Yeah this message was nabbed by the EZMLM because it located some keywords.. Sorry about the big delay and sorry for posting two large messages in a day.
Steve -- Subject: HP's Sonar Experience Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 03:40:36 -0400 (EDT) From: "Steven T Lammers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] I don't think this made it on the list.. Peace, H ~ Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 06:59:59 -0400 From: Horsepower <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Organization: Full Crate Productions MIME-Version: 1.0 To: [email protected] Subject: HP's Sonar Experience Ok, This is just as much an account of what happened musically as what happened otherwise in my 6/13-6/20 (extended) adventure in Spain.. so if you dont want to read about other highlights in the city of Barcelona it might be a little bit difficult to read. First of all I will probably never ever come down from this, ever. The trip was perfect. Tom Linder [T Linder] and I arrived in the city without a hotel on 6/13, early Tuesday morning. First impressions of the terrain were complete glamour, not over the top, extremely tasteful, and non-hassled. Begin the introduction of my favorite exotic walking surface--marble--everywhere.. from McDonalds to nearly the Mediterraneans shores, this city is packed full of sturdy, shiny, classy style. So after realizing that the airports tourist info center could not help us with our accommodation situation we were referred to the other tourist center in the heart of Catalunya, or the downtown area. For any techno travelers or otherwise heading towards Barcelona this service is very helpful and is located underneath the Placa itself, downstairs from the fountain. Basically what I what I was worried about trying to book online was completely and quickly taken care of and not only that we were able to stay in my #1 hotel pick--the Duques du Bergara--which was located perfectly inbetween the money district and the hip district, and I would recommend it to anyone, but it is really expensive, so its okay that we were only able to get it for a night. ;} After we had gotten that straightened out we took some photos from our balcony on the sixth (top) floor and headed out, wearing t-shirts and smiles, to the Teatro Tivoli, to buy our Stockhausen tickets. The theater was closed so we headed in the general direction back to the hotel and found a retailer in the Fnac building which was sort of a local Ticketmaster equivalent, selling tix for shows ranging from Britney Spears to Slayer <more on this later> and ours, so we were able to buy our 3-day Sonar passes and the tickets for the opening show by Karlheinz S. Another relief, good news. Then after we caught some dinner somewhere, I believe at a restaurant off the main drag, La Rambla, we were on another search for CD Drome--the #2 store listed in Rotator Locator for Barcelona.. We found it and many other things later around the corner. The store was opening in 45 minutes so we walked up & around a few streets and found the Centre de Cultural Contemporary de Barcelona (CCCB) where the daytime events were going to fly. We were getting excited just seeing an empty tent surrounded by big gothic halls and a large modern-looking structure where the village was inside. It started to rain so we took shelter under an atrium and waited it out for CD Drome. It was just about done when we went back to the store. Inside bins were neatly organized into Detroit, Chicago, Cologne, Downtempo, Experimental, Techno, and Kreisel. ;> I can now say thanks to this store I am now only missing 1 out of 52 7"s in the series. ;> ..Anbody got another #30? ;> I also got a CD that I had to get because it was beautiful by a group called Black Box Recorder that they were playing in the store the whole time. The CD is called The Facts Of Life and I recommend it to everyone highly into the female ethereal vocal pop thing like Slowdive or Cocteau Twins. Wrong list? Probably. ;) I also got the new Reinhard Voigt CD on Profan which is completely ambient and about 30 or so records. Stuff by J Burger the Modernist that I was missing, more craziness on Profan, a new Vertical Form record, and a bunch of pounding good tech that I will have to unpack today to remember.. Keep in mind that I am an American and this stuff was coming in at 60% off what I was normally used to paying. The owners were extremely friendly and when I put a few records back because they had scratches on them I was about to learn upon checkout that every record on the floor is a store copy, for listen! So they replaced ALL of the records I brought up to them with new ones!! Nice touch, guys, props!!! When we left the store we turned the corner and soon discovered what we were to refer upon heretofore as "c0ck rock alley". ;] Believe it, Iron Maiden and Ted Nugent are very alive and kicking in this city, scary. Also the restaurants are usually playing cheesy American pop from the 80s. We took the vinyl back to the hotel and went for a walk in the Barri Gotic and happened upon the Fon Fon, a medium-sized club/bar with a good layout for sitting and talking and dancing equally. The barback here was doing DJ duty and even though he was playing a really good house tape when we offered to help he was glad. Back to the hotel to get our records we had just bought (our only records), back to the club, met some nice girls from Germany who were learning the language and staying in the city for a couple months, rocked it, came back and went to bed in superstar style. The next morning we knew we had to book another hotel room so it was back to the Placa Catalunyas downstairs and a line of about 20 and a digital sign saying no rooms in Barcelona tonight. Im not sure what that meant because everyone ahead of us was coming off with a room in some way or another. I was still nervous. But we left with a room at the marble-rich Hotel Prisma just a mile or so away from the city center, it could have been a lot worse, I was thinking we would have to take a Eurail to France. ;} We had to book separate rooms but the interesting thing about that was one of the rooms was barely bigger than the bed in it. It was still nice, and even had a TV, bathroom/shower, minibar, phone, and all the fixins in it unbelieveably. We were in the general area of #1 head shop La Casa Discs, according to Rotator Locator and Mapquest, but we could not find it at all. :( We got an interesting tour on foot of some of the less busy streets in the city, however. ;) Dont count on Mapquest every time. This store was in a completely different section of town. How could we complain, though? We were doing exactly what we wanted to be doing, seeing exactly what we wanted to be seeing, in the city we wanted to be in. We decided to go to the beach but made a really dumb move and got lost doing that also. Same story, but we got to check out a few parks and got our bearings in another clever way. The position of the sun kept screwing us up the first two days. We got used to getting the feeling for where we were by the fact that we were walking either downhill or up, because all the North and South streets point toward the beach. Yes I have heard of a map. We ate dinner somewhere again, man were our feet tired, freshened up in the hotel and went to see the Stockhausen show. We were sitting in the 25th row approximately and there was a large mixer and some digital 4-tracks and such, in the middle of the audience, and a few minutes later, he came down the aisle and sat down right in front of it all. I couldnt believe he was right there. People started looking and coming around to chat and when I saw an opening, thank goodness we were there early, I introduced myself to the man, had him sign my ticket, and he said something like I hope you didnt just come from Detroit to see me and I returned to a seat in the wrong row and didnt have my head stopped spinning until Tom called my name and told me where he was. I could not believe whose hand I had just shook. Anyway, Greg Earle came in later with his Miami girlfriend and also another friend of his, Tom, from LA. I saw him and the posse started growing from there. All of us didnt know what to expect from the show and I still dont know what to expect now, if that makes any sense. For the first half we stayed in our seats and watched a single spotlight on the high center of the theaters stage and heard a collaboration of marches, esoteric loops of his own voice, and radio static. I was always looking for layers deeper than there actually were, I think? He performed Hymnen. There was an intermission and the most smoke-filled gallery I will hopefully ever be in and the place was maybe half full after that. More of the same. Maybe it was the same. I cant say I was disappointed because it took me somewhere but I still dont know exactly the place. I think the experience of the event, in the ornate Gaudi-inspired space like Detroits Fox could have looked 300 years ago, established the meaning of the festival to come well. I should also mention that he introduced himself at the beginning of the show and described the piece, and then walked back up to the stage and took a bow at the very end. I started taking a lot of pictures at this point. I got some good aerial shots from the upper balcony for his ovation. After the show we met someone named Jim, also from LA, who is pioneering a netcast site sumosound.com and we were all on our way to Club Moog after sangria on La Rambla. Three house DJs from Norway. Completely [EMAIL PROTECTED] amazing. The vibe in this place was hot, like hotter than Ive seen at some of Derrick Mays shows, and the place was sweating, jumping, and loving it all. We never made it back to this club but they hosted an Ultraschall night and are booking a lot of high profile names in the future. Sound system is amazing and there is a smaller second room upstairs. We were getting our first taste of exactly how Barcelona likes to party at Club Moog. Pacou was playing there the next night but we were going to be at the big festival. The party stopped at about 4:30AM and the group parted ways after many pictures and hugs and went to our respective rooms. Guess what had to happen that morning, yes, we need a new hotel. But before 11:00 check-out T Linder saves the day and gets us a double room in the same place. Score. Sleep. And we did until about 5. ;> Thursday sh!t was about getting big. If you have the schedule in front of you you can see that we were already missing some of the acts but nobody we really knew anything about, anyway. We saw Richie Hawtin before we saw anybody, right at the gate, he had just gotten in the country. A surprised look and some talk and we walked in. The layout was awesome. The girls of sonar <see the website> were alive and for real and letting you take their picture with them, MTV Spain had a corner set up, drinks were flowing, classic architecture was in the mix with nature, and sweet beats were abound. The one artist I remember distinctly seeing was Genesis P Orridge playing with the Narobi Trio in the Macba. I hope the nude woman center stage didnt mind her picture taken. The first day was just a warmup. I believe we were also introduced to our "Spanish Connection" Mr. Juanjo Ramirez by Greg this day, among very many many locals. We got dinner and that night we met David "Babydiddy" Hampson from Northampton, UK, Dan Butler from UK, Nick Craddock and his posse of people, some people from Scotland, and many many many more locals. Stupid pictures will be posted. ;) I posted the next day from the CCCB about our highlight that night--the Disko B tent--and I will post again. This was consistently the most engaging place to be for the whole first night hands down. Didnt get to see Gilles Peterson and I dont think anybody here wants to hear about David Morales, but Funkstorung and Stereo MCs were ok. Only caught a little bit of A Guy Called Gerald because Disko B crew was just too good to give away. Death in Vegas were nothing special as well as Super Collider, the latter being really disappointing for me being a Cristian Vogel whore from Mosquito 001. ..They were just, too, bland. Boring. They tried spicing it up with some spray paint and flamework antics but it just wasnt working for myself. I was waiting to hear Darn Cold Way of Lovin, too, and it didnt happen. Well it was better than the hip hop at the SonarPub I guess. ;> The first night was just a warmup, also. We took the discobus provided by the Sonar crew to a central spot and cab to our hotel the rest of the way. T Linder pulls some sh!t together again. He went down and smoothtalked the desk into giving us another double room downstairs to have for the rest of the time we were in Barcelona. Smooth. Peace of mind on the hotel front after all. Thanks Tom. We could even hit the continental breakfast usually because we were rolling in like raverz at about 6 or 7 nightly...at least that night.. Oh yeah I also bought some music early that previous day from one of the record distributor tents. A Seefeel album on Warp I was missing, a Boards of Canada rarity I didn't have, and a new Dynamic Tension record. Friday we knew this sh!t was kicking in high. Tom wanted to get there earlier than me so he bolted out but I was right behind him by a couple of hours and we met at the CCCB at around 4:45. And I had just missed Dynamo which had [EMAIL PROTECTED] sucked because I was looking forward to that but I heard I didnt miss anything great. Donno? Anyway I got some beers 4 breakfast and did some email while Burnt Friedman was playing and Pole was setting up. Pole ended up playing rastadub records which was cool but unexpected by me! Kit Clayton was all weird and every act that finished out the daytime slots in all four venues, was on like mastadon. Missed Speedy J. Merzbow changed my life: My entire body was feeling it. Funny to watch the dancing in the front row, along with his finger on the mouse, and completely enthralling to hear it all in such a glorious place. Masami Akita you da man. This day Tom and I also met Bart Wolff [NL] at different times after a couple rumored nearmisses. Still didnt see Ville or Filo yet. Jamie Hodge where were you? :-) And I _know_ Alfonso Rodriguez was running around somewhere but we never did meet up. ;/ That night was the beginnings of something big. Autechre were playing some oldies and Richie was about ready to go on, after Chicks on Speed. Richie killed it, with the 909 trix and table art from beyond. People were cheering. I was in the front row with David for the whole thing and it was hot as hell but we were dancing fools. Up there on the stage he was giving a techno sermon. Every time we talked to people from Spain and told them we were from Detroit a look of shock and wonder filled faces. Questions and curiosities abound. Usually 1 out of 4 partiers spoke useable English so it was good we understood a little bit of Catalan, especially.. ..Crowd was perfect. This wasnt like a DEMF where there was generations spanning but it did seem like there was a flavor there, with old kids and new. Dancing. Ratio kept up the pace after Rich of course and the vibe was so good I had to miss Acquaviva but Ill see him again. People were saying good things with very big grins. I heard Tim Baker did good, too, and Tim it was nice to meet you that afternoon and I hope you kicked it at Florida 135 too but I never got to see you play, man. Hopefully youll play in Detroit more!! Tim was on the cover of a DJ culture magazine there. There was also posters around town for Blake Baxter and Umek coming this weekend I think and they were promoting that *heavily*. This Reinhard Voigt CD is good too and its about to get its second spin here. Saturday was the icing on the cake that mom made for my birthday and Christmas and mixed them all together. Since I was wandering about the commercial tents spending gobs of money on records most of the afternoon I didnt get to see a lot of the sounds live but I heard them afar. I made a point to see Herbert, though, and up close. Anybody who has seen them will agree with me and say the whole gig is easy on the eyes and on the ears. Dani Siciliano live on vox and Matthew + ? playing live keys and later Matt doing solo live on the Evian empties, handkerchiefs, and other garbage he was sampling through three different microphones. More soul than a Cass kitchen. It was dope. The thing I love most about electronic instruments is how they can capture found sound and turn it into something you create. Man the funk was real in this. Id venture to say that he was even better than Artist Unknown, which were practically my favorite group of the entire event, but Ill get to details on that. Thank God I got to see this because there was so many people around and I missed V/VM and Coil because I wasnt patient enuff. People started waiting four hours before the show started to see Coil. I guess those people deserved to see them more. I saw the <insert staledorkydreampop>Gentle People<takeout staledorkydreampop> live but was it live? All I saw was a bunch of lame mismatched choreographs and stupid costumes. Memorex performance I am sure because there were no instruments in sight. Only a big projector screen with some cheesy brit tv sh!t. Euro trash! Forgot to mention Friday the line to get in at night was enormous. And the crowd Thursday was nearly capacity by darkness end. So Saturday night we made it our point to get there megaearly. Dont eat dinner on La Rambla if youre in a hurry. Friday we ended up taking a cab and paying a jacked up rate just to get there at 1. Saturday we did the same but it didnt cost as much because we were there earlier and the demand was considerably lower, but still pretty busy. I remember dancing to the two guys from Future Talk who started the drum and bass, I never saw Middleton, and I remember Cristian Vogel but after that and after I heard Richie was on because both Luke Slater and Slam couldnt make it, I dont remember anything but having tattooed a permanent smile since about 3AM on 6/18. Where Spain beats Detroit (and our crew will have pictures to prove this) is that 7-9000 or more screaming people were insanely dancing their @sses off to hard as fukkin sin techno until way after the sun was up. I said to Greg, "...only in Europe..." and he agreed. Hawtin had them in his palm and so did Carl Cox and then Oliver Ho just took it home. These guys together were like the three wisemen of techno and it just worked so well. The beats were on and the pace was perfect because I could not stop bobbing my head even when I was sitting down catching my breath and resting my legs. All I have to say is Oliver Ho, Oliver Ho, Oliver Ho. His last two tracks were Elevation II and Stardancer. After another day of relaxing in town and passing the bullfighting arena to go to the famous Cathedral and witnessing a service then we just felt like we had achieved it all. Everything is such a blur thats why I am writing this now. We also saw the Picasso Museum as well as many local watering holes and dwellings new and old along the way. And the people of Barcelona were comparable to next to none in their hospitality and demeanor. Filo, my girl, I am so sorry I lost you on Saturday in all the hustle but we will meet you again and we do have a photo. Ville my buddy I wish I could have talked to you a little bit longer but we will meet again in August in your country. Juanjo boy I wouldve liked to have talked to you more, too, but you are a scenester of the highest order and I cant even keep up! ;] Sacha, Abe, the Plug Research guys, and John Acqu. I know you were there and tore it up in your own ways and I was there in complete spirit. Meighen and Ish I wish you guys could have come along REALLY and I hope this letter brought the event closer to your proverbial hearts. Anybody who is in the area and wants to hear more about the event come to Forans tonight I promise Ill play my new stuff. Top 5 trip highlights in no order: Artist Unknown in their white suits and white masks freaking on the Novation and acoustic guitar; Original moves and funny as fuk. Herbert and Pole in the Sonar Village Almost falling asleep on the crystal shores of the nighttime venue at 10am Richie both nites, Carl Cox, and Oliver Ho Oliver Ho, Oliver Ho, and Oliver Ho Sorry if any or all of this stuff has been crossposted or mentioned earlier. Something is messed up in my email and I havent been able to download anything that was sent to me last week but it will be fixed tomorrow. Thanks everyone. I had an unforgettable time, Steve
