So I made the journey over to Barca for Sonar weekend. Arrived Thursday afternoon and left Monday morning. Stayed with friends (thanks Olivier & Valerie) and partied on the beach. We didn’t club at all but went out every night to parties organised by cousin Mathieu, who is currently working for Andy Cato of Groove Armada fame. This blog is long overdue, and I’ve forgotten the minor details, but the first night it belted down, we went to a restaurant, ate fideoa (I think that’s how you spell it. It’s squid ink spaghetti, cut small and served with loads of seafood in a paella dish thingie), and I saw the biggest cockroach in my life which crawled across the backs of two women after flying off Olivier’s back. I thought it was an Atlas Moth at first. I suppose it had been blown over from Africa and came back to Earth during the storm. It was huge and when I get my new computer next week, and have a bit more time, I’ll post some pictures of the beast it most closely resembles.
Anyway, I digress. Friday night Olivier, who records on Fiat Lux as Exotica, was due to do a pa. We took a taxi filled with his gear (which was almost fifty times more massive than Alex Smoke’s the next night) down to the beach. Scarlett Etienne was playing when we arrived, but not for too long, we maybe caught about twenty minutes of her set. After her Quiroga of Titbit records from Italy played. He was very good so I chatted to him and he’s sending me some stuff to play on my show. A very nice man indeed. Olivier then stepped up, but was beset by technical problems almost from the start. He had to stop after about twenty minutes of constant tinkering with his equipment. I’m still not sure what the exact problem was, but maybe there was too much humidity? His equipment worked fine when we got it back to the flat. Olivier, post a comment and remind me what exactly went wrong. Next up were Audiofly who played a solid set after a slow start.
The Saturday, saw Rolando play. I’ve been told I was harassing him, but at least I kept on my feet, unlike Olivier who crawled into bed early. Spoke to Lars Sandberg (Funk d’Void), who lives out there and is a friend of Olivier’s, Valerie’s and Mathieu’s. Met Dave from Soma who gave me a few cds. Thanks very much to him for them.
On the Sunday Alex Smoke played, and was excellent, but it only went on for half an hour. Elmer Schubert had been on before him, and was excellent too, but any mood which had been carefully built up came crashing down when Andy Cato got on the decks. The crowd loved it, but I didn’t, and he played for a long time. I sound like a right miserablist, which isn’t true. The crowd loved it, and it was a good party, but I didn’t enjoy the music. Big tune after big tune very British house. Not my cup of tea.
I had a great time though. Also got to the Kompakt party and caught a bit of Michael Mayer and Koze’s sets, Get Physical were another hundred metres or so further on, everyone kept dancing all weekend, great paella (as always ) at Olivier and Valerie’s . . .roll on next year!