Liars, Jamie Lidell, And Diamond Version Talk About Performing At Sònar

If partying for four days to the latest music from the world's best electronic acts sounds like your kind of vibe, then you've probably made it over to Sònar at some point in your life. The music and art festival takes place every June in Barcelona, Spain and has performances from both emerging talent and more established, big name acts.

But it's not just about the music, since its inception in 1994 the festival has long championed new media art. It plays host to exhibition areas, along with the live performances, and a cinema which feature audiovisual work, multimedia installations, films, and video art. It's a place where hackers, technologists, musicians, coders, and artists come to showcase their work and hang out.

In the video above Liars talk about creating and translating their sounds for a live show. "The trick for us," says Liars' Angus Andrew "is how do you translate this electronic music you've created this way to something that's more physical in a live performance." They also discuss how the festival has always been a place that likes to challenge its audience with experimental work.

Diamond Version performing at Sònar 2013 (image via)

Also in the video Alva Noto and Olaf Bender (Byetone) talk about their collaborative project Diamond Version, where they use custom software for their live show ("When you do electronic music you have to make your own instruments" Noto notes). This allows them to create an integrated audiovisual performance with complete control.

And Jamie Lidell talks about creating music using old analogue machines. "I didn't want to use a lot of soft synths and modern stuff," he explains, "I wanted to dig deep into my heritage and bring back those big sounds from the past."

Watch the video above for more from these artists and their Sònar performances.

@stewart23rd