Hola from Sónar, the insanely cool advanced music and multimedia art festival held every June for 14 years here in Barcelona.

Some pictures, video and reflections from day 1 after the jump.

This is my third time at Sónar, which is sort of like Mutek, the Winter Music Conference and Coachella all duct-taped together and dropped into one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Although it is known mostly as an electronic music festival, Sónar digs much deeper than that, attracting 80,000 fans annually with what it prefers to call "advanced music" from any thriving genre. At the top of the bill, we have familiar faces like Devo and the Beastie Boys, along with the return of bemasked ravers Altern8, French hottness from Justice, Simian Mobile Disco and Uffie, techno names like the indestructible Jeff Mills, Richie Hawtin and Matthew Dear (performing his live "Big Hands" project), hip-hop from Rahzel and Dizzee Rascal, gentle Japanese multimedia from Cornelius, and so on, and so on, and so on, for three full days and nights. Full lineup here.

The festival is divided into Sónar by Day, a sunny, mostly relaxed bazaar on the sprawling CCCB/MACBA complex in the center of the city, and Sónar by Night, a balls-out Spanish rave over in the cavernous Fira Gran Via.

The music on the first day is generally awesome and generally low-key -- highlighted by a clever performance from FM3 and their Buddha Machines within a showcase of Chinese electronic music -- but it's better to spend that afternoon checking out the art and film stuff, before the other 70,000 kids show up and break everything.

Et...Voilà!

Drawing from Arthur C. Clarke's notion that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," SónarMatica showcases fun pieces that playfully dissolve the boundaries between people and technology. Starting with magic itself, of course...

After a beer or three, you can stumble further into the air-conditioned gallery and play with things like this...

...and this...

...and this...

...and this...

Another way to get out of the sun is to head over the intimate Auditori MACBA for the all-day program of 5.1 surround-sound music and video, including a few charming videos set to the lovely, immersive music of Cornelius (who will be playing Friday at Sónar by Night):

The art tour complete, now it's time to drink in the sun and soak up more of the festival's excellent lineup. Off to the show, more goodies tomorrow...