Heading the neo-electronic bill is Alec Empire. Renowned as a founding member of digital hardcore group Atari Teenage Riot, Empire is ready to bring a completely fresh sound and body of work to the Spanish audience. His set will feature tracks from new album The Golden Foretaste of Heaven.

Helping Empire in translating this new electronic sound from studio to stage is the Hellish Vortex Group made up of talented guitarist Robbie Furze and Empire’s old mate from the ATR days, Nic Endo.

Alec elaborates on the origin of the newfound sound. ¨I’ve done many electronic records, always getting through to a rock audience, but the electronic piece was overshadowed. I want to show another side. The new songs were written in a different atmosphere, during my transition from London to life in Berlin. When I made the move, it was like Berlin was a blank canvas for music creation. In the UK a lot of talk is made of the past and how great things were, but in Berlin the focus is on doing what you have in mind, not so much a look to the past for creation. It felt liberating. ¨

Sharing the electrifying electronic festival air with Empire is Tying Tiffany, an Italian punk and electronic artist. This MySpace icon whose lyrics are both ironic and irreverent will be making her Spanish stage debut at Foc & Sound.

Algora, who won the festival’s new artist competition a few years back, returns with dance floor electronica, while another influential electro/punk act straight from Berlin, Electronicat + Miss Le Bomb, round out the Dress for Excess stage gang.

Groups due to perform on the Love Reactor stage include Belle and Sebastian DJ Richard Colburn and Missil, a DJ, graphic designer, graffiti tagger, producer and urban punk goddess.

Finally Mequetrefe, a music conservatorytrained artist mixing the styles of the Flaming Lips and Neil Young, beat other hopefuls in the Nivel 2 contest (designed to give unknown artists a break into the industry) to not only participate in Foc & Sound but also record and produce his first CD.

Moncofa Foc & Sound Beach Festival

August 22, 2008