“Anger, tenderness, closeness and distance,” the four words that Acacia Oje, aka Akazie, uses to describe SonarMix 037. Recorded “at a time of great global anger and impotence,” it’s an uncompromising, emotional listen: earthy rhythms colliding with abstract club music.
 
 

The Galician DJ and sound artist has a clear affinity for contemporary Portuguese and Brazilian electronic music, which balance percussive physicality with experimental sonics. SonarMix 037 is full of the kind of rhythms “that make me think of touching the earth with my hands”. There’s weightless, skeletal funk mineiro by Anderson do Paraiso, shattered kuduro from Nazar and sophisticated batida from Dj Doraemon and P. Adrix. A burst of Egyptian chaabi penetrates the atmosphere, courtesy of Spanish band Bad Zu, while Animistic Beliefs and Klahrk provide supercharged, hyperreal rave cuts.  

While it might all sound a long way from Galicia, the isolated landscapes and unique culture of Spain’s northwesternmost region have a central place in Akazie’s art, which, for all the abstraction and distortion, feels rooted in the earth itself. “I carry with me the landscapes where I grew up, the current geopolitical reality, and the sonic heritage of the place where I was born”. 
 

As for her set at Sónar 2024, she “doesn’t want to give too much away”, but she intends to “surprise and unsettle a little”, working in collaboration with visual artists Natalia Stuyk and Arancha Brandón. She recalls the words of one spectator, who approached her following a set to tell her it was “amazing and uncompromising”.  “That’s what I’m looking for,” she concludes. 

Tracklist:
Didier XCX, GRIG & pan_x - It’s Late Not Latte (/pulsr_ Remix)
Lorem ft. Acre - Raheem 2
MYEN - HASS HEX
Dj Doraemon - Rebenta
Atice - Aracaea
Wanton Witch - Aerial Battle
Nazar - Them Man
GILA - Trench Cadence
Bad Zu - 80%
avas - DUO
Dominowe - GHOST
B E N N - Sirius
Xiao Quan - New Ties
Ship Sket - Perverting Baile
Anderson do Paraiso - UNIÃO DOS RLK
Tapefeed - Plain View (Cocktail Party Effect Remix)
P. ADRIX - Abertura da Roda
Qeei - Papila
NAJIB - Metastasis
dj meddle - speed is life, speed is death
Lechuga Zafiro - Sapo Diablo
Animistic Beliefs - Call of the Tahuri
Klahrk - Inside
MC Yallah - Baliwa
Flowdan - Shell A Verse (Slikback Remix)
Lorem - Are Eyes Invisible Socket Contenders
Gonçalo Penas - O Baixo Na Corda Bamba
Antía Muíño - O Paxaro