Sonar '06 Special
Show broadcast on Radio 1
Monday 26 June 2006: 0100-0300
Tracklistings for this show
Producers Note:
It's the season when the annual deluge of festivals kick off - One of the "Jewels in the Crown" has to be the Sonar Festival, and this is where One World returns this week.
Sonar has played a massive part in breaking electronic music and art right across the globe. Location, is naturally a part of Sonar's success - Barcelona - a dream festival city with its sunshine, picturesque streets, squares and beaches - however the main part is the formula of cutting edge music, interactive art and experimental sets which have captured the imagination of people globally.
Its Sonar's 13th year in existence and my 11th time there. The reason that I keep returning is quite simple - that they always put on great artists and music that I would never normally have access to. It's always a real pleasure to discover fine electronica from the most unlikely of places - That's not to say that I worship everything at Sonar - you do come across acts that can be challenging and obtuse but that's only to be expected with such a weird and diverse line-up. Sonar by Night boasts a more mainstream friendly programme - this year including the usual suspects of Jeff Mills, Laurent Garnier, Richie Hawtin, Herbert, Miss Kittin, Goldfrapp and Sasha - they also had Chic, DJ Krush, Kenny Dope and DJ Shadow ...
We based our recordings at the more experimental Sonar by Day. I set out with One Music's Huw Stephens to try and capture as many of the live acts as possible - in the end we managed record and interview The Knife (who did more ambient set than normal), S**t and Shine (who had four drummers in the group and performed just one song lasting 35 minutes), Aardvark, Tunng, the Liars ( a heavy set !), Bus, Pole, Senor Coconut and his orchestra (doing Yellow Magic Orchestra covers as well as the Kraftwerk ones), Kapital Band 1, Gustav (one of my highlight's), Birdy Nam Nam ( a four piece turntablist band), Dick El Demasiado, Modified Toy Orchestra, The Pinker Tones, Tucker (mad Japanese artist who stole the show on Saturday), Fat Freddy's Drop, and Nobukazu Takemura (One of Japan's key undergound pioneers) to name a few !
We also visted the massive record fair and various shops to dig out extra music for the show and as in years gone by, we found some particularly satisfying tracks for the show. If I was asked what stood out this year, then it would have to be the surprise set by Scissor Sisters during the siesta time and Tucker from Japan who played every instrument he could, bounced around the stage like a man possesed and took scratching to a new extreme. It's impossible in the little time that we had there to bring everything back from the festival - but we hope you'll enjoy our selection - there's also further festival highlights on One Music and the Breezeblock this week.
