre: from the Netherlands, Martyn constructs meticulous and dynamic electronic structures that are best described as IDM with a dub cushion; from Bristol, Joker combines dubstep with dark instrumental hip-hop; and from L.A., The Gaslamp Killer brings together all the strands of urban electronica in long-distance sessions with beats on a futuristic tip. And of course, we can’t leave out Rob Da Bank, another highly regarded er and British radio personality who will be presenting Sunday Best, his magical musical tour which has been on its travels since 1995. Also from the UK, Sinden is an eclectic musical tornado that includes funk carioca, baltimore club, kuduro, juke house, Southern hip-hop, dancehall, electro and much much more.

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Joker Don Rimini dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip Sinden

FRIDAY 19 21:30 Open doors

22:30 Buenavista (AudioSushi/ES) DJ Whether it was playing nights at the (late) Mond or as resident DJ at Razzmatazz, Buenavista has built up a loyal following for his congenial, hedonist approach to the dancefloor, that joins pop and rock in a mad dance to the rhythm of the rowdiest electronica. Iconoclastic, provocative entertainment guided by good taste. 00:00 Little Boots (679-Atlantic/UK) Live Victoria Hesketh burst onto Pop Idol like an elephant in a china shop: good geek that she was, she wasn’t just fearless with technology, she also used a strange Japanese instrument called TenoriOn. Her eagerly awaited debut LP, “Hands” comes after her Human League covers in pyjamas posted on YouTube, tracks distributed free on Myspace, projects like Dead Disco and collaborations with Hot Chip. Pop, disco, house and the best of the 80s in version 2.0. 01:00 Buenavista (AudioSushi/ES) DJ 01:30 Late of the Pier (Parlophone/UK) Live After several singles, this Nottingham band has finally taken the great leap forward with their LP “Fantasy Black Channel”: a mashup of sounds, styles and references that is as difficult to categorise as it is addictive. It contains hints of funk, dance and rock, and a pinch of progressive, which with the invaluable help of Erol Alkan takes us back to the days of Gary Numan, Todd Rundgren, Yello and Zappa, while updating their legacy with the fashions and fads of the twenty-first century. Entertainment and extravaganza guaranteed. 02:15 Buenavista (AudioSushi/ES) DJ 02:45 Buraka Som Sistema

(Fabric/PT-AO) Live Kuduro is a real institution in Angolan (and by extension Portuguese) dance culture. But in spite of its long tradition, it only recently came into the international spotlight when big names like MIA and Diplo began to show an interest in

02 its high-energy, percussive sound. And if one name stands out in its own right in today’s Kuduro scene, it has to be Buraka Som Sistema. After their resoundingly successful live show last year, DJ Riot, João Pekeno and Conductor return to Sónar armed with a new LP (“Black Diamond”) and a special show, set to turn everything upside down again with that combination of thick bass lines, syncopated percussion and electronic arrangements.

03:45 Crookers (Southern Fried/IT) DJ Showing us another face of danceable sounds made in Italy, Bot and Phra bring out their inner hooligan to add a touch of the flash and aggressive to the smartest in electro-tinged house. It’s a winning formula that has already charmed labels like Fatboy Slim’s Southern Fried Records, Big Sur Recordings, P-House, Man Recordings and Potty Mouth Music, and taken them all over the world. Expect demented basses, a whiff of video games, hysterical jokes and the itch to have a good time at the expense of the finest-tuned speakers 05:30 Brodinski (Turbo/FR) DJ He burst onto the French scene in 2007 with a provocative down and dirty sound that owed as much to techno as it did to bass-laden house and melodic minimalism. So much so, that he immediately found his way into the cases of Soulwax, Tiga, Chloe, Erol Alkan and Laurent Garnier. He hasn’t rested on his laurels. Since then, this hyperactive Frenchman has remixed Bonde do Role, Klaxons, Das Pop, Shoes, D.I.M, Heart Revolutions and Adam Sky, and his diary for 2009 is full of collaborations.

SATURDAY 20 21:30 Open doors 22:30 Angel Molina (SonarMusic/ES) DJ Ever since his early days as a DJ back in 1991, Angel Molina has played a key role in the development of electronic music in Spain, thanks to his marvellous technique, praised unanimously by critics and audiences alike, and an exquisite taste that has led him

03 to be considered one of Europe’s finest techno selectors. Angel’s sessions are versatile and flexible, and range from breakneck techno to balmy house, although on this occasion he promises one of his legendary sessions of danceable darkness.

23:45 Fever Ray (Rabid/SE) Live Inspired by her previous work as The Knife but this time without the help of her brother Olof, Karin Dreijer Andersson took advantage of the forced hiatus of the birth of her second child to give birth to Fever Ray, in which she exploits the avalanche of the sensations and emotions of motherhood, extracting full potential from the sleepless hours and sleep betweenhours. More temperamental and harder than The Knife, but equally faithful to the mix of acoustic and electronic instruments, this Swedish artist with an unmistakeable voice brings alternative pop into her own territory. 00:45 Rustie (Wireblock/UK) DJ The best sign of originality is usually when someone has to invent a new label to describe a sound. In the case of Rustie, one of the freshest talents on the Glasgow scene, the term is “bass fuelled party aquacrunk”. That’s how the man himself defines his crazy combination of hip-hop, dubstep, techno, booty bass and the kitchen sink which has made tracks like “Cafe de Phresh”, “Jagz the Smack” and “Zig Zag” into devastating hits. 02:15 Crystal Castles (Lies Records/CA) Live The distorted voice of Alice Glass, whose stage presence is impossible to ignore, comes straight into the listener’s ears, on the synthetic foundations inherited from amusement arcade culture produced by Ethan Kath. Crystal Castles have manipulated the 8-bit sound and adapted it to a dark trash aesthetic, spreading like a virus in the Myspace community. 03:00 Jeff Mills (Axis/US) DJ Sónar by Night would not be the same without “The Bells”, “Sonic Destroyer”, “The Dancer”, “The Extremist” or any other of the essential techno classics that Mills has given us during his flawless career. A compendium of adrena-

04 lin, mechanical funk and echoes of science fiction in the best Detroit tradition, mixed with all the power, skill and musical quality in the world, as only the Axis master knows how.

05:00 Carl Craig (Planet E/US) DJ The festival’s closing set in SonarPub is traditionally one of Sónar’s most special and eagerly anticipated moments. This year, we have an exceptional master of ceremonies. He is one of the most significant artists in the history of Detroit techno, and is willing to add the final touch of icing to the cake with a session of exquisite material especially selected for the occasion.

ZOOM The show goes on Although the repertoire of sounds and styles that will pass through SonarPub is the most varied in the entire festival, there is a common feature in many of the shows: boundless energy on stage. Infectious melodies, wild rhythms, high energy pop and cheek by the ton are the dominant feature of music by a new generation of bands and projects, which contains a crossover of all types of influences from recent popular culture. This whirlwind of energy takes very varied forms. It may be electro pop with 1980s video game tunes, like the unstoppable Crystal Castles, an explosion of electronic and dramatic glam by the British quartet Late of the Pier (one of the revelations of recent months), or a perfect song, like those by the new diva of English electronic pop, Little Boots (and her assortment of unusual instruments) or the hybrid sound of Buraka Som Sistema, the Portuguese-Angolan group who triumphed last year, and who are returning to Sónar with their own version of the critically acclaimed kuduro sound.

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Little Boots Buraka Som Sistema Crystal Castles Carl Craig

16th Barcelonaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s International Festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art www.sonar.es

18.19.20 June

Please drink responsibly. 5,4Âş