Sonar 2012 and Off Sonar events

[chiapet]

I think most of the crowds during Sonar were foreigners just there to party without much knowledge about the music.

I definitely felt that was a lot of that, but fortunately aside from Ovum and Sonar Friday, I felt like the majority were considerate of the musicians and people there who were really primarily there for music, and didn't really cause a spectacle. It sucked that the two things I was looking forward to the most had the absolute worst crowds, but I have to admit most of it wasn't like that.

[chiapet]

Now that I've complained a lot about Sonar, here is one of the most fun things ever. Neon, blacklights, strobe, bleep bloops, and not being able to see straight....

The DJs for SonarCar weren't very good, though.



Edit: Lucy played the SonarCar stage in 2011. I'd kill to have been there.

[SoulDischarge]

Those are the kind of raves I want to go to. I was just thinking how much fucking fun it'd be to have a good DJ at a lazer tag joint, Robert Hood or Dopplereffekt or someone.

[chiapet]

Shall we just keep this thread for Sonar 2013?

Almost certain I am in for next year.

Sonar 2013 will be held June 13-15, 2013. The first round of announcements were made last week:

Kraftwerk – 3D show (DE)
Pet Shop Boys (UK)
Two Door Cinema Club (UK)
Hot Natured (UK)
Lindstrøm & Todd Terje (NO)
Vatican Shadow (US)
Bradien + Eduard Escoffet (ES)
Fantastic Mr Fox (UK)


The 20th anniversary of Sonar Barcelona will take place on the 13th, 14th and 15th June 2013.

The stand-out feature of the line-up preview is the extraordinary new show in 3D by Kraftwerk. The prestigious German group was founded in 1970 and has been one of the most influential outfits in the music of the last 40 years, in electronica and in popular music in general. Their eight studio albums are more than classics - they are true anthems in recent music history. For their performance at Sonar 2013, Kraftwerk will be reviewing their hits with a unique and updated sound at SonarClub, the festival's main stage. Their new show adapts 3D technology to their own language and gives body and volume to the powerful imagery that has accompanied them throughout their career. The show can be enjoyed with standard 3D glasses.

Another unquestionable benchmark - in this case in the field of electronic pop - is the British duo Pet Shop Boys. After the recent release of their latest album "Elysium”, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, who began working together in the early ‘80s, will be presenting a new show featuring visuals and technological content at Sonar Barcelona. The creators of countless legendary songs of our era, including “West End Girls”, “Domino Dancing”, “It's A Sin”, “Always On My Mind”, “Go West”, “Being Boring”, “Domino Dancing”, “Flamboyant” and “New York City Boy”, Pet Shop Boys have always been a step ahead of their peers, shrewdly navigating the currents of electronic pop and dance music, while maintaining an admirable and carefully balanced critical and commercial success.

The Northern Ireland trio Two Door Cinema Club is another of the great attractions in the line-up of Sonar 2013. During their live show, the band will be reviewing their two albums released to date, which have made them one of today's most powerful and vigorous producers of electropop hits, with tracks like “What you know”, “Undercover Martyn” and “Something Good Can Work”.

Within Sonar's 100% dance territory, this year's highlights include the live show from Hot Natured, the energetic collective of DJs and producers led by the already essential Jamie Jones, the new king Midas of underground house, and the special collaboration between Lindstrom & Todd Terje, Norwegian producers who combine luminous electronica and nu-disco. Another name on the up, Fantastic Mr Fox, will be deploying his unique vision of R&B on an abstract and at the same time danceable tip.

Among the sonic explorers, the festival presents Vatican Shadow, the project who rediscovers industrial techno by the American producer Dominick Fernow.

In the Spanish artists section, we have a couple of very special guests, Bradien + Eduard Escoffet, the combination of the Barcelona-based instrumental group and the poet Eduard Escoffet presenting their new album 'Pols' live.

More line-up will be announced soon.

[frazzles]

I may be able to swing this. Spain is a pretty cheap flight from here.

[chiapet]

You should keep an eye on it! The festival itself is one thing (and will have a lot of good acts), in addition to that, last year, there were like 150+ *other* events during the Weds-Sun of that week. I'm not exaggerating either. Some days had 40+ events.

[Spooks]

New additions!

Darkstar (UK)
Liars (US)
Paul Kalkbrenner (DE)
Sherwood + Pinch (UK)
Nicolas Jaar (US)
Delorean (ES)
Foreign Beggars (UK)
Maceo Plex (US)
Mykki Blanco (US)
Karenn (Blawan + Pariah) (UK)
Baauer (US)
Gold Panda (UK)
La Bien Querida (ES)
Christeene (US)
Sound Pellegrino presenta Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team + Matthias Zimmermann (FR)

These new names include outfits whose appeal is tried and tested, like the British trio Darkstar, one of the most interesting projects to emerge from low-rev dubstep, who are about to release their new LP, "News From Nowhere", on the prestigious London label Warp; and the American trio Liars, presenting their excellent new LP "WIXIW," which is much more synth-based and oriented towards electronica than their previous albums.

Among the latest names to be added to Sónar Barcelona is the new artistic duo Karenn, which brings together two masters of today's rawest techno: Blawan - who astonished us at Sónar by Night last year - and the talented Pariah; the New York trap producer Baauer, who has hit the mark this year with his formula of powerful basses and rhythmic forcefulness; the British beatmaker Gold Panda, the main man at the Ghostly International label; and the haute école funk-based tech-house by the popular American dj Maceo Plex.

Sónar 2013 also presents the performance by a unique and very special duo: consisting of Adrian Sherwood, a cult name in dub in the British Isles and the founder of the influential On-U Sound label, and Pinch, an eminent personality on the Bristol dubstep (and post-dubstep) scene.

Two international electronica benchmarks return, in the shape of Germany's Paul Kalkbrenner, now consolidated as one of today's most popular names, who will be bringing his new album 'Guten Tag' under his arm; and the Chilean-American Nicolas Jaar, who returns to Sónar for the third consecutive year entirely on merit.

Two of the biggest names on the Spanish scene, Delorean and La Bien Querida, will also be present at Sónar Barcelona. The Basque outfit are releasing a new album in 2013, two years after the international success of "Subiza," while the project by Ana Fernández Villaverde and David Rodríguez has given their songs a considerable twist, dressing them up in dazzling techno-pop costumes for their latest album, "Ceremony."

Two unique and irreverent artists will be visiting from the United States underground scene: Mykki Blanco, the standard bearer of the movement known as "queer rap" (a mixture of hip-hop rhyming and powerful techno basses); and Christeene, a man-woman who takes the extravagance and perversion of electronic pop one step beyond mischief by means of a highly individual sense of humour.

This batch of additions is rounded off by the showcase from the French label Sound Pellegrino, in association with the historic rap group TTC and a platform for some of today's most cutting-edge and freshest dance beats, headed by Matthias Zimmermann and the Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team; and the highly respected British hip hop and grime collective Foreign Beggars, presenting their powerful new album, "The Uprising".

[chiapet]

Karenn. This is making my day better.

[chiapet]

I decided to start a new thread for Sonar 2013, so that the first page can be kept updated with the lineup & after party announcements:

http://www.coachella.com/forum/showt...f-Sonar-events