Caroline Hervé aka Miss Kittin is electro techno royalty. From her early work with The Hacker, to getting Felix Da Housecat on the bandwagon, or more recently her Happy Violentine release, she has been responsible for some the defining sounds of the genre. More over, her distinctive vocals and narration to live sets has endeared her to audience’s worldwide (check out her live at Sonar sets from 2003 and 2004 if you can).

"The music is actually pretty anti-mainstream."

As an experienced Sonar campaigner, how is the festival different from others?
Sonar is different because it´s mainly small labels. Artists I have never heard before or that I rarely see live. The music is actually pretty anti-mainstream. The atmosphere is so nice; people can accept, listen and dance to sometimes very difficult music. Other festivals can be too commercial, or totally nerdy and boring. I have to precise; I always consider that Sonar IS the day time thing. At night, it´s more like a normal mega rave with big names, which are not that interesting to me.

What is your favourite festival memory?
I would say Sonar 2000, live with The Hacker. We were beginners, and we understood something that day. We passed a new step, self confidence, something opened inside of us. Because of the amazing audience, because of the sun, because of the magic of Sonar.

This year you’re both playing a DJ set and performing live. Your DJ sets have always had a more interactive and live feel than most, what can we look forward to with the live performance?
I won’t play live in terms of playing my own music. I will play a very special DJ set where I sing, but I wanna keep the surprise so I won’t tell anymore. At night, I will also DJ and maybe sing a bit, but it´s gonna be techno for sure, so very different. The day performance is definitely more important for me, more challenging, needs full preparation. I am very nervous.

The Sonar programme includes features on art, multimedia and technology. How do you think advances in these areas affect the music industry and the music you play?
Hmmm. Hard to say. I am not an art specialist to analyse. But electronic music IS technological, so everything is in interaction with each other. If you use the term "electronic art", it sounds to me like it’s inspired from the music, like videos from Autechre or Bjork for example. But at the same time, people like Chris Cunningham really went forward and managed to influence the musical world. I didn’t answer at all to your question! Sorry. I hate to analyse.

Sonar has a reputation for pushing new frontiers. What are you looking forward to catching at this year's festival?
I didn’t look at the program in details yet, but I will check M.I.A for sure. It’s actually one of my priorities, but it’s at night...

How will you be spending your time in Barcelona when not playing?
Listening to new artists, dance, meeting friends, lying by the pool and have great tapas.

Finally, will you be launching any new music at Sonar this year? Can you give RA a heads-up on anything to keep an ear out for, or anything else on the horizon for you in 2005?
A lot of things. I will play on my day performance a special version you never heard before. And about my other plans, they are top secret.

Miss Kittin plays Sonar by Day on Friday 17 June and Sonar by Night on Saturday 18 June.

This interview is part of RA’s exclusive 2005 Sonar Prologue interview series - check out the others below;
2005 Sonar Prologue with Jeff Mills
2005 Sonar Prologue with Richie Hawtin
2005 Sonar Prologue with Headman
2005 Sonar Prologue with Booka Shade
2005 Sonar Prologue with DJ Yoda
2005 Sonar Prologue with Ellen Allien
2005 Sonar Prologue with Basteroid
2005 Sonar Prologue with DJ T.
2005 Sonar Prologue with Ada
2005 Sonar Prologue with Damain Lazarus
2005 Sonar Prologue with Mu
2005 Sonar Prologue with James Murphy