Festivals of April 2011
Танцпол · 31.03.2011
By 44100Hz
2 – 3 April
Santiago, Chile
Originally conceived by Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction as a festival of alternative music, Lollapalooza has, over the long course of its changeable existence, significantly broadened its genre boundaries, gained scale and, on the whole, transformed itself. This year the North American festival decided to venture out of its native Chicago and take a step towards other cities. The choice fell on the capital of Chile, and not by chance, for Santiago is a modern, fashionable city that keeps pace with current musical trends. Now, though, the organizers refer, not without pride, to this year's forum as the «first Lollapalooza International».
The festival's lineup, alongside the entirely expected Kanye West, The Killers, Cypress Hill, The National and Jane's Addiction (how could it be without them), also features: the Australian electropop group Empire of the Sun, the French DJ Joachim Garraud, the Texan electro-punk duo Ghostland Observatory, the Chilean beatmaker DJ Raff, the American electroclash duo Fischerspooner, Fatboy Slim, Boys Noize and, finally, the second day's headliner — Armin van Buuren.
The festival's electronic content is handled mainly by the LG stage. Ticket prices range from 110 to 380 dollars.
2 – 3 April
Tokyo, Japan
First of all, it must be said that, despite all the terrible disasters that have recently befallen Japan, the SonarSound festival in Tokyo will take place as planned, on 2 and 3 April. In view of the situation, the festival's organizers decided to collect a number of donations to help those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. 25% of the total from all tickets sold for the Sonar festivals in Barcelona and Galicia between 23 March and 1 April will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross fund. All proceeds from ticket sales for SonarSound in Tokyo will also be donated. Artists, sponsors and festival guests will be able to take part in the charity campaign as well.
The celebrated members of the British electronic group Underworld, Karl Hyde and Darren Price, have already confirmed their participation. They themselves volunteered to perform at SonarSound Tokyo with an exclusive DJ set in support of those affected by the Japanese disaster.
Karl Hyde: «No words can express our grief as we look upon the monstrous suffering that has befallen a country we love. And although we understand that this will never be enough, Japan, know that our thoughts and our prayers are with you every day».
Enric Palau, co-director of Sonar: «Sonar's collaboration with Japan has been extremely fruitful since the very first days of the festival. Over its 18-year history, more than 80 Japanese artists have been presented as part of Sonar, and, beginning in 2002, our collaboration with the land of the rising sun grew even stronger thanks to the launch of the SonarSound festival in Tokyo. But most importantly, in the course of this interesting and productive interaction we managed to establish firm bonds of friendship with the artists and musicians. That is why the tragedy that has occurred cannot but move us. We want to express our sincere good wishes and condolences to the Japanese music community and, of course, to all those who suffered in this terrible disaster. We also express our admiration for the extraordinary strength of spirit and courage of the Japanese people in the face of a dreadful tragedy».
The Tokyo division of the famous Spanish festival, SonarSound Tokyo, will take place for the fourth time at the club space ageHa (Studio Coast). The festival programme features: representatives of the world music scene in the most diverse genres, from instrumental hip-hop to math rock, a broad contingent of Japanese projects, several Spanish artists, as well as a number of Red Bull Music Academy DJs.
The American hip-hop beatmaker, DJ and music producer — and a key figure of contemporary abstract hip-hop — Flying Lotus; the unrivalled leader of the dubstep boom we're witnessing today, the Briton Kode9; the German duo Modeselektor; the Japanese sound designer Ryoji Ikeda; the New York rock band Battles; the revived British synth-pop project Seefeel — these are just some of the names of the upcoming SonarSound in Tokyo.
The Japanese scene here will be represented, among others, by: DJ Krush, Y. Sunahara, DJ Baku, Altz, Takagi Masakatsu and many others.
And you can find out what the central Sonar event in Barcelona has in store this very day, in a special feature on our site.
UPDATED LINE UP:
Saturday the 2nd of April, 2011
SonarClub
Karl Hyde & Darren Price (Underworld DJs)
Flying Lotus
Y. Sunahara
DJ Krush
Ryoji Ikeda
SonarLab
Altz
Azzxsss
DJ Scotch Egg
Hiroshi Kawanabe
Red Bull Music Academy presents SonarDôme
Axel Boman
Daisuke Tanabe
Patrice Bäumel
SonarComplex
Masato TSUTSUI (Live visual) x Ametsub (Sound support)
Reiko Imanishi + Ken Furudate
Yousuke Fuyama
Qetic presents 'The Pineal Gland'
Sunday the 3rd of April, 2011
SonarClub
Battles
Rovo
Kode9
Takagi Masakatsu
DJ Baku
Seefeel
Open Reel Ensemble
SonarLab
dot i/o
De De Mouse
DJ Yogurt
Sabi
Bflecha
Red Bull Music Academy presents SonarDôme
Dorian Concept
DJ Kentaro
sauce81
Mwëslee
Hiroaki Oba
Kaito
SonarComplex
Shinro Ohtake x Minoru Hatanaka (ICC) talk session
Hideki Matsutake (Logic System/ Motion±) x Minoru Hatanaka (ICC) talk session
Shuta Hasunuma produced by Kenichi Aono (Beams)
Itaru Yasuda
4 – 9 April
Mayrhofen, Austria
Ski by day, party by night, and never sleep!
The Austrian Snowbombing Festival is an event that deserves a heap of admiration for its concept alone. While other music festivals enrich themselves with intellectual projects, organizing all manner of exhibitions, workshops, lectures and masterclasses, the Snowbombing Festival prepares the best ski slopes of the Austrian resort of Mayrhofen for high-spirited active recreation, intensive riding and pro-rider competitions to electronic beats from first-class artists and world-renowned DJs.
For more than ten years now, the Snowbombing Festival has continued to embrace progressive music of the very broadest spectrum: from Fatboy Slim to Friendly Fires, from Mylo to Madness, from Dizzee Rascal to De La Soul and Scroobius Pip. This year the festival is being held for the twelfth time, and credit is due to the organizers, who have put together what is perhaps the most impressive lineup in its entire history. Among the festival's special guests: The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, Pendulum, Chase and Status; as well as the fathers of the bastard-pop genre 2ManyDjs, the trio that rose on the dubstep wave Magnetic Man, the well-known British rap artists Example and Professor Green, and the beatbox star Beardyman.
Performing DJ sets during the five-day marathon will be: John Digweed, Carl Craig, James Zabiela, Andy C, Aeroplane, the originators of dubstep in London Scream and Benga, the intriguing Belgians The Glimmers, the veteran of German deep house Henrik Schwarz, and the Frenchman Sébastien Devaud (Agoria), who recently appeared in Moscow.
The Snowbombing Festival's special programme includes: the stand-up comedy festival «ALTITUDE», nighttime raves in a huge igloo at the mountain's summit (Arctic Disco), an open-air in the forest (Party in the Eristoff Forest) and a grand street carnival (Street party), as well as a number of daytime events at the snow park (Vans Penken Park) with the participation of European riders.
The festival tour package covers accommodation and admission to all the main parties, with the exception of a few extra events, such as the Arctic Disco (50 euros) and the mysterious Backcountry party (45 euros). The price range is fairly wide — depending on personal preferences, priorities and financial means, a trip to the Snowbombing Festival, not counting travel, food and the ski pass, will run from 400 to 800 euros. You can also find quite budget-friendly options — besides 3- and 4-star hotels and 4-star 'superior'-class hotels, Mayrhofen also offers apartments designed for 4-7 people. Ski-pass prices range from 180 euros (3 days) to 330 euros (7 days).
Having decided to head to the Snowbombing Festival, you'll have to take care of a fancy-dress costume in addition to a ski suit. Daily costumed revelries have long been a feature of the festival, so original designs, outlandish outfits and unconventional looks are always held in high regard here. To give your imagination free rein, here are some of this year's festival themes: astronauts and aliens, sports heroes, wedding merriment (as part of the Street Party) and, finally, a gangster party in the style of Bugsy Malone.
Useful links:
- Lineup and schedule of festival events
- The festival's special events
- Guide to services, amenities and prices
15 – 17 April
Indio, California, USA
The most large-scale, high-profile and now, undoubtedly, iconic Californian festival, Coachella, once again gathers everyone under the open sky across the boundless expanses of the Empire Polo fields.
What is Coachella today? It's a mark of quality and an absolute guarantee that every artist or group taking the stage here a priori deserves your attention.
As tradition dictates, the festival presents a super-eclectic lineup, the backbone of which consists of alt-rock, hip-hop and rap performers, as well as prominent figures of the electronic scene. This year's declared headliners are: Kings of Leon (15 April), Arcade Fire (16 April) and Kanye West together with The Strokes (17 April).
On the first day the stage will also welcome the American rock groups The Black Keys and Interpol, the Swedish pop diva Robyn, the English electronic duo The Chemical Brothers, The Killers' frontman Brandon Flowers, and the American neo-soul singer Lauryn Hill. And also: the young Dutchman Afrojack, the mesmerizing beatboxer Beardyman, Boys Noize, Cold Cave, Erick Morillo and Magnetic Man.
As expected, Arcade Fire return to the festival as headliners after their last Coachella appearance in 2007. Alongside them, the crowd will be fired up by: the British folk darlings Mumford & Sons, the devotees of indie and freak-folk Animal Collective, the Australian dance duo Empire of the Sun, the queen of R&B Erykah Badu, the cult rap star Lil' B, and the DJs Andy C, Joachim Garraud, Paul van Dyk and Steve Angello.
On the final day, besides Kanye West and The Strokes, the festival stages will feature: Duran Duran, PJ Harvey, The National, Kode9, Axwell, Tinie Tempah, as well as Nas and Damian Marley, who in 2010 presented their joint album «Distant Relatives».
Continuing the fine tradition of reunions of disbanded groups, the Canadian punk-rock outfit Death From Above 1979, which broke up in 2006, will come together again to perform at Coachella 2011.
You can get acquainted with the festival's extensive lineup in detail via this link.
As always, guests will have at their disposal a car park and two campsites — one on the festival grounds and the other adjacent — especially for those who wish to shield themselves from the nighttime madness. This season the organizers decided to expand the camping options, combining the parking lot and the tent camp so that anyone who wishes can drive right up to their place of lodging.
Another innovation of Coachella 2011 will be that some of the festival performances will be broadcast in real time over the internet. A special site has even been launched for this purpose.
The festival's creative partner is the Creators Project — a joint venture of the microprocessor giant Intel and the burgeoning media empire Vice, which is rapidly gaining momentum today. The Creators Project promises to radically refresh the festival, filling it with mind-blowing video art, multimedia installations, light projections, experiments in musical collage and other digital effects.
It's noteworthy that, as part of the Creators Project, a number of intriguing artists from Brazil, Korea and China will also be brought over. You can find out more about this here.
29 – 30 April
Gijón, Spain
L.E.V. is a festival-laboratory and a free art space where electronic music and visual art exist as a single whole, producing the newest forms of artistic expression. The festival focuses on experimental and exploratory electronica, VJing and sound design, presenting musicians and artists working within innovative trends.
Among the participants of the fifth Laboratory:
- The German producer and DJ, co-owner of the Berlin label Shitkatapult, Sascha Ring, better known as Apparat, who composes abstract and sensuous electronica at the crossroads of ambient, glitch and IDM.
- Rupert Parkes a.k.a. Photek — a true sound explorer who has given years to avant-garde electronica. He rose at the dawn of genres like IDM, jungle and, of course, drum & bass in Britain, becoming here not only an innovator but a master. After a long silence, in 2011 Photek returns to the stage with his own vision of bass music, at whose origins he himself once stood.
- Pantha Du Prince, aka the German musician and DJ Hendrik Weber — it is to him that we owe the emergence of melodic techno and the most elegant electronica of recent years.
- Jóhann Jóhannson — the Icelandic musician and producer, owner of the Kitchen Motors label in Reykjavík, and one of the most important neo-composers of our time. His electronic experiments involving live musicians and classical orchestras are widely known.
- Jon Hopkins — a striking representative of the coming generation of creators of club electronic music, a talented pianist who received an academic musical education at the British conservatory (Royal College of Music). Now he constantly darts from Maurice Ravel to acid and drum & bass. Well, his music only becomes more interesting for it.
- Harmonic 313 — futuristic electronica from Mark Pritchard, built on a foundation of IDM and abstract hip-hop.
The events of the upcoming Laboratory will be distributed across three main venues: the Theater of the Laboral (theatrical space), the LABoral Art and Industrial Creation Centre (exhibition space) and LABCafé (club space). The festival programme will also include: daily workshops organized jointly with the Red Bull Music Academy, an exhibition of kinetic sculptures «The Particle» by the sought-after media artist Alex Posada, and a series of audiovisual performances.
The two-day ticket price is 40 euros.