When it comes to high-quality house music in Barcelona, Piem (real name Alvaro Palau Marimon) is your man.
Resident DJ and A&R at Jackies, a Barcelona brand encompassing club events, a festival and a record label with an impressive list of past guests including Moodymann, Louie Vega, and Laurent Garnier, Piem is also a prolific producer with releases on the likes of Crosstown Rebels, Ministry of Sound and Hot Since 82’s Knee Deep In Sound.
Who better to call, then, for a run-down on the club scene in the Catalan capital – past and present.
Best club
Probably Apolo. It’s the classic one where everyone has been – they’ve been going for many years now. In terms of line-ups and programming, they have lots of variety, and having two rooms, it gives plenty of chances to book one thing in one room, and one thing in another room.
When I was like 16, 17, I remember seeing many techno DJs there – Adam Beyer, Umek, Miss Kittin – techno legends. It’s special also because in the main room, with the decor and everything, it’s somewhere completely different [to the norm]. It’s more about the environment in the room and a great sound system. And, in terms of the crowd, whoever goes there, they go there to party.
Key DJ
Someone who made a mark on me was Sideral. He passed away [in 2006], but when my friends and I started playing and digging for records in record stores, he was like God in this city for us. The way he was playing and the music selection was completely different to what else was happening in the city.
He would be mixing electro with techno, and then he’d suddenly stop the music and play, like, Blur or Nirvana. Everyone would be like, what the fuck’s he doing, but everyone was going mental. He was this crazy guy, but making magic in the DJ booth.
Best festivals
The one I always loved since I discovered electronic music was Sonar, but especially daytime Sonar. I remember maybe 15 years ago going in the daytime, and you were seeing people that were completely unknown, and maybe after 10 years you see them performing on the main stage at Coachella and touring like crazy.
At night-time there’s plenty of random drunk people, but if you go daytime, you see the kind of local people that you recognise because you don’t see them partying too much, but you see them at the cool parties in the city. When you see them, you know you are in the right place.
Favourite bar
I would say Paradiso. It’s a cocktail bar – they won World’s Best Bar [in 2022]. You have unique drinks there, things that you never tried before, and the presentation, the environment, everything’s really cool.
Being from Barcelona and having many friends from abroad, when they come and say ‘take me somewhere’, I’m going to go straight away for the number one, you know.
Favourite restaurants
One that I like and I go to very often is called Joanet, in Born. It’s local food, it’s run by a family, they do really nice meals and the prices are still okay.
And then the W Hotel, where I work, we have a traditional Japanese restaurant called Noxe on the 26th floor. Seeing the whole city, it’s really cool.
Favourite record labels
Jackies again! In Barcelona, some of the labels are too underground and some of them are too commercial, but I’m in between. That’s one of the reasons we decided to start something with Jackies – let’s release music that is the sound of our parties, not just because it’s coming from this name or the other – basically, good music.
At the same time there’s Subwax. He has his label, and he distributes and presses lots of music for very cool labels. He’s doing a great job and all the music he’s putting out is really cool. Everything is house, but a bit more on the underground side, this kind of vinyl-only sound.
Unsung heroes
There are two people I appreciate a lot – one is Guillem, the owner of Jackies. He has plenty of different events, but he’s unsung because with Jackies, everyone thinks I’m the owner, because let’s say I’m the face. But actually it’s him who is making the magic and he makes everything work.
The other one is a guy I met years ago in Ibiza, Hugo Quintanilla. He has an AV company, and he sets up all the AV necessities for many festivals in Barcelona, the whole of Spain, and many other things abroad. He’s the kind of person who really makes things go smoothly, and I’m lucky to be working with him.
Key track
Toktok Vs Soffy O – Missy Queen’s Gonna Die (2000).
This is a song that Sideral played in every set. Everyone was going wild, but back in the days, no one had Shazam and it was a nightmare to find out the names of the songs.
All of the DJs, we were trying to find it, and basically he bought the record somewhere travelling. And after 2 or 3 years, [BPitch Control] licensed it and they put it out here. It was not the same, but in the beginning everyone was going crazy with that song.
Best hangout spot
A place called Bridge 48. They do masterclasses and plenty of activities and things related to music, so for people who maybe want to start the journey as a DJ or producer, or even just digging into music, a place like this is cool to maybe go one day, try and see.
After the masterclass or whatever is happening, everyone’s networking, so it’s a cool spot.
Favourite record shops
For me and records I can play, it’s Dancing Vinyl. Then if you want to find weird stuff, you can go to Discos Paradiso – it’s the iconic record store right now in Barcelona.
When the record industry was going down around 2000 and all the record stores were shutting, they opened. It was like, ‘we don’t give a fuck’. The music is more underground or experimental, and it’s not the kind of stuff I play, but if you want to find weird stuff or more niche things, this is your place.
If you want to go for cool house music like Kerri Chandler, then Dancing Vinyl.