Playground magazine

Knowing he was the most anticipated name of the day, Flying Lotus went on stage all smoker's charisma, including a permanent smile. His performance, however, left a bittersweet taste in the mouth; while his most loyal fans looked on suspiciously, the better part of the audience was experiencing one of the first moments of things spinning out of control at the event. Because the Brainfeeder boss seemed to know very well where he was playing (the SonarVillage has always been rather festive, there's no point in denying it), and he played it safe. Far from it being a live show in the strict sense of the word, the Californian cut his own tunes - like “Zodiac Shit” - up with all kinds of hits; from the Jackson 5's “I Want You Back” to Tyler, The Creator's “Yonkers” and the eternal “Idiotheque”. And in spite of his typical cosmic sound with polyhedric rhythms peeping around the corner at times, the general tendency was marked by fat beats and thunderous, wobbly bass lines. After a pause because of problems with the sound (a recurring thing yesterday afternoon; it happened three times to Daedelus), Thundercat  appeared on stage, dressed as a Dragon Ball Space Warrior, as did Dorian Concept, to accompany FlyLo on bass and keys, respectively. Though the setup was interesting, based on spontaneous improvisation, their contributions were hard to make out due to the muddy sound. Despite all that, it would be unfair to deny that the set ended up being extremely fun; mainly thanks to the beat-maker's connection with the crowd (even asking them what they wanted him to play). And for the fans who were longing for the complete FlyLo experience, we still have his gig today at the SonarDôme. FS

Get five ace musicians together in a mansion for four days and give them hard and software from Native Instruments, and you get Mostly Robot, to neutralise all prejudice about live electronic music. They played just like that, without MIDI, and their music sounded spontaneous, fresh and very funky. Their live set was set up like the promotional mixtapes by rap crews: the “Mostly Robot” filler sounding on each track, and several rendition of tracks by others (Herbie Hancock's “Rockit”, Notorious B.I.G.'s “It Was All A Dream”), mixed up with new and not-so-new originals: Jamie Lidell resurrected his “Little Bit More”, in an updated version with Tim Exile's vocoders, and it sounded glorious. Sometimes, the five-piece sounded like an updated and very much up-for-it version of Super_Collider, and sometimes they ventured into crushing footwork improvisations (drill'n'footwork, or something). Also worthy of mention were the virtuous scratching by Shiftee and the live rhythms by Jeremy Ellis. Add to that Lidell's excellent vocals, pulverising R. Kelly on the most soulful moments, and you have an impeccable set. The key? Repeat after me, ladies and gentlemen producers of today: mu-si-ca-li-ty. DR

As I went in and out of the Sonar Dome stage curated by the RBMA during the day, the vibe definitely seemed to be towards house and its many forms, so when Om Unit stepped up as the second-to-last act before Chicago’s Spinn and Rashad it was almost like a changing of the guard. Easing people into his world courtesy of some blissful music from Teebs, he slowly crept up towards the 160 speed that’s become his preferred DJing area over the course of his 90-minute set. Seeing him work the crowd reminded me that the sound system can be like a physical extension of the artist performing. Daedelus uses Archimedes to give it another visual dimension and DJs and producers like Om Unit and others work the frequencies in a similar way through their selection, projecting the music onto people – it’s not a simple listening experience, it’s a full-body experience. Old house folk say that women respond to bass and, well, it’s true, the tent soon filled up with a crowd that was distinctly less shiny on the outside than before, but just as responsive.

Om Unit’s experience in music shone through in his selection and mixing – the Ras G t-shirt he was wearing was more than appropriate, the crowd got to experience a world of frequencies. The Salva and RL Grime remix of Mercy showed that really all that happy hardcore was missing for a comeback is 808s. Dream Continuum’s “Set It” lived up to its name, quite literally. A big smile on his face, Om Unit continued to showcase a lot of his own work and people he’s been working with, and the crowd responded in kind, increasing the noise and energy every time he gave them more. Ending with the anthem tribal vibes of Marka, Om Unit proved that honesty in your art will take you a long way.  LF

Desecrating a holy place like the Convent dels Àngels, Trust appealed to our baser instincts. When Robert Alfons got on stage (no trace of Maya Pstepski, even though she'll be playing with Austra today), accompanied by a drummer and a keyboardist, the drama was palpable. He was completely out of it, staring into space like a zombie. During the first few minutes of the concert, people were speculating about him possibly being on LSD or something, but thank Satan, we were worrying for nothing: his Saint Vitus dance moves and the living dead pose were all part of the act, as if not, we wouldn't have understood him singing the falsettos of “Shoom” and putting himself in front of the guttural rhythms of “Bulbform” as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The songs from their morbid debut album sounded powerful (like for example the marvellous “Candy Walls”) and extra evil-sexy because they were played in a church. After seeing them in action, their record should be vindicated as one of the best things to happen this year. Unconditional love. Sergio del Amo

One of the big incentives for this concert was to find out firsthand if Nikolaj Manuel Vonsild's falsetto sounds as good live as it does on record. It took about ten seconds to take away any doubt. To see the Danish prodigy sing is quite an experience, and if you don't get all hot after listening to him, you have no blood running through your veins. While he sang his heart out, his band mates were giving it their all as well, starting with the drummer putting wild rhythms to the sexy songs (“Jets”). When Saints Go Machine's sound is very similar to Wild Beasts, albeit without guitar and bass. And so they played a synthetic set, with “Church And Law” and “Kelly” as the absolute highlights. If Antony no longer answers Andy Butler's phone calls, he knows who to call for the third Hercules & Love Affair album. These people should become stars, right now. Álvaro García Montoliu

It's not that he's on the rise; this man is already a huge star in electronic entertainment. Sporting his trademark Comanche suit, Orlando Higginbottom was convincing right from the start, received by a crowd that was waiting for him with their arms already in the air. Both playing the monstrosity that is his equipment and taking the mic when needed, the Oxford artist proved to have excellent skills, leaving us without space to breathe. Keeping in mind that his debut album is a real time-bomb, mixing everything from 2step to the messiest pop, there was something there for everyone. On “Garden”, he left the vocal parts to the lady who sings on the original, but the most glorious moment was the dancer who showed up from time to time, starting with “Stronger”, to show that blonde girls can shake some mean booty, too. As far as we're concerned, he can come back every year, because his show means instant success. Hats off to him. SdA

Closing the RBMA stage, Chicago’s DJ Spinn and Rashad brought an hour of Chicago ghettoes to the Barcelona city centre, and it was a lot of fun. As the first song commanded to “take note” I turned around and the eyeballs of the guy behind me – who looked pretty wasted – appeared to be vibrating at new speeds, his smile indicating he was probably enjoying it. Welcome to the Chi. People’s bodily reactions were a lot of fun to watch as the pair got into it on the system. Some people clearly embraced the speed and energy of the music, huge smiles on their faces, while others looked confused yet unable to stop their body from leading the dance. Everyone was clearly having fun.

As the hour went on Spinn and Rashad dug for both instantly recognisable anthems and new productions, oscillating between incredibly hard 4x4 and blunted sample flips with incredible syncopation; the crowd never seemed to miss the beat. You could hear echoes of European hardcore and gabber in the harder stuff they were playing, two strains of dance music that come from similar places – young, ignored people screaming at the world through their music. The pair worked people into a trance, and if I was going to be superlative I’d say they did it like modern shamans but really their ghetto teknicianz name already says everything it needs to. It’s the perfect word to describe what they do; they’re the ghetto shamans of 2012 giving their music shape and life through the system, as others did before them.

It was also interesting to hear what seem to be new influences in their music, considering how often they’ve played in Europe recently and the interest around them, it seems that the newer work – like Welcome To The Chi – is a direct result of them embracing Europe’s excitement for their music and the tradition of sound system music. Chicago inspired the world and it’s coming round. They played productions by non-Chicago artists like Mark Pritchard and Addison Groove, almost like tipping their caps in their direction with respect. The vibes were incredibly right and it was a nice reminder that things are incredibly exciting at the moment.  LF

It's really annoying that in places like the Convent dels Àngels, people just can't shut up during concerts. Given the acoustics of the place, built so that the word of the Lord can reach all the parishioners without too much effort, we could say every word spoken while the music is playing is one too many. However, it has to be said that Ricardo Donoso's attitude with the crowd was the same: while part of the audience wasn't there, he wasn't, either. He just played the presets of his music (more than once he left it playing while he reached for his beer), and didn't interact a lot with it. The sound was basically drones and keyboard sequences. As a friend of mine said: if I want this, I'll go home and put on a Biosphere CD. DR

The Manchester musicians have played their fair share of glorious concerts, so what we were going to see on the opening night of the festival wasn't going to surprise us. They have less charisma on stage than a plaster cat, and their repertoire is perfectly designed for collective ecstasy. But blimey, what a string of hits. Few bands can bring out such heavy artillery in little over an hour, like “Crystal”, “Ceremony”, “586”, “Bizarre Love Triangle”, and the immortal “Blue Monday”. Though they use Windows 3.0 visuals and Bernard Sumner is a worse dancer than your dad at a wedding party (the increasing size of his hump will be analysed at another time), the band were kind enough to surprise us with two Joy Division tunes that weren't on the setlist of their previous gigs: “Isolation”, ten years after they said goodbye to it, and “Transmission” (the first encore of the night, before “Love Will Tear Us Apart” had the masses shouting along). On Saturday we'll have a new chance to see them— maybe they'll surprise us with another one of their gems. SdA