Sonar 2012: Best Fit's Recommended Itinerary

Tomorrow morning Best Fit will decamp to Barcelona for this year’s Sonar.

The annual ‘Festival of Advanced Music and New Media Art’ has long been renowned for its adventurous programming. Now in its 19th year, Sonar remains the go-to destination for exploratory electronic music of the present and the past.

Daunted by Sonar’s impressive lineup? We’ve put together a recommended itinerary to help you plan your weekend.

Thursday By Day

Flying Lotus

Continuing the Coltrane legacy, the Brainfeeder head is well on his way to becoming an elder statesman of experimental hip-hop. Amongst the festival’s biggest draws.

Daedelus with Archimedes

This weekend the remarkably dapper Monome enthusiast appears alongside Archimedes – a Heath Robinson-esque lighting construction full of swinging mirrors.

DJ Spinn & DJ Rashad

Chicago duo lead the charge as the rest of the world catches up with the Windy City’s ankle-fatiguing juke scene.

Lapalux

Brainfeeder-signed Londoner brings a set chock full of bulbous bootlegs, along with his own lolloping productions.

Om Unit

The Red Bull Music Academy graduate and British Tinnitus Association ambassador returns with his genre-hopping melodicism.

Friday By Day

Peaking Lights

Perhaps the coolest parents on the planet, husband and wife duo Peaking Lights make smoky explorations of the outer limits of dub.

John Talabot

Supporting one of the surprise hits of the year, Talabot’s sunbleached deep house will sit particularly well in Barcelona’s 26 degree heat.

Daniel Miller

He started Mute. He was practically a member of Depeche Mode. One of relatively few genuine legends of electronic music.

Raisa K

In her solo work and as one third of Micachu & The Shapes, the keyboardist and remixer takes gloriously distorted pops at pop. Catch the artist (another RBMA graduate) playing her solo set this weekend.

Friday By Night

Richie Hawtin

Tech pioneer and minimal don, the multi-monikered British-Canadian producer is another of the festival’s main attractions.

Amon Tobin

With his extraordinary ISAM project, which sees Tobin suspended in a series of boxes onto which are projected constantly shifting images, the producer looks set to bring the most visually arresting set of the weekend.

James Murphy

He’s James Murphy. He’s the most charming man in music. He’s also a very good DJ.

Squarepusher

The Warp-signed English producer has recently released an album of new material – which he will be performing on Friday, alongside specially designed LED-based visual accompaniment.

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Saturday By Day

Ital

With a background as firmly rooted in hardcore as in electronic music, this 100% Silk and Planet Mu artist brings a disco-tinged experimental tendency to bear on traditional house forms.

Star Slinger

Neon-tinged West Cost hip-hop from…the North West of England. Good daft fun.

Xxxy

Garage franticness and artfully pitch-shifted vocals aplenty from this Manchester producer.

Saturday by night

New Order

One of the most influential bands of the last three decades, New Order are responsible for shaping the Manchester sound that came to define the UK. So obviously it makes sense to see them in Barcelona.

The Roots

Yes, they’re Fallon’s house band. Yes, they apparently have an office in 30 Rock. But despite the GE twattery they’re still one of the tightest live bands in the world.

Laurent Garnier presents LBS

Garnier, Benjamin Rippert, and Stephane Dri bring a new set of part-improv performance, playing tracks from Garnier’s new Ed Banger EP Timeless.

Modeselektor

One of the world’s most entertaining electronic outfits, Modeselektor’s combination of pop hooks and comedic irreverence is a sure-fire winner.

Kode9

An electronic renaissance man, Kode9 founded Hyperdub, was an original resident at FWD>>, and has written a book on sonic warfare. One of the lynchpins of the London scene.