Rhythmism.comSonar 2011 Guide
by rhythmism
Thursday, Jun 16th 2011, 07:44 AM
Sonar 2011 is officially underway in Barcelona, Spain. We here at Rhythmism have pulled together a choice selection of our weekend hightlights, both for our lucky readers in attendance, and for those at home in NYC as motivation to get it in gear for next year!
You can check out a full lineup on the Sonar schedule page,
Thursday, June 16
13:00 Barcelona Laptop Orchestra live @ SonarComplex - Among the members of this laptop orchestra are lecturers and students at Catalonia's Higher School of Music, and researchers from the Music Technology Group at Pompeu Fabra University, and its repertoire essentially consists of reinterpretations of classics of electro-acoustic music. A meeting point for sonic researchers, digital luthiers, performers and composers, to investigate new musical control interfaces and new paradigms for networked performance.
17:00 Nicolas Jaar live @ SonarHall - This incredibly young New Yorker with Chilean roots already caught the attention of the most demanding ears with his first 12 inch releases (published by the exquisite Brooklyn label Wolf + Lamb), in which a Latin influence could be noted between synthetic house rhythms and jazzy electronica. On “Space Is Only Noise”, his long-awaited debut for Circus Company, Jaar slows down the rhythm and gets the
samples of elegant vocals and sensuous strings just in the right place, combined with a sexy and at the same time melancholic tone that seduces from the very first listen.
17:30 Little Dragon live @ SonarVillage - The positive reviews for their first two albums smoothed the way, and their recent collaboration on the latest album by Gorillaz (who also took them on tour with them) gave the Swedish quartet a definite boost. Yukimi Nagano and his old school friends Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrick Källgren (bass) and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards) are currently preparing their third album. While we are waiting for its arrival, and we have the angelic voices and dreamy synthetic lines of “Machine Dreams” and “Little Dragon” to be going on with. Which is more than enough.
21:15 Eskmo @ SonarVillage - Brendan Angelides' music is difficult to pigeonhole, but is part of the catalogues of Warp Records, Planet Mu and Ninja Tune, which means that it is not short on quality and personality. After several EPs and his eponymous debut on Ninja Tune, people are already starting to talk about an Eskmo sound, in which the many influences (hip-hop to experimental electronica, by way of IDM, funk and pop) combine gracefully and stealthily in continuous motion.
Friday, June 17
12:00 Neuron @ SonarVillage - Marc Badosa offers us a live review of the tracks from his first release, “Planet Fendor,” and material from his coming album. Minimalist dark drones with hints of distorsion combined with field recordings, fragments from the radio, TV, synths and any other source take listeners into unfamiliar territory.
15:15 Star Eyes @ SonarDôme - As the femme fatale of the Trouble & Bass label, Vivian Host aka Star Eyes, has pioneered the sound of 'haunted house': an appropriate summation indeed, as her music is most decidedly creepy with a kick drum. This sonic skullduggery has earned her an infamous reputation worldwide for her subversive, bass-drenched DJ sets combining ghetto house, UK funky, dubstep, techno, and all sorts of bleepy stuff - often with her singing on top. Viv’s previous life as one half of DJ duo Syrup Girls and editor-in-chief of the music mag XLR8R, cemented her status as someone who knows their stuff.
15:45 Agoria @ SonarVillage - Sébastien Devaud, aka Agoria, entered the world of electronic dance music at a peculiar moment in time. Unlike the first generation of techno producers, he’s too young to have been actively listening to early 80’s electronic pop by groups such as Depeche Mode or New Order. But unlike younger DJs and musicians, he’s been exposed to house and techno more or less since the start of these genres.
19:15 Four Tet live @ SonarVillage - Kieran Hebden arrives at Sonar on top form for a live presentation of the highlights of his acclaimed latest album “There Is Love In You”, and his recent collaborations with Burial, Thom Yorke and Caribou. A top drawer producer and a maestro of meticulous electronica, Four Tet is almost unanimously regarded as one of the most important artists working today.
23:30 Trentemøller live @ SonarPub - His band's live show has taken Anders Trentemøller to the world's most famous festival stages. Trentemøller is one of the heroes of Danish electronica, and with his second studio album, “Into the Great Wide Yonder,” he has aroused interest in many other countries, and finally consolidated his reputation in the international arena. His productions, thrilling landscapes that alternate downtempo with analogue warmth, distorsion with nods to indie-rock and bursts of sunny electronica, fill the stage with a light all their own.
01:15 Pearson Sound aka Ramadanman @ SonarLab - Pearson Sound is the alias of London's David Kennedy (also known for his work as Ramadanman). One of the main contenders for the title of producer of the year in the UK bass genre, Kennedy remorselessly produces hits for other labels (Soul Jazz, 2nd Drop) as well as his own Hessle Audio hallmark. A strange and hypnotic combination of minimalist structures and syncopated elegance that permanently shift away from the dubstep label to move into new territories.
01:45 Scuba @ SonarClub - Scuba is the alias of the DJ and producer Paul Rose, the man behind one of the pioneering labels of dubstep, Hotflush Recordings, where he contributed to laying some of the foundations of the genre, and then to broadening its horizons. Born in London but based in Berlin (where he is resident at the legendary Berghain with his SUB:STANCE night), Rose is well-known for a broad perspective that enables him to shift between various styles, from techno to drum’n’bass, without ever losing his bearings.
02:15 Steve Aoki @ SonarPub - A DJ, promoter, producer and founder of the Dim Mak label, Steve is also the man behind the recent club hit "Brrrat!", which he released jointly with Armand van Helden. Among those benefiting from his remixing magic are Michael Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, Weezer, Tiga, and many more. But the list doesn't end there. His debut album features plenty of other celebrities, ranging from Lil Jon to Bloc Party, who add the finishing touch to his high-flying house productions.
02:45 Aphex Twin @ SonarClub - Richard D. James is quite simply one of the most charismatic and influential artists in music in recent decades. The godfather of a thousand and one scenes, the pioneer of a thousand and one sounds, his approach to electronica is as personal as it is heterodox, combining acid, electro, ambient, broken rhythms and an unmistakable sense of humour. For his touchdown at SonarClub, the legend from Cornwall will have an impressive audiovisual show featuring lasers and visual, with a mixture of live takes of the audience with thermographic images distorted by Aphex himself. A touch of class, with a review of classics and with a bit of luck ... a chance to hear his new compositions for the first time.
04:45 Henry Saiz @ SonarCar - The driving force behind Natura Sonoris has a weakness: melody. Both in production (as well as for his own label, for Renaissance and Paradigma Muzik) and on the decks, Henry Saiz always adds an essential dose of melody to club rhythms in order to take us on a pleasurable journey from dance electronics to trance, stopping off at acid and funk, without any perceptible change of direction. His session at Sónar coincides with the release of a mix-CD for the renowned Balance series.
05:30 Tiga @ SonarLab - A highflier is needed to round off proceedings on the SonarLab stage, and this influential Canadian DJ is just the man for the job. The man behind albums like “Ciao!”, outstanding tracks like “Pleasure From The Bass” and “Sunglasses at Night” and a long list of remixes for top drawer artists such as The Human League, New Young Pony Club and Cabaret Voltaire has kept him on the crest of a seemingly endless wave for years. Sublime electro-house selected by the Montreal genius.
Saturday, June 18
15:45 Gilles Peterson @ SonarVillage - Another visit to Sónar by one of the world's most important rhythm explorers. His tireless work, on his own labels and on the waves of BBC Radio 1, has been essential in the discovery of new talents and broadening the musical horizons of a generation of listeners, DJs and producers all over the world. From nu-jazz to dubstep, hip-hop to house and new Cuban music (with his successful Havana Cultura project), Peterson is one of the best masters of ceremonies for the discovery of new sounds.
19:00 Apparat Band live @ SonarHall - The co-founder of Shitkatapult with Marco Haas (aka T. Raumschmiere) and the architect of a sound and aesthetic all his own, Sascha Ring has defined and blurred the frontiers of IDM with his output for Shitkatapult, B-Pitch Control and his now classic DJ-Kicks session for !K7, featuring his natural and uninhibited introduction of dubstep and techno into the formula. He will be releasing a new LP in 2011, presented with a full band on the Sónar stage. Melodic electronica with drums, percussion, cello and a piano in a shift away from the dancefloor.
20:30 Tiger & Woods live @ SonarDôme - Their bodies might be stationed in northern and southern Europe, but the collective consciousness of Tiger & Woods is more often found levitating in deep analog space. There's been quite some hum around this mysterious duo's output on the Editainment label, and their trademark fusion of boogie, house and compressed funk - while the live Tiger & Woods experience has already touched down at some of Europe's most discerning disco outposts. Both members have also visited the Red Bull Music Academy planet, and made some intergalactic connections there. They’ll be joined in their performance by Running Back honcho and DJ extraordinaire Gerd Janson. Expect nothing but big things from their upcoming debut LP.
00:45 Underworld live @ SonarClub - Last September, the duo returned with their eighth studio album, “Barking,” featuring contributions from Dubfire, Mark Knight & D. Ramirez, Appleblim & Al Tourettes and Paul van Dyk, which provided further proof that Dr. Smith and Mr. Hyde are unstoppable. Underworld is simply one of the most important groups in the history of electronic music. Influential, personal, as successful as they are extravagant, Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have broken all possible moulds. Founded in the Welsh city of Cardiff in the mid-eighties, Underworld quickly scaled the heights of the indie charts thanks to an unusual approach which was based on their fondness for the synthetic sounds of Kraftwerk and took in all types of musical styles, ranging from rock to the music of Jamaica. Expert producers, studio wizards and ready to revolutionise the dancefloor with a recipe that at the time was completely unprecedented, Underworld added lyrics to their upbeat hypnotic electronica anthems which like a whirlpool, included a thousand and one sounds in a dense danceable collage conceived with DJ Darren Emerson, who was a member of the group until 2000. The frenetic “Born Slippy” and the soundtrack to “Trainspotting” shot them to stardom amidst press acclaim and stratospheric sales figures. Underworld are enshrined as one of the major groups of contemporary pop music, able to fill stadia, produce soundtracks for Hollywood's leading directors and design games for Playstation, and have never stopped carving out their own niche. Their fans already know what to expect from their show at Sónar: spectacular audiovisuals and tonnes of energy.
02:15 The Gaslamp Killer @ SonarClub - Being considered the most off the wall of the beatmakers on the California scene is no easy task, but William Benjamin Bensussen, better known as The (motherfucking) Gaslamp Killer, wins the title hands down. A member of the Brainfeeder team - Flying Lotus' label - this DJ who possesses epic and dramatic touches like few others is perfectly able to switch from the psychedelia of Jimi Hendrix to the otherwordly bleeps of Harmonic 313 with barely a blink of an eye in any of his sessions. He has also still found the time to produce bizarre projects like Gonjasufi, the acclaimed album by Sumach on Warp. He as unpredictable as he is out of this world.
03:30 Paul Kalkbrenner @ SonarPub - Born in Leipzig but based on Berlin, the name of Paul Kalkbrenner, closely linked with B-pitch Control, started to move the masses after his performance as the lead in the film “Berlin Calling," for which he also provided the soundtrack. In 2011 he will be releasing a documentary about his world tour last year, although it is better to see him live and enjoy his mastery of the dancefloor and his ability to communicate with his audiences. Visuals by Pfadfinderei.
04:15 Surgeon @ SonarClub - Taking the helm at SonarClub after the show by Magnetic Man requires the special touch of an expert. Tony Child is one of the most influential characters on techno over the last twenty years. At his headquarters in Birmingham, Surgeon has been dissecting its industrial inheritance and dark side for years, in dozens of productions for leading labels, remixes for icons of the stature of Coil, Faust, Dave Clarke and Thom Yorke, and legendary sessions in which he unleashes all his techno energy straight to the audience's gut, in a constantly evolving style that takes in dubstep or and more abstract sounds.
2011.sonar.es
www.facebook.com/SonarFestivalOfficialPage
twitter.com/sonarfestival
You can check out a full lineup on the Sonar schedule page,
Thursday, June 16
13:00 Barcelona Laptop Orchestra live @ SonarComplex - Among the members of this laptop orchestra are lecturers and students at Catalonia's Higher School of Music, and researchers from the Music Technology Group at Pompeu Fabra University, and its repertoire essentially consists of reinterpretations of classics of electro-acoustic music. A meeting point for sonic researchers, digital luthiers, performers and composers, to investigate new musical control interfaces and new paradigms for networked performance.
17:00 Nicolas Jaar live @ SonarHall - This incredibly young New Yorker with Chilean roots already caught the attention of the most demanding ears with his first 12 inch releases (published by the exquisite Brooklyn label Wolf + Lamb), in which a Latin influence could be noted between synthetic house rhythms and jazzy electronica. On “Space Is Only Noise”, his long-awaited debut for Circus Company, Jaar slows down the rhythm and gets the
samples of elegant vocals and sensuous strings just in the right place, combined with a sexy and at the same time melancholic tone that seduces from the very first listen.
17:30 Little Dragon live @ SonarVillage - The positive reviews for their first two albums smoothed the way, and their recent collaboration on the latest album by Gorillaz (who also took them on tour with them) gave the Swedish quartet a definite boost. Yukimi Nagano and his old school friends Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrick Källgren (bass) and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards) are currently preparing their third album. While we are waiting for its arrival, and we have the angelic voices and dreamy synthetic lines of “Machine Dreams” and “Little Dragon” to be going on with. Which is more than enough.
21:15 Eskmo @ SonarVillage - Brendan Angelides' music is difficult to pigeonhole, but is part of the catalogues of Warp Records, Planet Mu and Ninja Tune, which means that it is not short on quality and personality. After several EPs and his eponymous debut on Ninja Tune, people are already starting to talk about an Eskmo sound, in which the many influences (hip-hop to experimental electronica, by way of IDM, funk and pop) combine gracefully and stealthily in continuous motion.
Friday, June 17
12:00 Neuron @ SonarVillage - Marc Badosa offers us a live review of the tracks from his first release, “Planet Fendor,” and material from his coming album. Minimalist dark drones with hints of distorsion combined with field recordings, fragments from the radio, TV, synths and any other source take listeners into unfamiliar territory.
15:15 Star Eyes @ SonarDôme - As the femme fatale of the Trouble & Bass label, Vivian Host aka Star Eyes, has pioneered the sound of 'haunted house': an appropriate summation indeed, as her music is most decidedly creepy with a kick drum. This sonic skullduggery has earned her an infamous reputation worldwide for her subversive, bass-drenched DJ sets combining ghetto house, UK funky, dubstep, techno, and all sorts of bleepy stuff - often with her singing on top. Viv’s previous life as one half of DJ duo Syrup Girls and editor-in-chief of the music mag XLR8R, cemented her status as someone who knows their stuff.
15:45 Agoria @ SonarVillage - Sébastien Devaud, aka Agoria, entered the world of electronic dance music at a peculiar moment in time. Unlike the first generation of techno producers, he’s too young to have been actively listening to early 80’s electronic pop by groups such as Depeche Mode or New Order. But unlike younger DJs and musicians, he’s been exposed to house and techno more or less since the start of these genres.
19:15 Four Tet live @ SonarVillage - Kieran Hebden arrives at Sonar on top form for a live presentation of the highlights of his acclaimed latest album “There Is Love In You”, and his recent collaborations with Burial, Thom Yorke and Caribou. A top drawer producer and a maestro of meticulous electronica, Four Tet is almost unanimously regarded as one of the most important artists working today.
23:30 Trentemøller live @ SonarPub - His band's live show has taken Anders Trentemøller to the world's most famous festival stages. Trentemøller is one of the heroes of Danish electronica, and with his second studio album, “Into the Great Wide Yonder,” he has aroused interest in many other countries, and finally consolidated his reputation in the international arena. His productions, thrilling landscapes that alternate downtempo with analogue warmth, distorsion with nods to indie-rock and bursts of sunny electronica, fill the stage with a light all their own.
01:15 Pearson Sound aka Ramadanman @ SonarLab - Pearson Sound is the alias of London's David Kennedy (also known for his work as Ramadanman). One of the main contenders for the title of producer of the year in the UK bass genre, Kennedy remorselessly produces hits for other labels (Soul Jazz, 2nd Drop) as well as his own Hessle Audio hallmark. A strange and hypnotic combination of minimalist structures and syncopated elegance that permanently shift away from the dubstep label to move into new territories.
01:45 Scuba @ SonarClub - Scuba is the alias of the DJ and producer Paul Rose, the man behind one of the pioneering labels of dubstep, Hotflush Recordings, where he contributed to laying some of the foundations of the genre, and then to broadening its horizons. Born in London but based in Berlin (where he is resident at the legendary Berghain with his SUB:STANCE night), Rose is well-known for a broad perspective that enables him to shift between various styles, from techno to drum’n’bass, without ever losing his bearings.
02:15 Steve Aoki @ SonarPub - A DJ, promoter, producer and founder of the Dim Mak label, Steve is also the man behind the recent club hit "Brrrat!", which he released jointly with Armand van Helden. Among those benefiting from his remixing magic are Michael Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, Weezer, Tiga, and many more. But the list doesn't end there. His debut album features plenty of other celebrities, ranging from Lil Jon to Bloc Party, who add the finishing touch to his high-flying house productions.
02:45 Aphex Twin @ SonarClub - Richard D. James is quite simply one of the most charismatic and influential artists in music in recent decades. The godfather of a thousand and one scenes, the pioneer of a thousand and one sounds, his approach to electronica is as personal as it is heterodox, combining acid, electro, ambient, broken rhythms and an unmistakable sense of humour. For his touchdown at SonarClub, the legend from Cornwall will have an impressive audiovisual show featuring lasers and visual, with a mixture of live takes of the audience with thermographic images distorted by Aphex himself. A touch of class, with a review of classics and with a bit of luck ... a chance to hear his new compositions for the first time.
04:45 Henry Saiz @ SonarCar - The driving force behind Natura Sonoris has a weakness: melody. Both in production (as well as for his own label, for Renaissance and Paradigma Muzik) and on the decks, Henry Saiz always adds an essential dose of melody to club rhythms in order to take us on a pleasurable journey from dance electronics to trance, stopping off at acid and funk, without any perceptible change of direction. His session at Sónar coincides with the release of a mix-CD for the renowned Balance series.
05:30 Tiga @ SonarLab - A highflier is needed to round off proceedings on the SonarLab stage, and this influential Canadian DJ is just the man for the job. The man behind albums like “Ciao!”, outstanding tracks like “Pleasure From The Bass” and “Sunglasses at Night” and a long list of remixes for top drawer artists such as The Human League, New Young Pony Club and Cabaret Voltaire has kept him on the crest of a seemingly endless wave for years. Sublime electro-house selected by the Montreal genius.
Saturday, June 18
15:45 Gilles Peterson @ SonarVillage - Another visit to Sónar by one of the world's most important rhythm explorers. His tireless work, on his own labels and on the waves of BBC Radio 1, has been essential in the discovery of new talents and broadening the musical horizons of a generation of listeners, DJs and producers all over the world. From nu-jazz to dubstep, hip-hop to house and new Cuban music (with his successful Havana Cultura project), Peterson is one of the best masters of ceremonies for the discovery of new sounds.
19:00 Apparat Band live @ SonarHall - The co-founder of Shitkatapult with Marco Haas (aka T. Raumschmiere) and the architect of a sound and aesthetic all his own, Sascha Ring has defined and blurred the frontiers of IDM with his output for Shitkatapult, B-Pitch Control and his now classic DJ-Kicks session for !K7, featuring his natural and uninhibited introduction of dubstep and techno into the formula. He will be releasing a new LP in 2011, presented with a full band on the Sónar stage. Melodic electronica with drums, percussion, cello and a piano in a shift away from the dancefloor.
20:30 Tiger & Woods live @ SonarDôme - Their bodies might be stationed in northern and southern Europe, but the collective consciousness of Tiger & Woods is more often found levitating in deep analog space. There's been quite some hum around this mysterious duo's output on the Editainment label, and their trademark fusion of boogie, house and compressed funk - while the live Tiger & Woods experience has already touched down at some of Europe's most discerning disco outposts. Both members have also visited the Red Bull Music Academy planet, and made some intergalactic connections there. They’ll be joined in their performance by Running Back honcho and DJ extraordinaire Gerd Janson. Expect nothing but big things from their upcoming debut LP.
00:45 Underworld live @ SonarClub - Last September, the duo returned with their eighth studio album, “Barking,” featuring contributions from Dubfire, Mark Knight & D. Ramirez, Appleblim & Al Tourettes and Paul van Dyk, which provided further proof that Dr. Smith and Mr. Hyde are unstoppable. Underworld is simply one of the most important groups in the history of electronic music. Influential, personal, as successful as they are extravagant, Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have broken all possible moulds. Founded in the Welsh city of Cardiff in the mid-eighties, Underworld quickly scaled the heights of the indie charts thanks to an unusual approach which was based on their fondness for the synthetic sounds of Kraftwerk and took in all types of musical styles, ranging from rock to the music of Jamaica. Expert producers, studio wizards and ready to revolutionise the dancefloor with a recipe that at the time was completely unprecedented, Underworld added lyrics to their upbeat hypnotic electronica anthems which like a whirlpool, included a thousand and one sounds in a dense danceable collage conceived with DJ Darren Emerson, who was a member of the group until 2000. The frenetic “Born Slippy” and the soundtrack to “Trainspotting” shot them to stardom amidst press acclaim and stratospheric sales figures. Underworld are enshrined as one of the major groups of contemporary pop music, able to fill stadia, produce soundtracks for Hollywood's leading directors and design games for Playstation, and have never stopped carving out their own niche. Their fans already know what to expect from their show at Sónar: spectacular audiovisuals and tonnes of energy.
02:15 The Gaslamp Killer @ SonarClub - Being considered the most off the wall of the beatmakers on the California scene is no easy task, but William Benjamin Bensussen, better known as The (motherfucking) Gaslamp Killer, wins the title hands down. A member of the Brainfeeder team - Flying Lotus' label - this DJ who possesses epic and dramatic touches like few others is perfectly able to switch from the psychedelia of Jimi Hendrix to the otherwordly bleeps of Harmonic 313 with barely a blink of an eye in any of his sessions. He has also still found the time to produce bizarre projects like Gonjasufi, the acclaimed album by Sumach on Warp. He as unpredictable as he is out of this world.
03:30 Paul Kalkbrenner @ SonarPub - Born in Leipzig but based on Berlin, the name of Paul Kalkbrenner, closely linked with B-pitch Control, started to move the masses after his performance as the lead in the film “Berlin Calling," for which he also provided the soundtrack. In 2011 he will be releasing a documentary about his world tour last year, although it is better to see him live and enjoy his mastery of the dancefloor and his ability to communicate with his audiences. Visuals by Pfadfinderei.
04:15 Surgeon @ SonarClub - Taking the helm at SonarClub after the show by Magnetic Man requires the special touch of an expert. Tony Child is one of the most influential characters on techno over the last twenty years. At his headquarters in Birmingham, Surgeon has been dissecting its industrial inheritance and dark side for years, in dozens of productions for leading labels, remixes for icons of the stature of Coil, Faust, Dave Clarke and Thom Yorke, and legendary sessions in which he unleashes all his techno energy straight to the audience's gut, in a constantly evolving style that takes in dubstep or and more abstract sounds.
2011.sonar.es
www.facebook.com/SonarFestivalOfficialPage
twitter.com/sonarfestival