Beyond the host of names that usually attracts attention (this year, figures like Rosalía, Blur or Depeche Mode), Primavera Sound reserves many other proposals of high artistic interest in its leafy lineup in Barcelona. We highlight ten concerts with delicatessen profiles among the more than 200 artists who will perform at the Fòrum starting this Wednesday.
Thursday 1, 9:50 p.m. (Plenitude). Among the little that TikTok can be thanked for is the rise to fame, at the beginning of 2021, of this British singer and producer at the intersection of bedroom pop with very English dance genres of the nineties, especially jungle and 2-step . Her songs rarely make it to two minutes, but they stay in your head forever. A matter of melodic intuition and first-rate rhythmic engineering. Juan Manuel Freire
Thursday 1, 10:55 p.m. (Ron Brugal). “I hope a trap boy’s your type (I hope a trap boy is your type) & rdquor; Central Cee says to a girl in ‘Obssesed with you’. Perfectly hiding his rudeness with a melodic or hard tone and with his face hidden (for whatever reason), the young London rapper, one of the ambassadors of drill, is one of those cultivated stars with his feet glued to the ground, to the street. , and with his back leaning on a corner to control what happens there. Ignasi Fortuny
Avalon Emerson & The Charm
Friday 2, 5:10 p.m. (Ron Brugal). Until not too long ago, Avalon Emerson was known for her overwhelming sessions (mostly) house and techno, but on her first album, “& The Charm”, she has scored a great collection of dreampop songs with the beauty and smoothness of Cocteau Twins. as the main reference. So no, she doesn’t perform at dawn, but in the afternoon, determined to sing and accompanied by a full-fledged band. JMF
Friday, 2. 6:00 p.m. (Santander Auditorium). This English woman made her way in the 90s as an awakening neo-folk singer-songwriter with electronic drives (those appointments with The Chemical Brothers) and now reappears with a lush album, ‘Weather alive’, dominated by enveloping tides with jazz profiles and nods to the absent friends (Hal Willner, Andy Weatherall). A sound return, at high hours, after two decades of absence in Barcelona. Jordi Bianciotto
Friday, 2. 7:30 p.m. (Santander Auditorium). For almost a decade, Primavera has been assisting the development of this daring artist, creator of an ‘arty’ songbook with a view to parallel realities that draws bridges between pop and contemporary music. It is worth attending to her aesthetic and intellectual challenges, embodied in the ambitious ‘Aviary’ (2018) and, this year, in her entente with Alex Temple and the Spektral Quartet in ‘Behind the wallpaper’. J.B.
Friday 2, 01:00 a.m. [ya del sábado] (Boiler room). There is a place in the immensity of the Fòrum where the stage is not traditional: it is round and is (almost literally) a boiling pot. There surely the most euphoric images of it were seen in the last edition of the festival. And this year, without the risk of making much of a mistake, it will happen again with, among others, the Mura Masa dj set. The chosen British production talent is the best excuse to be part of a good wine. IF
Saturday 3, 6:05 p.m. (Amazon music). On the splendid “Rat saw god,” Wednesday’s masterful formula—a compositional country-rock underpinning, a jolt of emo intensity, and plenty of shoegaze haze dusted on top—sounds better, roarer than ever. There is a healthy concern about how they will hit live “Bull believer”, with its Pixies-style changes of direction, or “Chosen to deserve”, a confessional anthem that confirms Karly Hartzman as a singer capable of moving without the need to exaggerate. JMF
Saturday, 3. 7:30 p.m. (Santander Auditorium). Legend precedes him: co-founder of The Velvet Underground, author of magnum opus such as the beautiful ‘Paris 1919’ (1973) or the edge-punk ‘Sabotage/Live’ (1979), this Welshman in New York has always been able to alternate extreme registers with class and inventiveness. He returns with an intemperate album, ‘Mercy’, in which he takes pity on humanity in a narcotic late-night songbook with memories of Nico and Bowie. J.B.
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Saturday, 3. 9:30 p.m. (Santander Auditorium). With the album ‘Big science’ (1982) and the ‘vocoder’ voice of ‘O Superman’, this New Yorker from Illinois proclaimed herself a grand dame of the avant-garde, fusing the notion of pop with multidisciplinary ‘performance’ not exempt from political accents . One of the songs from that record, ‘Let X = X’, gives the title to her current tour, which brings her backed by a heterodox jazz band, Sexmob, out of the Knitting Factory. J.B.
Saturday 3, 10:10 p.m. (Plenitude). The overwhelming Tokischa, an uncontrollable force of nature from the Dominican Republic, appeared without asking for forgiveness, much less permission to place dembow at the center of Latin music. The great Spanish public knew her for her collaboration with Rosalía (‘Linda’), but her tremendously explicit figure is so special and transcendent that even Madonna called her to do the remix of ‘Hung up’ (and for the occasional kiss ). IF