- A few hours after Sónar 2016 ended, its press department sent out an email blast that included statistics on this year's festival. One of these really stood out: 115,000 visitors from 101 countries. Sónar has been going for well over two decades, but it's worth reiterating that those 115,000 people had attended a festival that showcases esoteric experimental electronic music and stages a conference on the digital transformation of the creative industry. There was also a DJ set by Fatboy Slim. And that might be the beauty of Sónar. No other festival brings so many different artists, nationalities, genres and personality types together in one place.
For both headliners and emerging artists, Sónar is among the biggest and most important gigs of the year. Artists come here to cement their reputation—or establish one. In turn, the audiences enjoy sets from acts they know and love, and sets from acts they've never heard of. The big and the small, the underground and the mainstream, the ravers and the nerds all intermingle for three days in Barcelona each June, creating a ripple effect whose influence is felt globally.
Here are five of the key performances from across the weekend.
Ata Kak
A few weeks back, the veteran Ghanaian hiplife artist Ata Kak and his newly assembled band made their debut performance at a private, low-key gig in East London. They seemed to click instantly, filling the dark, warehouse-style space with bright and celebratory moods. So you can imagine the unbridled joy when Ata Kak and co. took the stage at Sónar By Day's outdoor SónarVillage stage against a backdrop of Catalonian sunshine. When seeing Kak perform, his smile wide behind dark sunglasses, his dance moves charmingly dad-like, it's impossible not to think of the unlikely path that's led to him performing across Europe this summer. Awesome Tapes From Africa's Brian Shimkovitz was driven by a desire to share Kak's distinctive blend of highlife and hip-hop, and when you see Kak perform earworms like "Moma Yendodo" with the gusto he did at Sónar, it's easy to understand why.
Ben UFO vs Helena Hauff
Around 01:30 AM on Friday night, Kerri Chandler stood at the front of the SónarLab stage (which RA hosted on the Friday night) and high-fived Soichi Terada, who, having just finished his blissed-out live set, looked like the happiest man at the entire festival. 90 minutes later, Ben UFO and Helena Hauff began their first-ever back-to-back set, and the mood was quite different. A twisted arpeggio curled from the speakers, giving way to the belligerent beats of Randomer. What followed was two hours of dark, broken, acidic dance music that rarely came up for air. Was the crowd at a stage as big as this one ready for such heady sounds? For the most part, yes. Some of the duo's deeper cuts were lost in the vast space, but there were plenty that transcended the gap between club and festival: Gunnar Haslam's "Overcomplete," The Persuader's "What Is The Time, Mr Templar?" and forthcoming tracks by Pearson Sound and Tessela gave the set the feel of a successful experiment.
Kode9 & Lawrence Lek
I left Kode9 and Lawrence Lek's new audiovisual show in SónarHall thinking that everything might not be OK. As the video's central character, a clumsy drone, explored an abandoned hotel called Nøtel, I became burdened by dread—thoughts of mass surveillance, military invasions and the effects of the UK's upcoming EU referendum. I'm a fan of Kode9's Nothing, the album on which the show is based, but the drone's grim trudge around Nøtel gave the footwork and grime sounds an edge that at-once felt profound and suffocating. There was, however, some light in the dark. Seeing images of the late DJ Rashad footworking on one of Nøtel's television screens pointed to the sound's more celebratory rituals. But for the most part I was left to consider an absence of hope, which was maybe the point.
Skepta
Stormzy, Lady Leshurr, Section Boyz—UK grime and rap had a very healthy showing at Sónar 2016. But it was Skepta whose performance headlined this informal group. The London artist has recently been at the vanguard of grime's attempt at an international takeover, and while the crowd for his Saturday night set at SónarPub was, at a guess, half English, it was obvious that the idea of the genre's newfound international appeal isn't merely a media construct. You could tell this merely by the different accents singing along to "That's Not Me," "Shutdown," and "It Ain't Safe." It helps Skepta's cause that he embraces theatricality. His DJ, Maximum, threw Dizzee Rascal's "I Luv U" and JME's "Man Don't Care" into the mix to wild effect, and there were rowdy guest appearances from Skepta's BBK cohorts Jammer and Frisco. By the time they closed with the incredible "Man," the stage was in a state of London-style chaos.
Byetone
As TroyBoi got the crowd outside jumping with "Drop It Like It's Hot" and "Panda," the Raster-Noton artist and co-founder Olaf Bender, AKA Byetone, was inside the dark SónarComplex auditorium preparing for a live set. It was the final performance of the label's 20th anniversary showcase that day, following sets from Alva Noto and Cyclo, and I was struggling to think of a group who better suit Sonar's experimental agenda. The sound Bender produced here, much of which seemed to be new material, hit a sweet spot between club music and abstraction that feels perfect for this festival. The set, however, didn't begin well. Bender couldn't get his visuals going after several attempts, although the array of lighting strips that flanked him were impressive enough by themselves. Precision-tooled kicks and churning chords were the set's main characteristics, with Bender retaining tight control of the set's dynamics—for every roaring drone piece there was a relatively conventional rhythm not far behind. "Sorry about the visuals," Bender said as he returned to play "Black Peace" as an encore. Back outside in the fading daylight, the Ed Banger House Party had begun, a contrast that should have felt jarring but wasn't.
Ben UFO vs Helena Hauff Around 01:30 AM on Friday night, Kerri Chandler stood at the front of the SónarLab stage (which RA hosted on the Friday night) and high-fived Soichi Terada, who, having just finished his blissed-out live set, looked like the happiest man at the entire festival. 90 minutes later, Ben UFO and Helena Hauff began their first-ever back-to-back set, and the mood was quite different. A twisted arpeggio curled from the speakers, giving way to the belligerent beats of Randomer. What followed was two hours of dark, broken, acidic dance music that rarely came up for air. Was the crowd at a stage as big as this one ready for such heady sounds? For the most part, yes. Some of the duo's deeper cuts were lost in the vast space, but there were plenty that transcended the gap between club and festival: Gunnar Haslam's "Overcomplete," The Persuader's "What Is The Time, Mr Templar?" and forthcoming tracks by Pearson Sound and Tessela gave the set the feel of a successful experiment.
Kode9 & Lawrence Lek I left Kode9 and Lawrence Lek's new audiovisual show in SónarHall thinking that everything might not be OK. As the video's central character, a clumsy drone, explored an abandoned hotel called Nøtel, I became burdened by dread—thoughts of mass surveillance, military invasions and the effects of the UK's upcoming EU referendum. I'm a fan of Kode9's Nothing, the album on which the show is based, but the drone's grim trudge around Nøtel gave the footwork and grime sounds an edge that at-once felt profound and suffocating. There was, however, some light in the dark. Seeing images of the late DJ Rashad footworking on one of Nøtel's television screens pointed to the sound's more celebratory rituals. But for the most part I was left to consider an absence of hope, which was maybe the point.
Skepta Stormzy, Lady Leshurr, Section Boyz—UK grime and rap had a very healthy showing at Sónar 2016. But it was Skepta whose performance headlined this informal group. The London artist has recently been at the vanguard of grime's attempt at an international takeover, and while the crowd for his Saturday night set at SónarPub was, at a guess, half English, it was obvious that the idea of the genre's newfound international appeal isn't merely a media construct. You could tell this merely by the different accents singing along to "That's Not Me," "Shutdown," and "It Ain't Safe." It helps Skepta's cause that he embraces theatricality. His DJ, Maximum, threw Dizzee Rascal's "I Luv U" and JME's "Man Don't Care" into the mix to wild effect, and there were rowdy guest appearances from Skepta's BBK cohorts Jammer and Frisco. By the time they closed with the incredible "Man," the stage was in a state of London-style chaos.
Byetone As TroyBoi got the crowd outside jumping with "Drop It Like It's Hot" and "Panda," the Raster-Noton artist and co-founder Olaf Bender, AKA Byetone, was inside the dark SónarComplex auditorium preparing for a live set. It was the final performance of the label's 20th anniversary showcase that day, following sets from Alva Noto and Cyclo, and I was struggling to think of a group who better suit Sonar's experimental agenda. The sound Bender produced here, much of which seemed to be new material, hit a sweet spot between club music and abstraction that feels perfect for this festival. The set, however, didn't begin well. Bender couldn't get his visuals going after several attempts, although the array of lighting strips that flanked him were impressive enough by themselves. Precision-tooled kicks and churning chords were the set's main characteristics, with Bender retaining tight control of the set's dynamics—for every roaring drone piece there was a relatively conventional rhythm not far behind. "Sorry about the visuals," Bender said as he returned to play "Black Peace" as an encore. Back outside in the fading daylight, the Ed Banger House Party had begun, a contrast that should have felt jarring but wasn't.