From 2017 to 2018 with Lena Willikens, 2manydjs, Daphni, Hunee and the beauty of Poble Espanyol.

When does the Sónar week start? And when does it really end? A difficult question indeed, considering the massive amount of pre- and post-parties – and so we decided to make a solid compromisse by concentrating on the official festival dates of Thursday till Saturday and smuggle the Sunday in as both, the festival itself as well as  the Off-Sónar madness plays special on that Sunday.
But let´s talk about that a bit later. We start our 10 stirring Sónar moments on the Thursday.

Thursday 

Detroit Love
Kaput readers maybe remember last months highly recommended „Detroit Love Vol.1“ mix by Stacey Pullen, giving Carl Craigs party series a solid soundtrack foundation. This mad party does not list Pullen, but with Idriss D, Kyle Hall, Octaive One, Omar-S, Moodyman and Carl Craig himself one should get a solid Detroit fix at this later afternoon happening (starts 4pm and ends 12pm). More details here.

Yaeji
Not many know how to bounce so relaxed and heavy at the same time as Kathy Lee do. Her Korean language anthem „Drink I’m Sippin On“ will be just about right to kick of this years Sónar for us (she plays 7.30pm at SonarVillage).

Futura vs. Odd Fantastic
Two of the most vibrant booking agencies out there right now meet up with a lineup which does not need many words: Aurora Halal, Avalon Emerson, Lena Willikens, Inga Mauer and JMII. Make sure to come by early (starts 11pm) to Astin and Nitsa to not miss a second of those future beats.

DESPACIO (James Murphy + 2manydjs)
This meeting of the legends could be listed any day as James Murphy and his long time friends Steven and David Dewaele (aka 2manydjs) hang ten three successive days behind the desks – and each seession willl last 6 hours. Yes, those guys never grow old.

Friday

SOPHIE
All those promises of futuristic sounds are rarely kept in our contemporary music world. Too many people put the emphasis on talkin instead of acting. Not so the LA based Scottish producer, dj and singer-songwriter Sophie Long (aka SOPHIE). In her world pop appears as sparkling and challenging as promised. Sophie performs live at 7pm at Sónar by Day on the SonarDôme floor.

Helena Hauff
The Hamburg based dj and producer needs no introduction on Kaput, we follow her right since the early Golden Pudel days. Helena just finished her new album “Qualm” which will be released on Ninja Tune Records in the last week of July. She will close the friday night at Sónar by Night on the SonarPub floor.

Saturday

Leon Vynehall
What do we hope to get from artists? Well, of course it´s nice to get exactly what we expect from them, but then again, isn´t it so much more thrilling to be leaded into the unknown. When Leon Vynehall started off he seduced us on the dancefloor with deep flirting house music, his debut album „Nothing is Still“ (published on the Sónar Friday) comes with the same vulnerability but left the beats mostly behind for strings and surfaces and add mysterious short stories and videos.
Leon gonna play the Life & Death Party.

Mika Vaino Tribute
Historiography is a sensitive topic. It all depends on the perspectives and the degree of involvement. While the general public might not know at all who Mika Vaino was, those with a dedicated love affair with electronic music are of course aware that his influence was mind-boggling. Between 1994 and 2017 Mika Vaino released under imprints like Ø, Philus and Pan Sonic (formerly Panasonic – until the company with the same name sued them) on labels like Sähkö Recordings, Raster-Noton, Staalplaa and Editions Mego some of the most beautiful and adventurous electronic music records out there.
Sadly Mika Vaino died on 12th of April. Die Angel (Mika Vaino´s Pan Sonic partner Ilpo Vaisanen and Schneider TM) recorded with fellow Vaino friends and music collaborators “Entropien I” and gonna perform the material live at 4pm at Sónar by Day at SonarComplex.

Sunday

Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto
Sometimes the fitting words are already used by others, in this particular case by the Sónar team itself. The concert by Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto is indeed „A triumphant finale to the festival“ – and the Teatre Grec is just about the right venue therefor.

Innervisions – Barcelona
The annual Innervisions party at Poble Espanyol is the best place to end your Sónar experience. You name them, they play there, from the label own representatives ÂME, Henrik Schwarz and Dixon to Avalon Emerson, Lena Willikens (together with Vladimir Ivkovic as Willikens & Ivkovic), Perel, Red Axes, Solar, Jamie XX, Job Jobse, Ben UFO, Marcus Worgull, Trikk, Mathew Jonson, Keope, Gerd Janson, Discodromo, Alex from Tokyo and Floating Points – and there will be also a very special guest…. This link leads you to more infos and that one to the event trailer.

Sónar 2017 rewind