Proof – as if it were needed – that the CCCB keeps one steady finger on the pulse and one discerning ear to the underground, Emergència! festival graces the Raval landmark’s stately walls for it’s fourth edition this month.

There can be no doubting Barcelona’s credentials as democratic party-thrower for the struggling arts. A connoisseur of championing its little pockets of independent creative endeavor, this city can proudly count Emergència! among its many runaway successes. After two first sessions under the mentoring umbrella of the BCNmp7 project, the day-long mini-festival stood up on its own two feet last year and has since been busy amassing glowing praise and loyal applause.

The wide spectrum formed by this year’s eight acts is a luminous reflection of the festival’s philosophy of musical diversity and its ever-sharpening eye for uncovering pearls of fresh new sound. And it is bound to be a lilting and bumpy whirlwind of a panoramic ride. The CCCB’s Auditorium has been appointed as the sanctum of the more “risky” and the “intimate” acts, playing host amongst others to the Kraut-pop inspired synths of Barcelona band-of-the-moment Pegasvs and Estonian Londoner Maria Minerva, whose surreal lo-fi melodies have been intriguingly described as “concentrated oxygen.”

Bordeaux eccentrics Alba Luna will bring along their 90-infused echoes and David Lynch references – or as one critic puts it, “music Syd Barrett would make for a Spaghetti Western” – while Oso Leone blend homegrown folk and a penchant for psychedelia. Elsewhere, the Hall is reserved for the classic indie-rock outfits and will reverberate with the bass lines of Pamplona “supergroup” Reina Republicana and the noisy punk fury of locals Gratis. Leaving just enough time to soak up the multi-instrument talents of Mursego and the poetic sensibilities of Las Buenas Noches, whose nimble-fingered Miguel Brieva has also provided the festival’s comic book-inspired art work.

6pm–12am, entry €7

cccb.org/en/musica_i_art_escenic-emergencia_2012-40039