Saturday 21/06/08 Day Three, Sonar Festival @ Barcelona, Spain

It's day three of Sonar and after two days of relentless dancing, Gigwise's man on the ground shows no sign of rest – but how long can he keep it up?

The bus ride through an industrial landscape was fifteen minutes to Sonar by night, a 1am arrival as Diplo was working some ghetto-tech and jackin' house. As he dropped Nirvana into the mix, someone launched a glow-stick in disgust, or delight? Some halted dancing and some moshed. Next door, wizard of wonky Flying Lotus was spinning some off-kilter hip-hop ripe for busting your most creative moves. Fly-Lo himself was leading the way, air-fluting his way through the Dr Dre instrumental of Truth Hurts' 'Addictive'. 

Justice's beats were mainly lumpen, lacking flair and the crowd's dancing matched, so it was time to jump ship for Roisin Murphy. That was a lesson in how to put on a show, better than two blokes above a lit cross. It was hard to take your eyes off Murphy, eccentric diva costumes and puppet style dancing. 'Overpowered' worked just as well with the big riff tamed, the lyrical lament highlighted...

"As science stuggles on to try and explain, oxytoxins flowing ever into my brain"

This glamorous electro-pop cabaret ended with a mock (hopefully) three-way floor wrestle between Murphy and her backing singers.

Buraka Som Sistema were danceable to a literally breath-taking extent. How was it possible to improve on Benga & Coki's 'Night' and Run DMC's 'It's Tricky'? Their own 'Yah' and 'Sound of Kuduro' were as good, in fact every song brought dancefloor mayhem. They had the kick of booty bass, but less repetitive, more creative. Kuduro kudos to the young lady MC from Luanda, the first ever African person to grace a Sonar stage.

Hercules and Love Affair had drums, bass, keys and horns writhing as one to recreate those classy disco grooves. The musicians also as one in their uniforms, only highlighting how different they all looked, like a Benetton advert. Unfortunately Hercules missed Antony on 'Blind', Nomi's voice anaemic in comparison.

The Contakt project from Minus records was on just its second outing. Richie Hawtin used the Cube control panel to select the music transmitted to him by the rest of the Minus roster. They looked Kraftwerk-like up there behind laptops, computer world it certainly is. A liquid crystal display surrounded the torso's of the crew, even lighting up the laptop desk. Great music, the hard bass regular, while the beat pulsed and crackled. The synth-sound varied in clarity, between sharp and wobbly, the latter especially fitting for a crowd barely in control of their bodies anymore. The bus spewed us out in town, temperature 22 degrees and rising. A Rambla prostitute threw a 'wanna dance?' hand out. Sorry love, have to turn you down. 

Minimal sleep and Hudson Mohawke kept things popping off in a little upstairs enclave. His wonky brethren Flying Lotus stopped by for a hello and wasn't that another dude from the burgeoning genre, Rustie slumped on the floor? He was in town for an off-Sonar party. Hud-Mo constantly toyed with the vocals, from screwed treatment to a Madonna acapella. The bass was too next for the speakers, temporarily bust as an unhealthy crunching sound brought smiles all round.