‘I’m not really an electronic music fan; I don’t listen to that much minimal techno and the lure of a festival dedicated solely to these genres is hardly enormous. Nonetheless I found myself wandering back down La Rambla at 7 por la mañana, avoiding amorous advances from voluptuous mamacitas, trundling home from Sónar. You may ask yourself how this came to be. Well, I have some thoroughly persuasive amigos and the prospect of a holiday (that and an extensive dent on my student loan) was too difficult to turn down…’
Ed Livingstone recounts his primary encounter with Sónar in First Impressions of a Technophobe…
With this year’s Bestival line up this morning outed, it’s now the turn of one of our other summer hallmarks to flatten the fan of cards on the table as Barcelona’s Sónar reveals its initial batch of artists. Split between Sónar by Day in the city’s picturesque historic centre and Sónar by Night out in the desolate, deserted apocalyptica of L’Hospitalet, it’s this year smeared between June 14th and 16th. A festival famed for pushing multimedial boundaries, Sónar this year looks to times past to cobble together a sure-to-be unforgettable present, with the likes of neo soul stalwarts The Roots, Brighton Beach clogger Fatboy Slim and techno pioneer Richie Hawtin – stripped of Plastikman moniker – all set to feature. Others already sweatily muscled in on a quite almighty bill include mighty fine quirk popsters Metronomy, prime funksters Azari & III, baritone gurgler Nicolas Jaar returning for a second successive year, dub-and-pop husband-and-wife-hybridisers Peaking Lights and Hot Chip.
The full line up thus far looks a little something like:
The Roots & Fatboy Slim & deadmau5 & Hot Chip & Richie Hawtin & Metronomy & Amon Tobim - Isam & Friendly Fires & James Blake DJ & Nicolas Jaar & Luciano & Azari & III & Laurent Garnier presents L.B.S. & Squarepusher & Peaking Lights & Modeselektor & Mouse on Mars & Darkside & Austra & Mary Anne Hobbs b2b Blawan & Kode9 & Diamond Version + Atsushiro Ito & Mary Jana Coles & John Talabot & Julio Bashmore & Jacques Greene & Thundercat & LA Vampires & Maria Minerva & Scratcha DVA & Supersilent feat. John Paul Jones & Jacques Lu Cont & When Saints Go Machine & Trevor Jackson & Cooly G & Kutmah & Lapalux & The Suicide Of Western Culture & ITAL & Magic Touch & Annie Mac & Psilosamples & Dago & Plapla Pinky & UNER.
An all-inclusive Sónar Pass is priced at €155 and can be acquired here, while further info can be located on the official Sónar site.
