It’s here! Thursday is the first full day of Primavera Sound 2018, with a line-up that, as we’ve come to expect, is extensive and impressive, and starts off with a bang on this day that features headliners such as everyone’s favourite Islandic avant-garde artist, Björk, with her latest album, ‘Utopia’ (2017), on which she collaborated with Arca, who you’ll also be able to catch at the festival; and elegance as music with Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, blasting out tracks from their emotional and a bit sad ‘Skeleton Tree’ (2016), which they’re performing for the first time in Barcelona. Also getting you moving between stages are Philadelphia band The War on Drugs, who, with ‘A Deeper Understanding’ (2017), have garnered as much praise as with their acclaimed previous album, ‘Lost in the Dream’ (2014), which had the international press kneeling at the feet of their classic rock; legendary band Sparks, that unclassifiable duo from Los Angeles made up of brothers Ron and Russel Mael, who present their 23rd album, ‘Hippopotamus’ (2017); the return of American hip hop artist Vince Staples; electronic and energetic pop from British trio Chvrches, with their much-anticipated new album, ‘Love Is Dead’ (2018); Fever Ray, a solo project for Swedish artist Karin Dreijer (The Knife), who’s also got a new album out, the contagious ‘Plunge’ (2017); electronica from Floating Points, also known as producer and doctor of neuroscience Sam Shepherd, performing live as well as a six-hour DJ set on Friday; Nils Frahm and his experimental electronica; the meloncholy of the all-women quartet Warpaint; iridescent psychedelic pop from New Zealanders Unknown Mortal Orchestra; and American artist Kelela, who impresses with her versatility and perfect adaptation to dominant trends in current electronica and pop.
Where other artists tease with glimpses of their forthcoming albums, Gorillaz, the ever-shifting musical entity headed up by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, is flooding the zone, releasing four new songs from their forthcoming album, Humanz, which is due out April 28.
The complete album will consist of 14 tracks, 19 on the deluxe version, and will also be available as a “super deluxe vinyl box set” with each of the 14 tracks on a separate 12” slab, backed by an alternate version. A list of the album’s featured artists includes Vince Staples, Peven Everett, Popcaan, De La Soul, Danny Brown, Grace Jones, Mavis Staples, Pusha T, and Carly Simon, with actor Ben Mendelsohn narrating the album interludes.
Here’s the music, and note that the Hewlett-directed six-minute video “Saturnz Barz (Spirit House),” which contains clips from all four songs, is available in both regular and, via supported web browsers, 360-degree versions.
Tot a punt per la primera jornada a tot gas de l’edició més ambiciosa del Primavera Sound al Fórum, que comença amb un cartell plagat de grans noms, on destaca el retorn (després de la seva breu separació, això si) de James Murphy i el seu projecte de més èxit, LCD Soundsystem, que ha promès nou disc per aquest any; els australiansTame Impala, màxims representants de la nova psicodèlia, que van facturar un dels millors àlbums de 2015, ‘Currents’; , duo francès format per Nicolas Godin i Jean-Benoît Dunckel, que tornen com a grans ambaixadors de l’elegància pop, el french touch més inquiet i l’electrònica subtil; els texans Explosions In The Sky, grans valedors del rock instrumental contemporani; el californià Vince Staples, que amb només 22 anys es presenta com un dels noms destacats del hip hop actual; John Carpenter, mestre de terror cinematogràfic que pujarà l’escenari amb la seva faceta musical per interpretar les inquietants bandes sonores dels seus films i temes del seu fosc ‘Lost themes’ (2015); repetiran els britànics Suede; el jazz còsmic del saxofonista Kamasi Washington; el texà Alan Palomo, un dels talents més inquiets de l’electrònica actual al capdevant del seu projecte Neon Indian; el trio londinenc Daughter i el seu pop somiador; els novaiorquesos Battles i la seva al·lucinada experimentació; l’imprescindible Destroyer, projecte de Dan Bejar, que presentarà ‘Poison season’ (2015), treball en el qual ha reinterpretat a la seva manera el romanticisme de clàssics dels setanta; la incendiària barreja del trio Algiers o el country-folk gran reserva i les delícies psicodèliques de Cass McCombs.
En aquesta primera jornada, de casa nostra destaquen la foscor dels asturians Fasenuova, la llum psicodèlica de Alberto Montero o els sintètics Holögrama.
Ville à Dômat 