Barcelona is gearing up for an invasion of dance music fans as its Sonar festival returns for another year, bringing a plethora of different genres to the table from dubstep to dirty house.

While the main event is all well and good, the writers at Data Transmission have gone to the trouble of picking out the best after parties and beach gigs going on.

Here is their pick of the bunch:

On Thursday tech-house badman D’Julz will be spinning at a pre-party on the beach of Playa de la Barceloneta and will be joined by Lele Sacchi, Nacho Marco and Julien Briffaz.

Should you fancy something else City Hall is the place to be to see Club4 vs Drumcode which will feature techno-heads such as Adam Beyer and Christian Smith in one room and Matthew Dear and Paco Osasuna in the other.

The Velodrome de Horta will host the most hotly-anticipated party of the lot on Friday, according to the website, with a 5,000 capacity velodrome rocked by Luciano vs Loco Dice, Alejandro Vivanco and Tobi Neumann.

Catz ‘n Dogz, Miss Jools and Claude Von Stroke will join the German contingent at the Chiringuito Calamar, Playa del Brat de Lllobregat on Saturday, serving up a feast of deep electronic music for free.

To wrap things up on the Sunday ravers can look forward to Secretsundaze at La Terrazza, which again is absolutely free and Giles Smith and Johnny D among others there to entertain.

In other news, M.I.A. has been replaced by Bonde do Role after the Hounslow rapper cancelled her European tour.
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