Five acts you'd be stupid to miss at RBMA Sonardôme
Red Bull Music Academy join forces with Sónar Festival for the 12th consecutive year this summer, bringing an all-star bevy of alumni, affiliates, and participants of last year's 17th edition of RBMA in Paris to their stage at the Barcelona festival from June 16th – 18th, 2016.
There's no need for major FOMO, as over the course of its three sun-soaked days RBMA Radio will broadcast all performances from the Sonardôme, pushing out its solid line-up of visionary artists hailing from all over the world. Leading up to the main event, RBMA Radio launched their Sónar Specials broadcast yesterday, which will run 9pm-10pm CET up until June 15th featuring a programme of festival previews and interviews. There's more info on that here. In anticipation of Dummy heading out to the festival, we've rounded up five acts playing at the Sonardôme this week that would be criminal to miss.
From RBMA Paris '15 alumni Sevdaliza and sword-swallowing singer LAFAWNDAH through to Gerd Janson's trailblazing Tuff City Kids, read our top tips below and get set to see gallon jugs of sangria on Snapchat very soon.
When Move D joins forces with Juju & Jordash they morph into Magic Mountain High – a trio with on-the-fly improvisation and the core of their output. Supposedly formed from a near death experience that involved 17kg of pork and the Umbrian mountains, they pulled through to bring the world live and uncut improv jams, created on analog hardware and devoid of modern temptations such as laptops and 'edits'. The result is live music reduced to the essential elements of of synthesizers, drum machines, and effects that makes people dance, godammit.
Repeat the Magic Mountain High mantra as follows.:
Magic Mountain High love hardware synthesizers and drum machines.
Magic Mountain High love group improvisations.
Magic Mountain High love techno.
Magic Mountain High love house.
Magic Mountain High love it when everyone is dancing.
We'll leave you with that.
Earlier this year, Paris based Egyptian singer LAFAWNDAH told us she "didn't wanna be exotic", but it's hard to not be swept away into the abyss with her recent cover of Ace Of Bass' '90s hit All That She Wants, which also sees her go a bit Lumidee half way in the mix.
A curator of art in New York, Lafawndah packed in all in for a return to Paris, embarking on making "ritual music for clubs" inspired the work of Nina Simone, Brandy, Middle Eastern singers, and the queens of Jamaican dancehall, plus a dash of Night Slugs futurism. In a nod to Grace Jones, she defines her output as "island life music", which is the perfect pet name for her flurry of electronics, that are never short of tropical punches. Recently signing with Warp to release her 'Tan' EP earlier this year, who knows what the RBMA alumni has in store for us.
Cited by many as one of the world's best DJs, longstanding RBMA affiliate Gerd Janson will be playing twice at Sonardôme – teaming up with Phillip Lauer to become the remix powerhouse Tuff City Kids on Thursday night and then rolling out again for a solo slot on Friday night. Equipped with an encyclopedic knowledge of house, disco and everything inbetween, he's got an ear for a rare gem, which you're likely to hear a few of in both Gerd sets this weekend.
A former basketball star a rap vocalist from Rotterdam, RBMA Paris '15 alumni Sevdaliza is an enigmatic singer who pushes a sound that's both sexy and rugged at the same damn time. Born in Iran and residing in the Netherlands, her dusky vocals tell tales of unspoken fantasies over dark and displacing backdrops, to create a world where everything is possible.
A French R&B inspired electronic super-group formed of members Sam Tiba, Myd, Panteros666, and RBMA student Canblaster – Club cheval come complete with some of the best haircuts in the game. Starting out on party-starting labels like Top Billin and handsome man Brodinski's imprint Bromance, they have all spent time fusing together various genres to make something completely unique. The recent musical-chair-chaos of their hit Discipline was a Dummy favourite, and we're more than ready to see them tear through the dome this coming Saturday night.
And of course, there's no persuasion required when it comes to Detroit pioneers Underground Resistance, who will perform their live project, Timeline.
Check the full running times for SONARDÔME below.
RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY PRESENTS SONARDÔME @ SÓNAR 2016
June 16-18th, 2016 at Fira Montjuïc, Plaça d’ Espanya, Barcelona
Thursday June 16th, 13:00 – 22:00 CET
13:00 LiL JaBBA
14:20 Lemonick
15:35 John Grvy
16:30 Kasper Marott
17:40 Sevdaliza
18:40 Jamie Woon
19:50 Insanlar
21:00 Tuff City Kids
Friday June 17th, 13:00 – 22:00 CET
13:00 Sobrenadar
13:50 JackWasFaster
14:50 Silkersoft
15:40 Sapphire Slows
16:30 Hiele
17:20 Pulsinger & Irl
18:20 Drippin
19:20 UR present Timeline
20:30 Gerd Janson
Saturday June 18th, 13:00 – 22:00 CET
13:00 Malard
13:50 Talktome
14:50 Astrolith
15:40 HomeSick
16:30 Toxe
17:30 Lafawndah
19:20 Club Cheval
20:30 Magic Mountain High
The RBMA SONARDÔME takes place at Sonar on June 16th-18th, 2016 (info).
