The FACT guide to off-Sonar parties 2009

Sonar – Europe’s premier electronic music and arts festival – is this week upon us.

Which not only means the chance to drink mojitos in the preposterously lush surroundings of Sonar by Day to a soundtrack of Micachu, Omar Souleyman and La Roux, and dance to the likes of Marcel Dettmann, Shed, Crystal Castles and Late of the Pier at the preposterously huge hangar that is Sonar by Night, but also the opportunity to take advantage of the plethora of off-Sonar parties thrown by some of the world’s best labels, artists and promoters.

Because Sonar’s about more than Sonar, if you know what we mean. It’s about everything that surrounds the festival: be that Brainfeeder parties at Club Mondo, Phonica parties at the beach, or the dreaded anti-Sonar. So let FACT be your guide, and we guarantee you’ll be up on the best places to be this weekend in Barcelona. Whether you make it to them – or indeed, through them – is another matter. All the clubs listed here are easily googlable, so it’ll pay to get a bit of time in on your laptop before you go wandering off down Las Ramblas in search of Ricardo.

Thursday

RECOMMENDED: PLAT DU JOUR x FACT / BRAINFEEDER:

BRACKLES, ONEMAN, JACKMASTER, FLYING LOTUS

THU 18, CLUB MONDO

Could we have kicked off Thursday’s listings with anything else? Plat Du Jour and FACT take over Room 2 in the picturesque Club Mondo on Barcelona’s beachside. Supplying music for the night are three of the absolute best DJs in the UK – and anywhere for that matter – in Apple Pips/Blunted Robots man Brackles, Dress 2 Sweat/Numbers/Wireblock lynchpin Jackmaster, and the guy currently blowing 90% of the Rinse FM schedule away every time they let him near their building, Oneman. Expect everything from Detroit screamers to UK Funky anthems from these three, all mixed quick and hard like Lexington Steele. Then you’ve got Dirty Canvas resident Reecha, Jammer’s trusted DJ Mumdance, Barcelona-based K**o and more – plus a special guest who we can’t reveal, but we can say is one of the most exciting young producers on the planet, and has been for a couple of years now. Sound good? Course it does.

Er, and if that’s not good enough, in Room 1 at Club Mondo is the Barcelona leg of this week’s Flying Lotus curated Brainfeeder tour. Everyone bar FlyLo are announced special guests, but there’s a few of them, and you can probably make a couple of educated guesses as to who they might be.

Advance tickets available here. Book now to avoid disappointment…

RECOMMENDED: VERSUS 2009: ROBERT HOOD PRESENTS MINIMAL NATION

THU 18, NITSA

Robert Hood missed his flight to the weekend gone’s London party to celebrate the re-issue of his seminal album Minimal Nation. Hopefully the Detroit legend’s in attendance this time around, with James Rushkin, FACT favourite (and Berghain resident) Ben Klock and Detroit Grand Pubahs in support.

THIS IS HARDCORE

THU 18, RAZZMATAZZ

Three showcases in one of the city’s biggest clubs: Filthy Dukes live and Vicarious Bliss at the Razz Club, Aeroplane and Hudson Mohawke live at Sala Lo.Li.Ta, and Border Community take over the Loft Club with James Holden, Nathan Fake live, Ricardo Tobar live and Luke Abbot live.

SOMA SHOWCASE

THU 18, LA TERRAZA

Scottish techno veterans helm a showcase of their own talent, starring Slam and Damian Lazarus and with support from Silicone Soul, Jet Project, Decimal live and Master H.

CADENZA/DESOLAT

THU 18, KANNA BEACH CLUB

Luciano’s much-loved Cadenza label and [Edit: Locodice and Martin Buttrich – thanks moustachio]‘s rather more patchy Desolat get their wares out with performances from Locodice b2b Luciano, Mirko Loko and Martin Buttrich.

RADAR 09: MOODMUSIC SHOWCASE

THU 18, BECOOL

Ewan Pearson, Sasse (live), Dirt Crew (live), Lil Tony, Filippo Mascatello. You know.

SUPERNATURE/SOUVENIR

THU 18, LIQUID

Audiofly, Tiefschwarz, Jay Haze, Pier Bucci (live), Matthias Meyer, Kabuto and Koji, Sante (live), Christian Burkhardt, Ripperton, Andre Buljat, Mirus.

RECOMMENDED: HORSE MEAT DISCO

THU 18, MARTIN’S DISCO

Ever-reliable London disco night celebrates its imminent album on !K7 with sets from DFA’s Jacques Renault, Ali Tillet, Danny Clark and Horse Meat Disco DJs.

WATERGATE/WHATPEOPLEPLAY

THU 18, HOTEL ME

Konrad Black, M.A.N.D.Y., Sascha Funke, Heidi, Marco Resmann, Dirtcrew, guests – invitation only.

MOBILEE SHOWCASE

THU 18, WIP

Anja Schneider, Ralf Kollmann, Exercise One, Pan Pot, Marcin Czubala, Hector.

MOBILEE ROOFTOP PARTY

THU 18, SILKEN DIAGONAL

Rooftop larks with Sebo K, Anja Schneider, Pan Pot, Gummihz, Hector, And.Id – invitation only.

GET PHYSICAL

THU 18, MACARENA

It’s a ‘Physical thing, with Heidi, DJ T and M.A.N.D.Y – invitation only.

Friday

BPITCH CTRL/TREIBSTOFF BOAT PARTY

FRI 19, X-CLUSIVE BOAT @ PORT DEL FORUM

Ellen Allien’s label get on a boat like T-Pain, with performances from Thomas Muller live, Kiki, Chaim, Gabriel Ananda b2b Marcel Janovsky, and the Queen Bpitch herself.

BPITCH CTRL

FRI 19, CHIRINGUITO CALAMAR

Or, you can just catch them for free at Chiringuito Calamar: Ellen Allien, Kiki, Chaim, Sascha Funke, Paul Kalkbrenner live and Thomas Muller live all play.

KOMPAKT

FRI 19, NITSA

Kompakt keep up their usual off-Sonar residency at Nitsa with regulars Superpitcher, DJ Koze and Gui Boratto, plus Gus Gus, Ferenc’s DJ Fra and visuals from Okinawa69. It’s always rammed, so arrive early to avoid disappointment.

TAKE OFF/FLYING CIRCUS/VIVA MUSIC

FRI 19, LA CASITA DEL MAR

Steve Lawler, Audiofly, Layo and Bushwacka, M.A.N.D.Y., Konrad Black, Nick Curly, Lopazz live, Scarlett Etienne, more.

INTL DJ GIGOLO/MOON HARBOUR/MINIMAL HOSPITAL/ETC

FRI 19, BOULEVARD

DJ Hell, Romina Cohn, Christian Prommer, Ekkohaus vs Vera, Sven Tassandi, Michael Melchner, Cesar Merville, Manu-L, Alex.

RECOMMENDED: BUGGED OUT!

FRI 19, KANNA BEACH CLUB

Electro-house never died, it just grew bigger balls (apparently). Felix Da Housecat, Vitalic and Jola Bola will take no prisoners.

THIS IS HARDCORE

FRI 19, RAZZMATAZZ

Fischerspooner live, Amable, Luis le Nuit in Razz Club, Miss Kittin and the Hacker in the Loft, Surkin, Bobmo and D.A.R.Y.L in Sola Lo.Li.Ta and more scattered about.

Saturday

RECOMMENDED: RA BY NIGHT

SAT 20, BOULEVARD CULTURE CLUB

Resident Advisor take the main room in this quality bash, hosting performances from Akufen (live), Thomas Brinkmann, Jus-Ed and the peerless Sound Stream. B4 helm the rather more modest second room, though a headline set from Lucio Aquilina’s not to be sniffed at. He’s joined by Camea, Xpansul, Marc Marzenit, Edgar de Ramon and Okian.

BPITCH CTRL

SAT 20, NITSA CLUB

Three BPitch parties in one week? Er, OK. This one features Ellen Allien, Sascha Funke, Chaim, Kiki live and Telefon Tel Aviv live.

THIS IS HARDCORE

SAT 20, RAZZMATAZZ

Addictive TV live, Bloody Beetroots, Omar Leon, Krazy Baldhead, Jake Shears and Sammy Jo (yes, that Jake Shears), XXXchange and more.

GET PHYSICAL

SAT 20, WIP

Matthew Dear, Damian Lazarus, Heidi, DJ T, SIOPIS and more.

RADAR 09: REKIDS SHOWCASE

SAT 20, BECOOL

Radio Slave, Luke Solomon, Spencer Parker, Toby Tobias, Baby G and special guests.

RECOMMENDED: WAGON REPAIR/CYNOSURE

SAT 20, MOOG

Wagon Repair turns 50 this summer (releases, not
ye
ars, obviously), so come celebrate with Mike Shannon, The Mole, Mathew Jonson and Ernesto Ferreyra.

COCOON SHOWCASE

SAT 20, KANNA BEACH CLUB

Sven Vath, Guy Gerber, Maurizio Schmitz.

2020 VISION

SAT 20, CITY HALL

2020 Soundsystem live, Ralph Lawson, Audiojack, Simon Baker, Ekkohaus live.

Sunday

COCOON

SUN 21, KANNA BEACH CLUB

Ricardo Villalobos, Cassy and C-More – how much better is this than the Saturday Coccon party?

RECOMMENDED: SETS ON THE BEACH/KOMPAKT

SUN 21, YACHT CLUB