TECHNOLOGY DOESN’T HAVE ANY LIMITS. HUMANS DO.
Technology has been serving, and destroying humanity doing what they are unable to, or do not want to. This sure is comfortable, but it turned out that while useful as well, communication technology that favors cerebral involvement can be very easily used to manipulate masses, and greed and materialism can be mistaken for happiness; and now we are at best left with a meting planet, and all everyone can do is to watch it from their huge TV screens with a certain numbness.
MAYBE IT IS ABOUT TIME EVERYONE EXPERIENCE DESPACIO…
There is a reason why festivals are proliferating all around the world, at a time when music is always at a button’s distance. Also the reason why analog instruments and favored more and more, and live electronic music shows are actually live music, not the pressing of a button. Because convenience is not everything, and there is a real value to authentic experiences…
Sónar can be credited with advocating and encouraging that technology can and should be part of the experience, and work on enhancing it. While it offers and alternate, yet ready and available reality, offering everything and anything related to musical, audiovisual creativity, experience enhancement and ultimately, advocating the value of human experiences, by making it possible and more readily accessible…
One of the prolific talents and brains behind Despacio, James Murphy, used the motto “Making the city a slightly better place to be” in his yet unapproved, but ongoing attempt to replace the annoying harsh beeping and clicking of subway turnstiles with nicer sounds. Not surprisingly, “possible inconvenience” was cited for the reason why New Yorkers are looking away and yawning instead of dancing on the subway platforms. They sure will be soon, and wonder why they haven’t been doing this all this time…
An event as Sónar, whose simple schedule this year was a 24 page booklet, is so many things at once, with talent and genius at every corner that it’s hard to wrap one’s head around, or see even a fifth of what’s been happening with up to 10 simultaneous shows and events happening in a period of 67 hours almost nonstop.
Big expectations might bring disappointments, but not when you know you can have faith in something… Well, in this case, I had faith in both Sónar and the artists I knew, expected them to be good, and they were.
Sónar, itself pleasantly surprised me furthermore with a superb organization of so many moving parts in such a little time. Yet, the organization part was almost invisible. It seemed as if everything was working on its own. Anyone who has ever organized an event, especially one that involve artists, high tech gear, special setups and alcohol, would know this sounds like a fairy tale.
Something is exactly right in their approach to organizing such a big scale event with such success; and it must involve something else that goes unnoticed, but is actually very important. No one, or nothing written or issued by Sónar before the festival ever reaches conclusions about something that hasn’t taken place yet. Among the ocean of info on shows, artists, events, their significance, there is no jumping to judgment, nor telling the audience what they will think or feel – which is obviously manipulative, yet rarely noticed, and commonly done elsewhere in an attempt to prep the audience and aim for success. In the context of Sónar’s openness to creativity and interpretation, this is a very critical point that shows their commitment to advancement in arts and technology, and the way they perfectly handled everything shows that it indeed is…
ACTS
Among the big acts, Massive Attack is as good as always, though not much into reinventing itself, which is valid choice. What impressed me was their daring to use words – hardly ever done by others, mostly not because words are powerful and lead to thinking. True, and sometimes it is a good thing. Not for everyone, but for Massive Attack it worked wonders. Especially when they used Catalan, with hard-hitting statements as poetic as it gets.
Among the big talents that do not have star names, yet, the ones to watch for are Koreless, the young Welsh kid with technical background, yet who has a knack for using synths to hypnotize, excite, relax and arouse people. His music is at times sublime. Sublime is also the word to use to describe Majical Cloudz. Just like Nils Frahm, their live shows make you forget breathing, or change your heart rate. Who would think electronics could lead to emotion, and so much of it, in a very good way…
Röyksopp has always been good, and enjoyed Robyn and her gutsy energy recently; but seeing their live show made me want to hug them for bringing the good old, no tricks, no excess but good music, dancing and just fun spirit… I am in awe of them now, for actively spreading happiness… Their long-winding song on the album, Monument, is a haunting masterpiece.
Downliners Sekt, along with Nev.Era that opened the first day of the festival, make music that is unpretentious, yet emotive, energizing, atmospheric and in many ways so good that they should be internationally famous. Nev.Era is new and rising up; and he sure has good things to come. And Downliners Sekt has loyal fans, plus are philosophically strict about self-promotion, which makes me like them even more; but after 10+ albums that are open for free download, a great performance of an incredible new album; they should have been mentioned more. Playing before the always-amazing Moderat should not be a reason to forget how good they are too… Also, Recondite whose melodic minimalism has made me an instant admirer long ago, started his performance with almost an empty floor on the humongous dance-floor, and ended it with at least thousands, if not tens of thousands of new fans. Performing live he had the good sense to reinvent his minimalistic elements and have an original, but very catchy and danceable music that actually attracted people from around. Like a magnet.
All this music put me in a blissful cloud that I still retain; but in Sónar there are also those moments of insight that are at least as valuable as experiencing big moments and highlights. Some that stood out from my point-of-view are:
Spoiler alert
The future of music is not going to be what many expect. There is some good news for everyone. Since the three star DJs created Despacio because they wanted to get off the stage and focus on the experience on the same floor with everyone else; they have done what very few stars would have guts to do, and pushed the first domino tile…
Technology is about to make a stage-dive
Not a nose-dive, though. The stage-dive means they will be leaving the stage and will be with the audience. Partially because if they keep enhancing sound, they will have be working on things only dogs can hear, since human ears already do not register the low frequencies even in the best of circumstances. You will start seeing people who wear vests that transmit low frequency waves directly to the body; unless you decide to wear one first.
Three major new trends in music
Authenticity, challenges and an appreciation of the past.
Technology is no longer a novelty, so forward-thinking talents are in search of something new they can integrate and move forward. It is not a retro movement, but a fusion and integration. Best of both worlds…
Super crafty tech-house duo Simian Mobile Disco has taken on a new venture. They presented their Whorl project at Sónar; which is their new alter ego that dissed studios and clubs, went out on a desert in California, to play and make a live recoding of Tangerine Dream inspired set with modular synths. Daring and experimenting is the way to go, and they pull it off!
Plastikman came back, and everyone had a different reaction. Some thought he had a big plan, but as had said this was a challenge for him. Richie Hawtin is too savvy to actually try to bring back his 90s project that defined a genre, a decade, and a big part of Central European music scene. Still, it was risky either way; and with minimal but not overpowering beats that accompany tastefully minimal visuals, walking on the thin line between restrained and surprising, he actually has done the best thing he could have. He hasn’t gone overboard with visuals, kept minimal beats minimal, but neither wanted to make a new statement, nor repeat what he is a legend for. He hasn’t used these words, nor spoken to us, but his show clearly said: “I am not in the business of defining eras and making electronic music history; I am happy with my job of being one of the best DJs in the world. So, here’s Plastikman, all new and for old times’ sake. Hope you enjoy it.”. And everyone did indeed…
DESPACIO EFFECT
Despacio… which is referred to as a new experience, a new sound-system like never before, or as its motto says “Despacio is Happiness”. It is actually all of those things, and more… Its implications and meaning is as deep as the way it makes you feel… Surrounded by 7 giant towers with incredible sound quality, my first thought was “Was I hearing in 2D all my life, while this was possible!?”. But then I was swept away by the feel, the energy and remembered something long lost forgotten, which is hard to describe. It is about life, and the joy of having a dance floor for the people inviting you to dance. It reminded me why I always loved disco balls, and what they symbolized, and the fact that a huge one was above me made me feel safe, and the people around me my dancing friends. Dancing was always fun, but after years of dancing next to one another, this is real freedom that we rarely notice we lack.
The music is from the personal collections of 3 of the best DJs, and forward-thinking geniuses of today’s music, and you bet it is good. They are also right there spinning, on the side, in the background. James Murphy is a musical pioneer I have had faith in for 10 years; still, Despacio left me in awe, of 2manydjs as well, but mostly of their good sense to realize that such a simple idea could be such a genius invention that can possibly usher in a new era in clubbing.
I wanted to go over, hug and thank them for making the future a place where you focus on what is good, what works, instead on just what’s new. But despite being tired and completely sober, I just didn’t want to stop dancing, and knew that they would understand…
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