Impressions of Sonar
Sonar, a very fancy festival with all the “hip” names and popular “experimental” music acts (as they describe it: advanced music and multimedia art).
To enter Sonar costs a looooot of money. There is a Sonar by day and one by night: If you want to go by night, ouch! your wallet hurts (I did not do that). Also, the acts of the night programme are a lot more commercial.
My overal impression was a big lack of respect for the public, in the sense of sound (abominable!!!iii!!! by times) and service – and a lot of me me me = sonar sonar sonar – oh how great we are. Ok, great location, what a museum, but what a big audio mess.
Very superficial, like channelhopping, zapping, wandering about, nothing really “getting” to you.
Quite a lot of people probably go there to, to get the bag, t-shirt, whatever, or to say to their friends or whatever, “I went to Sonar”.
Am I a bit harsh??
….
Perhaps…
I was still under the impression that a lot of people thought very very hard about what they were going to bring along in their luggage + a last minute visit to the hairdresser. Nothing against looking good, but listening to music goes deeper, for me, anyway. Mmm, difficult to describe..
Here is a short resume from day to day:
Day 1
12/06/03
Waiting for 4 hours -this is no joke – in the sun to collect my ticket I had ordered through internet. Luckily I had already seen a lot of the bands that were playing from the Anticon label (Themselves, Sole etc) also Niobe I had seen in Belgium. Themselves I experienced under very very good conditions – extraordinary rap act -hooray for the stage!
So, I missed it – and I didn’t.
Pfew.
Day 2
13/06/03
Everything I heard really sounded bad! Too loud, no dynamics, Prefuse 73 was awful (on Sonar). One big soundsoup – passed the expiration date.
I did miss Pita, which was according to a lot of people I respect 🙂 extraordinary. Butttttt I had a good reason to miss it (check the adventures of wy, later on in this blog). I also had to wait for Post-Eat. Difficult! The past days had proven how dependent I am on the mobile phone. It partially enslavens and decreases patience, enhacing worrying – on the other hand. Post-Eat does not have a mobile phone, but we did find him.
Pretty, this: it could become something for the future:
3d sound manipulation interface
Day 3
14/06/03
Wandering about, Sonar lab: too loud (even if you stand as far away from the speakers that you can), Puppet Mastaz big audio yukkie mess, seeing the end of the show by Kim Hiorthoy, (ouch that looked like it was ok but we could no longer enter!!!!) waiting for a looooong time to see Tim Hecker to be disappointed by the incredible lack of dynamics in the sound (not due to the music, but due to the soundsystem) and and gasp gasp
I ‘ve had enough!
I’m nagging and nagging!
What a negative attitude you might say, but!! aargh it was like that.
The day did end in a smile (mm, it was in the cellar of the Macba, and we were not allowed to dance – imagine that- everybody had to keep their chairs – hellow!!!???iii Luckily we pushed them aside 🙂
Team Tendo gave me the smile
If I had known on beforehand, I would only have gone to the side-events of Sonar….