- Everyone thinks Barcelona is great for clubbing—everyone, that is, except for the folks that live here. While festivals like Sónar and Primavera Sound often leave visitors with idyllic visions of a city where electronic music is revered and the party options are endless, the hard truth is that on an average weekend, it's rare that you'll get the chance to see an out-of-town artist you like in an intimate (or even semi-intimate) venue.
This is why the appearance of Laut was met with such (admittedly cautious) optimism when the club first opened its doors back in January. Small in size—the place would be rammed with 300 people—and booked by the team behind the adventurous Lapsus Festival, the venue had the potential to quickly become an exciting new outpost for the city's underserved electronic music heads.
Unfortunately, some unexpected sound issues forced Laut to close for additional renovations after just a couple of weeks, yet the club soldiered ahead and recently reopened—with the soundsystem now running at a proper volume—during Sónar week. Hosting showcases by Red Light Radio, Banned In Vegas and Where To Now?, followed the weekend after by an Analogical Force party, Laut's opening salvo was both surprisingly brave and incredibly risky.
On Friday, the club brought in Karen Gwyer, who's exactly the sort of act that rarely comes to play in the city: someone too unknown or experimental for the big clubs, but too big or expensive to bring out for a bar or small club gig. When Laut's doors opened, it quickly became clear that numbers would be thin on the ground. By the time Gwyer took the stage just before 2 AM, only a few dozen people had found their way into the venue. Nevertheless, she did her best to salvage the party, delivering a high-energy live set whose best moments combined lush, almost melancholy pads with turbulent rhythms, gnarled electronics and twisting tendrils of acid.
Also impressive was local selector Ylia, a fast-rising Barcelona-based talent who recently opened the Resident Advisor stage at this year's Sónar By Night. Tasked with the opening and closing sets, she showed why she's often cited as one of the city's best DJs, effortlessly moving through bits of electro, breakbeat, old-school rave, techno and house.
Still, despite the quality music on offer, there's no getting around the fact that the night was a letdown, both for the performers and the smattering of people in attendance. Maybe the promotion was lacking, maybe it was a random blip. Or maybe the club scene in Barcelona has deteriorated to the point where the success of a venue like Laut is going to be a very difficult proposition. Only time will tell, but, for now, it represents the best chance of filling this major gap in the city's dance music landscape.