Primavera Sound 2010

It's May which means Primavera Sound will soon be here. Starting the 27th of May and ending the 30th, most of the action takes place at the Forum. It's four days of great music and probably my favorite concert / festival in Barcelona even if I miss the old venue of Poble Espanyol. As with last year, they've got a great mix of bands from oldies but goodies to some up and coming acts. Here's this year's line up based on date. No times available yet. Bold indicates I've heard of the group.

Thursday May 27th: Alado Sincera, Aspe, Bis, Biscuit, Broken Social Scene, Circulatory System, Chrome Hoof, Crocodiles, Delorean, Edredón, Emilio José, Fuck Buttons, Guadalupe Pata, Half Foot Outside, His Majesty the King, Macaco Bang, Mission of Burma, Moderat, Monotonix, Pavement, Pony Bravo, Seefeel, Sic Alps, Sleigh Bells, Superchunk, Surfer Blood, The Big Pink, The Books, The Fall, The Smith Westerns, The XX, Titus Andronicus, Tom Cary, Tortoise, Ui, Wild Beasts.

A strong first day lineup with a definite a nineties influence. Aspe is like Tool except the leader singer has a falsetto. Circulatory System produced one of my favorite albums last year and Pavement is one of my all time favorite groups, although I'm a bit ambivalent about their reunion. In my opinion, Mission of Burma was one of the more overlooked bands of the grunge era for lack of a better word, while Surfer Blood, a relative new comer, takes the nineties sound and adds a bit of pop and rhythm. The Fall is a great band and I hope the sound system works this time. The XX received numerous awards last year, but I can't really get into them unlike the Wild Beasts which I enjoy immensely.  The influnce of the Clash is what I hear when I listen to Titus Andronicus, but that's not a bad thing. There are worse groups to copy.

Friday May 28th: A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Autoramas, Beach House, Beak, Best Coast, Black Math Horseman, Blackbird, Boat Beam, CocoRosie, Cohete, Cold Cave, Condo Fucks, Delco,  Diplo, Fuel Fandago, Ganglians, Harlem, Here We Go Magic, Holy Water, Japandroids, Hope Sandovals & The Warm Inventions, Joker featuring Nomad, Junip, Leda Tres, Les Savy Fav, Major Lazer, Marc Almond, Nueva Volcano,  Oscartienealas, Panda Bear, Pixies, Scout Niblett, Shellac, Spoon, Standstill, The Bloody Beatroots Death Crew, The Dallas Guild, The King Kahn & BBQ Show, The New Pornographers, the Nu Niles, Thee Oh Sees, Wilco, Wild Honey, Wire, Yeasayer.

A night of musical heavy weights with the Pixies, Wilco and Wire. It'll be interesting to see what songs each picks for their set given the wealth of material to choose from. Japandroids and Les Savy Fav remind me too much of other groups but without the enthusiasm of say Titus Andronicus who play on Thursday. Spoon are quality but not something I listen to much. Panda Bear should be interesting to see live while I wish just for once Steve Albini would bring back Big Black instead of Shellac.

Saturday May 29th: Atlas Sound, Ben Frost, Bigott, Boy 8-Bit, Built to Spill, Camaron - La Leyenda del Tiempo, Dinero, Dr. Dog, Dum Dum Girls, Endless Boogie, Fake Blood, Grizzly Bear, HEALTH, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Matt & Kim, Mujeres, Nana Grizol, Niño y Pistola, No Age, ODDSAC, Orbital, Pet Shop Boys, Polvo, Real Estate, Roddy Frame, Sian Alice Group, So Cow, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Bundles, The Charlatans, The Clean, The Drums, The Psychic Paramount, The Slits, Thelematicos, Trigger, Van Dyke Parks, Za!

If I had to pick one day to go, this would be it. Atlas Sound's last album still gets a lot of play in the house, while Built to Spill is a great band live. Dum Dum Girls, HEALTH and No Age all hail from L.A. and offer a taste of the different musical sound Lala land is famous for: sunny pop, in your face aggression, and sonic experimentation, sometimes in the same song. Mat & Kim take synth pop to a whole new level. Grizzly Bear is similar to The XX - they won a slew of awards last year but I'm not sure why, while Sunny Day Real Estate is one group I could never get into depsite many people, whose opinion I respect, telling me they were great. Pet Shop Boys is a group I admire but would never pay to see and the Charlatans is what my older brother used to listen to.

So that's it more or less. There are smaller groups and different stages including Parc Joan Miró, so it's difficult to give a more detailed account.  Check out the official website for more info and enjoy the festivities! Some videos for your listening pleasure to get in the mood.

Atlas Sound & Panda Bear



Wild Beasts



HEALTH




Pixies singing Spanglish