- DGTL Barcelona is, in many ways, the black sheep of the city's festival calendar: it's organised by an international company, an offshoot of Dutch techno festival DGTL, and its 2017 edition took place in mid-August when many locals have fled the heat. That gave the event an international feel, with the crowd mostly made up of globetrotting ravers. If the two-day event resembled anything, it was a satellite party for Sónar that had been inexplicably delayed until the hottest time of the year.
What DGTL does share with Barcelona is a love for the solid thump of a four-to-the-floor kick. This weekend's edition provided bass drum rumble in glorious abundance across four stages of house, techno and tech house. Within these—admittedly limited—musical parameters, the lineup was carefully programmed to avoid techno burn out. (That said, a particularly inspired run on the Generator stage saw Derrick May followed by Karenn and then Jeff Mills, in what was a brilliant back and forth between techno's past, present and future.)
DGTL Barcelona took place at Parc Del Fòrum, a gigantic concrete park on the edges of the city. It's a location best described as interesting rather than beautiful, all vast solar panels and concrete pools, but it's well connected, hugely convenient and solid under foot. Organisers went to considerable length to spruce up the site's urban sprawl, scattering giant shipping crates around to delineate different stages and generally break things up.
Added to this furniture were the fruits of the DGTL Art Programme, five giant interactive works of art that transformed Fòrum's concrete spaces. Most impressive of these was computer art specialist Muti Randolph's huge Supergrid installation, which used transparent panels and fluorescent lighting to create ever-changing walls of neon colours that shone like a psychedelic TV malfunction. That Supergrid was found right next to the "pee recycle" toilets—sustainability is one of DGTL's key aims—gives an idea of the lengths that the team went to to push the festival beyond the realms of the standard dance gathering.
How much of this filtered through to the youthful international crowd—packed with French, British and American accents, glitter and muscly abdomens—is another matter. From Friday afternoon to early Sunday morning, all four arenas reverberated to the metallic march of kick drum and hi-hat, creating the kind of environment where Satori's fusion of chugging house beats and global music sounds felt almost dangerously relaxed for dropping below 130 BPM. Highlights of Friday night included Optimo's two-hour set that took in everything from St. Germain's "Rose Rouge" to Tessela's "Hackney Parrot." Kölsch's back-to-back set with Michael Mayer attracted a huge crowd to the Amp stage for its melodic take on 4/4, veering from the classicism of Kraftwerk's "The Model" to the crude riffs of I:Cube's "Transpiration."
Saturday night was largely dominated by new talent. On the Frequency stage, Mall Grab showed why he's got everyone so excited with a set that that was full of youthful energy, guttural bass lines, rave throwbacks and Drake. Throwing the Green Velvet classic "Answering Machine" into the mix was a particularly inspired move—its chorus of "I don't need this shit" proved cathartic after a week of news headlines about nuclear war and Nazi demonstrations. Pedro Vian, who followed, took a more graceful path, his slow build and deep musical selections (from Carl Craig to local favourite Sau Poler) climaxing in the delirium of Lil' Louis's "French Kiss." On the Generator stage, Karenn's 90-minute live set was an outstanding show of chest-rattling modern techno, like Jeff Mills crossed with the bottom-end abstractions of UK bass. Mills himself was reliably brilliant, a whirlwind of fast mixing and abrasive vigour. The Detroit veteran proved a fitting closing act for DGTL, offering proof—much like the festival itself—that the classic racket of the 4/4 stomp can delight and entertain in perpetuity, if handled correctly.
Added to this furniture were the fruits of the DGTL Art Programme, five giant interactive works of art that transformed Fòrum's concrete spaces. Most impressive of these was computer art specialist Muti Randolph's huge Supergrid installation, which used transparent panels and fluorescent lighting to create ever-changing walls of neon colours that shone like a psychedelic TV malfunction. That Supergrid was found right next to the "pee recycle" toilets—sustainability is one of DGTL's key aims—gives an idea of the lengths that the team went to to push the festival beyond the realms of the standard dance gathering. How much of this filtered through to the youthful international crowd—packed with French, British and American accents, glitter and muscly abdomens—is another matter. From Friday afternoon to early Sunday morning, all four arenas reverberated to the metallic march of kick drum and hi-hat, creating the kind of environment where Satori's fusion of chugging house beats and global music sounds felt almost dangerously relaxed for dropping below 130 BPM. Highlights of Friday night included Optimo's two-hour set that took in everything from St. Germain's "Rose Rouge" to Tessela's "Hackney Parrot." Kölsch's back-to-back set with Michael Mayer attracted a huge crowd to the Amp stage for its melodic take on 4/4, veering from the classicism of Kraftwerk's "The Model" to the crude riffs of I:Cube's "Transpiration."
Saturday night was largely dominated by new talent. On the Frequency stage, Mall Grab showed why he's got everyone so excited with a set that that was full of youthful energy, guttural bass lines, rave throwbacks and Drake. Throwing the Green Velvet classic "Answering Machine" into the mix was a particularly inspired move—its chorus of "I don't need this shit" proved cathartic after a week of news headlines about nuclear war and Nazi demonstrations. Pedro Vian, who followed, took a more graceful path, his slow build and deep musical selections (from Carl Craig to local favourite Sau Poler) climaxing in the delirium of Lil' Louis's "French Kiss." On the Generator stage, Karenn's 90-minute live set was an outstanding show of chest-rattling modern techno, like Jeff Mills crossed with the bottom-end abstractions of UK bass. Mills himself was reliably brilliant, a whirlwind of fast mixing and abrasive vigour. The Detroit veteran proved a fitting closing act for DGTL, offering proof—much like the festival itself—that the classic racket of the 4/4 stomp can delight and entertain in perpetuity, if handled correctly.