Plastikman

The exclusive show featuring the new Plastikman album

EX is the eagerly anticipated new album from Plastikman – the project with which Richie Hawtin gained worldwide recognition in the 1990s. The album was recorded live at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and will be presented live worldwide exclusively at Sónar by Day with the special show “Objekt” on Thursday 12 June. The date at Sónar will be Plastikman’s only live show in the entire year 2014.

The Plastikman show (which extends the closing time at Sónar by Day on Thursday 12 until 11 pm) arrives in Barcelona with a special adaptation for SonarVillage, including a spectacular central LED obelisk. On the next day, Friday 13 June, Hawtin will be performing at Sónar once again – this time with one of his high-precision technological sets at SonarClub (Sónar by Night).

EX will be released digitally on 10 June and in physical format on 14 July, on MINUS/Mute. Mute is the label run by Daniel Miller, who will be responsible for the set that provides a prelude to Plastikman’s performance at Sónar by Day.

Listen to the EX preview here.

Röyksopp & Robyn

The Official Sónar 2014 App

The Sónar 2014 app is available now. The new application, available in three languages (Spanish, Catalan and English), allows you to check the line-up by day, time, stage and artist, for Sónar by Day, Sónar by Night and Sónar+D.

The options include MyAgenda, the customized calendar of favourite shows, synchronized with the diary created by the user at MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from “mandrillapp.com” claiming to be www.sonar.es. To do this, you can access the list of the artists and mark them as favourites by clicking on the star: MyAgenda sorts them and gives an alarm 5, 10, 30 and 60 minutes before each show begins.

The application also includes interactive maps of the various stages at Sónar by Day and Sónar by Night in the Venues option, all the Sónar+D activities sorted by area (with a Networking Tool for accredited professionals only), the basic information about the festival (such as directions, how to get there and how to buy tickets, for example).

The App also includes two very special new features: the tracklist with the songs at the festival that can be listened to continuously at any time using Deezer; and the Augmented Reality function, which enables you to locate any festival space easily, as well as providing information about who is performing live at that time.

The application for Android and iPhone can now be downloaded via Google Play and App Store.

Yelle

Major premieres and essential shows at Sónar by Night

Hedonism, dancing, spectacle and the groove have been intrinsic elements of Sónar’s DNA since its first edition. And of course, they will once again be the protagonists of the festival line-up in 2014, focusing especially on the two days and the four stages at Sónar by Night.

Massive Attack have chosen Sónar Barcelona for the international premiere of their new show, which promises to be a further step forward in their audiovisual exploration of political propaganda and technological influence. Röyksopp & Robyn will combine their talents in a show for which the first international date will be Friday 13 June at Sónar by Night: the duo will be performing live their extensive repertoire of hits and tracks from their new EP Do it Again. Meanwhile,
the charismatic Lykke Li will be presenting her recent album I Never Learn at Sónar by Night, on which she shows that she is able to combine pop, soul and electronica with a great deal of talent. Yelle will also be arriving with a new album, which they will be performing live with a powerful and completely new show.

A special mention is warranted for Chic, the legendary band led by Nile Rodgers, whose contribution to funk and the disco tradition is essential for understanding and enjoying the present and future of music; and Richie Hawtin, probably the world’s most acclaimed dj, who is always one step ahead of the pack with his high-voltage technological sets, who will be playing the day after the premiere of the new Plastikman show.

Pretty Lights

Dancefloor benchmarks

This year, the festival welcomes several artists with an acknowledged capability to bring any dance floor to the boil, including Boys Noize, who expertly operate in the territory between techno, house and electro; 2manydjs, internationally acclaimed for their encyclopedic knowledge of the history of dance music and the genius highlighted in their sets; France’s Brodinski and Gesaffelstein, both at the frontline of international danceable techno: and Tiga, one of the most respected figures of the last 20 years and a dj with very experienced hands.

Sónar by Night also hosts several recent projects, including dance electronica, hip hop beats, dubstep breaks and British jungle: Flux Pavilion, Rudimental and I Am Legion, three British acts all with shows with pure energy on stage; Pretty Lights, perhaps the foremost producer in the new American cohort, with an impressive live show; and the rhythmic forcefulness of Camo & Krooked, whose sets redefine the power of drum’n’bass with a completely contemporary sound.

Global house

House and its many mutations will be lighting up the four Sónar by Night stages in their own right with some of their most important representatives: The Martinez Brothers, the most consolidated reality in New York house: from Norway, Todd Terje, the maestro of cosmic disco, with his recent It’s Album Time!; James Murphy, a specialist in
uncovering the genre’s hidden gems in bewitching sessions; the showcase by the legendary Leeds label 2020 Vision, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary with performances by Debukas, Paul Woolford (with a house set) and its founder, Ralph Lawson, one of Britain’s finest djs of all time. Daphni and James Holden will form an unprecedented and highly stimulating duo behind the decks; and Monki, star dj and presenter at BBC Radio 1, will be giving us a set with the best in bass music, new forms of techno and contemporary house.

Click here for info on Sónar Cape Town.

Brodinski and Gesaffelstein

Sonar 2014 – Image: mixtopia.ro

Sónar Barcelona

Constantly on the pulse of the current electronic music landscape, the festival offers a wide variety of balanced cultural entertainment and is thus divided into two main locations: the recently premiered Sónar by Day, located in Fira Montjuïc with concerts, DJs and showcases. The recently added Sónar+D area — which is about discovering and tracking new talent and enhancing professional activities — will also be part of Sónar by Day. And, of course, there’s Sónar by Night in Fira Gran Via de L’Hospitalet where the main action will go down with some of the biggest names known to the international music scene. Click here to view the full line-up.

New: Sónar+D

Launched in 2013, Sónar+D aims to unite creativity, technology, mobility, innovation and business in a transparent and accessible manner. Through bringing together experts from all over the world, the event’s goal is to shape future creative experiences (technologists, entrepreneurs, artists, companies and researchers) in the area of music, image, interactive content, and transmedia platforms. There will be conferences, workshops, an exhibition featuring 80 projects in the MarketLab and AppCafé areas including demos and product presentations, a networking area as well as Sónar Cinema designed for performances.

Among the 100 companies present will be Kickstarter (USA), Fabrica (IT), the Design Fictions group from the prestigious MIT Media Lab (USA), Universal Everything (UK), Sedition (UK), CANADA (BCN) and littleBits (USA). But most importantly, Sónar+D exclusively presents the European premiere of ‘CLOUDS’ an interactive documentary that predicts the future of cinema for Oculus Rift, as well as the world premiere of cult instrument and music controller Oval, a digital alternative to Hang. Click here for more info on Sónar+D.

New: Sónar Cape Town

As Cape Town has recently acquired World Design Capital 2014 status, it seems suitable for the city to host their own version of Spain’s most prestigious arts and culture festival. Award-winning agency Seed Experiences will bring the festival to South Africa annually, with the inaugural event planned for 16 December 2014 at the iconic Good Hope Centre in Cape Town. With top electronic local acts and two international big names as headliners, the SA installment promises to be on par with its international counterparts in Barcelona, Tokyo, Reykjavik and Mexico. Follow Sónar Cape Town on Facebook for further updates.

Lykke-Li – Image: billboard.com

Massive Attack – Image: oncetv-ipn.net

Woodkid – Image: purplesneakers.com.au

Spoek Mathambo – Image: thestarvedblog.co.za

Image: hypetrak.com

The film director best known for creating strange dreamy atmospheres in movies such as Mullholland Drive or Lost Highway will release his second album The Big Dream across Europe on 15 July. ‘I’m Waiting Here’ is a collaboration with Swedish singer-songwriter Lykke Li and is as hauntingly dreamy as the atmospheres in his films.
 
 
 
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club – ‘A Smashing Indictment Of Character’

Image: flickr.com

Slim Cessna’s Auto Club is a Colorado band that formed in 1992 and are praised for their sophisticated musicianship and quality live performances. Having drums, upright bass, pedal steel, banjos, piano, guitar and vocals as their instruments, they create an uplifting folk-ey sound that induces clapping and much hopping around. After eight albums and playing with artists such as Johnny Cash, 16 Horsepower, Throwing Muses, Violent Femmes and Joe Diffie they released their Best Of entitled SCAC 102: An Introduction for Young and Old Europe.
 
 
 
Oblivians – ‘Pinball King’

Image: pitchfork.com

Formed in 1993, Memphis garage punks Oblivians are now back with Desperation — a new album to be released on 7 June. After re-uniting for festivals and special occasions over the years, the band realised that what they actually missed is ‘creating together’. So here’s ‘Pinball King’, their new song with an old sound.
 
 
 
Las Rosas – Black Cherry

Image: thefader.com

Here’s a song by ex-Harlem bassist Jose Boyer’s new band Las Rosas from their selftitled EP released January this year. ‘Black Cherry’ is carefree garage rock that’ll let the gentle rebel out in you.
 
 
 
Beck – ‘Defriended’

Image: gorillavsbear.net

Beck channelled his inner Taylor Swift expressing his dissatisfaction with someone special in his latest song ‘Defriended’. We don’t know who caused his heartache but we can thank them for inspiring his latest release. ‘Defriended’ brings some deep base lines and cheerful electro underneath bummed out lyrics.

Suicideyear – ‘Goodbye Florida (For Now)’

Image: factmag.com

If you haven’t heard of Suicideyear, you should. Normally after hearing Britney Spears’ name you can expect something outrageous, Suicideyear’s remix of her song ‘Everytime’ for this new single ‘Goodbye Florida (For Now)’, however, is outrageously good. Flowing piano melodies mixed with low key rap beats will take you on a journey to Florida and leave you begging for more when it’s over.