Thursday 19/06/08 Day One, Sonar Festival @ Barcelona, Spain

Dance festivals are not for the faint hearted and Sonar is no expectation. Welcome to day one of Gigwise’s mad reign in Spain.

Jahbitat really made themselves at home between the bleach-white walls of SonarComplex; one of the three-piece had a sheet draped over him as he kneeled. Another guy set off a rib-cage rattling bass rumble with his laptop that lasted nearly the entire set. Sheet man started rocking, possibly praying as he shook a maraca. Adding to the disturb-factor, Jahbitat's vocals were unintelligible, possibly Pagan incantations. The guitarist laid down stoner stylings for a while. This epic opener was guided by laptop man through dub but why wasn't anyone else dancing? Techno and hip-hop rhythms. The second song was also the last, the guitarist rocking an awesome virtuoso, yet not show-off solo. The erstwhile laptop operator clattered the drum-kit for all he was worth. 

Another Spanish act, Santiago Latorre looked nervous, out of breath and not just because he was blowing so hard on the saxophone. Latorre was solo, with his laptop providing other horn and bass noises. The songs were short, seemingly aborted prematurely, Latorre frustrated with his computer for some reason. The crowd were sympathetic, still giving polite applause for the sonic sketches. Pity it went wrong, because he was in full control of the sax, emitting sustained notes with a beautiful clarity. The man seemed upset as he left, shrugging.

Last time your writer was here, he was rubbing shoulders with John Peel at one of the record stalls. Peel was stocking up on his Kompakt 12"s, so this time it was only right to pick up a Kompakt mix in the five discs for ten euros offer. Might pour out a little liquor on the Astroturf later, too. Out onto that fake grass for Little Dragon, starting with Yukimi Nagano's stop in your tracks, piano torch song 'Twice'...

"Tell me what led you on, I'd love to know, was it the blue night gone fragile?"

Little Dragon then launched into some super tight jazz-funk; hip-hop thumping drums, damn, how is that that coming from a human player, not a computer bass and refreshingly analogue keys. The new material took a more electro direction, a sound that also filtered through to some of the other songs, like the closer, 'Wink'. The squealing keyboard face-lift for that song had everyone grinning.  

Out of the sunshine and into the underground darkness for experimental survivors Pram. They had a massive, washed-out video projection backdrop, appropriate for their mostly instrumental, film-score style moodiness. Specifically, Roy Budd and BBC Radiophonic Workshop scores. They sometimes had a bossa-nova feel, too and we got the matching footage of old Rio to see. Pram ditched their lyrics, instead Rosie Cuckston just gave out the odd "ooh" and "aah", serving the cool ambience well.