MUSIC IN BARCELONA (venues, musicians, events) HELP!

Hello,

I've just moved to Barcelona (to take a job as a translator). And I have very little idea of what is going on concertwise (apart from the Peter Brötzmann show I saw about two weeks ago at 'Be Cool', which must be a jazz venue)

Is Barcelona good for any music in particular, are there any venues/promoters in particular that regularly put on good gigs? What about record shops? How about music lessons even?

I have lived in London, Oxford, Lyon, and Paris, I've always been able to find good experimental/improvised music, good free classical music (esp. avant garde/ contemporary classical) and some decent rock concerts and jazz. Something tells me that in Barcelona this stuff will be harder to come by. It's not easy to classify my interests, I always say I'll listen to anything that's good, but the last few concerts i've seen shd give an idea...

Peter Brotzmann and Paal Nilssen Love
Gravetemple
Christian Marclay and ... oh crap, i've forgotten his name- guitarist, based in new york...
bilt to spill (actually, i saw them a year ago)
animal collective (that was a year ago too)
electrelane

put more simply, I'm a Wire reader ( not a dogmatic one, but if i want to survive Spain I may even have to take out a subscription)...

also, if anyone is reading this from Barcelona, do you know anyone in need of a flatmate?

Not exactly your style, but I recall a New York Times article (ah, here it is from 2006)about the Pinker Tones and Ojo de Brujo( who I don't actually like too much--nuevo flamenco meets electronica) and others, but the article mentioned other groups and places that sounded worth trying-

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/arts/music/06rob.html?fta=y

Josh Norek, a founder of the Latin Alternative Music Conference and vice president of the Pinker Tones’ United States label, Nacional Records, said: “Barcelona has been a thriving alternative scene, more so than any other city in Spain. It’s cosmopolitan, international and has many immigrants. I think you’ll continue to see even more hybrids, fusions, cross-genres, singing in four different languages.”

The huge influx of Latin-American immigrants has helped to enliven the Barcelona scene: Che Sudaka, Black Baudelaire, the collective 08001 and BarXino are mostly made up of Argentines, with a smattering of Colombians. The bands also include musicians from Morocco, Turkey, Guinea and other parts of Europe. Playing in clubs and Barcelona’s many festivals, they toss raï, or samba, reggaetón and other Latin beats into the city’s musical blender.

Go to the culture information desk at the Palau de la Virreina on the Ramblas. They're usually very helpful and will tell you all about the music festivals going on. There should be the Experimental Music Festival and World Music Festival going on in October. There's also the In-edit music documentary festival in October, I think. It was pretty fantastic last year.

For rock gigs, there are plenty at the Apolo, Sidecar or Razzmatazz. Heliogabal in the Gracia district is pretty great for small concerts. You have discovered the Gracia district, haven't you?
You absolutely have to see a concert at the Palau de la Musica. I saw Camille here and it was probably the best concert of my life. There's also all kinds of music stuff at L'Auditori.

I've found last.fm to be generally the best place to find out about gigs.
http://www.last.fm/events?c=202&m=35&findloc=Barcelona%2C+Spain&q=&by=artists&filter=popular&&filter=none

I'm so jealous as I'm no longer living in Barcelona. For music stores - basically Carrer de tallers off the ramblas is the place to go. Don't forget cd-drome just off it. Oh yeah the CCCB also does music stuff too occasionally.

Ah Mes, you found the old thread (one of several on events in barcelona)

Barcelona

for listings of all kinds of material, try www.lecool.com and http://barcelona.unlike.net/ -- they'll turn you on to some interesting venues and organizations.

i believe that the fundacion joan miro does a fair amount of interesting jazz stuff as well.

HI:
mes, I'm going to Barcelona too, and know the city fairly well, music-wise and not only. I've sent you a mail, looking forward to your reply

I noticed that during the time I was living there lecool (a weekly updated e-zine based in barcelona) listed some of the most important events... can't really tell if they've sold out and they only present sponsored events nowadays but still worth a look:

http://lecool.com/cities/barcelona/newsletters/en/current.html

I see Argy playing this saturday on Sala Apolo. Would definitely recommend that.