SONAR CHICAGO 2010 - a Preview

A press release from Sonar HQ (Barcelona) reached Chicago today (Aug 27). It states [with my edits]:

"On September 9, 10 and 11, Sónar will be staging the first Sónar Chicago, a festival that (...) bases its artistic personality on the DNA of the [pivotal] festival in Barcelona. (...) Sónar Chicago has an ambitious and wide-ranging line-up with plenty of electronic experimentation, in its derivations and mutations and in collision with other genres. [It] will present more than 30 events, including concerts, lectures and screenings." And I must add, it is all FREE (except Smart Bar Sonar nights which are only $5 to $10 anyways...)

I saved you some time and digested Sonar's highly complex website. The festival indeed showcases the cutting-edge of electronica internationally, yet from a peculiar modernist Catalan viewpoint. This means that Sonar unfolds upon a tension, between an experimental/minimalist pole which mainstream crowds will find hard to swallow, against a more emotion-oriented pole hosting danceable, really awesome music (house, pop, dub, even techno).


PROGRAM - SONAR CHICAGO 2010:

Thursday 9th during the day @ Millennium Park provides a general overview of Sonar philosophy, starting with some trippy experimental music (Faraon, Bradien), going into a really crowd-pleasing rap rock (The Slew) followed by a deep tech-housy ending (Martyn).

Friday 10th during the day @ Chicago Cultural Center will feature veeeery experimental stuff. That's "intelligent" music, and if you are expecting to dance, you'll be disappointed with "sound sculpture" (Lesley Flanigan). Still, I highly recommend watching with your ears and eyes Nosaj Visual Show, an amazing blend of music in sync with dynamic visual projections.

"Sonar at Night" (Friday Sep 10th), as always, is unmissable, and you will be amazed with the line-up playing @ Smart Bar, which includes the likes of trippy funk Space Dimension Controller, Black Devil Disco, and the eclectic house of Cosmin.

Saturday 11th during the day will again have experimental music @ Chicago Cultural Center. This is music for head-strong artists into minimalist effects. I recommend it if you are a vanguard aficionado or music composer, to see Chicago's own Flashbulb, or delve into the depths of musical horror deconstructionism (Huan). PS: I heard through the grapevine that Sound Bar will host an ending party Saturday night...


Sonar Chicago program is listed below. (Gray marks indicate the ones I'm not missing...)

It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that Chicago music scene may not be the same after this 30 top-quality-event-line-up festival which intends to become "annual" in Chicago. Sonar has been shaping the electronica scene since the late 1990s, not only in Barcelona, but throughout the continent as well: it is "the largest multimedia festival in Europe", as I've witnessed with my eyes in various editions. Let's wait and see if Sonar will really make history in the Windy City.

PROGRAM - SONAR CHICAGO 2010

Thursday 9

12:00 pm :: Jay Pritzker Pavilion :: Millennium Park :: live :: Faraón

05:00 pm :: Jay Pritzker Pavilion :: Millennium Park :: live :: Bradien

06:00 pm :: Jay Pritzker Pavilion :: Millennium Park :: live :: Jimmy Edgar

07:00 pm :: Jay Pritzker Pavilion :: Millennium Park :: live :: The Slew featuring Kid Koala

08:00 pm :: Jay Pritzker Pavilion :: Millennium Park :: dj :: Martyn

Friday 10

03:00 pm :: SonarHall :: Preston Bradley Hall :: Chicago Cultural Center :: live :: Faraón

04:00 pm :: SonarComplex :: Claudia Cassidy Theater :: Chicago Cultural Center :: live :: Bradien

05:00 pm :: SonarHall :: Preston Bradley Hall :: Chicago Cultural Center :: live :: Lesley Flanigan: Amplifications

06:00 pm :: SonarComplex :: Claudia Cassidy Theater :: Chicago Cultural Center :: live :: Nosaj Thing Visual Show

07:00 pm :: SonarHall :: Preston Bradley Hall :: Chicago Cultural Center :: live :: Oval

Sonar by Night

10:00 pm :: Sónar Club Night by Red Bull Music Academy: Smart Bar :: live :: Space Dimension Controller

11:00 pm :: Sónar Club Night by Red Bull Music Academy: Smart Bar :: dj :: Todd Osborn

12:00 am :: Sónar Club Night by Red Bull Music Academy: Smart Bar :: live :: Black Devil Disco Club

01:00 am :: Sónar Club Night by Red Bull Music Academy: Smart Bar :: dj :: Cosmin TRG

02:00 am :: Sónar Club Night by Red Bull Music Academy: Smart Bar :: dj :: Appleblim

Saturday 11

03:00 pm :: SonarHall :: Preston Bradley Hall :: Chicago Cultural Center :: live :: The Flashbulb feat. the New Millennium Orchestra

04:00 pm :: SonarComplex :: Claudia Cassidy Theater :: Chicago Cultural Center :: live :: bRUNA

05:00 pm :: SonarHall :: Preston Bradley Hall :: Chicago Cultural Center :: live :: Huan

06:00 pm :: SonarComplex :: Claudia Cassidy Theater :: Chicago Cultural Center :: live :: Ben Frost

07:00 pm :: SonarHall :: Preston Bradley Hall :: Chicago Cultural Center :: live :: Nicolas Bernier + Martin Messier: La Chambre des Machines

Ending party (Saturday night) @ Smart Bar?....

New Book on Techno, Rave, Club Culture

I'm pleased to say that my book Global Nomads is now available in affordable paperback. It examines how bohemian expatriates are the main force behind global rave and club scenes. They are DJs, party promoters, club managers and bar "industry" workers, interlinking main party scenes in Ibiza, Goa, San Francisco, New York, Bali, Bahia, Byron Bay, Barcelona, Berlin etc. I also show how electronic music scenes become spiritual spaces where people can express and connect with their own self and others. These are just a few of the topics covered:

- Aesthetics of the self: post-sexualities in a digital age

- Counterculture and commodity

- Hippie scenes: autonomy and tourism

- Club scene in Ibiza: underground and industry

- Ethnography of the largest nightclub in the world

- Psytrance scene in Goa

- Nomadic spirituality in psychedelic rituals

- Global Countercultures

You can find Global Nomads at main online booksellers (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, eBay, Borders etc), you can click on the link on the right side of this blog, or you can obtain it directly from Routledge website:
http://www.routledge.com/books/Global-Nomads-isbn9780415553674

Please spread the word to your friends. Many thanks.

History of Techno in Germany: a Video Review

"We Call it Techno!" is a great documentary about the history of club scenes in Germany. Produced by H. Wich and M. Sextro, it focuses on Berlin and Frankfurt scenes of 1980s and 1990s. It depicts Berlin's eclectic taste for dance/Euro pop in a post-Cold War era, whereas Frankfurt hosted wild underground parties which gradually evolved into a highly competitive and commercialized club industry.

These were not isolated sites, as the film shows a wealth of artistic exchanges across cities, as DJ traveled with their entourages in crazy bus caravans. This ritual eventually led to the rise of the Love Parade in Berlin 89 - four months before the fall of the Wall.

The film also provides a great methodology for anyone interested in documenting their own rave/club scene. It aptly carries out the pedestrian task of registering artistic genealogies (who did what and where followed by whom). Yet, it goes beyond, by investigating local scenes within wider issues of technology, lifestyle, counterculture and popularization. In particular, I was curious to see their narrative of "decline". I was gladly surprised with how smart and reflexive the scene producers were in pondering about the ironical and unintended consequences of Techno’s massification in Germany.

As a minor critique, the documentary was limited to a strong geo/urban-centric bias. It remains stuck in a few cities, and totally neglects important transnational exchanges between German Techno artists and the rest of Europe and the world. For example, it is important to note events such as, Sven Vath's winters in Goa, his Coocon/Amnesia project and beach parties in Ibiza, besides the rise of global club legend Space located in the German resorts of Ibiza.

All in all, an excellent video. Watch it below:

[UPDATE July 19: The film was removed from Google movies, but you can still watch a short trailer]: