Music between containers for the fourth consecutive summer. The Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona will once again get an industrial look this weekend. In the north-eastern part of the city, where the famous Diagonal Avenue begins its transversal journey, the unlimited Fòrum‘s esplanades will one more time host Modular, Generator, AMP and Frequency. These are the names of the four stages that have built DGTL Barcelona since summer 2015. All of them refer to different phases of analogic music production and, this year, they will host 24 daily performances. Transversality has always been a basic pillar of DGTL, from its birth in Amsterdam to its expansion in Santiago, Tel Aviv and, of course, Barcelona.
Dixon, Ben Klock and Apollonia, with an extended format
It’s the greatest new of this year. DGTL has taken a step towards the extended set format and, on Friday, it gives three hours of music to the Germans Dixon and Ben Klock and the French trio Apollonia. Dixon, considered by many the best selector and mixer in the world, will be in charge of closing the Modular stage from 12 am to 3 am. Before Innervision’s capo, that stage will host DJ Tennis (founder of another great label like Life And Death), Adriatique (leaders of Siamese and producers at important labels such as Afterlife), Traumer (who will act in live format) and the local artists Morgan Hammer and DJ Fra.
As every year, Generator will be the stage destined to the darkest and most industrial techno. That’s where Ben Klock will be in charge from 8 pm until 11 pm on the first day. After him, Speedy J and Dax J will perform for two hours each. Anika Kunst will open the afternoon and will be followed by Tijana T and the acclaimed Berlin trio FJAAK (as always, live). After the opening sets by Sonodab and ISAbella, the AMP stage will dance succulent and enveloping micro-rhythms by another trio, in this case, French. Apollonia‘s members will be playing discs from 6:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m., preceding KiNK (the best live act of the moment) and Black Coffee‘s and Solomun‘s DJ sets.
As always, DGTL reserves the highest and most welcoming area of the festival for the house lovers, the electronica style and the most alternative musical selectors. There, at Frequency, we will enjoy on Friday Tuff City Kids’ live show (union of Lauer and Gerd Janson) and two very interesting b2b sets: Antal and Palms Trax, on one hand, and Job Jobse (another one of the greatest selectors of the international scene) and Ben UFO (co-founder of the highly regarded Hessle Audio label), on the other one. Abu Sou, Pau Roca and Eclair Fifi complete the first day at Frequency.
Maceo Plex, MCDE and the local JMII, the luckiest ones on Saturday
Two other extended sets will take place on Saturday, the second and last day of the festival, at the Modular stage. One will be the opening. The other one, the closing. JMII is the producer and local DJ in charge of warming up from 3 pm to 6 pm. The American Maceo Plex, who comes from acting at Dekmantel under his alias Mariel Ito, will be the one who turns everything upside down from 12 am to 3 am. Between them, we will see the German Perel’s and the Dutch Fatima Yamaha‘s live performances and the DJ sets by the Italian duo Mind Against (the best you can hear on melodic techno) and by DJ Koze, who has recently released an album that included some of the best tracks of the year so far.
A quite good number of artists will go through the Generator and the AMP on this second day of the festival. It’s not very usual to catch Amelie Lens, Oscar Mulero and Rødhåd playing in a row to end up the day. Before them, Pøli & Lorenzo (HEX founders), Flug and Bambounou will have played already in the Generator. Although the union of Carl Craig and Cassy is striking (they will act from 9 pm to 11 pm), Honey Dijon‘s landing in Barcelona has raised many expectations at the AMP. The American will make us dance from 7 pm to 9 pm, just after Hitch and Maher Daniel and before Jamie Jones and Hot Since 82 give us the two closing acts in the lower part of the festival.
We don’t forget the Frequency, the small stage of the upper part. There, on Saturday, the German Motor City Drum Ensemble will give away three hours of disco and house sounds to close the festival in the most festive way possible. Before his repertoire, we will have danced to the rhythm of Baldo, Detroit Swindle (the kings of house will act in live format, something that doesn’t happen very often and that supposes an important point in favour of this stage), Fort Romeau & Pional (two artists who are used to play together) and Nightmares On Wax.
Immersive installations and a 100% veggie food offer
With that, the DGTL Barcelona 2018 program is complete. The Skyline audio-visual performance (which will feature Nick Verstand, Boris Acket and Bob Roijen both days from 10 pm to 3 am) and the Cluster 2.0 immersive installation (which will be released in Barcelona this summer after its first version’s presentation at MIRA Festival 2017) complete the festival’s offer. A festival that, like every year, reaffirms its commitment to the environmental sustainability. This year, it has promoted an exhaustive and solidary collection of waste in the beach area adjacent to the Parc del Fòrum. During the weekend, we can visit a photographic exhibition of this collection and enjoy several sculptures made with the accumulated waste. All this adds to the already traditional 100% veggie gastronomic proposal that DGTL promotes between its audience.
Barcelona is more than ready to enjoy one more year of 12 daily hours of music for two days that will host 24 first line shows each. Now, it’s time to check timetables and plot routes. We’ve got offers for all tastes. DGTL agglomerates techno, house, electronica, micro sounds, disco, groove and, for sure, some surprises to which we’ll pay special attention. We’ll tell you everything. Ready!
Where: Parc del Fòrum
When: August 10th and 11th
Lineup: Solomun, Dixon, Ben Klock, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Apollonia, KiNK (live), Tuff City Kids (live), Detroit Swindle (live), Fort Romeau & Pional, Adriatique, DJ Tennis, Maceo Plex, Mind Against, Job Jobse b2b Ben UFO, Honey Dijon, Antal & Palms Trax, Hot Since 82, Carl Craig & Cassy, Jamie Jones, Amelie Lens, Oscar Mulero, Rødhåd, FJAAK (live) and more
(Cover Image: © DGTL)
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