In 2011, ISAbella moved to Barcelona and went to Sónar for the first time. “When I first came here, it was the first festival I attended,” she recalls. “I remember seeing Nicolas Jaar for the first time, and it was amazing, a special memory for me.”  

12 years on and ISAbella has gone from the dancefloor to the stage: she’ll go back-to-back with Roza Terenzi to close Sónar by Night on Friday 16th June. Today the Colombian-born DJ and producer is one of Barcelona’s most talented selectors, known for her understated, refined sets that pull from both past and present. She’s also a vital force in the city’s queer underground, co-founding famed LGBTQ+ platform and collective MARICAS, which has brought the likes of Cashu, Bored Lord, and JOVENDELAPERLA to their parties over the past five years. (She cites all three amongst her personal highlights from this year’s lineup, alongside Aphex Twin, Erika De Casier, Lucrecia Dalt, and Max Cooper). 

For SonarMix 020, she explores the deeper parts of her record collection, “a musical spectrum of varying nuances, ranging from ambient to techno, with a deeper tone”. It’s music for the small hours, aimed squarely at the dancefloor: from South Korean producer S.O.N.S.’ kick-free psychedelia to Moby's deep house remix of The Shamen’s UK rave classic ‘Make It Mine’. There’s space for 90s trance - Dance 2 Trance’s ‘We came in peace’ - as well as modern hybrids - Sepehr’s dubby ‘dungeon techno’ and a slice of sensual after-hours broken beat from Blu:sh (perennially underrated producer Benoit B). 

An hour and seven minutes of late-night, early-morning dance music that offers a taste of the “very special” set she and Roza will play at Sónar 2023.

Tracklist:

Dream Dolphin - Rain

S.O.N.S - Yamanote Underground Beach

Sepehr - Forgotten Glyphz

Unknown artist - Untitled

Emissive - Natural Springs

Jens - Psycho Strings

Blu:sh - Beats For Bogs

Dance 2 Trance - We came in peace

Friends of Matt - Out there (Raw Mix)

Ankara Dub

Eddie Richards - The Network

The Shamen - Make it Mine (Moby ́s Deep Mix)

Oxygen - Absent Minded