The Sonar festival in Barcelona has become a vital part of the European festival circuit. And by far the most important to the exposure of new electronic-based music. Billed as a festival of “Advanced Music and Multimedia Art”, the booking ranges far and wide (ie. it’s not just banging house and trance, or even just “dance” music) and the organizers ask various luminaries to curate various sections.

In keeping with the multimedia aspect of the festival, the BBC has put together a series of audio snapshots of the event. Each picture in the Flash window sits over a link to some form of audio. There are partial or full DJ sets from Joy Orbison, Mary Anne Hobbs, Pete Tong and others. There are also individual cuts and back stage interviews from many bands.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/sonar/2010/ (Warning: This is a Flash object. Make sure you have updated your Flash player. Sorry, if you are on an iPad Steve says you can’t see this.)