Ibiza Spotlight Season Highlights 2012 by James Chapman

IBIZA SPOTLIGHT Season Highlights 2012

C HAPTER 1

Introduction This digital magazine provides a look at what we think are the highlights from the 2012 season. From the features, the music reviews, the podcasts, the reviews and our 2012 Season Review - this is what we do.

Contributors: Stivi, Hannah Davies, Jordan Smith, Gareth Sutcliffe, George Mihailovski, Martin Guttridge-Hewitt and James Chapman. Photography and magazine created by James Chapman

C HAPTER 2

Features

In The Club 1. Drinks should be free.

S ECTION 1

Features Ranting Raver

2. Male podium dancers should take themselves less seriously. Robo-dancing and peck twitching in gladiator sandals does not make you a tortured artiste. Enough with the funeral by Jordan Smith

face and crack a smile.

15 rules The Ranting Raver hopes to legislate to make Ibiza a better place:

3. Any disputes with bouncers should be settled with a dance-off or glow stick duel.

On the Beach

4. Anyone seen with their face in their phone for more than 5 minutes will have said phone

1. Every piece of rubbish you leave behind - cigarette butts and broken

confiscated and destroyed in the aforementioned 50 Shades burn off.

glass included - you should be forced to eat. 2. Topless sunbathing is perfectly acceptable but circling past topless sunbathers with reflective sunglasses is not (punishable with eye-gouging). 3. If you see a lobster-hued Englishman (or some other such sun-forsaken nationality) passed out on the beach you should wake him up with a cold beer and suggest he find some shade - unless he has fallen asleep with offensive electro blasting out of low quality speakers, in which case tar and feather him.

5. The bump’n’grind dance move is hereby banned forthwith from all Ibiza establishments. Any female caught enacting this will have her groin-seeking bottom surgically attached to the lecherous man behind her and must adjust the rest of her life accordingly in light of her new condition (roller coasters are no longer an option, for example). Miscellaneous 1. Manufacturers should stop secretly lacing those little yellow tubs of allioli sunshine with heroin so we can all start to curb our addiction before the end of the season. 2. There should be a bus route between Playa d’en Bossa and San Antonio during the day. Seriously, though, this needs to happen. 3. Politely refuse looky-looky men if you are not interested in their wares, unless they are

4. Sandcastles should be encouraged.

wearing those glasses with a penis attached to the nose, in which case they have gone the

5. 50 Shades of Grey is not acceptable reading material for the beach, or

level.

anywhere for that matter. Ceremonial burnings of all confiscated copies

extra mile in terms of self-deprecation for a sale and should be rewarded on some small

4. There should be no more making or playing of remixes of Gotye’sSomebody That I Used

will occur monthly and perpetrators made to watch (or ideally burnt at

To Know. The once brilliant song has followed me insidiously around the island all summer

stake surrounded by their offensive literature as kindling. Still working

thrown, flaming, into the sea from the top of Dalt Vila.

through logistics of this one…)

like a brightly tessellated bad smell and the next person who causes it to sound will be

5. Sean ‘P Diddy’ Combs can’t come here anymore.

turn it into a thoroughly positive experience. A couple of hardworking lads from the midlands that I spoke to knew the score - “We’re simpletons,” one said, jovially, “We drink real ale and we shout at planes.” This kind of genuine attitude pervades the scene. A night in the West End might mean sacrificing underground music, decent sound systems and dignity, but you also shake off extortionate prices and a whole lot of pretentiousness. One West End PR guy put it very simply when I queried his mildly masochistic choice of workplace, “I’m trying to earn a legitimate living instead of selling drugs like everyone else. I want to go home at the end of summer, not jail-alright ladies! You having some drinks tonight, yeah?” And just like that I was as relevant as Myspace, my PR having spotted a brood of stumbling and stilettoed hens, basically gift-wrapped clientele for the West End PR massive.

Ranting Raver: A West End Review

The tactics of most West End PRs threw me off-guard, demanding that I self-evaluate when I’m at my weakest point. Lookylooky men are about as pushy as kindergarten teachers next to these troops, who reel you in with sweet promises of refreshment, whilst relentlessly demanding of you by Jordan Smith

Sea had swallowed sun several hours ago and, like an unbreakable curse, San Antonio’s West End was beginning to transform into the raging beast it is fated to become every night of the summer. The strip clubs had opened and Subway had closed; this was no place for a salad bar after dark... Drunken people love strangers with film cameras but hate strangers with notepads, so it was time to stash the journo-evidence and blend in with the not-actually-local milieu. I hiked my shorts up my cheeks and super-glued them at the halfway point. I put on some mascara, then put on some false eyelashes, then put on some mascara, then put on some eyeliner, then put on some mascara. I drank half a bottle of vodka and got a tattoo. The transformation was complete. Pausing at the outskirts to survey the scene, I was quickly forced to one side as a child in a toy car zoomed past me, his wild-eyed father in tow, urging “Vamos, Juan! Vamos!” He knew they were cutting it fine... An intoxicated racket was beginning to muster, with the sizeable Irish contingent on the island valiantly pioneering the cause – always first in and last out in their neverending search for ‘good craic.’ The pavement was, as yet, reasonably rubbish free, with the exception of some cigarettes and a rotting red pepper, lying squashed and alone, like a broken heart upon the pavement (although more like a pepper). The air smelled of kebabs. Already. With the wrong attitude, a trip to the West End could have been a series of unbelievably horrific aural, visual and tactile (many of these) encounters. But a sense of humour is all one needs to

responses and strategy. Where you off to? How you feeling? What’s happening tonight? What plans have you made for financing your retirement etc.? I don’t know, I don’t know! I just want to make it home without losing my shoes, ISN’T THAT ENOUGH?? (It wasn’t and I didn’t) Having started with cheap workers’ drinks at the top end and weaved (later, lurched) my way down through sexual advances, strippers and remixes of Carly Ray Jepson to an inflatable guitar at the bottom end, I suddenly kicked into autopilot and mobilised my faculties with renewed vigour towards the nearest grease-fest. And I wasn’t the only one making this pilgrimage, for, in the West End, all roads eventually lead to KFC. Once sated by the Colonel (don’t be dirty, now) I noticed a fallen comrade on the pavement - on his way out Jimi Hendrix style. After quickly rearranging and hydrating him, we became firm friends, engaging in a deep and meaningful conversation which would probably have solved all of life’s problems if only it could be remembered. For most on the West End, technology has solved the memory-loss issue, for we all know the slogan - What happens in the West End stays in the West End, until the next day when it goes on facebook, becomes the property of facebook, is sold by facebook and then used by sensationalist news programs in their latest exposé on the degenerate youth of today. And that’s how your grandma finds out what you’re up to. There’s a lot about the West End I don’t like, but I can’t deny I had a really good time; so I’ll perch uncomfortably on the fence on this one. Don’t judge Ibiza by the West End, but don’t hate that it exists either. If you can’t reconcile yourself to its positive points, think of it as a container pen; a quarantined zone; a sticky pad for catching ants... And if you love the place by all means enjoy it, but don’t get caught for too long; there’s a whole island out there.

Spotlight on Mamboats

by Jordan Smith

As it comes to the pointy end of a very powerful first season, it’s as clear as Cala Conta waters that Mamboats has secured its place on the Ibiza scene. The brainchild and project of Adam Creedy in collaboration withMambo Ibiza, Mamboats offers you truly remarkable experiences out on the Mediterranean, for prices you can actually get your head around. Having come to the end of a very hectic August, the Spotlight team was delighted to be offered a relaxing day out on the boat, by the end of which all and sundry were convinced this was one of the most excellent days we’ve had together all season. I’m a bit of a sailing purist myself, usually shaking my fist at speedboats hooning across the water causing wake, but for the Mamboats I simply have to make an exception. The boats are stylish and luxurious in design with a very comfortable leather interior - I believe the official terminology is, in fact, ‘pimpin’ - and although I hate to admit it, it is really fun racing across the open sea, bumping on the waves and watching the foamy path you leave behind, like a supercharged sea-snail trail. The boats somehow manage to seem the perfect size for both a private trip for two, or a party trip for ten, so your experience can be as calm or as raucous as you please. I’ve been lucky enough to get out on these boats a few times, so I’ve had a taste of the variety of trips they offer. An adrenalin-fuelled option is the watersports safari, which includes snorkeling, wakeboarding, water-ski-ing and inflate-

ables. You can participate in as much or as little as you like. My first try on the wakeboard ended in a whole lot of splashing about and a lot of “nobody stands up first go” accompanied by consoling pats on the back. Luckily, I had another crack about a month later on the Spotlight day out, and victory was mine; five glorious seconds of vertical victory. Snorkeling is a simple and brilliant part of many of the different Mamboats trips, but was thwarted on the Spotlight day by an onslaught of vicious jelly-fish in Cala Bassa. All right they were more squishy than vicious, but their numbers were certainly too great to swim with (although two of our number jumped in anyway, to prove their manhood or something), so we relocated the snorkel session to Cala Conta. Typically the waters around Cala Conta are as blue and clear as a swimming pool, with nothing but sand on the ocean floor as far as the goggles can see, and today was no different. Not exactly a dynamic snorkeling spot, but the water was perfect for a splash about and some photos. We stayed in this spot quite a while as the sun lowered close to the horizon and generally had a fantastic time with a bottle in our hand and our feet in the water (to the beautiful tones of John Talabot’s ƒin album). Eventually it was time to up oars and head back to San Antonio in time for the later part of the sunset. We dropped anchor outside Mambo and cracked open the champagne, toasting each other, the sunset, and those poor unfortunate souls on land, ha! How could we ever have lived any other way?

That was the course of our day, but the trip options are plentiful. At the moment Mamboats offer a Sunset Cruise, VIP Cruise, Day Trip (watersports included), Extended Sunset Cruise (watersports included), Watersport Safari, Es Vedra Day Cruise and Celebrity Cruise. Furthermore, there is a certain amount of flexibility within each trip. If you don’t know the island well, Mamboats will have everything planned for you, but if there’s somewhere you’d particular like to go, or a certain activity you’d like more of, your skipper will generally be able to accommodate that. For example on an earlier day trip we requested to head to Atlantis, the amazing rock formation on the west coast of the island (opposite Es Vedra). It was an amazing spot that is a serious trek to get to by land, so it was a pleasure to be able to cruise into the bay by water, swim onto land and explore for as long as we liked. Music-wise, it’s up to you. We Spotlighters know what we want when it comes to music, of course, so brought some CDs and iPod and enjoyed tunes of our own selection for most of the trip, until dropping anchor in front of Mambos and letting their beats waft over the waves as the sun sank (you can also stream Mambo’s music through the boat’s speakers, if you prefer). Beyond the luxury and watersports aspect, what I find most exciting about getting out on these boats is the ability to explore the Ibiza coastline. One can see amazing rock formations, snorkel in a private cove, take in the glorious landmarks like Es Vedra and still make it back to San An in time for the sunset. I encourage you to get friends or family together and book a trip; the experience is a gem for the memory-bank, without breaking the money-bank.

Spotlight Mid-Season Clubbing Report by stivi While the White Isle is literally baking in the August heat, we take a quick time out after a hectic and extremely busy BBC Radio 1 Ibiza Weekend and look back at the first part of the 2012 clubbing season. First things first. It would be folly to think Ibiza wouldn't notice anything of the general economic situation in Europe. Especially countries like Spain and Italy are facing hard times and therefore many a holidaymaker's budget is a bit limited. Don't think numbers are massively down though - some people just spend less while they're here, while others spend more than ever! At the same time, it needs to be said that Ibiza is surely the destination in the Med that's least affected by the economic situation. Also, while there might be less Spaniards and Italians on the island this summer, the number of overseas travellers, especially from the United States and Australia, is constantly rising. So after a very nice season start with the IMS and all of the opening parties, a great first edition of the Ibiza 123 Festival (with a huge potential to grow over the next few years), we're now in August and it is just as busy as ever; loads of traffic (and not enough parking space), crowded beaches everywhere and packed clubs on most nights! Let's now have a look at every night of the week to see how are things in Ibiza 2012...

Monday - Traditionally one of the biggest nights of the week in Ibiza, Mondays are no different this year. Some big news of this season was Armin's move toPrivilege with his ASOT night and Tiësto descending down from San Rafael to Ibiza town and installing himself in Pacha. Both nights are doing really well, even though the first Tiësto gigs weren't sold out (now they mostly are!). For those that still don't know, Tiësto's sound isn't that trancey anymore, but he's just as successful as before and has the Pacha crowd firmly under control. If you want it to be real trance try out ASOT, which will have its season climax next Monday 13th August with the AvB solo in the Main Room. Ushuaïa this summer has parties set up for 6 out of 7 nights a week during July and August and Mondays belong to Monsieur FMIF David Guetta. Chap was

there last week, so read his review on how it was! On the underground side of things, Circo Loco at DC-10 is packed on most Mondays with quality line ups throughout the whole season. I personally think, however, that it's just much less loco than before and thus less unique. Last but not least, Cocoon at Amnesia had somewhat of a quiet start into the summer, but has now regained standard numbers (which means packed in August). Do the two new nights ENTER. (at Space) and Music On (at Amnesia) affect Cocoon? Yes, I think they do. Read on for that.

Tuesday - Tuesday nights belong to Carl Cox. There is no change in this general rule this year, perhaps partly because Space's neighbour Ushuaïa has a day off on Tuesday. Tuesday daytime well and truly belongs to Spotlight's fave boat parties, Pukka Up. Other than that, Together at Amnesia has been doing extremely well right from the start of the season and is surely one of the fast climbers of this summer. Over in San An, it looks like Ibiza Live might take over the term "San An's busiest night of the week" from Judgement Sundays at Eden. Also a novelty this year, Flower Power at Pacha is now happening on a weekly basis during July and August. While some moaned "it won't be as special as before", it needs to be said that now many people finally can attend this party who, in earlier years, always were unlucky with their Ibiza dates. Is it busy? Oh yeah. Spotlight's complete clubbing team was there last week and we had a brilliant night! Let's also not forget Diynamic's Neon Night at Sankeys, one out of three really successful nights at Sankeys this summer and with top notch quality music...Hannah's a fan!

at Ushuaïa has been a record breaking event for the venue so far, especially the two dates with the full SHM trio (4th July and 1st August) meant complete mayhem in Playa d'en Bossa. Expect no different for their closing party on 29th August, when the full trio will be there one more time. Also in Playa d'en Bossa, Steve Lawler's Viva Warriors at Sankeys is a completely different story music wise compared to the SHM (I'll let you decide which one is better), but they've also firmly put their mark on this summer's clubbing calendar and it is a very recommendable night to go to in my humble opinion. Pacha has belonged to Erick Morillo on Wednesdays for a long time already and his Subliminal nights just keep on giving! The most exciting event on Wednesdays, however, is definitely Ibiza Rocks. Their line ups are better than ever and we take our hats off to the IR guys for successfully bringing live music back to Ibiza over the course of the last 7 years!

Thursday - The biggest night of the week in Ibiza. The choice and density of headliners is immense. Cream at Amnesia has been the top selling event for years and is a must-do for most holidaymakers. Numbers this year are higher than ever, and not without reason if you look at their line ups! Then there are two new nights which are shaking up things quite ferociously on a Thursday in Ibiza:ENTER. at Space and Hot Creations' Paradise night at DC-10. Both nights had a very successful start - something you can't take for granted when doing the first season in Ibiza - and both nights also have something that some others don't: they just feel FRESH. Richie Hawtin's ENTER. at Space has the best concept of all Ibiza parties hands down and perfectly fits the club. The early start in El Salon (first headliner starts at 10:30pm) is another great detail - we love it. Also Paradise at DC-10 gets a lot of good feedback and is obviously a hub for all the trendy people (and vests). Then David Guetta has his second FMIF slot of the week, this time at Pacha, which is just as packed as in Ushuaïa on Mondays. Speaking of Ushuaïa, Thursdays belong to Luciano; the former underground hero nowadays plays very accessible sounds to the mainstream and the crowds love it.

Wednesday - Midweek in Ibiza has a few less headliners than on other days, but a very interesting choice of events none the less. Speaking of headliners, theSwedes' residency 6

Friday - There are again two new nights on the island which mix things up nicely: We Are Rockstars at the Ibiza Rocks Hotel, Ibiza Rocks' take on electronic music, and Music On at Amnesia, Marco Carola's new night. Carola's departure from Cocoon was another big novelty for this summer and his new night, together with the aforementioned new ENTER. at Space on Thursdays, generates some real competition for Cocoon and the like. Music On wasn't packed in the beginning - in fact, whilst the terrace always worked perfectly well, the main room was a bit of an issue. But now that we're in high season and everyone knows about the party things are running well everywhere. Amnesia's neighbour Privilege holds SuperMartXé on Fridays; it's been their busiest night for a good few years already and so it remains this summer. Jordan and Chap were blown away by the show when they were sent to review the night! :-) Pure Pacha is All Gone Pete Tong this year and Pete brings some of the best guests to Pacha this summer. The crowds appreciate it - very very busy! Having so much going on in San Antonio, San Rafael and Ibiza Town, things in Playa d'en Bossa are maybe a bit quieter on Friday nights: Space's new night Beat & Raw has already seen Cypress Hill and Morcheeba performing live (amongst others) and on the other side of the road, Sasha presents "Never Say Never" at Ushuaïa, in my opinion the night with the best line ups out of all of them at said venue, but neither parties have been rammed so far this summer. Possibly a victim of the new Thursday Paradise night success at DC-10 is Tania Vulcano's PandemoniumFriday, which got cancelled after a few weeks.

level - El Row atPrivilege. Only happening in Vista Club (the refurbished Coco Loco and La Vaca rooms now together), this party shows you how Circo Loco used to be a few years ago. Defected at Pacha has some really good line ups this year and is one of the longest running nights at the club - another sign of quality. In San Antonio, Hed Kandi is surely Es Paradis' busiest night of the week and HK's 10 years celebrations have been great so far! Also on that side of the island, The Zoo Project at Gala Night is not a secret hint anymore, but a funny afternoon and evening out in a great open air venue. And don't forget about Carnival, the third really good running night at Sankeys with great line ups!

Apart from all mentioned events, let's not forget about long time running parties like La Troya at Amnesia, The Face Of Ibiza at Privilege and alsoBe at Space. Those are examples of nights which might not seem as spectacular as others, but which are still running well year after year. Predictions for the second part of the season? Well, August will be very busy everywhere as stated in the intro. September will be a great month as always with more space on the island and brilliant parties everywhere; most of the clubs are already very busy setting up their closing parties. The closing parties of Space, Ushuaïa and Sankeys are already on sale. Amnesia will most probably have another monster closing fiesta starting Saturday night 6th October and going well into Sunday 7th October (to be confirmed soon, with ticket pre sales as well of course). More info about Privilege, Eden and Es Paradis closing parties to follow soon. We at Spotlight are excited about the second half of the season and are already looking forward to the closing party period!

Sunday -

The main playground for the last day of the week is Playa d'en Bossa. Bora Bora is mostly busiest on Sundays, Avicii at Ushuaïa had an extremely successful launch and most importantly, there is We Love at Space. If you look through their line ups you will notice two things: first, there are hardly any commercial artists and second, each Sunday's line up is as good as any festival's! Despite this, maybe because of not having many commercial artists or more likely because of Avicii next door, We Love hasn't been completely rammed so far this year. I just went last Sunday again, though, and I think it was the busiest Sunday so far this summer (Deetron and James Zabiela in the Discoteca were simply amazing). Cadenza at Pacha is also running well and we thought Luciano played fewer hits and more gems there compared to his Ushuaïa shows when we went.

Saturday -

As all the locals go out on this day, Saturday is quite a Spanish affair.Matinée at Amnesia has been doing well for years (read George's review and you will want to go!) and Café Olé at Space is also very popular with the locals. There has been another addition in terms of Spanish nights this year, which is very recommendable on an international

Where are you from originally? I am a French citizen, born in Iran, raised in Switzerland, educated in England and living in Spain. When did you first come to Ibiza? I first came to Ibiza in the summer of 1981 for a fortnight. I returned in 1982 for the summer season, which was the beginning of a life time love affair with the island.

Ibiza Island People: Faruk Gandji (Ku / Privilege) by James Chapman Last year, as part of our Dance Music History series, we looked at KU - the venue and contained VIP bar (Privé) from the 1970s and 1980s that developed into the clubbing behemoth we now know as Privilege - and so fascinating was the story and history of it all that it seemed important to speak with one of the early members of the KU family, Faruk Gandji, to perhaps understand not only what the venue was like before the days of Tiesto, SupermartXe and the like, but also to understand what Ibiza was like in what many call its heyday. Because let's face it, Ibiza has changed a huge amount over the years. It may be a classic cliché for those around in the early years to say "oh, it's not like it used to be", but the fact of the matter is that it isn't. More and more foreign promoters came over to the island and Ibiza developed into this clubbing mecca where people come to pay homage to the best DJs and artists the world has to offer. And so Faruk has embarked upon his mission to remind those of Ibiza's history, with plans for events this summer which hint at just that. The KU Ibiza Best Years Facebook page, and KU itself, is a shining example of that vibe and spirit of Ibiza that we all hear about but have perhaps never experienced, and listening to what Faruk had to say, looking at the photographs that have been pulled together, and reading what people have had to say about them has made me wish I was around in those early years. I mean, when was the last time you went out for the night in Ibiza and saw a young bull tearing around the dancefloor whilst Grace Jones, Roman Polanski, Tarzan, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Ronnie Wood (to name but a few) partied nearby? Speaking for myself; that hasn't ever happened to me... So, without further ado, I'll pass the baton on to Faruk. Ibiza Island People don't come any more inspiring than him.

What did you do in the first years you were in Ibiza?

Is there anything you would change if you could now? I in particular love the open-air architecture of its history... The open air architecture was truly amazing. Seeing the sun rise in the distance after a night of pure ecstasy was no less than soul cleansing. However, it is a bit too easy to say that opening the roofs again will bring back the KU experience. In the past, people were lured to Ibiza because the parties were unique to the island. People came for that energy. Today, the majority of tourists arriving on the island are attracted by the DJs, most of which can also be heard from Miami to Benidorm. To change Ibiza, one has to change what is being offered in the current party scene.

I started supervising the Amnesia, specializing in artistic direction and public relations, and then threw my first “Remember” party there in September 1982. I also opened the Bar Privé in KU, and at the same time I created and organized around 25 various parties and contests per season. What do most people know you for in Ibiza? Most probably for my parties in the KU, especially the "Gorryland" series, and also for installing the first V.I.P. bar on the island, the Bar Privé in KU. Tell us about Ku… As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words “, so the best illustration would be for you to see my facebook page "KU Ibiza Best Years" (http://www.facebook.com/kuibiza). Why do you think Ku was such a success story? KU was a success story because we proved that quantity and quality were indeed compatible plus we managed to mix the un-mixable. At a typical party that attracted 4,000 people, 500 were international celebrities with their entourage, and the remaining 3,500 were unique free spirits who set the whole island aglow. We offered a distinctive mix of music, the posters were works of art, the decorations were astonishing and the parties were constantly changing. Privilege is somewhat of a different venue to when it was Ku, what inspired the change? I wouldn't say that the change was inspired. It happened gradually during the last few years of KU. The music went from Balearic Beat to House and then, commercial Techno as the promoters got their feet further in the door. The imported shows along with their music changed the whole scene.

Looking through the amazing photos from Ku on the Facebook page, its clear you would have so many stories to share. But if you could share just one, which would it be? There are hundreds of stories, all of them surreal and most of them rather private. However, I recall a particular incident that occurred during one of the San Fermin parties. Everyone was

dressed in white with red scarfs and we had released a baby bull to run loose in the KU. The Bar Privé was packed, and I noticed Tirso “the myth” standing up on the edge of the terrace, dangerously close to falling as he looked down into the crowd below. When I went to see what he was doing, I heard him shout at the growing crowd of V.I.P’s around him “look, they’re teasing the bull!” Down on the dancefloor were a group of three excessively drunk guys who had the bull by its horns and they were indeed slapping and teasing it. Tirso became crazy with rage and screamed; “Those badly educated sons of bitches are teasing that baby bull!” Before anyone could react to send security, Tirso jumped from the Bar Privé down onto the dancefloor below. He landed on his feet right next to the bull, like superhero who had arrived out of nowhere to save the night. One by one, Tirso sent the three guys stumbling away and freed the bull. He then began to comfort and caress the baby bull who immediately calmed down and allowed him to lead it to safety. Once the shock wore off, Tirso’s earnest reaction sent a vibe of respect, courage and compassion throughout the whole disco.

In the run up to the 2012 season, some 34 years since the story of Ku began in Ibiza, what keeps you busy? My project to immortalize the KU in Facebook has been much more time consuming than I had originally predicted. Recently, I've also been shifting my efforts towards two very exciting projects involving both the past and the future. Since this summer marks the 30th anniversary of my first "Remember" party, I am working on organizing its celebration. I also plan on introducing a new musical genre proper to the island.

ally clear the rubbish away and without remuneration are my Heroes by all means. What is it you love about Ibiza? The quality of life. Ibiza is sunny 90% of the year, so even when it rains everyone is smiling. This climate offers organic fruits and vegetables year round, plus the possibility to spend more time outdoors than in. The majority of residents are relaxed, cool and respectful...except on the full moon, but that’s another story. I’m tuned up with nature and enjoy breathtaking views where ever I go. It's paradise, yet still in Europe. I am so grateful to be living here.

And finally, is there anything else you’d like to add or say? Ibiza is a sacred island, please love and respect it.

Tell us who your unsung hero of the island is? Undoubtedly the people who clean up the beaches and the rest of the island in the autumn. The massive tourism leaves this place in such a wreck that the men and women who actu-

CHAPTER

Music

S ECTION 1

Podcasts: Web Link

Top 10 Tracks from Ibiza: Web Link

Artist: Âme   Album: Âme Live  Label: Innervisions  Release Date: 03/05/2012

Artist: DJ Alfredo & Jamie  Album: Ibiza Spotlight & DJ Alfredo Present the Heritage Project   Label: Ministry of Sound  Release Date: 30/07/2012

by Martin Guttridge-Hewitt

Artist: Yousef  Album: A Product Of Your Environment  Label: Circus Recordings  Release date: September 2012 by Jordan Smith

by Martin Guttridge-Hewitt Last year in Manchester, northern England, the biennial International Festival hosted two blind Malian musicians- Amadou and Mariam- famed for invoking their African homeland with a meld of traditional music, rock, pop, and folk. The show was autobiographical, and performed in the dark, so audiences experienced first hand their lives, from childhood memories to appearances in front of tens of thousands. So what does this have to do with the first CD we’ve been offered by German legends AME, on the rightly revered Innervisions imprint? Well, not much, except for the fact that if you close your eyes tightly enough whilst listening to the first tracks on Live it’s possible to imagine Saharan landscapes as seen through a house music lens; similarly innovative sonic melds using comparatively inspired flavours, with equally impressive results. Opening with their remix of Roy Ayers’ suitably titled Tarzan AME state the intention of this release clearly from the outset; to showcase a host of archive work, here re-interpreted exclusively for this package, in an attempt to represent their live club sets. One might presume there’s little need for a review, given the fact the ingredients are so appetising on description alone, but the final tasting is perhaps better than we had hoped, so the dish warrants some detail. The aforementioned exotic theme continues through AME & Amampondo’s Ku Kanjani- wherein sounds seemingly from somewhere south of Europe merge with building, prog-edged techno, making for a surprisingly tough second number. It doesn’t take long before we’re back much closer to home though, what with Osunlade’s Envision, or rather AME’s Remix, dropping into subtle, shuffling, vocally decipherable, soulfilled four four goodness, revealing its deep organ groove and hand claps to raise the pace again, setting us up for an intelligently placed, rolling edit of Hold My Hand from UNKLE. From hereon in we could name-check just about everything on the tracklist as a highlight. D.P.O.M.B (produced by the pair with cohorts Henrik Schwarz and Dixon) is presented as a hypnotic, strained-melody filled, techy soul shuffler, exploding into its acid workout after lulling you into a false sense of downtempo. Underworld’s Crocodile is atmospheric and well timed, as is the wonderfully spine-tingling This Is Not The End. Unfortunately at that point things do finish, but there’s no stopping us playing it over again. That said, this is one of those rarities that should be saved from overkill, so do bear that in mind too.

After all, it would take a rather distracted reader not to notice there’s quite possibly a connection here. Yet approach it we must, and for good reason. Prejudice to one side the purpose of our albums of the week is to highlight what’s been on the stereo most over the last seven days: the standout releases that refuse to go away. And, given we’re currently knee deep in a hugely enjoyable summer 2012a season of partying, warm weather and positive feelings (Eurozone crisis to one side)- it’s no surprise this unarguably authentic meld of tracks has made the grade. It’s raw, and certainly very real in the way that only a chap who first inspired the likes of Paul Oakenfold and Danny Rampling, along with his learned son, could achieve. We run through various parts of the dance spectrum, whilst the overall tempo never drops, and in a way that doesn’t sit idly in the eclectic (non committal) camp, instead offering a taste of what first aroused interest in the potential for mixed, largely electronic beats. Informed by other genres, the result is unique. So Kraak & Smaak’s disco house cut Hold Back Love sidles up to the tribal party workout that is CongoFM from John Julius Knight, something of a heads down antidote to the vocal precursor, looped percussion and warm synths abound. Similarly, Harry Romero’s typically chugging, solid dancefloor aimed track, Tania, partners with Breakthrough’s neo-funk, for which we have The Backwoods to thank. It’s coherent but never dull, accessible yet surprising, and perhaps most importantly of all, uninterested in fads and trends, delivering a mix that’s timeless in the real sense of the word. The true spirit of Ibiza? Maybe. Either way it’s really very good, even if we do say so ourselves.

A Product of Your Environment opens a long way from clubland, with a gorgeous ascending piano chord progression and string harmony which could be the score to the opening scene of your next favourite movie. An Old Friend instantly commands one’s full attention – placid, nostalgic and when a high hat and clap kicks in at the halfway mark, suddenly a lot of fun. This twelve-track offering from Yousef is a very well thoughtout and well-executed project, best listened to as a whole so one can appreciate the variety of experiences it recalls and recognise certain recurring themes, for example the piano, which weaves in and out of one’s ears during this 1.2 hour aural excursion, adding a human touch to the techno. At the risk of choking on regurgitated hyperbole, I can’t help but agree with the album press release on this one. Most of these tracks stand up as quality compositions within and away from the dance floor, each building a unique and enveloping atmosphere in less time than it takes to boil an egg. For The Terraces and Had No Sleep inhabit a dim corner of a late-night dance floor, their layered dissonance and deep synths suggesting darkness and disorientation. Follower, I See, belongs under a starry night sky by the water; a melancholy, natural sounding bass repeatedly slides down a third while vocalist Charli Taft tunefully laments . . . but the hero of the song is the forlorn muted trumpet hovering at the edges of the soundscape. It’s the touches like this trumpet, or the curious classical guitar in What Is Revolution, or the return (with a vengeance) of the piano in Indigo with an uninhibited solo – it’s these touches, held together by complimentary synths and tight beats, which make this an album worth not merely dancing to, but talking about. In Fear Of Dusk is deliciously dark and closer, Dissolve, stomps out a deep and funky bassline with our old buddy grand piano making a final trilling and thrilling appearance in a satisfying display of aural symmetry. Creative instrumentation, inspiration drawn from outside the ravebox, and a great attention to detail has really set this album apart. You needn’t analyse it to within an inch of its life (I just couldn't help myself), but do give it several listens - this one’s a grower, not a shower. Long live the oft-criticised EDM album format, if it continues to produce aural delicacies like this.

C HAPTER 4

Club Content

S ECTION 1

International Music Summit

Dance Music History: IMS by Martin Guttridge-Hewitt

But then there’s really no need to rely on outside opinions, because the event is and has always been open to the public, who have the option to jump in for that closing day spectacular, which takes place at a UNESCO World Heritage site on the island, or any of the individual parties. As such everyone has the opportunity to hear some of the world’s best players and their records in the some of the most unique locations on the planet; a truly unforgettable experience, make no mistake, it’s explanation enough of why, despite its relatively short life span, the International Music Summit already deserves some recognition.

We delve into the relatively brief history of the International Music Summit Ibiza. Summer is literally just around the corner, and with it plenty of thoughts are turning to the Balearic White Island. But it’s not all about pure hedonism and endless insomnia, as the biggest event of the launch party calendar has shown a number of times already. OK, so it still involves mammoth danceathons, for example this year’s Grand Finale Festival features legends like Carl Cox and Pete Tong alongside contemporary faces such as Loco Dice, Seth Troxler, and Jamie Jones. Meanwhile, club bashes see organisations from Intec Records and Mulletover to Skiddle and EPM hosting DJs including Francois K, Martyn, Diplo, Julio Bashmore, Huxley, and Calvin Harris. All this to one side though the annual Ibiza International Music Summit has always been about providing a place for some of the industry’s key spokespeople, performers and promoters to congregate and partake in open debate and discussion, with the idea being to push things forward from the Gran Hotel Ibiza. That’s the place where Erick Morillo explained why promoters were once a little apprehensive about hosting him in their clubs, and Toddla T confessed to a panel including Annie Mac, Busy P, Heidi and Skream how his home town of Sheffield, despite its rich dance music heritage (from Warp to Gatecrasher) is actually “shit”. That such talking points have been mused over under warm sunshine on one of Europe’s most beautiful islands is, of course, a big bonus for all those involved. And the concept of a meeting of minds with such good weather is a key reason why this three-day event, originally set up in 2007 with Pete Tong one of its founding fathers, is seen by many people as a direct competitor to the longer established Miami Winter Music Conference, which takes the Florida city by storm every March. The U.S. institution welcomes some 300,000 visitors to town each year, so in contrast the Balearic variety is far smaller, but it’s also much younger (let’s not forget the first WMC welcomed no more than 80 delegates to the Fort Lauderdale Marriot back in the 80s). Clearly though there is room for both to co-exist, not least as activity Stateside has taken on a distinctly less business focused model in recent years, as such the International Music Summit has established itself as a welcome addition to the global industry calendar. Needless to say clubbers have also greeted it with open arms. In fact it’s so welcome that after the inaugural Grand Finale DJ Magazine claimed the event “could join Alfredo’s ’87 Amnesia sets and Grace Jones dancing naked in the rain at Privilege in Ibiza’s cultural history books”. That’s quite some seal of approval, if you ask us.

IMS in Summary by Hannah Davies So, we’re just back from Day 1 of the Ibiza International Music Summit at the Ibiza Gran Hotel in Ibiza Town, and can report nothing but positive things. Starting at 1pm and going on ‘til around 9pm the grounds of the hotel provided the perfect environment for the melting pot of creative talent to meet, greet and talk shop. 500 people, give or take, spent the entire time absorbing information and discussing various dance music related themes, ideas and problems all provided by the wide ranging personalities of the dance music industry elite. From Twitter to Cream’s James Barton andDanny Tenaglia – the thoughts and ideas of people were shared. Things all kicked off with a few customary sessions to happen each year, first up all the IMS partners got together and introduced the start of the conference, which if you don’t know already is quite the lineup of influential people. You have Danny Whittle (Pacha's International Brand Director),Pete Tong (DJ, radio host), Ben Turner (Pacha Magazine Editor), Mark Netto (Pacha Programming Director), and Simeon Friend (The Shop Ibiza). Then we were taken through the business report for the dance music industry, and the consumer report. The major fact to take away from the business report was that the dance music industry is worth around 4 Billion Dollars each year, a huge amount of money and growing… So, no wonder the industry is growing as there’s obviously a vast amount of business to be done and money to be made. It’s vital that brands have a viable product to sell to remain competitive and consistent in the market, and for that product to be accessible to everyone. When you have acts like the Swedish House Mafia, with their ‘Take One’ documentary, showing more sides to the SHM ‘brand’ in this manner you can broaden your appeal to a wider audience, and prolong that appeal. Essentially the problem is all about slowing this decline in interest in dance music as people get older, and I think some bold steps have and will be taken over the coming years. Will Hope the director of label relations at Spotify gave a keynote presentation on the electronic music market during the afternoon and its relationship with Spotify. How the product and market have developed and merged to form a profitable and beneficial partnership was the main focus of discussion. Spotify is a 'complete music management platform which taps into people's passions' and holds 600 million playlists, half of which all streams come from. So, with such a wide coverage, integration with Facebook, iTunes App, gapless playback and a radio show it seems that Spotify is quite the phenomenon. Appealing to the EDM market is one of their main aims and they have even introduced live albums which can be played back as if you were at the event; Armin van Buuren's A State of Trance 550 tour was delivered to Spotify this month live from Kiev, as an example.

Pete Tong gave the first keynote interview of IMS yesterday where he chatted with Cream founder James Barton about his recent sale of the brand to Live Nation. A very relaxed interview from the offset with Pete Tong's joker like manner taking the edge off rather gritty questions which were indeed the ones on every bodies lips...'why now?' and 'how much?'. James proudly stated that the timing was perfect for the brand and for him it had personally been 20 years of Cream so he saw it as an ideal time to move on and try something new.

Everyone gave top tips… Nina – 'You must love what you do, wholeheartedly.'Clark – 'Whatever you do with technology, social media etc, own your voice and your sound.' Andrea – 'Create your own unique sound. Don’t believe the hype.' James – 'Don’t be afraid to start small, a sold out show, no matter the size, is good.' Luciano – 'Believe in what you do! Go for it!' Erik – 'Continue with the progression.' Porter – 'Do precisely what it is you love. Don’t fake it.'And finally Nick – 'Be lucky!' Solid advice.

It would have been foolish for the man behind Liverpool's most renowned club night and firm Ibiza staple to have sold without considering the bigger picture, although we can imagine that the pound signs must have been hard to ignore. James Barton is definitely not a foolish business man and he has not only sold his empire for a tidy sum but the unstoppable promoter has also bagged himself a new job as the president of EDM for Live Nation.

The first day of the Ibiza IMS was rounded off in spectacular style as Ben Turner and Pete Tong took an hour to speak with dance music legend Danny Tenaglia. Danny had just recently announced he was ‘retiring’ from dance music, and obviously as a hugely influential man there was a huge amount of talk about what was going through his mind… It’s probably best for us to wait until the video of the interview is released by IMS for everyone who wasn’t there to fully appreciate his feelings on the whole thing. But suffice to say it’s been a long time coming, and is mostly down to him being tired of how the scene is today, missing his family and friends and things like that. The important thing to note is that Danny has admitted what he actually meant was that he was taking a break from the scene, with the intention of coming back with a revised method of being involved – less gigs, possibly starting a DJ school, and take things back to the days of proper club residencies and 20 hour sets. We’re in to that! It all finished with a very nice tour by Danny himself of his famous loft, and things were really upbeat by this point, so the future is looking much brighter for Danny than we all thought.

The Cream brand couldn't be discussed without mentioning Cream's great relationship with Ibiza super-club, Amnesia. James spoke of their relationship and the amount of money that they make the club, which is obviously one of the key factors to their partnership. But after 17 years on the island he confirmed that from his knowledge most people's first experience of a Cream party has been at Amnesia. Seeing Ibiza as a 'shop window' James Barton clearly acknowledges and embraces the power the White Isle has and stated that Cream 'focuses on getting the hottest DJ's and line-ups on the island rather than spend money on circus acts'. This is probably why so many people from all around the world come to experience Cream here in Ibiza. There is always some controversy surrounding the more commercial EDM acts such as David Guetta, The Swedish House Mafia and Deadmau5 but James Barton defended such artists, in particular Guetta by stating that there wouldn't be an EDM scene in the USA without such acts. As the co-promoter of Skrillex and being a firm believer that new acts are the 'life blood' of the business it will be exciting to see what he will bring to Live Nation and North America in his new position. “I'm just going to go off and be the best f***ing club promoter in the world'” - James Barton - IMS 23/05/12 This was a big panel moderated by a pretty decent Roger Federer look alike (actually Bobby Simms of Exploding Plastic). Panelists included Luciano, Andrea Oliva, Clark Warner from Beatport, Eruk Hofstater from Coca-Cola, Nick DeCosemo the Mixmag Editor, Nina Kraviz, Porter Robinson and others. Essentially an opportunity for them all to share their beliefs on how up-coming artists can break it and make it in the dance music industry.

We arrived for the second day at IMS to a surprisingly awake and fresh looking crowd of press and delegate badge holders besides the night before’s parties and here we break down the highlights of today's conferences at the Ibiza Gran Hotel. For our first conference of the second day we sat in on ‘Ibiza The year of Change’ moderated by Resident Advisor's Grego O'Halloran. The panel was packed with promoters, club directors, artists and managers all eager to discuss and breakdown the huge changes that 2012 has already seen. This summer will see many new nights land on the island, many of which are the brain children of DJ's themselves. Other events such as the 123 Festival are also a new addition to Ibiza and we are all wondering what that means for the future and how summer 2012 will differ from the last. Danny Whittle (Pacha Director), Juan Arenas (Space promoter), Pino Sagliocco (Live Nation ES promoter - 123 festival), Tom Preuss (Artist A Life and Desolat manager), Valentino Barrioseta (Amnesia media) and Yann Pissenem (Ushuaia promoter) made up the board alongside Grego for the conference.

This summer there are many new events landing on the White Isle such as Marco Carola's 'Music On' night at Amnesia every Friday and Richie Hawtin's Kehakuma collaboration with 'Enter.' which will be hosted every Thursday at Space. Aside from new nights there have also been some major changes to the party calendar with Swedish House Mafia leaving Pacha and deciding not to have a weekly residency on the island and Tiësto's move from Privilege to Pacha on Monday nights. One of the most exciting, unique and long over due events to come from the 'Year of change' is the 123 Festival and the chairman of Live Nation Spain, Pino Sagliocco discussed in great depth why it should be a welcomed change and what to expect from it. It is not everyday that Elton John meets with the world of EDM and collaborates to produce electronic remixes of some of his world famous tracks. 'I believe that on the 2nd July the world is going to see something so different in a rock star (Elton John) as they present themselves in an electronic light.' Typically the third and final day of the conferences at IMS are slightly quieter on account of people partying a little too hard at the various parties the two nights previous, and this was very much the case. That is until around the 1.45pm mark. The hours following this were some of the most inspiring hours to have ever been. Nile Rogers, of Chic fame, took to the stage armed with a seemingly endless supply of truly astounding stories throughout his life. Having recently been given the all clear from a very serious Cancer scare, Nile seemed in a joyous mood, and more than happy to recount some of the personal and amazing working situations he has been through to the packed room who genuinely hung off every single word, and guitar chord, that he gave them. Carl Cox, working towards his 50th year, brought more comedy and insight in to his world with good friend Loco Dice bouncing off each other like kids in the school yard, sharing funny stories at the expense of each other. Giorgio Moroder brought the day to a close for us, before we had to leave in preparation for the closing party that evening. It’s amazing to hear about the life he has had and the people he has worked with over his impressive and long career, but perhaps most exciting was to hear from the man himself that he has indeed been working on the next album with Daft Punk. Expect to see that at some point during 2013. Another insightful, educational and exciting IMS down.

IMS Closing Party Review by Hannah Davies After a mad few days partaking in all the IMS fun their grand finale party was finally here and last night we, along with hundreds of others, got to enjoy another unique party at Dalt Vila. Occupying the heart of Ibiza Town for a second night the International Music Summit hosted its Grand Finale Festival which had a line-up of the best of techno talent creating a great contrast to yesterdays more commercial party. Adding a bit of diversity to the evening Azari & III were booked for a live performance before the main man Carl Cox took to the stage. Friday nights party also saw Seth Troxler, Loco Dice and Pete Tong perform.

melodies and ghostly vocals which paired with the robotic graphics and a green laser show really took IMS into another realm. Finishing his set with the sound of keys creeping into a build up and ending as a mad drum interlude which finished on the tip of a drop. Carl Cox cleverly left the crowd wanting more, so it is a good thing that the vast majority of the crowd are probably seeing him at the Space opening fiesta Sunday on Sunday.

This summer the International Music Summit has had a strong focus on how house music is evolving and the revolution of EDM in America and after an array of live gigs, sets and intriguing conferences IMS has once again captivated Ibiza's spirit and provided the island with a string of events to enjoy. I wonder what IMS 2013 has in-store for us..

Arriving just in time to see happy lad Seth Troxler come onto the stage wearing his John Lennon style circular glasses, which have become his signature feature over the course of IMS, Dalt Vila was already noticeably busier than the previous nights party. It's no great surprise that the grand finale attracted an older crowd and whilst the sun was still shining the atmosphere resembled that of a festival - with the portaloo queues to match. Seth did his usual cool thing whilst behind the decks and could even be seen communicating with Loco Dice who was sorting his tracks out to this side of the booth. Both artists were clearly having a laugh and communicating through vinyl, with one holding a record up to the other in acknowledgement of it being a T-une! Next Loco Dice was welcomed by the crowd and the German DJ did a lot of dropping in on the offbeat and was passionately adoring the bass which of course made the crowd go absolutely crazy. The level of excitement and happiness in the air was infectious and everyone was dancing and having a good time. Following on from Loco Dice in a roll of the genre ball Canadian quartet Azari & III unleashed their quirky style on the audience. Wearing very flamboyant clothing the two vocalists Fritz Helder and Cedric clashed so many wrong patterns it looked right making the pair style visually mesmerising. Belting out their hit 'Hungry for the power' the band had the crowd going wild and all singing along to every word, a similar response was achieved when they performed their track 'Reckless with your love'. Finally, the moment that everyone had been waiting for... Mr Carl Cox wearing his Space tee approached the booth and arranged his headphones. Half expecting him to speak before he played, I was left wondering when we would get to hear him shout his famous words 'Oh yes, oh yes'. The global super star DJ began his set with a techno intro dropping into New Order's hit 'Blue Monday'; a little unexpected but a crowd pleaser none the less. Coxy continued with a fantastic set proving that the legend still has it in him and really is '50 years young'. A few tracks in he got on the mic and shouted 'Oh yes, oh yes IMS!', which made the crowd erupt with cheers and hunger for more music. The whole set was rich with techno beats, basslines,

S ECTION 2

Space

We Love Review: We Love Closing 2012 by James Chapman We Love has been my place of musical worship for the last 7 years worth of summer sundays. The much earned days of rest during the winter months are spent looking forward to, and waiting for, that aural variety that Mark and Sarah Broadbent offer up. I mean, there's no denying that the 2012 season has been a struggle for quite a few promoters, even for a brand as strong and well respected as We Love. With the extended season in place to attract a greater number of people to the Ibizian clubs coupled with the increased choice of quality nights island wide, the actual result has seemed to just spread the same number of people out over a longer period. It will be interesting to see if anything changes for We Love next season... That being said, of course, the We Love closing party was up there with the very best. Having written about last year's closing and comparing it to this one, it's a tough call to say which was better; but then the blurred out vague memories of the 7/8 hours I spent inside the world's best club start to fade back in to focus. Two names emerge out of the darkness in particular -James Zabiela and Modeselektor. Both presented me with some of the greatest sounds I've heard since DJ Derek picked up a microphone, and that old rasta wannabe from Bristol has got mad skills, there's no doubting. I mean, taking a quick glance over the rooms it's clear to see which caters for which crowd. The Terraza was all about your typical clubber, with some big names in there both old and new to keep people happy, whilst the Discoteca was, arguably, for the more serious music enthusiast. The kind of person that has delved deep in to the depths of Beatport and the like to source out some of the most unique, and often craziest music you'll be likely hear for a while. I'm talking Groove Armada vs Modeselektor; perhaps that puts it all into perspective for you.

came from Gernot and Sebastian, aka Modeselektor, in the form of the absolutely outstanding 'Berlin'. They certainly did their home town proud with that one. That slow beat, the synths and the vocals all combined together create something entirely unexpected. It's best described as 'unique', experience it for yourself over on YouTube. Probably best on repeat for an hour or so. Before getting in to too much detail on the main rooms of the night, it's worth giving the side rooms the shout out they deserve. There are few better places to start a party than in El Salon. Although most opt for the very coolSunset Terrace, this year hosted by Jaymo & Andy George of MODA fame, or perhaps the Premier Etage heading up by Alfredo, I find the post-midnight atmosphere in El Salon to be exactly what I want. The music was down quite low, so I went for a casual lean at that bar whilst a mini rave went off around the dj booth, with Little Boots dropping all kinds of old school rave classics. As you will know if you've read the article on 'The Wasted Heroes', designer Russell Reid sponsored El Salon, and I spotted a few of the cool t-shirt designs about throughout the night. To the music then! As you would expect a typically wide range of genres were heard. Shackleton was the first to be seen in the Discoteca - going for music that had elements of bongos and drums with a tribal feel to it, really fast paced so I suspect that kicked up the energy levels for those in attendance. Of course this was followed by the aforementioned Modeselektor. Certainly the highlight performance of the night for me as the whole setting came together very nicely, with some "Hey Bitches, you want more? OK, cool" shouts from the guys over the mic in a weird Germanchipmunk-child accent... Not sure what to say about that to be honest. Except that I liked it. Zabiela seemingly enjoyed his last We Love set of his 2012 residency, in hosting the room with his forthcoming label - Born Electric. The Groove Armada remix of Alex Jones 'Higher Level' was easily the most euphoric moment of the party, inspiring a room full of people with arms raised, all mostly due to that synth breakdown. Spine tingling stuff. Mark Henning's 'Trojan' was another track to go down well, particularly if you were standing front and centre in full view of the sub-woofer stack. Of course, Groove Armada were probably the main attraction for the night, working their way through classic acapellas we all know and love, 'Superstylin' and Nomad's 'Devotion' stick out the most. Set wise it was pretty typical from what we've seen from the boys all season; a great set, run in parallel with the laser and LED screen which they also control. Using cameras in front of the booth they can create live adaptive visuals as they wish. The sort of multitasking previously seen only in women. Both rooms were closed out by long-time We Love servants Simian Mobile Disco in the Discoteca and Paul Woolford in the Terraza, and both were still going by the time I left nearing the 8am mark. I'm slightly ashamed I didn't stick around till the end, but then it is closings time elsewhere too, and it's best I learn to pace myself. Although near enough 8 hours in any one place is still pretty decent going. Whilst I'm riding the crest of this 10th wind I'll say this; if you want to savour the flavour of Ibiza at its finest, to experience what all the fuss is about, then We Love should be your destination of choice. The party works, it evolves, it improves, and it educates. Think of it like Sunday School when you were a kid, but with a lot more bass and smiles. All hail We Love.

I won't lie, I knew very little about Modeselektor before Sunday. I spent the day casually flicking through videos and tracks of their music, before I came to this one. The recording of their live performance from Budapest this year was the perfect introduction to one of the greatest hours of music my ears have ever had the pleasure of going slightly more deaf to. Potential tune of the night

The Wasted Heroes: Russ, Circus X and We Love by James Chapman Russel Reid is the illustrator behind Liverpool's premier club night Circus, as they look towards their 10th Anniversary and Russ' involvement with the We Love closing party. Ever since acid house exploded into our minds in the mid eighties there have been events ranging from raves to club showcases all with one common goal – making sure the right people know about it happening. One of the long established ways of doing this was flyers and posters; where the right design would not only hook people in but showcase exactly what the night all about. Of course, now we live in a world where you live your life online, spending a fair portion of that life deleting event invitations to terrible parties. The flyers are all saying the same thing cheap drinks, big tunes, big names - to the point nobody even cares anymore. A club nights identity is being lost amongst a mist of mediocrity and laziness on the promoters part, and worryingly things are becoming all about the money, putting to one side the art behind it all. Thankfully, there's still a handful of people left who care about the club package as a whole; how it is perceived, what it stands for and projecting an image of quality to their paying customer - us. Some of these people are Russell Reid and the people of Circus and We Love. My friends and I have been big fans of the iconic work of Russell Reid of Wasted Heroes for a while, whose designs have been the main face of Liverpool clubnight Circus, amongst others, for the best part of a decade. He’s been responsible for the Circus X clobber that everyone from Yousef to Carl Cox has been seen sporting, with Wasted Heroes, the clothing company he is behind, having appeared on a veritable feast of Ibiza starlets such as Loco Dice, Alex Wolfenden and Ian Blevins. Growing up in the Liverpool dance music scene I've long been bombarded with the creations of Russell Reid, entirely through his work with club brands Circus and Chibuku, collecting the flyers and posters to decorate my Uni flats walls with a more pleasing visual. Seemingly taking sections of photographs and combining them cut 'n' paste style with some very striking and bold illustrations, Russell has carved out a nice little corner of the music design industry for himself. Of course, there's no doubting any amount of proficiency with scissors and glue will really help if you're an aspiring designer or illustrator yourself (or would it, Russ?) - the complixity, uniqueness and bespoke nature the designs have blown my mind and inspired a whole generation of people of the night to make their weekends all about Circus. Frankly, brands like that wouldn't be the same without the likes of Russell Reid.

Ahead of a huge weekend for Russ – he is hosting El Salon for the We Love closing party and Circus will be celebrating ten years with two huge parties in London and Liverpool. We decided to catch up with him to find out about his history of working on the island, his inspiration in design and how it feels seeing a bona fide legend like Carl Cox wearing one of his t-shirts. Your relationship with the We Love crew has been a long time in the making, you used to work at We Love back in the day, right? Yeah, when I graduated from university in 2003 I packed my bags and moved to Ibiza for the season. I had contacted We Love's Mark in advance and knew I had a job working on their PR team waiting for me. They are a great bunch of guys to work for and promoting We Love was a joy as the line ups were incredible. And the bonus was having to finish each week partying on the Space Terrace! I try to get back out most years and always go to Space to say hello. They found out I had my own t-shirt label and really liked the designs, they felt the label would fit in well with the We Love vibe and asked if I'd be interested in hosting El Salon for the closing party. It’s a great opportunity and amazing for the brand, so I jumped at the chance and really looking forward to being back out in Ibiza.

we've started photographing some of world’s biggest dj's who have played at Circus such as Carl Cox and Jamie Jones holding the X as a happy birthday tribute. We're going to carry on with this campaign throughout the birthday year and see what else we can do with the X. I guess the creative arts are a tricky industry to get involved in, with so many people I speak to wanting to be a designer of some sort, graphic, fashion and so on. What is your experience of the time from deciding what you wanted to do with your life, to where things are at today? I presume it wasn’t easy… The arts industry is not something you get involved in with the intention of making money and you do it for the love of design. If you get to work as a designer in an industry such as music that you are really passionate about then it's an added bonus. I've just been lucky enough to have a profession that gets me involved in the music industry. I also think there's an element of being in the right place at the right time. If I hadn't started working for the Circus guys doing the guest list they would never have seen my work. The best thing is to emerge yourself in the industry you want to work in and things will happen if you’re passionate enough about it. Any advice for those wanting to follow in your footsteps?

When you started out on the designer/illustrator route, did you always intend for your future to lie working with these huge clubbing institutions like We Love and Circus? I've always been involved in the clubbing industry, from DJing, working for We Love and many years working for the Circus and Chibuku guys as their guest list man. I was lucky enough to have a profession that could then fit in with this industry and it all started when Circus asked if I'd pitch for their new designer. Even in my earlier design days I'd redesign album covers and was always the guy who designed all the local dj's cd artwork. I guess I've just progressed to the next level by designing for a club as big as Circus and Yousef's album artwork. The whole Circus X celebration seems to be going well? With the merchandise and the party back at the original home in Liverpool… The circus flyers have always been pretty complex and a lot of work goes into them. For this campaign we decided to strip it right back and play with the roman numerals for 10, instead of something too obvious. It’s a great device to work with and the birthday has become known as Circus X, for both the shows in L i v e r p o o l a n d L o n d o n .  The symbols work well on all printed material, t-shirts and

Even if you don't get the chance to design in your preferred field, still embrace it and design off your own back. Send your work off to people and there are always bands or DJs would love someone to work with them and design their artwork. When it comes to the t-shirts, I knew I always had a passion for the fashion industry and that I always wanted to start a label. I just went for it and started sending my designs off to the right people, artists and DJs. It took off from there. Just how important do you think the design of flyers, posters and merchandise is within the clubbing industry? What is it role? I guess I'm biased but I think it’s very important. Clubs are printing less flyers due to the power of social networking and sending artwork digitally. People still collect flyers and they need to be present on the streets. It’s an identity to the night and I know people still get excited about seeing the latest circus flyer and pinning it on their wall. Over the last few months in particularly I’ve seen the ‘Circus X’ t-shirts pop up all over the place. How does it feel to see such prominent artists like Carl Cox wear something you’ve created?

Seeing Carl Cox wearing one of my tees was a joy. The Circus X Campaign has gone down really well and I get a real buzz seeing Yousef pictured wearing one of the tees all over the world. When he then sent me link to Coxy wearing one I was over the moon. I’ll have to try and get him in a Wasted Heroes design. Talk us through the process of creating your typical design if you could. In as much detail as you like. From what I can gather it looks like a ‘cut and paste’ job, but like 1000 times more complex! The last Circus theme was so much fun to work on. In the nicest way possible i was getting a little bored of jumping on my computer and designing a flyer. I wanted to go back to my art school roots and actually create the artwork by cutting out images and pasting it all together by hand. I then needed to somehow get these deigns onto a flyer and decided to light them up and photograph them. The results have a lot of impact and generated interesting shadows and a new depth to the artwork. Finally, who are your design heroes? I’m looking to speak to David Tazzyman of We Love fame next, clearly your styles are completely different, do you take much influence from other artists? David's work for We Love is amazing and his style of illustration fits in so well with the We Love vibe. When it comes to influences I really like what the guys from Village Green are producing for Fabric and you tell straight away it’s a Fabric flyer. I also like Kate Moross's work as she has her own distinctive style; everything from her work with Cadburys to Converse is always eye catching. But when it comes to a campaign you can't beat Peter Saville and the whole Factory Records and Hacienda catalogue. Close to thirty years on people still talk about that. What a legacy

productions, compilation CDs and, of course, the Moda parties – bigger and better than before.

website is increasingly considered an excellent go-to spot for new music.

The immense Moda network they and a small but supportive behind the scenes team have created is at once incredibly solid in its scope and quality, and yet fragile in that it relies on the unremitting passion and, equally importantly, hard work of two cheeky twenty-something-year-olds. “I mean this is all we do,” explains Jaymo, “sometimes I feel like we need to put it down for a little while. As soon as we’re finished talking or making our own music, we’re onto something else music related . . . it consumes pretty much every hour of our waking lives.” Burning the candle at both ends would be the understatement of the century, but if the pair can keep it up at this rate for another four years they’ll probably be running the Commonwealth by 2016.

The conversation weaves its way around to responsibilities, and I ask which of them is usually the one to call the cabs. Simultaneously, they answer:

“I think in today’s day and age the more strings you have to your bow is preferential” muses Andy. I ask if it’s a prerequisite to do so much, but he doesn’t assent. “No, I don’t think you have to. There are people that make a big record and it breaks through, and it may not be good but it certainly captures a moment and it sells well, so they suddenly have 10 000 fans on Facebook and that’s that. But it’s not where we’re coming from, you know, we started as promoters and DJs and producers, and that’s how we’ll end things.”

Jaymo & Andy George: Call Me Mummy by Jordan Smith In Ibiza, Jaymo and Andy George are just two young guys with a residency in the Sunset Terrace for We Love Space. They come, they play, they party, and they seem pretty happy to keep it that way for now. They like Ibiza to feel like a holiday for them, because back home in England– they are building an empire. While the rest of us were paying for beer in coppers and wondering how to avoid an office job, Jaymo and Andy George were changing their lives. It started in 2008 with their club night called Moda, from which a Radio 1 Essential Mix was recorded, leading to a radio slot filling in for Pete Tong and Radio 1’s affectionate adoption of the then fledgling duo. In the space of four years the Moda project has also flourished into a doubled-branched label (Moda and Moda Black) releasing a quality selection of dance acts, DJ residencies at Fabric London and Space Ibiza (just to name the heavyweights), original

The lads certainly know what they like and what they don’t when it comes to music (for example, I have it on record they would rather sniff glue than watch Avicii play and, as Jaymo diplomatically put it, “if you don’t like disco, you’re not fucking human”). What is interesting, however, is that the amount of energy they put into promoting other people’s music would be a lot even for a well established artist, let alone such new faces in the industry, who you’d expect to just be concentrating on their own brand. I ask them to explain their obsessive compulsion to share all the music they like… “We had a lot of help as we were breaking through and I think we just want to give it back,” says Andy. “A lot of people that are making records, especially that we’ve released on Moda Black, are people that a) are our friends b) that we really want to work with or that we really believe in. We wouldn’t just sign a record cause it’s a big dance floor hit. We always try to get to know everyone that we sign and vice versa.”

Andy: Me.  Jaymo: Our girlfriends. >An awkward pause< Andy: No I’m probably the mummy  Jaymo: This is weird.  >laughs<  Jaymo: Do you want me to call you mummy, is that how it is?  Andy: Don’t pretend you haven’t done it before. Err… ok boys. A couple of tumbleweeds trot past while I think of how to move the conversation on to something less creepy, finally settling on their relationship with We Love – which proves to be characterised by an almost Disney-like level of idealism. “We spent a lot of time at We Love Space before we played there,” explains Andy. “We feel we know the room quite well and how We Love in general feels. Although we’ve continued to come all the way through our career, things change and your expectations change and what you think about the music changes. It almost means more now because we understand everything that’s gone into it. But we’ve always appreciated We Love Space - it’s been kind of a stalwart that we’d always go to on Sunday nights. [When we play] we choose music very specific to Space, because of the way that room works.” “It’s partly because we’re playing from 10 ‘til 12,” Jaymo adds. “It’s an earlier set and it’s not like we’re compromising at all – if anything it’s releasing certain boundaries. You know, we’re playing Prince records and stuff like that that we would never play from 2 ‘til 4.” “Also there’s something special about the Sunset Terrace,” Andy continues.“It’s quite different to a lot of the rooms in Ibiza, so we definitely pick records that are just for that space.”

“Arguably it’s one of our downfalls that we don’t do that,” Jaymo adds. “That we’re not necessarily really self-promoting all the time when perhaps we should be putting more effort into that . . . but it feels self absorbed to be talking about your own music all the time and playing loads of your own records . . . so we end up talking about loads of different people’s.” No doubt the pair must also recognize that promoting others is an important aspect of their own brand – their radio stints and Moda

Carl Cox Closing Review by James Chapman

ready spoken about the earlier discoteca sessions, but late on it was one of those never ending "this is a tuuune!" moments. 'The Tide' and 'Shake and Pop' were favourites - not new, but a sure fire way of grabbing a rooms attention.

As I write this I'm listening to 'Dry Your Eyes Mate' by The Streets, crying my eyes out. How has the season gone so fast? What happened? Did I have enough fun? When can I be reunited with Coxy in Space!?

So, back to the tears it is for me, as we have to wait until next season, a good 6 or 7 months away, to see the return of Carl Cox and the Revolution parties in whatever form they come back in. Already counting down the days.

Carl Cox

These are all valid questions that I suspect many a clubber in some kind of weakened mental and physical state asked themselves as they fell out of Space at some point on Wednesday morning. With so many more good parties around this season, I fear I've neglected Coxy and the crew at Safehouse Management a little, although I'd like to think I made up for it a little on Tuesday night. The closing lineup has remained similar for a few years now, with the likes of Sneak, Yousef, and Dice in particular regularly featuring at both the party and in my 'top 5 DJ's to technostomp to' list - not as official as say the Top 100 DJ's list that is so expertly compiled, but I'd certainly like to think it's more credible. After witnessing Carl Cox and Loco Dice interview each other at the IMS in May, it's pretty clear they have a very relaxed relationship both on and off the decks. It's tough to pick out highlights when presented with a lineup like this, but obviously the Cox and Dice back-to-back session to close out the Discoteca came top. They take that friendly attitude towards each other that you see in the video (link above) and bring it all - banter included - to the party. Feeding off each other, vibing, and perhaps trying to go one better than one another with each track, the guys end up throwing together old and new tracks to celebrate what has been another fine season at Space. Keeping true to form with Coxy's love of playing funk and soul at his Sands parties, the classic 1987 track Joe Smooth 'Promised Land' was dropped at around the 8:30am mark as the last track and inevitably sent those still able into a state of euphoria. Earlier on though and the discoteca was rammed and raving from the off, with Coxy dropping Jon Rundell's 'Dalston Sunrise' from the Revival EP, released in July mongst others, as Jon Rundell himself was mastering the Terraza room. Followed at the half two mark by scouse resident Yousef, with his trademark elbows-raised-messing-with-the-effects style, that is always so apparent when he's enjoying himself. Sporting his 'Circus X' tshirt in celebration of 10 years of his own Liverpool based party, Yousef took things up a notch by dropping some tracks of his soon to be released second artist album, followed DJ Sneak with one of the tunes of the season 'I Get Deep'. A shame really to have come back to the Terraza at roughly the 6am mark to find the room closed, but with Loco Dice and Carl Cox handling things very nicely, all was not lost. I've al-

ENTER. Review: ENTER. vs Cadenza by Hannah Davies With the mysterious '?' littering billboards and poster-ridden walls over the island for a good week or so, the day had finally arrived to experience the ENTER. Vs Cadenza double-header and to finally find out who these '?' figures on the line-ups would actually be... OK, so let's not play dumb, we all kind of knew that it would be 'Luciano Vs Richie' and vice-versa but playing along with the idea was fun all the same and it was little to no surprise to see that thousands of others wanted to be in on the action too. Arriving at Ushuaïa for the first installment of the evening's fun, the hour long queue was not yet a deterrent as I spent the vast majority of this time people watching and quite enjoyed witnessing the numerous senoritas attempting to battle the 'impractical footwear meets challenging flooring' predicament which they found themselves in. Eventually I made it into the ram packed, hot and buzzing poolside area as Unstable Witness by Gaiser played on; just in time for the long awaited b2b set from the two main boys themselves, Luciano and Hawtin I made my move to get into dancing position. Having to adopt the crowd wiggle - which I have become quite accustomed to I made my way to the side of the stage to take in the sheer scale of the duo's popularity.

This time, however, the queue was proving to be a bit of a deterrent and I battled with the overwhelming urge to indulge in more Cadenza meets ENTER. fun and the almost as appealing option to return to the comfort of my humble abode. True to form, I stuck it out and was soon amongst a mass of elbow shovers (but the friend list kind) and after a short period of crazy woman syndrome I was happily shoulder grooving with my fellow clubbers in the heaving Discoteca. I was quickly pulled back into musical delirium by pumping techno which was riddled with the explosive basslines that we all love Richie for and spiced up with shots of melody courtesy of Luciano; there was no escaping the dark foot-stomping vacuum which was sucking me in.

With melodic synthlines and riffs slicing up the continuous Hawtin bassline, Luciano was constantly clapping beside his new booth companion as the battle of house and techno continued. For me, Space's dance-floor was where the pair got into full swing and really splurged their own styles into the room and together created their solid world of musical euphoria. As Luciano's greatly loved trumpets and horns sounded over Richie's dark and gripping basslines the party went from strength to strength and the love and admiration from the crowd was almost touchable serving the duo well as an energy source to keep them giving the best of what they've got. Although I doubt we'll be seeing Hawtin adopt a pink highlight in his hair anytime soon, it was great to experience the pair's friendship as well as enjoying all their musical offerings. The double-header was not only a great idea but now in hindsight it seems like a long overdue one. Now that two of the island's biggest names have done it I wonder how many more will follow suit? I for one look forward to seeing the possibilities that this innovative party union may bring us.

To the backdrop of psychedelic jelly fish pulsing to the beat, Luciano and Richie provided the adoring crowd with a nice set which fused Luciano's style together with Hawtin's more dominant sounds. Although it would have been nicer to have heard a bit more of Luciano's groove, there was no denying that Richie Hawtin's powerful techno was eating up the dance-floor as the world's of Cadenza and ENTER. met for the first time. Overall the meeting was a harmonious one of rolling basslines, droney riffs, high pitched bursts of sounds, ghostly choirs and tribal synths. ENTER.'s presence was embraced even further with sci-fi sounds, computer keys and space graphics which splashed a bit of Richie's love for technology and all that's advanced across the venue. So, after partying away with the pair who happily shared a booth bromance over mojitos and their passion for music as tracks like Carlo Lio's Keep Grooving filled the air, I was looking forward to how the party would transfer to the other side of the road and land at Richie's home, Space. Luciano went on to close the night with the now pretty well-known but still unreleased track which is full of keys and cheer and has been made famous by him alone this summer - such a mysterious man! Now the time had come for me to tackle queue two...

Review: ENTER. Marathon, 30th August by Jordan Smith Soldiering through together from 8pm to 8am... I can't think of a better way to spend 12 hours. My Enter. marathon began in a small, sweaty room . . . and ended in a very large, sweaty room. Our night started early, the Spotlight clubbing team all heading toIbiza Global Radio for the one-hour ENTER. radio show, recorded between 8 and 9pm. Entertainment for this kick-start to the evening was provided by Barem, who would later play the Terraza for ENTER. proper. The room was like a sauna and we all stood around a little awkwardly at first, watching sweat beads form on each other’s foreheads or quietly stashing free magazines in our bags. But once the beats got rolling and Richie Hawtin set the sake and hierbas flowing everybody loosened up and had a solid pre-rave rave. By the time Barem finished up on the Josh Wink classic, Don’t Laugh(which popped up again later in his set on the Terazza), it felt like a mini houseparty, with people crowded around the decks, perched on couches, taking snaps of each other and knocking over their drinks (it was nearly empty, I swear). It was a great little start to a night that was about to get a whole lot bigger…

inaccessible style had reduced the Terazza dance floor to an awkward smattering. It was a shame, because I thought it was an excellent and innovative set that deserved a bigger audience. I stuck it out, as did some other discerning clubbers and slowly but surely Flugel won the floor back. His clunking, determined basslines and weird sci-fi warbles got steadily more upbeat, peaking at the Redshape tune Throw In Dirt, where even the smallest of vocals samples had a huge impact after almost an hour and a half of purely instrumental tracks. Barem was back to follow this, with an infinitely more conservative but nonetheless enjoyable tech house set, which I left around the halfway point, finally succumbing to the pull of Hawtin in the mainroom (spotted Stacey Pullen and Solomun on their way there as well!). Although still hammering it when I arrived, Hawtin used the final hour of his set to pair things back and gradually knock the BPM down in order to create a smooth transition for the act to follow. Soon enough 4am rolled around, heralding the event that I’d been quietly having kittens in anticipation for all night. After no less than a decade separation from the club, Sven Vath was returning to Space. I don’t want to be melodramatic or anything, but it felt like the return of the king.

Only novices and heroin addicts party on an empty stomach, so after the radio show we stopped to ram some Playa D’en Bossa pizza down our gullets before heading to ENTER. preparty number two with Nina Kraviz taking over Space’s El Salon. We arrived at 11 and Kraviz was already gunning for it; I had a growing feeling this night was only going to escalate. In classic Kraviz fashion, just when things were at their most alienating acidy tech she’d drop the funkiest beat that you just had to groove to, and nothing could feel more human. A highlight was Kraviz’s own tune, Ghetto Kraviz, which she snuck in just before some momentarily baffling h20 droplets started falling from the sky; three months in Ibiza and I’d forgotten what rain felt like.

He was brilliant – weaving together a seamless collection of techno ‘best of,’ smoothly transitioning between relentlessly driving, to deep, epic and atmospheric, to inescapably funky hi hat sessions. Like a human lasso, once Vath got swinging there was no escape from the dance floor, some highlights including Lee Curtis’ kinky little number I Can Make Your Body Twitch and the manic offering from Matador - Kingswing. The energy in the room was electric, with loads of ‘crowd bonding’ moments like an impromptu sit down around the 5:30 mark – the complete antithesis of the cheesy kind of sit downs that start with certain DJs (you know who you are) bellowing into the microphone, “Alright we’re gonna try something different here….”

Deep, deep things were going on in the Terraza, led by the eccentric high school music teacher (or so we like to imagine him) Roman Flugel. The room was busy, but doors to Discoteca were about to open, and revelers would soon pour in to check out the man behind the inescapable black spot (which, incidentally, signals one's impending doom in pirate folklore – I wonder if Richie already knew that). Tellingly, the huge discoteca was already packed by 12.30; Hawtin was doing his thing and it was great, but in all honesty being there amongst the strobes so early kind of freaked me out. I retired once more to the Terazza.

As the morning drew on Vath moved away from the headexploding drops to something lighter and more progressive, for example Sol, by Uner, and from there things cooled down even further, as we delved into the weird and wonderful world of ‘7am Sven’ with tracks like Benoit and Sergio’s Let Me Count The Ways. Then, ever so subtly, without anyone quite noticing he was doing it until the chorus, Vath snuck in Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody. We all clapped, we all danced, and the brighter the house lights got the louder we all sang. And just when we were all thinking how could you possibly follow that, surely this is the end, that oh-sofamiliar Stardust riff rang out – Music Sounds Better With You. And this time, literally everyone sang. Hawtin was hugging Väth, Väth was hugging Hawtin, I was hugging the nearest human . . . There simply aren’t enough superlatives in the world to capture last night; it was one of the special ones.

By the time I got back to Roman Flugel, he had all but cleared the dance floor. A combination of Hawtin cranking up and opening the main room, and Roman’s eccentric and probably quite

Be Review: Be at Space, 5th September by Hannah Davies The time was finally upon us and our DJ Competition winner Steve Toombs was minutes away from starting his warm up set for Space's midweek party, Be. We caught up with the man himself minutes before he made way to centre stage to find out how it feels to be playing Space.

I joined the forums. So, when I saw that competition I thought let's give it a go... kind of lucky I guess. I am of course super stoked you and Space liked my set so let's go! The time had now come to party... Making the way for the likes of Sister Bliss and Mark Knight, Steve began his hour long set on the strike of midnight and as he blended from track to track the Terrace filled up with a crowd of hungry music lovers all ready to feel his beats.

Playing Funky Fat & Digitaria's track 'You bring me down' Steve enticed the early evening clubbers into la Terraza from the Sunset terrace and soon had the room bouncing and it was far busier than I had expected. Playing a strong set of mainly tech house he worked in lots of upbeat tracks featuring vocals, stomping basslines, groovy melodies and tribal synths; together creating the perfect warm up set. A warm up set - although not always considered as one of the most important slots of the night, focuses on setting the party's vibe and ensuring that mood is right so it doesn't get much bigger than that and Steve did a great job at getting the party started.

Hi Steve, how nervous are you ahead of your gig? Well, when you guys first told me that I had won the competition I was extremely nervous and have been until I touched down here in Ibiza. Now though it has all turned into excitement and I can't wait for it. I mean, it's any DJ's dream to play Space, and to get the chance to play la Terraza is just amazing! Have you prepared yourself any differently for this gig in comparison to others? No, I haven't really. I don't usually tend to plan my sets far in advance. I very much play for the moment, it's all about crowd reaction. We still don't know that much about Steve Toombs... Have you DJ'd a lot recently? No, to be honest, I haven't. I actually stopped playing out live for a couple of years and I've just recently re-found my love for it. I have done some small gigs in bars around London and stuff like that, but... That leads us to the next question - What has been your biggest gig so far? The biggest gig that I've ever played was around ten years ago when I went on holiday to Florida. At the time I used to play trance and someone I know who's based there asked me if I'd like to play at a party there. There were about 700 people and the people there, who back then still didn't know much about the electronic music scene, went bonkers. It was fantastic! But still, I'm sure that's going to be nothing compared to the gig I'm about to play now!

Playing through a great selection of tracks such as; 'Trojan' Mark Henning, 'All that matters' - Kölsch ft. Troels Abrahamsen, 'After the after' - Joris Voorn Vs. Moby, 'Sunshine' - Tomaz Vs, Filterheadz and finally finishing on deep and soulful track 'The Same thing' by Baunz which beautifully combines harmonic vocals with those gripping basslines we all know and love. The crowd and I could literally feel Steve's excitement and he delivered his set in a knowledgeable and precise manner and by the end of his hour I have to say it was a shame to see him wrapping up his headphones. but big thumbs up to our competition for a blinding set... bravo! Now with Steve enjoying a well deserved drink the party continued with the fire bomb known as Sister Bliss. Never in my life have I seen someone flick switches, select tracks and bounce so fiercely behind the decks as this woman but her passion and style was most definitely infectious if not the tiniest bit scary. Continuing the tech house sound she dropped Noir & Haze's sexy record 'Around' which flirted its way over the dance-floor as did The Oliver who Factory's track 'I can see' which oozes a certain old school charisma. Sister Bliss showed her passion for tech house which held its own groove whilst working with rolling basslines and strong percussion. So, after a fantastic warm up set from our man of the night, Steve Toombs and a sexy performance from the lady in leather, Sister Bliss the terrace was more than ready to welcome Mark Knight and although it would have been great to see Steve play on until the early hours Sister Bliss's silver fox of a Father-in-law now had my attention with his equally as fierce dance-moves.

One last question and then it's off to the DJ booth for you, how did you find out about our DJ competition? Well, I was simply doing a search online because I was about to book my Ibiza holiday and because I was also doing a search which involved Space your competition popped up! I have know your website for years already and a few years ago

Beat & Raw Review: Cypress Hill, 6th July by James Chapman Promises of making this gig an annual thing can only be a good thing. There are many amongst the Ibiza faithful (although typically the younger crowd) who hate the idea of acts like Snoop Dog, 50 Cent and now Cypress Hill having a presence on the island of Ibiza. Call them the purists or whatever, but in my opinion there is more to the island than dance music. This island should be for all music, not just dance music. Events like Beat & Raw offer something out of the ordinary, and that's good, right? Well, I'll agree not always, not all alternative music has worked on this island in the past, and not all will work in the

future. But Cypress Hill, live, at Space, to a predominantly Spanish crowd worked! And if it's all an experiment then I'll happily be a part of it. The group rap between the lines of English and Spanish in their tracks, all with a heavy underlying message of getting high and having all the fun. Which I have reason to suspect all of the Cypress Hill posse were in full compliance with as they shouted, "are you high right now!? Me too!", shortly followed by the track 'Cisco Kid' with it's weed smoking lyrical focus. Not that we agree with that sort of thing, of course. There were some real classics in there, with 'Dr Greenthumb', 'I Ain't Goin Out Like That', and probably the most anticipated track of the night 'Insane In The Membrane' all pounding out to the packed out Discoteca. But it was cool to hear for the first time (for me at least) some new tracks from Cypress Hill.

Clearly intent on keeping their music current, they have joined up with Rusko on a new EP titled 'Cypress X Rusko' to lay down some bass heavy dubstep tracks, one of which was a monster called 'Shots Go Off' (out on 28th June), and then unleashing the obviously Rage Against The Machine influenced 'Rise Up', with Tom Morello the man to thank for that one. One of the best thing to take away from this gig though, blippity-blippity-blap raps aside, is the promise from the boys to make the gig in Ibiza an annual thing. At first mention I passed it off as some in the moment promise, but after saying it a good two or three times more I think we can all look forward to at least one quality hip-hop night next season, and the season after that. "It's our first ever time in Ibiza. It's beautiful here! We're gonna' do this show every year!". There you have it.

Review: Temper Trap, 24th August by James Chapman After taking over the Friday night spot from Come Together this season, Beat & Raw has certainly continued on in a similar format, creating a mix between electronic and live music. Honestly, I'm not all that clued up on some of the DJ's that play these parties, but then this in-house produced party is certainly aimed at the Spanish crowd, which was reflected in the crowd at the event, and so I don't feel so bad.

not heard before - the typically epic 'Trembling Hands' - coming as a welcome introduction to the gig within the first few tracks. People know I'm a huge advocate of live music on the island, more the merrier I say, especially if it's from bands such as The Temper Trap. Finishing with 'Sweet Disposition' was, if you'll excuse the pun, a very sweet way to finish the night indeed.

It had been a great night of live music so far with me taking a trip to see Katy B at We Are Rockstars, then some loud noises for the San An fireworks inbetween, before finally arriving at Space for what I hoped would be a top class gig. Now, you don't get many of these, particularly at Space, and I'm still not 100% convinced the discoteca works as a live music venue. But, it has to be said the The Temper Trap boys looked cool shrouded in smoke and glowing in golden light up on the stage, and honestly, it would be nigh on impossible to point out any note, beat, key and flick of a guitar string that was out of place. If you want to know what the gig was like, stick their 2009 album 'Conditions' on, sit back, relax, switch a yellow light on and find a way to fill the room with smoke, and then just stare at a poster of them on the wall - boom, thats the gig. Pitch perfect, smoky and golden. Ok, that might sound weird now I read that back, but you get the idea. Feel free anyway, but best you keep it to yourself (or go to one of their gigs). Dougy Mandagi and the boys of The Temper Trap stated it was their first time in Ibiza, as was the case withCypress Hill when they played a few weeks back, but promised it wouldn't be their last. I really hope that is the case, as with all bands that have played on the island. The discoteca may not have been packed, which is a sign of the times as the island adjusts through this transitional period of over reliance on electronic music to entertain the island, but it was clearly enough for both the crowd and the band to really enjoy. Dougy sported some pretty cool dance moves, clearly of tribal influence, whilst Jonathon Aherne on bass was somewhere between making love and doing the tango with his instrument. Whatever was going through their minds they were absolutely loving it, and that always passes on to those watching them perform. The guys flew through many of their tracks, some of which I'm really surprised didn't do better commercially, but favourites such as 'Sweet Dispositon' (the highest charted of all of TT's singles), 'Soldier On', 'Fader' and 'Love Lost' are all beautiful amazing harmonies with euphoria on a grand scale. But tracks from their self titles 'The Temper Trap' album, released this year, also saw the golden light of the discoteca, with one I'd

Space Closing 2012 Review: Space Closing Fiesta 2012 by Hannah, Jordan & James James: Such is the magnitude of closing weekend with Privilege, Ushuaïa, Amnesia and Space closings one after the other that I pretty much fell into Space at some point around the 7pm mark. Honestly, I was pretty much running on fumes at this point, yearning for a slightly longer taxi ride from San Antonio so I could sleep a bit more. Alas, the pace had long been set at 'full speed' and lets be honest, if there is to be one party that has all the ingredients to pick you up in to party mode again it's the Space Closing Fiesta. The early hours are, of course, all about the Flight Area, sponsored once again by Ultra (Ultra Music Festival), whereby the car park to the rear of the club is transformed into what could easily have been a purpose built clubbing space. The main stage seems to become more and more impressive each year I go, with the design and lighting becoming progressively bolder. Clearly some effort had been put in to the design of the DJ booth, with some entirely unique graphics flashing across the huge LED screens - often resembling the Terminator. The look on a good portion of peoples faces was that of confusion, excitement or emotion only seen after a good few days of nonstop partying. I felt for them, bless them, I could only hope they made it through the whole night... With long serving Space resident Remo warming things up for two of the most loved DJs of more recent years - Joris Voorn & Nic Fanciulli B2B - things kicked off pretty quickly. There was no time to chill or relax, simply straight to the front, down my drink and savour the sounds of one of the most unexpected musical moments of the season. I'm talking about a Joris Voorn remix of a Swedish House Mafia track. So shocked was I at what tune I was hearing that I had to check it on iPhone music app Shazam to be sure - three times! 'Don't You Worry Child' is a commercial dance music hit, of which there have been many this season, but in its stripped back form, minus the vocal, and a deeper bassline, the track is great. Fair play to you Mr Voorn. Following Joris and Nic we had another B2B session from Carlo Lio & Dubfire, taking things on a slightly tougher route, but not all that different in style to the previous set. At only around the 10pm mark we were already well within 'DC10 sitdown' mode, with at least one or two moments occurring that I can recall. Yes, admittedly it is slightly over done now, but the moments like this are still cool. At the very least it's the perfect excuse to sit down and rest your feet for a minute, eh?

Before Carl Cox took his turn, I had chance to have a quick scout about the rest of the rooms before they packed out at the midnight - 2am mark with the car park closing. 17 year old Spanish wonderkid Danny Avila has had a big season, with residencies across Space and Blue Marlin to show for his efforts. In a brief few minutes in the Sunset Terrace with him he rolled his way through several classic tracks like 'Beachball' and 'Rhythm of Life' thrown in with that track (Gotye... **shudder**). Huge crowd pleasers, clearly, but he knows what the crowd want from him and he delivers. Over in La Terraza, Saytek was kicking off proceedings with his full live set. Rolling with a classic Roland 909 drum machine and a plethora of other part analogue, part digital components, Joseph Keevil did a fine job in what was certainly not one of the easier set times to have. With just enough time to sample Nina Kraviz over in the Discoteca I parked up behind the booth to just take in the attitude she brings to her performance. Honestly, I'm not as much of a fan of her as a lot of other people seem to be, but there's no denying she's a cool kid and knows her music. The room was far from busy, but those in attendance were loving it. My last stint of having to pay attention to what was going on around me came with Space legend Carl Cox. Of course, there were the obligatory "Space!", "Oh yes, oh yes" and "Fantastic, faaaantastic" shout outs from the guy, which will honestly never get old for me. But, interlaced with current and absolute classic tracks that we have all come to expect from Coxy it felt as if the entire crowd had turned up to see him play until the new later finishing time of 2am, officially this time round anyway.

night. It seems there were no rules to this set, the pair was throwing everything and anything at us, from old classics like Lil Louis’ 'French Kiss', to recent gems like Emannuel Satie’s 'Old School Is The New School' and Joris Voorn’s own mildly controversial remix of Swedish House Mafia’s 'Don’t You Worry Child'. Jury is still out on this one, but it popped up a few times that night and is worth a second mention. Later in the Discoteca, Matador played a more straightforward banging techno set, which was perfectly suited to the dark and aggressive flashing lighting of the main room. I only caught the first half however, as I, like most workers who have been here since the start of the season, was in a rather silly mood and strayed in search of adventure, ending up trying to kick down solid doors backstage with Magda … sorry Space, no harm done, eh? My wanderings eventually took me into El Salon, where a small but dedicated troop of clubbers was having an epic disco rave with Paul Reynolds chucking out funky classic after classic. The atmosphere in this little room was hilarious, and boogying down to Chic 'I Want Your Love' with a smattering of other weirdos was probably the highlight of an already great night –closings are full of little surprises like that. Hannah: With the crowd firmly instated into the Discoteca the man of the season, Richie Hawtin took centre stage where he began to play on the cusp of tech house and techno with tracks like Enfants Malins & Haze-M - 'Sweet Heart' (Juliy (Italy) Remix) easing the euphoriant crowd into his forthcoming techno realm. Rolling percussion flowed through the tracks later to be embraced by a fierce pumping bass bringing the shuffling sounds of drums into a new rhythm.

Jordan: My record begins at the traditionally tricky part of Space Closing, when the Flight Area closes and a huge car park full of people all try to squish themselves into an already busy club and for the first few hours everybody is getting to know each other a little more intimately than anybody would quite like… That’s the tradition anyway, but in a pleasant twist of fate it simply wasn’t the case this time. None of the major club closings this year has been as busy as usual and whilst club owner and promoters might be grumbling, for the average clubber it has been a blessing. Instead of the usual two hour squeeze-a-thon to get to the bog or otherwise, we were able to move reasonably freely around the familiar dark caves of our beloved Space and flail upon the dance floor at our leisure, but still with enough people for a great atmosphere and full room. Most of my time from this point was spent in the Terazza, with Joris Voornand Nick Fanciulli providing a most excellent soundtrack and festive company, energetically bouncing off each other as they played back to back for the second time that

Richie's set continuously took the room to the edge of a drop, teasing excitement from clubbers until it arrived and landed everyone into his futuristic world. Featuring a lot of poignant drums which escalated loud echoes of a marching band. With claps, teasing electronic rewinds noises and deep droany vocals he kept his famous rolling bassline alive throughout the 3 hour set. Playing a recent favourite unreleased track - Séjon - Unknown Entity, Richie worked the crowd keeping the atmosphere adrenaline fuelled and fresh. Joined by an excitable Danny Tenaglia who adopted a crazy gnome-like bounce next to Hawtin in the booth the party really came together as one, creating a seamless path from the dance-floor. You could feel that this party was not like any other and that it was the letting go of a revolutionary summer season for techno and its musical brothers. It was great to not only be experiencing gripping sounds but also to visually see artists such as Hawtin playing for the moment, one last time.

S ECTION 3

Amnesia

have witnessed a new resident for next year, Cream is always one for supporting rising talent after all. Indie looking kid Burns took over next from 1:30am, almost instantly blowing the roof off the terrace with that 'You've Got The Love' track. Queue every single girl and boy screaming their head off! But things kicked off proper in the Main Room with Gareth Emery, playing one of the more stereotypically euphoric trance sets I've heard from him this season. Darude's old 1999 classic 'Sandstorm' set the tone for the next hour or so, with things peaking with one of the trance tunes of the season (having been heard at Cream and ASOT in equal amounts) 'Concrete Angel', a creation of Gareth himself. This was the sort of trance I fell in love with when I was like 18 years old - some nice vocals and beautiful synths culminating in one of those unavoidable 5 minute long grins. Followed shortly by the need to just burst in to tears of pure joy. Or was that just me? Man... it's been a long season... Gareth had brought along his own LED foam batons, adorned with the Cream logo alongside his name, with several hundred thrown out for the crowd to enjoy. It added quite nicely to the already excitable atmosphere, and they stuck around for the rest of the night in both rooms.

Cream Review: Cream Closing Party, 20th September by James Chapman Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Cream Crackered. For those of you who don't understand the title of this article, Cream Crackered is Cockney rhyming slang for knackered. For those that still don't understand, Cockney is the language of the street kids of London, and knackered means tired. It's clever; let's just leave it at that. So, with that all explained then, on with the review. 15 parties down and I really do feel shattered, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d say I've been to at least half of them and there is no doubting 2012 has been the biggest season for the Cream crew yet. Seeing that 'sold out' sign above the main entrance on so many occasions, and so early on in the night too, points to just how popular Cream as a brand still is. I mean it's not even that its 'still' popular, certainly on the island things are getting bigger and better each year, and last night was definitely the positive end all involved will have wanted. But before I get ahead of myself, this year the closing party kicked off at 5pm in the San Antonio harbour as Paul Van Dyk donned his Captain's outfit for the 'Such A Feeling' Sunset Cruise - all in aid of the Red Cross charity - but essentially just a good excuse to start the party a few hours early I think. With the cork safely removed from the bottle of Moet in the expertly cordoned off VIP area (just a taped off section filled with booze), PvD launched into an entirely different set than I would hear later on at Amnesia. From Stardust's 'Music Sounds Better With You', his own 'For An Angel' (although a live breaks edit), Proculture's 'Sun Gone Down' and the ultimate Underworld 'Born Slippy', we heard it all and over an extended 3 hour long set too, and it was a cool Ibiza moment seeing Paul shoot out from the booth to join people in a proper rave! With sufficient time to refresh (recover) between the boat and main party, I arrived at the 1am mark feeling surprisingly in the game. Seeing Liverpool lass Billie Clement warming up the Terrace, for what I think is her first appearance at the club, was a cool start to the night - perhaps we could

Headliner Paul Van Dyk took the main room after Gareth to launch into the mostly live set he now performs at each Cream gig. With keyboards, laptops, mixers, samplers and effects units lined up in front of him, Paul took command for a second time that night. With his relationship with the legendary main room lighting technician so solid, both fed off each other, creating a musical and visual show that was worthy of the closing. Again, it was pretty much music to cry to as the true Cream classic Three Drives 'Greece 2000' poured out of the impressive V-Prof soundsystem. Of course the whole combination of people knowing this was the last party of the year, the lasers, the famous ice cannon, confetti, dancers (less that flexing guy... save it for Matinee) and tracks like Paul Van Dyk's very own remix of Hurts 'Sunday', which has so many similar elements to 'For An Angel' and was therefore always going to be a hit, ensured this was one of the best main room trance sessions I've heard. Taking things down a few notches BPM wise, Calvin Harris had pretty much every set of arms raised in the terrace - even the glass collectors, although in fairness they were carrying crates of empty glasses and bottles. In true Calvin style though it was hit after hit of both his own tracks and those that are so adored amongst the Calvin/Guetta/SHM circle. There's no denying you rarely see a crowd go quite so crazy as when tracks like Calvin's 'I'm Not Alone', 'Bounce', and SHM's 'Save The World' get dropped. It surprises me that the crowd cheer so late on in these tracks, knowing exactly what it is 2 seconds in, but they absolutely roared! Crazy atmosphere, and even though we all know it isn't my thing, I must admit I found it quite infectious... Fair play to them. Benny Benassi now had the relatively daunting honour of following Calvin, but true to his style and experience, handled it easily. The Italian has been doing his thing for a while now, but still looked proper chuffed to be there, which was cool. Enthusiastically dancing about the booth and egging on the crowd on the mic, Benny tore through some great tracks, with Eric Prydz remix of Depeche's Mode's 'Personal Jesus' standing out above all. That vocal grabs me every time, and Prydz remix is one of his best creations in my opinion. All well then as Eric Prydz was in fact in attendance for much of the evening, lending me to think we could once again see his return to the Cream in a more regular capacity next year, particularly after so willingly standing in on a couple of occasions this season. Great news if so! Closing out the rooms we had residents James Dutton and Josh Demello in the terrace, and Adam Sheridan in the main room. I left the club as Digitalism's beautiful 'Zdarlight' played out in terrace... I remember thinking 'ah, Zdarlight to the starlight!', or something. What a horribly cheesy line that would have been to put in the review.

Anyway, everything now rolls nicely back to their spiritual home in Liverpool's Nation as the winter clubbing season kicks off with two monstrous events. Celebrating 20 years of anything is no mean feat, I remember being particularly chuffed and surprised about making it to my 20th birthday, the only people I've know for 20 years are my family, and even then I haven't got a clue what happened during the first 20+ years of a near 27 year existence. So kudos to you lot Cream, I wonder what the party will be like in another 20 years?Review: BBC Radio 1 & Cream at Privilege, 4th August Review: Cream and BBC Radio 1 at Privilege, 4th August by Hannah Davies Busy Busy Cream... Last night saw famous party brand Cream and the biggest show to hit UK airwaves, BBC Radio 1, bring together some of the most renowned names in electronic dance music - and all under one pretty big roof. As part of the BBC Radio 1 Weekend Privilege played host to the second installment of fun since Friday's free party at Ushuaïa Beach Hotel and boy did the crowd come marching in... Party pen for the official capacity of around 10,000 people, Privilege was filled to the brim with holiday makers keen to be involved in one of the most legendary and talked about weekends in the dance music calendar. Cream favourites Gareth Wyn and Sean Hughes got the party started in both the main room and Vista blue as Radio 1 competition winner, Hannah Jaques bashed out Calmly Gage ft. MDA's track Play the game in the Vista room. At first the club was strangely quiet but as the 1am rush hit and an animal army arrived, Zoo project was the obvious reason for the slightly later than anticipated arrival of party-goers. Prior to the stampede of excitable clubbers, I enjoyed Gareth Wyn's set whilst having a bit of dance floor banter with the lighting guys, soaking up the Radio 1 buzz and chasing the pretty flashing lights which darted about the floor - fun times! With a huge chandelier creation made from disco balls dazzling above my head, the main room was prepared for a serious party and the Radio 1 meets Cream team had clearly pulled out all the stops. Logos flashed from wall to wall and flickered on square lights which descended from the rooftop, and when later paired with the voice of infamous Radio 1 host and DJ Pete Tong both the room and the big weekend came to life. Playing a 2 hour set the honcho of British radio pumped out a carefully selected play list which ensured the crowd was embraced by the music and that the atmosphere was elevated to a new time high. Playing a continuation of his set from Ushuaía's party on Friday, Pete Tong boosted the party vibe

and with the ultimate staple of BBC Radio on centre stage the main room was buzzing. Taking a walk into the Vista Club - brand new to the club this season, Ibiza Rocks main man Zane Lowe was on a hype ting as usual; smashing out a mash up of dub step, hip hop and grime featuring tracks such as Jay Z ft. Kanye West - That sh*t cray - I think he likes this one, and Mercy by Kanye West. Taking a few strides back into Vista Blue my ears pinged up as Eats Everything filled the clubs more intimate space with some really nice and bouncy, bass ridden house. The crowd which was mainly made up of 'the Ibiza cool kids' in snapbacks and vests with plunging necklines - aside from the avid Tellytubby fan who came dressed as yellow favourite Lala, were clearly enjoying Bristonian Daniel Pearce's deep techy set. Jaguar Skills soon jumped into the cove like booth which was illuminated with a blue haze, and sporting a 'Love me Tenga.' top and his signature balaclava he unleashed some choppy basslines into the crowd making a dub step and electro fueled bounce surge through the room. Later Chase & Status were joined by MC Rage in the Vista Club who collectively brought anelectric vibe to the room with their fierce and hugely popular drum and bass tracks; playing the likes of No problem and Hocus Pocus from their latest album 'No More Idols'.

Reminding us why they are such a stella collaboration the guys at Cream and Radio 1 finished their weekend extravaganza in style with a performance from the infamous Benny Benassi who came armed with an equally as jaw-dropping production - which appeared to be influenced by anatomy with enzyme like molecules darting around the screens. Taking a kind of sci-fi turn and getting a little eerie his set came to life as he banged out Dyro by Paradox, Just Tripping - Fedde Le Grand and Glowing in the Dark by Jupiter Ace. The whole room was undeniably at the feet of this years 'Special guest' for this month's Creamfields festival's, in particular the event's very own 'Electro man' who fist pumped his way through the night whilst overlooking the club's famous pool. So, after a fun-filled party which showcased as many genres as a woman does emotions during menopause I managed to check out pretty much all of the acts - whilst practising my best drum and bass moves, dub step bounce and electro hand thrust of course. Assuming that next years' line-up will be as fierce as what last nights party brought us BBC Radio 1 Weekend 2013 is going to go off, I just hope there will be a little more dance space and a lot less sweat.

Crossing over to the hugely crowded main room for a bit of proggy action,Sebastian Ingrosso and Alesso had taken over the stage and with a manic energy they bashed out some of the fiercest electro sounds I have heard for a while. Incorporating some old favourites like Save the world - Swedish House Mafia, the pair got a little naughty and together created some rascal remixes which pumped an insane amount of energy into the crowd. As confetti fell and lasers flashed over the dance floor I made my way back into the Vista Club to catch a bit of Sub Focus and ID before the lady of BBCR1 - Annie Mac, took over the main room. Dropping Rudimental's catchy track Feel the love and his own hit Out the blue - both featuring hooking vocals over sharp bouncy drum and bass beats, Sub Focus along with hype man ID had the Vista Club in the palm of their hands. The time had come and the legend that is Annie Mac had entered the stage, the main room erupted as she opened her set with Sleaze - Knife Party ft. Mista Jam, later dropping Beat Down - Steve Aoki & Angger Dimas and then a personal favourite Da Funk by the amazing Daft Punk, the girl had it down and the crowd was hers. Fire, flames, sparklers and confetti shot from the stage as an entourage of Radio 1 and Cream faces danced behind the booth as Annie partied on. Playing to a backdrop of the most insane visuals that I have seen for a long time - flickering from Cream logos to running stick men in a multitude of patterns and colours, the party had the production down to a T.

Interview: Paul Van Dyk by James Chapman In the run up to the Cream opening this Thursday, we get updated on all things PVD. You're back for another year and residency at Cream, what is it about the event that you love so much and provides such a draw for you to come back year after year? First of all I think Amnesia is probably the best club on the island because it is all about clubbing rather than all the other stuff. The other thing is that Cream is one of the most professional events, producers and promoters in the world. So obviously that combination, plus the fact that it is in Ibiza, and it’s always a lot of fun and always draws me back. How do you think this year will be in comparison to past seasons? Well the thing is I think one of the most strong points of Cream is that they really know what their core audience is and they work very professionally in order to reach them. They always reinvent themselves and make it new in a way, it’s a combination of staying true to themselves but always progressing forward and doing something new and interesting. Have you ever been tempted to go it alone? Like Armin Van Buuren and Tiesto have? Well I think it is pretty fair to say that none of those have really succeeded in terms of making it really successful. I think it might have something to do with that in order to do something really strong on the Island and pulling the international crowd into the venue you need a team that actually works there that are already established. I am a team player, I really enjoy working within the team that we have there at Cream. It’s a lot of fun to work with them so its never really appealed to me to have just a Paul Van Dyk night. Why would I? Do you ever tire of the tracks that made you as an artist such as the obvious 'For an Angel', considering that you made it several years ago? No not at all because it’s like seeing a child grow, I’d never get bored of it because it’s not a baby anymore. The thing is for many people 'For an Angel' is one of my signature tracks but of course I like it, I did it! When I play it it’s always a combination of what I really want and what my audience really wants. So if I’m not playing 'For An Angel' they will go home unsatisfied.

You give more of a live performance now with samplers and keyboards, why did you choose to do this now? I have developed the same obsession with being a musician as I have being a DJ and the technology came to a point that I could take my musician and production element with me on stage. I did it because I feel it makes it much better, it makes the whole experience of electronic music much more intense. Its not just about playing the right track at the right moment it's about putting the right elements together at the right time over the top, it makes a much more intense approach to presenting music. When I see an element, like a break or a build up, it works very well and I can just do it and create a much bigger impact for the track. What is your live performance set up exactly? I have two computers on stage, one is for audio material the other one is for sequences and synthesizers and other kinds of stuff. I have keyboards to allow me to play all types of things, I have custom made Allen & Heath mixer, a custom made VCM 600. I also have controllers that allow me to be in control of every detail in each piece of music I play.

How have you kept yourself interested and excited about working in the music industry for the amount of time that you have? To be honest I don’t need to keep myself excited, I’m a musician, this is what I do it’s my big passion. Of course as an artist the best thing is to play music in front of people so I don’t really need to be motivated. I think if there was a need to be motivated I would stop doing it. The music and my enthusiasm is what drives me and I’m also very lucky that my audience is very responsive. I always get so much feed back and so much energy back that it always keeps me going. Trance has had a resurgence in popularity lately but would it be fair to say it was more popular in the nineties? If so why do you think that is? To be honest I never really put music into those genres, I wasn’t calling it trance when it was at it’s peak and I’m not calling it trance now either. Everyone has a different definition for example, most of the things they call house music these days could actually be pop music. Listening to Aviici there’s actually no house music in it, it’s purely trance music that sounds like the stuff from the ninties. There’s actually nothing modern about it and that’s what leaves me confused as to what is going on in terms of labeling. Therefore I don’t do it, it’s electronic music and there are elements of it that I enjoy and there are also bits that I don’t like at all and that’s how I choose what I play. For me music has to be intense, music has to be banging and if there’s something that’s a bit wishy-washy then I won’t play it. The German music scene is perhaps better known for producing quality techno, do you see any disadvantages being based in a country who's more recent dance music history is focused on this? No not at all, it’s like I said I don’t make those definitions and if there is a straightforward techno track that I like then it will become part of my set. If there is something I like that is dubstep or drum and bass that will sound well musically in my own way then it is going to end up in my set. That’s how I work so I don’t really have a problem with that. Electronic music is a global phenomenon so I don’t think that and particular country or any particular place can say we are the capital of this or that because there are electronic music producers all over the world now. Because of the multimedia connections we have it doesn’t really matter if you live in Calcutta, London, Ibiza, Berlin, wherever, the second you make a track, send it out to your favourite DJ’s, they like it and start playing it then you are already in the game.

Talk to us about your label Vandit, what kind of artists do you sign and what can we expect from it in the coming year? If you look at our release history then you will find some of the biggest trance anthems on there but you also find things from Chris Liebing which is straightforward techno. You will also find stuff from the Star Chasers which is house music, it’s pretty much all about quality which is what counts with electronic music. This is what I like and it has to be high quality stuff that’s all, again I don’t make those definitions between genres because everybody has their own definition of what’s good. Nobody can tell me where trance starts or begins or where progressive house starts or begins, there are so many tracks that cross in and out of each other that it doesn’t make any sense. A lot of trance sounding records right now have a dubstep break in the middle so what is that, dubstep trance? Its so hard to categorise tracks which is why I am against it and why I don’t do it. It’s all about the whole genre and not some little sub element of it. We have some great stuff coming up, we have just released something fantastic by Judge Jules, a track that will definitely be all over Ibiza, a great track. One key element is that we are preparing the UK release of the evolution album which is going to come out in mid August. We can’t wait for this as it is the only territory that the album has not yet been released in so it will be really interesting. And what about yourself in terms of touring, music you're working on, etc? I am playing Creamfields and many of the other fesivals throughout the summer then of course lots of general touring mayhem! It’s going to be a busy summer as always and I’m really looking forward to it. There are a few different projects in the pipeline and other things that I am doing but it is a bit early to talk about those yet as they wont be available or released until the end of this year. Finally, what do you do for fun, outside of DJ'ing!? I heard a rumour about horses... I have horses, yeah! It’s a really interesting hobby as it takes you out of the craziness of touring. Being with the animals helps me to calm down otherwise I would go crazy. I also have two dogs which are the complete opposite, they are crazy and wild but a lot of fun.

Music On Review: Music On, 18th August by Hannah Davies After having one of my best nights on the island both musically and euphorically last night I am left with only one question... why haven't I been to Marco Carola's Music On night sooner? No excuse. I was admittedly a little skeptical at first when I was faced with a less than half filled main room way past 2am, but as expected when 3am passed the crowd had multiplied without me even noticing and my previous box-step dancing space had soon become nothing more but a spot to carry out my best side shuffle. With Marco Carola doing a solid 9 hour set in the terrace I felt content in spending a good section of my time in the Main room appreciating the fruits of the line-up, as I was still surely going to get good amount of time in the terrace later on. With Joseph Capriati, Maetrik and Carlo Liohosting the main room both Amnesia dance-floor were pulling in a strong crowd; musically entwined but also able to stand out alone, both the main room and the terrace embraced a warm 'shiny happy people holding hands' buzz and provided nothing but quality sounds throughout the night. Maetrik for me was hands down the winner for best set last night (Carola excluded as his 9 hour effort must be appreciated separately), excitedly pumping out some strong, sexy techno beats until half past 4 he had the crowd in the palm of his hands. With the DJ Booth sat to the side of the dance-floor the Music On main room was more of an intimate party and most definitely in tune with the sound, ensuring the room was pumping from start to finish. So caught up in hysteria I joined the masses in flocking to the booth's edge and proceeded to take several (hundred) photos of the man himself and the insanely bass ridden room.

sound of trumpets, ensuring that the main room party continued without a pause. Honestly having to drag myself away from my new haven, I ventured into the packed terrace and within a matter of seconds was eaten by a melodic drone and Balearic sounds that were infused with soft female vocals, bongos and a strong, palpitating bassline. Dancing into the sunlight with Carola and a sea of techno whores it was clear that no one was planning on leaving as 7am approached and the crowd hadn't dwindled in the slightest. Open for an additional 2 hours especially for Carola's 'all night' long session, the terrace was pumping with a fresh energy which could be considered pretty rare for this stage of the night. Feeling club heat and sweat like never before but simply not caring it really was 'all about the music' - which was clearly stated across the back wall display, just incase we forgot. As red lasers loomed over the terrace a continuos synthline of percussion and bass created the famous techno sounds that Marco Carola is known and loved for. Having recently thrown his free Music On the Beach party at La Plague and now whacking out a 9 hour long set for the masses, there is no stopping Carola right now. After enjoying his new party to the max last night I have found my new Friday night stomping ground. Solid effort all round... see you next week!

With a constant groovy melody surging through the tracks, Maetrik's sound was blended perfectly, and when paired with his need to sing along to any vocals and unique DJ bounce it was hard not to get sucked into the party vibe. Splashes of vocals and jungle explosions of synths and drums; he created a musical rainbow which was firmly anchored by a big droning bassline. Taking the music from the upbeat to the more deep and sexy techno with tracks such as Caller ID - Nic Fanciulli and The Reason (Maetrik), Maetrik was the core of the party and everything from the position of the DJ Booth to the lighting emphasised this. After enjoying the playground of jaw clenching fist pumps that Maetrik had created, Joseph Capriati took over and the only way possible to do so impressively was by sounding out of this world - and that's exactly what he did. An eerie sci-fi interlude built up into a huge crowd adoring drop encouraged by the

Stacey Pullen: File Under ‘Innovator’ by Jordan Smith

teen tracks that’s it! Depending on how you play, but if you play an average of five minutes a song that’s only nineteen songs, twenty songs maximum. And I got a whole computer full of tracks – thousands and thousands of tracks – so me playing the longer sets I get a chance to buy music and play music that is normally just sitting there; tracks that I like and are my personal favourites.

There’s a certain level of serenity and confidence that comes with experience, and techno legend Stacey Pullen reeks of the stuff. After over twenty years on the techno trail, having embarked upon it with the aid of Detroit’s illustrious three: Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, Pullen is both calmly reflective about the changing scene and yet still deeply passionate about his contribution to it. Having grown up during the Detroit techno movement of the mid-eighties, Pullen has a long and illustrious history of influence which started with a break at Detroit’s Transmat Studios, and burgeoned into classic albums like Theory of the Silent Phase, unforgettable monikers like Kosmik Messenger, seminal mixes like his 1996DJ-Kicks offering and the recently revived Black Flag label. Nowadays, Pullen has an uncanny knack of nosing about in alternate and more contemporary styles than his own (Marco Carola and Luciano bring him to Ibiza this year), whilst keeping his feet firmly planted in his Detroit techno roots. As a result, he continues to be influential and innovative on the scene and not merely filed under 'classic' in a dusty record shop. It’s this – and some practical party measures he think other DJs would do well to adopt – that explain the success of his strive for longevity. So you’re back for Music On – how have those gigs been going so far? It’s been going well. Each time has been getting better and better, you know, I’m kind of happy that I’ve been ‘the man in the main room,’ Marco told me when he first started to do Music On, he said, “I want you to be the man in the main room – I’ll take care of the Terrace.” So far it’s been good and tomor row’s going to be even better. Usually I’m always closing but here I’ve been doing different time slots and tomorrow I’m opening.

Is there are favourite marathon set that sticks out in your mind from any point in your career?

And you’ve also played a Luciano night… Yep I played a Luciano night at Ushuaïa about a month ago and that always goes off. I would have thought that would expose you to a different, maybe younger crowd than usual. Do you approach a set differently knowing that most of the audience might not have seen you before?

Perfect? That is not the breakfast I would choose! Well, you know! It’s fast…

Yeah well every gig is different. What worked last night may not work tonight. That’s the joy of what we do, we get a chance to improv. or explore different territories. Especially for Luciano’s night, you know the whole Cadenza sound… I released a record on Cadenza with Marco Loco and it’s a different sound than normally what I do play but, at the same time, me being in the business for over twenty years, I can adapt to every situation.

It’s raw…

Have you had the opportunity to play any extended sets in Ibiza recently?

I do for a couple of the young guys in Detroit, but most of the guys who are under me there, they pretty much moved on from Detroit. But I still got a couple of guys who still look to me as a mentor, if you will, and I appreciate that cause I was once them. And for me to be able to be in that position to teach and show the young guy the ropes and let him know that it’s not all about the money, it’s more about being a visionary and an artist first, you know I’m happy to do that. But most of the guys now, they have other inspiration, which is moving out of the city of Detroit, which is what they do. They all go over to Europe.

Do you have a preference? The thing about it is, when you come into the Music On n#ights the small room, which is the main room, fills up first. That goes off from 12:30 to 3:30 or 4 o clock and then of course that’s when Marco goes on. Then you got the Italian crowd, who all want him and will all flock over to see him... But we’ve been toying with different time slots and this is the first year so it’s been a gradually learning and growing process, but it’s been all good actually.

>laughs< You’re going to laugh about this, I can tell because of your Australian accent. It was a gig that I played in Melbourne about ten years ago at Club 7 and I played a twelve hour set. I brought my records, in fact it was the last time I travelled with vinyl because the extra luggage fees that I got charged with for playing twelve hour sets, in Australia, were just astronomical, you know…. Anyway I remember playing a twelve hour set and I remember getting served sushi, at around seven o clock in t h e m o r n i n g . > g i g g l e s <  Seven o clock in the morning! ‘Cause I was so hungry halfway through my excursion, and I’m like ok I’ve got five more hours to go… and here I am chewing on some sushi… so that was very memorable, I got served sushi and I’m like ok perfect.

Actually the first Music On after party Marco and I played five hours back to back. And a lot of people don’t know that cause the after party got put on at the last minute… but the people who were there were like ‘wow.’ And that was pretty much the longest set that I did here – it was with Marco and he’s good company to share 5 hours with. Do you prefer the longer set?

Hey it’s better than eating a full breakfast and getting your hands all dirty, you just stick it in your mouth and move on! So you’ve obviously had some pretty high profile mentors when you were breaking onto the scene, do you play that role for anyone now?

I do prefer the longer set because I get the chance to play a lot of music that I don’t get a chance to play normally, because most of the time I’m playing peak-time sets – two hours. And I did the math years ago – two hours is nineteen songs! Nine-

You’re still based in Detroit, what keeps you there? It’s the spirit of the city, you know. Detroit’s known for cars, music, which is the Motown sound back in the sixties… there’s not really much to do but perfect our craft in Detroit. It’s not like it’s a major city like New York, LA or Chicago; we have a city that’s about seven hundred thousand people in the city limits – and it’s actually a city that’s built for two million people. We had a lot of economic crises or whatever, but as for the few people that stayed there, we realised we got something special there because we don’t wanna go to New York just to try to make it. We don’t wanna go to LA to just try to make it; we wanna make it here and be special, so when people make it out of Detroit and get known outta Detroit as well as at home, then it’s that much more special. It’s not dance music, but guys like Kid Roc and Eminem - every time they travel they always talk about Detroit. I’m doing an interview right now and talking about Detroit. And there’s always something special when they talk about the city as well, and I think it’s a good thing, because if we all left then it would really be in a bad situation. Are the things you talk about that make Detroit special still thriving? Have your reasons for staying changed? Yeah they’ve changed. It’s been an on-going thing since the sixties. We had race riots in sixty-seven and it changed the landscape of Detroit forever; still in my lifetime to this day, it’s not what it used to be. But you also have a lot of people that have moved to Detroit recently, because of the opportunities. A lot of companies move to Detroit because they see there’s this untapped landscape, this untapped market that they can get into. And a lot of the artists have moved towards the city as well to try to get that community-based artist relationship amongst one another to flourish. We went green a little - with urban farming and things to that aspect. So we’ve been trying to make a growth spurt within the last ten years as well. Is the crowd different to play to compared to other parts of the world – is it your favourite crowd? Yeah Detroit’s always my favourite crowd – when I play Detroit I look forward to turning them onto something they don’t get a chance to listen to. A lot of us have travelled the world for twenty years or more and we get a chance to have all the influences… but then when we come back home, we kinda stick to the basics, ‘cause Detroit crowd will let you know if you’re not on your game, you know. >chuckles< Have you got in trouble from the home crowd before? No, but a lot of DJs who have come to Detroit, who are not from Detroit, and the people have read the hype of all these DJs and they come in there and if they don’t do so well – they will let you know!

What has been the catalyst for getting Black Flag recordings going again?

Tell me! I can’t tell you!

From a legal standpoint, I’m able to do it now. It’s just one of those major label deal things, you know, to keep the story short I had it tied up with that for ten years. When I signed my major label I released an album there and the whole deal kind of unraveled…. so I got disenfranchised with the industry for a little while. As of a couple of years ago I got the rights back, because that time period had passed, and I decided to pick up the pace a little. At first Black Flag was just an outlet for my music - sort of what Jeff Mills did with Axis and Moodymann did with KDJ records I just wanted to be the only artist to release music on the label. And then the second time around, well there’s so much music coming out and I enjoy good music and I got a hold of some demos… and it’s pretty much simple as that. The first release has been Sergio Fernandez – and does this mean you’ll be doing more of other people’s music in future? Yeah, I already have three more releases from other artists coming between now and the end of the year. And how do you choose them? Do people approach you, do you need to know them or do you just hear something and think ‘that’s it’? It’s been kind of all around. Sergio hit me up on the email and I got back with him and it was on from that point. A couple of the other guys, I charted some of their remixes and charted some of their songs on different charts like Beatport or RA, and they contacted me and said ‘how would you like for me to do something for your label?’ So I’m showing them love by charting their record, and they respect me and know my music and they just took the opportunity for themselves to offer music for the label. And it was just the right timing.

Oh ok….. Martin Buttrich is doing a mix for me. I’m waiting for him to give me the mix. But in between then I have Tony D, he’s from Italy, he’s coming out with an EP on Black Flag. I have Nathan Barato, he’s from Toronto, he’s coming out with an EP. And possibly some more, I mean I’m getting demos in all the time. I think three on the burner right now is enough for me to concentrate on, not including my tracks, so that should take me into 2013. Also I’m re-releasing some of my backcatalogue and remixing some of my classic tracks on my label. Is that a weird experience – remixing your own tracks that were made by another you – a you from so long ago? Yeah, it’s strange, but if you make timeless music, you’re putting your heart and soul in it regardless if it was two years ago or ten years ago. But it is kind of strange ‘cause you get into a different frame of mind when you going into remixing your own - you’re basically communicating with yourself. I’m listening to what I did ten years ago and injecting a new inspiration into from what inspires me now; should be an interesting task though. For me it’s important to strive for longevity. In this business that’s the main thing. I hear a lot of these guys talking about ‘oh I’m tired from traveling so much, I gotta get on the plane 3 hours after the gig…’ and I’m like well if you don’t party so much….! >laughs< See partying and partying are two different things. Partying is going to a gig and having a good time… and then there’s professional partying. And that’s what I’m talking about. There are professionals who think they can do it but come one day later they’re exhausted from going so hard that night. But I’m a seasoned professional. That’s how I’ve lasted so long. Teach us your ways…

And you’re still producing yourself? O h y e a h . > g r i n s <  My new release called Any Which Way probably should be out the beginning of winter. I’m waiting on a remix from a very well known remix producer -

A lot of water. And fresh orange juice. And sushi at 7 o clock in the morning. Well – we’ve been told. Never leave for the club without your chopsticks again.

Who? I can’t tell you.

Cocoon Review: Cocoon Closing Party, 1st October by Jordan Smith We emerged from Cocoon as fragile and joyous as butterflies, but slightly less attractive. It was with some trepidation that I rounded the corner of the Amnesia car park and faced the tunneled entrance to my home for the next 8 hours. Having crossed a good chunk of closing parties off the intimidating list I confess to feeling fragile, exhausted and even a little twitchy at this point. But there was never any real hesitation – acceptable excuses for a techno lover missing Cocoon Closing Party include paralysis, death or alien invasion – and that’s it. The first hour was a bit of a trial, however. Cassy was in full swing and taking no prisoners; I find her sound an acquired taste which can absolutely hit the spot sometimes, but I just wasn’t quite ready to be thrown into such relentless and unforgivingly loud bass and found myself cringing slightly and backing away towards the bar. Paul Ritch took the reigns at 3am playing just as heavily, but slightly more ‘user-friendly,’ with a bit of bounce and more rhythmic diversity. Live sets are always less predictable and I finally found myself slowly shifting into rave gear during his hour on the tables. Then the King of Cocoon, Sven Vath, took up his place on the Amnesia main room dais (does anyone seem more at home there than he?) and I knew my night was in capable hands. He began with hi hats and then teased us with an intermittent bass, pulsing like slow motion morse code. Then the bass kicked in full throttle and we were away. It was very upbeat from the outset and my fatigued limbs started jerking of their own accord (dancing, they call it), encouraged into action by the characteristic quick double beat Sven often throws in every four counts during his sets. “Clap your hands; stomp your feet,” some vocals instructed, and willingly, we obeyed. An hour in, Sven started to hammer it down, throwing out manic numbers like Transpiration byI:CUBE and Black Noise by Adam Port. On and on the music pounded and I was reminded that Cocoon is for the committed clubbers, not the casual. As always though, Sven knows how to pepper the underground drive with upbeat party classics, and the gone-but-byno-means-forgotten-in-IbizaDonna Summers classic I Feel Love came out to play some time before 6am. With that delicious disco under our belt we dipped our noses into the Terrace to see how Ricardo Villalobos was faring this week. He seemed to have things under control, playing faster and more upbeat than I expected of him, a highlight being listening to the old school classic Good Life, by Inner City, whilst watching

from the balcony a mass of humans squirming and twitching like so many bugs in a bowl. Good fun people watching, but I just couldn’t stand to be away from Sven Vath for too long (what if I missed the loo roll bit?!?) so I popped back into the main room. I missed the loo roll bit. But had no time to be disheartened, as the moment of our return coincided with the start of one of the silliest and most excellent tracks of the summer – Inspector Norse by Todd Terje. Practically skipping onto the dance floor and joining the space-cadet clubbers with the aforementioned loo roll adorning their heads, limbs and trunks, we danced away with exaggerated cheesy moves that our grandparents would have approved of and enjoyed one of my favourite moments of the whole evening. At 8am, after shoulder shrugging to Michel Cleis’ Mir a Nero we decided to leave Sven on this high point, and made the permanent migration to the terrace.

Later that day and evening, the infamous Cocoon after party was everything you’d expect, with Sven on top form playing to a massive crowd with thousands of people spilling out onto the beach outside La Sal Rossa, where huge extra speakers had been set up in preparation of the overflow of party-goers. Some classic tracks include Knights of the Jaguar - DJ Roland, Mir a Nero - Michel Cleis (again!) and Pepe Bradock's Ma Souris est Folle as a closer. Cocoon cements its position for another year as one of the original and best techno nights in the world.

This is no easy migration, mind. It requires determination, positivity and most importantly sunglasses to leave the dark and anonymous cocoon of the main room and become accustomed to the completely bright terrace, and the hundreds of faces and bodies now clearly visible in varying states of disarray, without really knowing how far down the scale of disaster your own face has slid. If you can get over yourself, however, Amnesia Terrace during the day is a magical place. Loco Dice’s trademark throbbing bass was a raging success, as ever, the techno master absolutely gunning for it to match the energy of the huge crowd. That energy level simply didn’t drop for hours, and we had an excellent time alternating between dancing like maniacs, and scanning the crowd for the most amusing looking revelers who had done a little bit more revelling than the rest of us, bless ‘em. Around the 10.30am mark Dice spun the vocals of Artful Dodger’s Re-rewind featuring Craig David into the mix and everybody did some terrible robot moves and had a laugh. Deciding to leave on another high note, we made the call to head home at this point, dragging our feet out into the glaring daylight, which inconsiderately burned into our feeble retinas with the fire of a thousand suns.

Photo from Amnesia

Amnesia Closing El Cierre Review: El Cierre, 7th October by Jordan Smith Why I'm in Ibiza. I stared at my ringing alarm in mortification while I figured out who I was, where I was and what terrible reason I could possibly be getting up at 6:30am for in Ibiza. In seconds my mind focused and I remembered that after the Matinee Closing festivities Amnesia was serving Danny Tenaglia for breakfast and with puffy-eyed glee I rolled myself out of bed and all the way to Amnesia in time for his 7.30am start. Daytime Amnesia is one of my favourite places in Ibiza – a perfect opportunity to feel part of the amazing community created for a few hours between crowd and DJ, and yet also be able to stand back and observe the ridiculousness around you. The crowd on the floor and along the balcony was top notch on this day, with the usual slightly more dubious suspects on the podiums flanking the main dancefloor – all part of the charm though. Tenaglia opened with some classic house female vocals and his trademark drums, briefly looping the vocal sample from I Will Survive; truly a man of the old school. What followed was a playful and percussive performance which absolutely flew by, as all too soon he was on the microphone thanking us and announcing the end of his set; “short and sweet, like me!” Although I was chuffed to see Danny out here, since his dates have been far less frequent this year, his involvement was unfortunately a bit of a disappointment. Enjoyable though his set was, it was only a warm up. A mere hour and a half simply isn’t enough time for a legend like that, and I can’t imagine why he wasn’t slotted in later, if not last.

tone that would have been difficult to maintain. Sure enough, Carola chilled things out for a bit after an hour – chilled being an extremely relative term, mind. Around 4pm he began to get really creative, cleverly adding in a variety of sounds to the booming bass including eerie and ethereal harmonics which seamlessly blended into Carl Craig’s remix of Junior Boys Like a Child. The final hour of his set would slot safely in my top 5 of the entire season, as Carola took us on every manner of aural twists and turns, with captivatingly quiet and tense breakdowns absolutely shattered by savage drops. One of the final tracks was INXS – Need You Tonight, but bigger and louder than you’ve ever heard it before. After so many underground techno tracks the impact was huge; the room erupted and even the vast Amnesia speakers seemed to almost buckle under the pressure. It was 6pm before the final cheers rang out - the latest Amnesia closing in the last ten years, at least, and thanks to a quality bunch of DJs and a sterling crowd, was one of those experiences that remind me why I’m in Ibiza. In the words of a new friend I made that day, “That was f***ing superb.”

No time to cry about it though, our daytime disco was in safe hands with Mar T, who stoked the fires even further after Tenaglia’s warm up with tracks likeString Thing, by Shadowchild. The daylight which had been slowly creeping up on us was now a firm fact, revealing the silliness which was starting to spread throughout the room. Spongebob Square Pants suddenly appeared, dangling from the low ceiling of the booth behind Mar T’s shoulder; some feller had a horse mask on his head and was giving a piggy back to another feller with a sparkly cowboy hat on; a wide eyed girl walked past trilling; I was having vodka redbulls for breakfast… standard Sunday morning sort of stuff anyway. Maetrik kept the bass coming from 11am, cementing my love affair with that dirty deep clef. He was followed by the UK’s Steve Lawler, who was obviously feeling very festive, peppering his underground techno with some catchy classics like a remix of Snap! I’ve Got the Power and Kadoc's The Night Train. Mr Amnesia Terrace himself, Marco Carola, started heavier and deeper than I had hitherto thought possible, setting a

Together Review: Together ft Public Enemy, 28th August by Jordan Smith Usually one to recede into a corner in search of optimum dance space, last night I wedged myself front and centre, ready for some good, old fashioned hip hop moshing.

Surprisingly punctual (for US urban artists), Public Enemy materialised on stage, assuming a formation which would be the framework for the performance. DJ and live band up the back, including the cool as cucumber Davy DMX on bass, two military uniformed dancers in the middle, looking tough and occasionally bursting into unison popping and locking moves, and two flak-jacket wearing heavies (part of S1W), looking tough and not bursting into anything except maybe more toughness. Up the front were the ‘stars’ of the show, solid wordsmith Chuck D and wayward, attention-seeking member of the family Flavor Flave (OK so I have my preferences). After a funky little sound check, Flavor Flave prefaced the show by thanking us all for supporting Public Enemy for 25 years and received a rousing response. He then thanked us for making him the biggest reality TV star ever…or something… and received an appropriately lukewarm response. Roll on the hits. Public Enemy didn’t disappoint, knocking out the classics for their first ever gig in Ibiza with incredibly tight moves, rhymes and band. Rebel Without A Pause was thrown down early on, followed by some interesting beat-boxing attempts (let’s just say Chuck D ‘aint no Rahzel). The Amnesia crowd took a little while to warm up, generally used to being left to their own devices, with a fist pump required at best… but by the time Bring The Noise came around, heralded by a mean bass solo from Davy DMX, we were a writhing mass of crunk, bouncing and bellowing and generally behaving like the born-again gangsters we were. A highlight was a face-melting scratch session from Public Enemy’s DJ Lord during which he schooled us all on the possibilities of vinyl, casually rippingNirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit into tiny little hip hop pieces, which escalated into a brief but manic turntable session that was a pleasure to witness. Don’t Believe The Hype and Fight the Power were both crowd risers, as was the single I Shall Not Be Moved from their excellently titled new album Most of My Heroes Still Don't Appear On No Stamp. But the high point of the night for me was clear - the killer brass section of Harder Than You Think absolutely lifted the roof and generated a really warm sense of joy and community between artists and fans. Like most of the old guard of hip hop, Public Enemy are all about ‘the message,’ this time going for the motivational rather than political, in keeping with the Ibiza ideology. Rude fingers were thrust in the air in a big, communal F*** You to Racism, then dutifully turned around and doubled for a collective shoutout for Peace. It was an absolute pleasure to see these music legends so clearly still alive and kicking, and if they ever come back to Ibiza you’ll find me front and centre, bouncing with the other sweat-balls.

S ECTION 4

Of course, nowadays Tiësto doesn't sound as trancey anymore, but still - how do you reckon the Pacha crowd will welcome Tijs?

Pacha

I know how they will react, because last year Tiësto once played for us and the place went absolutely ballistic! He did a Friday together with Pete Tong and Paul Oakenfold then. He only played about five tracks, but the crowd went totally nuts and the music was that kind of blend between trancey stuff and house, almost progressive, deep house to a degree. You know, just really fat sound and very sexy at the same time. Very Pacha I think, it worked perfectly! Even everyone in the VIP was dancing, on the tables and everywhere, and that's something that doesn't happen very often! I don't want to speak for Tijs, but I guess he's just looking for a change, a variation instead of playing at Privilege all the time. I mean as a DJ of such a format, he has the possibilities to change so he might as well try and do something different, something fresh. I've been chasing him for three years now, because I thought his sound went more that way and therefore thought he would be more available and not be so epic, but maybe wants to be a bit more chunky and a bit more intimate and clubby. So I suppose that's what happened here in the end and I'm sure Monday nights at Pacha are gonna be fantastic!

Pacha Season Preview Danny Whittle Interview by Stivi One month before one of Ibiza's most emblematic clubs opens again in full glory, we speak to Pacha's Danny Whittle to get a lot of gossip confirmed! It has been a winter full of rumours and gossip for Pacha and its various side-projects, so we thought we might as well go and finally find out what's what for the forthcoming season. Here's what Pacha's brand director Danny Whittle told us... So Danny, you're just back from Miami WMC. How was it? And what were your favourite parties? Well there were obviously a lot of great parties! Our own Pacha party was was a bit more work for me, but still very enjoyable and we had a nice break in the middle when Jazzy Jeff played. You know, when you listen to so much electronic music for a full week then it's quite refreshing to hear something different and JJ played everything from Michael Jackson to Soul 2 Soul and Diana Ross and then also some house, so that was really entertaining! Marco Carola's event at the Shelborne was very good as was Pete Tong's party. But I think my personal highlight was Luciano's Poolside Party at the Shelborne, that was amazing. It was typical Miami: the weather was great, the crowd was absolutely smashing it and very friendly at the same time. I really think that's the party I enjoyed most this year. Apart of that, we also visited some great places. Miami has some fab restaurants and we had a fantastic meal at China Grill. And in all those years i've been going to the WMC, this year's was the busiest i've ever seen it by a mile. This just shows you how big electronic music is now over in the States, it's gone insane! Let's speak about Pacha Ibiza now. If we look at the weekly line up, your week starts with a bang with Tiësto replacing the Swedes. As a superstar DJ who got big with trance music, many punters at first almost couldn't believe he's coming to Pacha.

Tuesdays at Pacha will be almost all about Flower Power this summer. I remember that, years ago, there were maybe six for the whole season. This number went up last year already and this year, you've got 10 dates lined up and on a weekly basis during high season! Is this dedication to the ever-present hippie vibe in Ibiza? Well we might actually squeeze in another one at the end of September to have a proper Flower Power closing party, so it might be 11 dates in the end! I've wanted to do more FP parties for years already, but Piti, the owner of the night, always wanted to keep it special. This year we could finally convince him to go for a bigger number of parties. We could make him realise that the audience here is changing every week. Of course there's people like us that are here all year round, but we don't really count. It's about all the thousands of tourists that arrive on the island every week during summer. So, even if you do that party on a weekly basis, you still get a completely new audience every week. And in the past there always have been people who never had the chance to go to a Flower Power night just because they were here on the wrong dates, so now it's fair for everyone. Last but not least, Tuesday is a notoriously difficult night in Ibiza and because we're doing something completely different then, I really think it suits our weekly line up perfectly well. And is it true that Renaissance will be back at Pacha this year? Yes, I can confirm that. Renaissance is celebrating its 20 years anniversary this summer and we're more than proud to showcase them on the Tuesdays we're not doing Flower Power. Renaissance is a fantastic brand and we're paying homage to someone who managed to survive in our industry for two decades. They were always about quality and they were there from the very beginning. Renaissance were the first ones to release a compilation the way we know it and the days of Sasha and Digweed were just legendary! SoRenaissance will be at Pacha on the 5th of June, 3rd and 10th of July and4th and 18th of September. Watch out for the line ups. The Rest of the weekly programme doesn't seem to have that many changes as such, but I'm sure you'll be able to tease us with some insider info about those nights as well? Well if we start with Subliminal on Wednesday, Morillo this year has 6 dates with Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, they moved over exclusively to Erick. He's also got 8 dates with Chuckie and he's got 3 dates with Danny Tenaglia and one of them will be a complete be yourself-takeover, where Danny plays all night long, no Erick at all. This will be on August 29th. Then we got people like AN21, Max Vangelli and Alesso coming in as well, so this will be a nice addition to Wednesdays. And Erick just always delivers!

Then what shall I say on Thursdays? It's gonna be huge again with David'sF*** Me I'm Famous night. He's got FatBoySlim playing as well for example and I'm sure we'll have some live people coming in later, so there's definitely more news to come there... The Fridays are All Gone Pure Pacha and will be hosting some great guests like Seth Troxler, Jamie Jones and Maya Jane Coles brought by Pete Tong, so quite underground on some dates. We're kicking off with Calvin Harris on May 25th, so that should be really good. And we're also finalising plans with Laurent Garnier to come and play one date this summer. Defected on Saturdays are doing two more dates than usually, Bob Sinclar is coming in 6 or 7 times this year, so that's looking really strong. And then Luciano's Cadenza night on Sunday will be going on until the 7th of October, so he's doing the full 20 dates this year. And again, he's got some great line ups coming in, some old school stuff as well. Kenny Larkin's on board with him now, so I'm really excited about that. All in all, I think we have a really strong and diverse line up ready for this summer. A While ago, you revealed in our clubbing forums that Pacha Ibiza will see quite some changes in the next two years. Can you tell us more about that now?

The second thing we've changed is the Funky Room. But don't fear dear Funky Room lovers, it's still there, but again, we've just done it up and made it very flexible. There's a new sound system in it and where the wall used to be, which separated the room from the main room, this is now opened up, but it's

got triple glazed glass panels which can be opened up. So again, we can play with it. Say on really busy night like a David Guetta night when we need the space, we can open it up completely and it's then part of the main room, while on another night, we can close it down and use it as the original Funky Room. There will be more changes next year, but we just didn't get the permissions in time to do all of it this year. But for this coming summer, the main room at Pacha as well as the Funky Room both look nicer than ever. Last, but not least, you're also part of the Ibiza123Festival organising committee. What's the latest news on that? We're doing a big press release and a party down at the site on Tuesday, 3rd of April and and that's when everybody will get the full announcement and all the information. There's a lot of things been added to the line up, some really big names. The lineup is just insane when you realise who will play there. So there will be the full three day passes for 150€ and one day passes for 65€. And if you think about it, for most of the artists, you would pay just about that just to see one of them! So to pay 65€ for a full day ticket to see more than just one big name is just really cheap as chips! We're really excited for the festival, firstly because of the line up and secondly because of that great sunset location, can't wait!

For this year, there are two major changes. Firstly, both the stage and the DJ booth in the main room. We've installed a new hydraulic stage on the same place the old static stage used to be (right on the stairs as you come into the main room), so if we need a stage, we have it ready within a few minutes and if not, we have more space on the dancefloor as the whole thing can be put completely underground. Then we've built a hydraulic DJ booth as well on the other side of the room. So the DJ can either play on the ground level, like Luci likes to play, or you can go 3 meters up or anywhere in between. And you can actually go up during the night. So if you start the night low down, as the night gets bigger, you can actually take the booth higher. The booth's also surrounded by LED-screens, so that's gonna be a real difference for people and I think we're probably the first ones to actually have a hydraulic DJ booth. The other DJ booth you all know is still there and we've just made it very flexible. So it can still be used as a DJ booth, it can be used as a VIP area and it can also be another stage, if people want to sing from there. Basically we've made the club very flexible and I think that's the secret to any good nightclub. So we now really can change the club's layout from one night to another which is great. Tiësto's probably going to play from the new DJ booth, 2 meters above with the LED's full on while Luciano will probably use the same booth, but down on the ground with no LED's, but all his mates in the booth.

Tiesto presents Club Life Review: Tiesto, 16th July by Hannah Davies Since the big move from his Monday night residency at Privilege last year,Tiësto and his Clublife party has been a huge event each week at glam club Pacha; popping into the new and more intimate venue for his infamous party I was excited to see how the trance guru had settled into his new home. Beginning the night was young talent, Danny Avila who has taken Ibiza by storm this summer with a residency at the plush Blue Marlin and various other gigs around the island. Seeing the Justin Bieber of house music casually brushing back his fringe as he slammed the decks with a trance infused version of his usual progressive electro sound was a little bizarre but undoubtedly added an extra wow factor to the party. Taking over from Avila was Quintino who is also most renowned for his electro beats but under Tiësto's roof he cut things up and unleashed a mixture of electronic tracks with an infectious trance edge. Europop vocals were a prominent feature in his set, a common feature in the Eurotrance sound and it went down perfectly with the fist pumping adoring crowd. Dropping 'Diamonds in the sky' - TV Rock & Hock N Sling ft. Rudy made the dance-floor erupt with its choppy groove; he also played the ever popular track 'Language' by Porter Robinson. His music featured marching like melodies with drum kit and percussion sounds waving in and out bringing in the trance euphoria to his set maintaining the happy clubbers throughout. Next up was the main man himself, Tiësto, magically appearing in the booth - trust me I was trying to work out his entrance route but clearly failed as he magically appeared next to Quintino and began his set which was of course a slightly harder trance sound but definitely not the old Tiësto beats some of us are used to hearing. The DJ legend has admittedly gone down a more commercial crowd-pleasing route including tracks like Coldplay's 'Paradise' and Gotye's 'Somebody that I used to know', however he has managed to tailor his sound to his audience and still attracts old (and new) fans. He of course played some of his trancier tracks such as 'We own the night' (ft. Wolfgang Gartner) . So with a fusion of sounds in my ears and an upbeat, energetic and even sexy party experience under my belt, I was pleasantly surprised by Tiësto's party although it would have been nice for him to have steered away from the more commercial vocals and pump those hard trance tracks out of the speakers; but hey, my feet were tapping and I almost (almost) had a fist pump forming. Thumbs up for the move to Pacha too Tman!

Flower Power Review: Flower Power, 31st July by Hannah Davies As one of the island's most unique parties, Flower Power brings a diverse crowd of original hippies and fashion mimicking youngsters together to revel in the nostalgic hysteria of the old school. Although the party's music was focused on bringing the sounds of the super seventies to the dance-floor, DJ Piti who co-founded Pacha Ibiza in 1973 during the hippy revolution, dabbled in some old time favourites from the 50's, 60's and the more recent 'big eighties'.

questionable hairstyles that your parents once modeled back in the day were 'cool' again. Doing the best mash potato dance move that I possibly could I partied as hard as the older guys in the crowd, who on this occasion showed up us twenty somethings with their original disco moves and 70's flair. Last night Flower Power truly embraced the peace, love and freedom which the hippy era was famous for and I will definitely be going again (with the mother in hand) to get down to some disco classics... Hip to the groove!

After enjoying Flower Power for the first time last year prior to the clubs make-over I was interested to see where the infamous Piti would be placed in the new layout. Being more about creating an atmosphere and experience rather than focusing on a world class DJ it was nice to see that he had taken to a simple but unique set up which saw a drum kit on one of the stage areas play home to the turntables. As expected the room was decorated with a plethora of retro memorabilia and symbols of the seventies, from dope spliff's breathing over the psychedelic crowd to love hearts and peace signs channelling the hippy vibe across the dance-floor. Providing us with a visual feast, Pacha transformed from a modern day club with a hydraulic DJ booth into a quirky, authentic and totally awesome venue for a seventies night. Caged within floral pillars, the dancers paraded around on the podiums in a choreographed mania to classic tracks such as Aretha Franklin's Respect; perfectly portraying the wild, free and radical notion of the disco era. Finding a team song in Arthur Conley's hit Sweet soul music the 'spotlight' was definitely beaming over the club as Pacha took a step back in time and embraced the hippy days impeccably. From Harley Davidson's roaring across the main room to Pacha's very ownJohn Lennon and Yoko Ono surfing the crowds on a love nest, Flower Power indulged in many key elements of history which paired with a discography of indisputable classics made way for an amazing party. Smashing out the likes of Jailhouse Rock - Elvis, Let's twist again - Chubby Checker, Jammin' - Bob Marley, My boy lollipop - Millie Small, I feel good - James Brown, Kiss -Prince and We will rock you Queen ensured that the party was in full swing from start to finish. Caught up in a world which flickered from era to era - and surprisngly not causing a mass amount of muddled dance-steps across the dance-floor, the club was filled to the brim with people trying their best to imitate what a hippy once was. The crowd were dressed in vibrant colours with flowers and peace sign jewellery draped over themselves and suddenly those

Photo from Pacha

DJ Awards and Renaissance Review: DJ Awards and Renaissance, 25th September by Hannah Davies As the DJ awards turns 15 Renaissance celebrates its 20th birthday and all under one roof... It's always nice to see how a club can transform itself into something completely different at each party; ultimately creating a new experience and atmosphere for the clubber. Last night glam Pacha did exactly this and rolled out the red carpet to host the 15th annual DJ Awards - aimed to reward artists who have made a stellar contribution to the dance music scene over the past year. With categories covering anything from 'Best Festival' to 'Best Techno artist' the awards were attended by an array of the island's favourite acts, many of whom were eagerly awaiting to see if they had been crowned the winner of their category... Oh, and eagerly awaiting the after-party which saw Renaissance celebrate their 20th anniversary with help from Solomun and Jonathan Cowan. Miguel Campbell relaxed on Pacha's fine white leather sofas to the sounds ofAndy Baxter (who was joined by Graham Sahara and Simeon Friend in the booth) as Nervo and Seth Troxler mingled over bubbly as Maceo Plex and Solomun could be seen chin wagging right up until hosts Des Paul and Lucy Horobin took centre stage to begin the ceremony. As Domino

by Oxia blasted from the speakers excitement, questions and whispers filled the air..."Who will win?" "Who do you want to get the award?" Soon the time had come and after a brief history of the highly anticipated awards ceremony - first hosted in 1998, each category, nominees and then after a dramatic pause... the winners were announced. For those who missed our live twitter feed last night here are the winners of the DJ Awards 2012: Best Techno artist - Carl Cox, Best Downtempo artist - Nightmares On Wax, Best Dubstep/Bass artist - Chase and Status, Best Trance artist Armin van Buuren, Best Deep house artist - Maceo Plex, Best Newcomer - Arty, Best Tech house artist - Seth Troxler, Best Electro house - Tiësto, Best International artist - Armin van Buuren, Best Dance Nation - Australia, Best Live Performance - Faithless Soundsystem, Best Festival - Tomorrowland, Best Ibiza DJ - Andy Baxter, Best Producer of the year - Solomun, Best Cutting edge - Soundcloud, Best media - Pacha Magazine, Best party/parties of the year - ENTER. and Cadenza Vagabundos and finally the Track of the year award went to Pirupa for his summer hit 'Party non stop'. Once the awards had been whizzed through - rushing to party in true Ibiza style, special guests Hercules & Love affair mounted the stage like an army of divas and sang their way through a selection of original and familiar songs over firey house beats. Repetitively belting out "free your body" over Todd Terry's track 'Back to the beat' the all singing, all dancing (and clapping and waving and hugely excitable) band warmed up the room amid a red mist. The live performance made a

nice change to last year's DJ only line-up and brought to life the glitz, glam and buzz of an awards show. Finishing on a very soulful note the band left Solomun a dance-floor of feasting music worshippers ready for their next serving. As expected the crowd's heads were soon tilted in admiration at the DJ Booth where 'Producer of the year' Solomun cooly unleashed his harmonious, melodic groove onto the room. The dance floor soon filled up and Renaissance's 20th birthday party was in full swing, pumping a slow bass which protruded the body as melodies waved over sharp synths; the crowd adored what Solomun had to offer and his clever and precise mixing of genres had the club embraced. He dropped in some hip hop, R'n'B and old school remixes with tracks like Sharem Jey's 'Like Nobody does' (due for release on 8th October) which plays with Montell Jordan's classic hit 'This is how we do it', and somehow the creative music man even managed to seamlessly blend in Busta Rhymes and Mariah Carey track 'I know what you want.' Keeping a current groove 'Benediction' by Hot Natured feat. Ali Love also filled the air and from the party's endless bounce alone I know who I would have DJing at my birthday (in my fantasy world of course) and yes Solomun it is you! Experiencing a party which went from a red carpet event to live gig to a deep house meets nu-disco meets old school party was great fun and it will be interesting to see how the DJ Awards 2013 will top it! Even a missed flight resulting in a Huxley no show didn't stop this party's groove... Bravo! (And congrats to all the award winners!)

Pure Pacha All Gone Pete Tong Review: Pure Pacha All Gone Pete Tong, 21st September by Jordan Smith As one of the Island's longest serving DJs, Pete Tong is a dab hand at throwing parties and with Pacha as his dance floor he can't go far wrong. So, for our first installment of Pacha week we checked out the Friday night party that attracts a strong Tong tribe each and every week. With a selection of progressive, electro and techno guest DJs joining the BBC Radio 1 and Ibiza legend throughout summer we have been provided with a summer long musical medley. This week was a little darker than previous with Seth Troxler and Jamie Jones joining the party; which on top of a deep and sexy cocktail of sounds from Tong himself made way for the perfect party. The film crew which joined the mass of arm swaying clubbers had picked a good week to get involved as the club was bouncing all the way from the funky room to the global. Catching the core of Tong's set I was soon joining the friendly crowd stomping along to his embracing style. The beginning of his set featured garage sounds which were perfectly mixed with some mischievous tech beats and a thumping bass giving life to a solid shoulder wiggle which spread rapidly across the room. With champagne flowing inside the booth the happy September vibe was powerfully inflicted onto the floor and the lasers sparked the house hungry fire in all of our bellies as the beats rolled on.

As choppy melodies built up to a groovy explosion trumpets sounded and intrusive synths pounded from the speakers. The party was in no means stopping as Pirupa's summer hit filled the room and with a man sporting a panda hat endlessly pumping his fist's it was hard not to have a smile splashed across your face. The always pretty hard to ignore Pacha dancers were dressed in # amazing jeweled bodices and danced on the podiums adding a glamorous and soulful edge to the party. Their impeccable figures definitely didn't go unnoticed as they wiggled to the sounds of Lost (In the party) - Waif and Strays, Natural High (Joris voorn remix) - Mulder and Morseton 2007 (Elektropop Mix) - Heiko & Maiko.

Unleashing the ever popular sounds of Ibiza favourite Solomun, Jamie smashed out Something We All Adore and went onto play with Alcatraz Harry & Ali Scott's quirky He's Mine EP; making sleepy male vocals, repetitive beeps and percussion sounds slice through the air as nu-disco echoed through the club. Also playing Fired Up by Funky Green Dogs (Twilo anthem edit) Jones had Pacha's tech-heads eating from the palm of his hands. So, as the ironic party title suggests nothing actually went 'Pete Tong' and the party was in fact filled with seamless grooves, soulful melodies and grimey basslines and I, like many others, walked away rather impressed.

As the smell of incense sticks filtered through from the funky room, red lights set a sexy mood as the dancer's old school glam created a swanky diva edge which together with the rumbling bass and naughty hooks made an unexpected but perfect pairing. The time had then arrived for Jamie Jones to take over and soon the bass lowered and building synths dropped into clapping basslines. With female vocals wrapped in drones and shuffling drums hands were soon flying in the air as Jamie's own pumped to the bass vibrations which was quickly mimicked by the crowd.

Defected Review: Defected, 22nd September by James Chapman I've spent much of the season seeing the beautifully designed Defected billboards telling me that my “journey starts here”, so it was nice to see that 5 months down the line, and with only a few weeks of the season left, I finally saw the message I'd be looking for. Walking in to Pacha I saw “The journey ends here...” on a little poster, and a wave of relief came over me... this is what I must have been working towards all this time! Praise the lord. I have to say there wasn't an ounce of disappointment in me as I left the club on Sunday morning. Not that that's unusual, or that something normally bothers me enough at every night to mention, it was just one of those parties where everything seemed to come together quite nicely. Again, it was an entirely sober one for me (this is serious work you know), but I remember saying after I'd got home that I could quite happily do those sort of sober parties every night of the week if I had to. The music was top notch thanks to DJ of the season Solomun, a typically cool a big tune filled set from Tensnake with live PA from Syron and man at the top of the Defected pyramid of power - Simon Dunmore.

Usually that's enough for any party to go off, but with the booth now relocated back to it's original (albeit refurbished) location to the right of the main stairs down to the dancefloor and seemingly involving more of the room in the action, the dancers who are actually really entertaining to watch, and the calibre of clubber in attendance all rolled in to one, it made for a really well put together package. Simon played an extended 3-hour set from opening at midnight, dropping one of my favourite tracks of the season - Lee Curtiss' 'Body Twitch', complete with those down right filthy lyrics of course. I Love it. Throw in 'Party Non Stop', Michel Cleis' 'Mir A Nero' (played twice over the course of the night) and 'Hallelujah Anyway' of Larse creation and sporting the vocals of Candi Staton, and you've the making of what was a really, really enjoyable opening set by Simon. I imagine it must be nice for the guy to get out of running the business and just enjoy playing the music he loves, it certainly seemed that way on Saturday night. On then to a unique performance by Tensnake. I saw him play not all that long ago at Ushuaïa for Sasha's parties, and in all honesty the set was quite similar. It's all good though as it had live elements to it, including a live PA from Syron for the track 'Mainline' which is a collaboration between the two artists. There are huge old school 90's dance music vibes all over this track, one to properly get your dance on to, and truth be told... Nike trainers and hot pants have never looked so good. The beautiful Tensnake remix of Radiohead's 'Everything In Its Right Place' was of course played - it's such a tune - and was another track played at the Sasha party. It’ll take a while for me to tire of that one though. I suspect a good proportion of the crowd were here to see Solomun really. Now he's got nothing to do, with his Diynamic Neon Night parties enjoying their closing party two Tuesday's ago at Sankeys, Solomun has been popping up here there and everywhere - you can catch him at the Paradise closing on Thursday and Privilege closing in the coming weeks too. He really is one of, if not the, DJ of the season, much like Jamie Jones last year, such is the level of his popularity. By now we all know the kind of music he plays, I'm talking tracks like 'Connected' by Walker & Royce mixed in with Missy Elliot's 'Work It'. That blend of good fun deep house and classic/comical hiphop works so well. It's not music to keep your head down to in your own little world, it's music to stand around in a group laughing and raving to. It was a shame I was on my own really, otherwise that's exactly what I would have done. But, to be honest, I was more than happy to just watch from side's, satisfied in the knowledge that everyone was having a bloody great time. Lovely.

Subliminal Review: Subliminal, 23rd August by Jordan Smith Pacha housed a triple-header of big names at Subliminal last night; it was a Steve Angello sandwich, with Dirty South first off the blocks. His was a dynamic and eclectic set, throughout which he teased with remixes of radio classics like Coldplay – Paradise to draw the crowd in, built up to mercilessly loud crescendos then smashed us all to bits with banging tech drops. Angello and Morillo appeared in the booth at one point and cheekily grabbed Dirty South from behind, Morillo whispering (or more accurately, yelling) something in his ear. He must have said something right because the next track was an excellent modern release in an old fashioned house style - The New Iberican League, Roland Clark - Work It (Club Mix). Dirty South’s own remix of Temper Trap, Sweet Disposition also got a look in, as did Calvin Harris’ remix of Nero Promises and towards the end the beats even got a little progressive with a lovely Pryda number. In a mad sprint to the finish, the SerbianAustralian DJ dropped the vocal section of his own remix ofSkylar Grey’s Coming Home amidst a flurry of blue lasers, mixed it into a cheeky teaser of Faithless, Insomnia then back into his remix, just in time for the heavy drop. It was large.

It’s a blurry line, but the underground/commercial divide was breached consistently last night and it worked out well for everyone. It was a perfect night for electro or tech-heads wanting something more light-hearted, or for commercial-fiends looking for an underground kick. Nice one, Subliminal.

If Dirty South had been big, Steve Angello was elephantine, opening with a bang on his own huge electro track, Knas. Hyperbole abounds in this review, but that’s the nature of this style of music – and all three did it very well tonight. Angello lost none of the pace and grunt of his opener for the next twenty minutes, relentlessly driving home chunky and rhythmic basslines that had those on the dance floor flailing and stomping like creatures possessed. Gradually Angello lifted us out of the dirty electro pit he’d created, first bulking out the middle ground with Pendulum’s Island pt1 and finally swinging into the lighter house end with the very first hit from Swedish House Mafia – One. Angello frequently picked up the microphone throughout the set (though I’d have rather he picked up the headphones) and at one point instigated a ‘sit down’ of middling success (some people just can’t play by the rules, can they?). Erick Morillo took the reigns at 4:30 and engaged us all with his ecstatic antics; arms out, eyes closed singing along at (presumably) full volume . . . it’s always a pleasure to watch a DJ get carried away. Morillo’s set went on to be an exciting, uplifting experience, with the heaviness of his predecessors with some creative vocal lines above, for example a mental remix of his own collaboration with Sympho Nympho called Murder The Dance Floor. It was nice to hear all three DJs incorporating the well-known sing-a-long tracks, but without relying on them.

S ECTION 5

other from their respective positions, but it was certainly a memorable part of the night (plus Eller is an absolute babe, ladies).

Privilege

Never dwelling on one musical mood for long, Armin’s set constantly undulated between heavy and euphoric, and had us switching from unbridled-euphoria-face to bad-smell-bass-face like madmen. His mixes were beyond seamless, as usual; transitions between unlikely pairings of tracks sounded incredibly natural, if you noticed them at all. Armin’s incessant jesus-christ-superstar posing and crowd cajoling drove me absolutely crazy, and yet he still managed to remain undeniably charismatic. No matter how far one recedes into the chin-strokers corner, Armin will eventually manage to get you emotionally involved – and that’s a real talent. The night reached a crescendo around the 5:30 mark, as Armin threw a whole host of classics at us in a short space of time, including Above and Beyond’s A Thing Called Love, Gareth Emery’s Concrete Angel, the Invalyd and Stoneface and Terminal remix of Beat by Beat and the behemoth of an Armin original, Communication pt3. A favourite moment of mine came shortly after this when, in a wave of nostalgia, Armin dropped Resurrection(PPK). Much like when Eller was having his Hendrix moment 20 feet up, I just couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

A State of Trance

So I raised my arms, I stomped my feet, I stood staring at lasers like a zombie and I sang about weather, love and angels. It was a large-scale trance session with the largest in the business - a man more than capable of holding his audience for an entire night and then some. A pleasure as always, Armin.

Review: ASOT Armin Van Buuren All Night, 13th August by Jordan Smith Armin in his natural habitat - everybody wins. I’m no David Attenborough, but I’m pretty certain this was about as close to Armin’s natural habitat as you can get: the biggest club in the world, rammed with people, soaked in lasers and an immense sound system at his disposal for an entire night. This was A State Of Trance as it should be done. As seems to be the growing tradition for contemporary trance DJs, Armin started off in that shady crossover territory where trance and big room house intertwine to make very loud and annoying songs which everyone seemed to love but me. Go figure. Although dabbling in this style at the start of his sets, Armin has fortunately stayed very true to his trance roots throughout his illustrious career, unlike some people I won’t mention, starting with ‘t’ and ending in ‘esto.’ Once we had the commercial references out of the way (for example an Axwell and Dirty South remix of Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition) we were led into the depths of trance territory by some very deep and moody instrumental tracks and left to fend for ourselves amidst the lasers. Presently, vocalist Ana Criado emerged on stage for the first of several pitch-perfect live performances throughout the night, the most moving of which being Winter Stayed, a Triple A creation (Alex M.O.R.P.H., Armin andAna). This haunting number was a great example of the beautiful vocal melodies I use successfully as ammunition in winning over all but the most hardened of trancesceptics. Privilege, meanwhile, was whipping out all the party tricks to accompany Armin’s set. LED Robot Spinning McBicycle Man (if that even is your real name) was in fine form above our heads, as was a semi-nude acrobat in a floating cube, lycra-clad dancers with lightsabers, psychedelic (though potentially nauseating) on-screen visuals and the anonymous pyromaniac in the lighting booth who kept blasting dragon-like bursts of fire into the already tropical air. The most – er - committed entertainment gimmick of the night undoubtedly goes to Armin’s brother Eller Van Buuren, who casually delivered an electric guitar solo whilst dangling from a wire high above our mildly perplexed heads. Sure, it might have been a little cringe when the brothers theatrically pointed at each

SupermartXe Review: SupermartXe, 20th July by Jordan Smith A titillating and lavish stage show, to the tune of crowdfavourite house bangers... The great chamber that is Privilege has seen a lot in its time, but last night’s SupermartXé still caused a stir among the rafters. Although the show proper was not due to start until 3am, the main room was already heaving when I arrived an hour prior. And when I say heaving I quite literally mean heaving, the floor above the inside pool visibly sagging under the weight of hoards of frenzied part-goers moshing like pogo sticks to their favourite commercial house anthems. I advise EDM purists to leave your musical prejudices at home - this night is about the spectacle and the sing-a-long, and SupermartXé does both rather well. With that in mind I amiably nodded along to Calvin Harris, Flo Rida and Gotye, but couldn’t quite bring myself to join into the chorus of Swedish House Mafia. The crowd around me, meanwhile, was as enthusiastic as they come, the gay-friendly night bringing with it some adventurous outfits, energetic dance moves and many a manicured brow-line.

The show began with an aerial ribbon performer and his female accomplice; a captivated crowd watched as he twisted and tugged his way up and down the red satin cascading from the roof, whilst we were officially welcomed by a man in a tight pencil skirt, clown-style blouse and a peroxide victory roll atop his head, by way of garnish. Then the aerial acrobat and main curtain dropped simultaneously - to great dramatic effect - revealing a dazzling red stage decked out in Moulin Rouge theme, complete with a windmill centre piece and provocatively posed ‘creatures of the night’ in a less is more approach to costuming (with the exception of decadently bejeweled groins and headdresses feathered with the wings of a thousand fowls).

Singer, Nalaya, strutted to the fore-stage with ferocious back up dancers in tow and gave French her best shot, busting out the Lady Marmalade chorus peppered with some unfortunate beat-boxing attempts. The almost-beat-boxing belter had some kind of giant beaver attached to the back of her head which I can only assume was masquerading unsuccessfully as hair, but otherwise seemed extremely comfortable on stage and riled the audience into a frenzy with her throaty roars. From here my eyes were dazzled with lasers, feathers, fire, jewels, muscles, more muscles, sequin-covered man-parts and almost-naked ladies with really, really huge…er… hair. Creature after sparkling creature tottered out to the front and undulated for his or her fifteen minutes of fame, whilst the music alternated between radio house classics and take-no-prisoners bass drops. Other highlights included the cheeky lasses expertly splashing their way around two giant cocktail glasses - to the delight of the bodies underneath (swiftly followed by dismay as their eagerly extended camera phones were drenched by a sassy flick of the ankle). Nalaya also returned for an extended set, cementing her position as the reigning Queen of Hype and casually spitting out uber high notes like they were watermelon seeds. With the exception of a slightly unholy We Will Rock You and Wonderwall mash-up, she proved herself a voice to be reckoned with. Personally, I think I’d enjoy this best with a comfy chair, some popcorn and a pause button so I could freeze the more outrageous moments and discuss their 'artistic' merits. . . but in lieu of that, I’d happily enjoy it in-situ again. SupermartXé is an evening everyone should experience at least once.

Elrow Review: Elrow Opening Party, 23rd June by Jordan Smith It’s your seventh birthday all over again, but this time your parents stayed at home... Already an institution in Barcelona, ElRow is an experience to chuck on your bucket list. The Barcelona club Row 14 is both an indoor and outdoor affair, its wild and wonderful parties continuing long past the wee hours without a single body pausing for breath. In what seems like a perfectly natural progression, ElRow has vacuum-packed the confetti and moved to Ibiza – exploding itself over the newly re-designed Vista Club in Privilege. It’s a party in the strictest sense of the word – every aspect designed to maximize collective Fun. Short of buying everyone drinks (just putting the idea out there), the organizers of ElRow have gone all out in providing the tools for a really good time, with dance-inducing beats, stilt walkers, inflatable pool toys and lots of colourful things falling from the ceiling all the time and landing in your drink (surprise!). It’s your seventh birthday all over again but this time your parents stayed at home. The mostly Spanish crowd was an incredibly joyous and outrageous group of people, inclusive in every way. Forgot to wear your clown suit today? No problem – here’s a box of novelty hats. Confetti in your drink? Don’t worry – have some of mine. Don’t know what to say to that cute girl over there? Here’s a bunch of coloured stickers, go put one on her face. Musically, I was engaged, without being enraptured. There were a lot of tracks I didn’t recognize, from DJs I hadn’t known until tonight – but the ElRow regulars (I managed to catch Oscar Aguilera, De La Swing and Paco Osuna) were obviously doing something very right because it was impossible not to keep shimmying to the bouncing tech house; each and every b o d y i n t h e r e w a s o n t h e h o p .    ElRow has catapulted a quintessentially Spanish party from its home in Barcelona across the waves to Ibiza - and it couldn’t possibly suit the island more.

Privilege Closing Party Review: Privilege & SupermartXe Closing, 5th October by Jordan Smith Perfect juxtaposition of commercial and underground music; now with added outrageousness! Poor Privilege had a rough go of it this past week, with Lady Gaga (so rumour has it at least) and her beat spinning sidekick DJ White Shadow first confirming then canceling their appearances at the Privilege closing party, with, in all likelihood, even more frustrating inconsistency behind the scenes than what filtered through to the public – which was frustrating enough! Whilst Gaga fans went through a traumatic period of emotional schizophrenia over those few days, anyone who knows anything about Privilege, however, was confident that SupermartXé in the Main Room would be an exciting, extravagant and highly amusing show whether Gaga arrived in an egg, wrapped in steaks or otherwise, and that the more underground party in the Vista Club would be a blissful musical heaven and haven well into the daylight hours.

that everyone’s been absolutely frothing over this later half of the season, myself included. He sidled along with his trademark groove, with plenty of vocals to sing a long to and even a tangent into some jazzy piano riffs at one point with aChilly Gonzales number. Some standout tracks were Benediction, by Hot Natured feat. Ali Love and Solomun’s own remix of Noir & Haze’s Around. John Digweed started off with a similar sound to Solomun, with Ben Pearce’s What I Might Do as an opener, though he smoothed it out even further afterwards and dropped the vocals for a while. I had been lagging a bit at this point but Digweed’s deep-set groove yanked me back into the game, the way the best DJs can sometimes, and I took full advantage of the extra space that was forming to throw some energetic but questionable shapes. The Vista’s vista was captivating; there’s something quite exciting about watching the black sky peppered with twinkling lights of Ibiza town slowly fade to grey whilst we dance away in our Privilege bubble…

Digweed started really hammering it out for a while with tracks like Technasia’s Bastille Days, but then cooled things down towards the end (Duke Dumont –The Giver being a highlight), finally finishing with a very progressive track for the changeover to M.A.N.D.Y. The M.A.N.D.Y. boys came out with guns blazing, championing a classic tech-house sound which shook the Vista off onto a slightly different path, giving us all the energy to carry on into the daylight hours. The little patch of orange behind the hills eventually sprouted a large rising sun, and when we finally left it was with a sense of satisfaction that we’d successfully soldiered on until sunglasses time. Although fraught with difficulties over recent cancellations, Privilege wrapped up the season well, proudly displaying the successful juxtaposition of commercial and underground that they’ve been courting all summer.

It panned out just so. SupermartXé was even bolder than usual, having chosen a religious Christian theme as the aesthetic basis for this gayfriendly extravaganza. The stage was transformed into a Church, complete with pulpit, stain-glass backdrop, organ and, most daringly, a huge Jesus-on-the-Cross statue watching over the decadence below, in a not-so-subtle nod to those demographics a little less approving of the gay community than others. An impossible array of weird and wonderful characters came out to play from all corners of the Privilege main room, highlights on the stage being some tactically placed pleather codpieces, jewels cascading down waxed chests, crowns of thorns and the usual writhing temptresses on their rotating discs of erotica up the back. Magic moments include an energetic front-woman beatboxing (surprisingly well) whilst the entire crowd sang Seven Nation Army and when a Grim Reaper type figure took front of stage and flicked his cape advantageously around his well-sculpted naked personage to the tune of Toca’s Miracle. Presently he started spinning rapidly and we all…er… saw it several times (tehe)! Classic SupermartXé. I drifted across to the Vista Club just after 5am and, despite dipping in and out of SupermartXé madness a few more times before leaving, essentially made this great glass container my habitat for the rest of the morning. Solomun, who has his talented finger in almost every superclub pie on the island this season, was working the acoustics nicely, knocking out the Sharam Jay remix of Montel Jordan’s This Is How We Do It

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played, track 1 through 10, much to the delight of the 7000 strong crowd. They loved every single second of it and that was reflected in the atmosphere at Ushuaïa - totally electric.

Ushuaïa

Touching on that crowd then, is one of the major success stories of these parties. Because they are all so intertwined with the culture and music Guetta and co promote, they go absolutely crazy! I mean mad... possessed even! I've seen other parties absolutely go off (such as DC10 to take the polar opposite as an example), but rarely at the level to which these people will lose their minds to a David Guetta chorus. There was an impressive atmosphere and energy in the air, I'll give it that much.

F*** Me I’m Famous Review: F*** Me I’m Famous, 30th July by James Chapman For me this party was and always will be more about the show and the venue, rather than the music, which I suspect Mr Guetta won't be too happy about considering his much featured album on the night is titled 'Nothing But The Beat'. Whilst I suspect you would all gather that the David Guetta sphere of music isn't exactly my number 1 choice of environment to party in, I can see the positives, and I can appreciate the draw of a party like this. In attending with my friends who were visiting on holiday, and for whom a David Guetta party is like filthy, nasty porn to their ears, you can't help but get wrapped up in the hilarity and fun of it all. We had girls in thongs thrashing around in inflatable balls, more girls in thongs (probably) hanging precariously, and in almost cartoon fashion, from a load of balloons, and more visually entertaining pleasantries based around barely dressed and impossibly toned ladies and gents. Whilst admittedly I spent a fair portion of the time they were performing wondering what it would be like if the balls/ balloons popped, it did look good... as you can see from the photos. Really though, when I think about it, any music could be playing, if you're with a group of friends, sharing a few ridiculously expensive beers, having a laugh, then really... what does it matter who and what's playing? OK, this is more a case for when I'm with people who don't know their Calvin Harris' from their Kerri Chandler's (nothing to do with 'Friends' I'm afraid guys, nice guess though), but the point is the same. I went into this party with an open mind, and I did have a laugh! Calvin Harris did his usual thing, crowd pleaser after crowd pleaser - my friends knew the words to almost every track. To see their faces light up when Axwell & Dirty South's remix of 'Sweet Disposition' (original by Temper Trap) played out, and they sung along, was a sweet moment. Bless them. The music policy was much the same for both Calvin Harris and David Guetta - two heavyweights of the commercial house scene - throughout the night. Many a Calvin Harris and Guetta track was played, such as 'Louder Than Words', 'Wild One Two', 'I Can Only Imagine', 'Turn Me On', 'Without You' and 'We'll Be Coming Back'. In fact, the whole of Guetta's latest album seems to have been

These parties are a collaboration, a triumph of the marriage between Cathy and David Guetta. For his wife is as much responsible for the party as is David. She takes on the role of organising the show side, whilst David presses the buttons on the decks. Kudos to Cathy for putting on such an impressive show, the stage, the dancers, the pyrotechnics, and the general stage production was fantastic. It made Ushuaïa look great, and made David sound even better to the gathered masses. At one point a special 'surprise' was released to the crowd, as hundreds of foam tubes with coloured, flashing LED's were handed out around the venue. Standing at the back with a view of it all was quite an impressive sight, I have to admit. To see so many of the LED foam tubes still shaking at Cocoon several hours later made me wonder, however. Maybe all these Guetta fueled parties have a purpose beyond pop music? Something of a grassroot's training scheme perhaps? Whereby the musically uneducated, or perhaps better described as inexperienced, get their first taste of dance music via the cross-genre of dance-pop he and his #friends play, only to then be exposed to the 'cooler' and more 'underground' sounds of Adem Beyer and the Cocoon crew, and seal their addiction. If that is the case then I'm cool with that (although I'm sure many won't), for a genre that was supposedly dead or dieing a few years ago, it certainly seems to be growing in popularity... Having said that, people are entitled to their own opinions and tastes, and there are enough positives at a party like F*** Me I'm Famous to justify it all.

Luciano & Friends Review: Nina Kraviz, Radio Slave and Luciano, 14th June

it’s more inclusive when an audience can actually see physical evidence of the song selection and mixing process and I found it a pleasure to watch Kraviz work.

It had only been a week since my last Ushuaïa visit, but it was the huge gravitational pull of Nina Kraviz (strangely disproportionate to her size) which had me back for another fix of Luciano and Friends Thursdays at the suave hotel.

This was a casually timed set – Kraviz seemed in no rush to start “killing it” and even the individual mixes were long processes. This worked excellently and gave her complete control over the crowd. The set really kicked into life around the halfway mark and Kraviz broke out of her trademark pout to sing along and dance around, visibly enjoying herself. The girl’s got stage presence, and in every aspect of her set brought something tangible to an industry which increasingly exists in a digital black hole.

Kraviz was smooth and understated to begin with, the perfect sound-waves to accompany the setting sun sink around the curve of the stage behind her. She was playing on her beloved vinyl, which always makes for interesting watching. I believe

Radio Slave followed with an agreeable set which at first I thought didn’t quite have the spark of Kraviz’s. He saved some serious face in his last fifteen minutes, however, dropping funky gems like Greg Porter’s "1960 What?" and Donna Sum-

by Jordan Smith The sparkling outdoor venue does it again...

mer's disco anthem "I Feel Love". If those songs aren’t a party then I don’t know what is. Then it was lights on, streamers down and dancers up as Luciano took control of the venue he’s really beginning to make his own. It was a very melodious set this week; it seemed as if the sound was almost split down the middle with synths, pads and vocals soaring every melodic-which-way and sounding very ethereal, whilst Luciano’s usual bass and drum building blocks kept the same bouncing house beat everyone knew and loved. Having heard Luciano last week, there’s certainly no mistaking which are his favourite tracks at the moment, but with ninety percent of the crowd being fresh faces, who could blame him for giving his most-loved tracks a good thrashing? As the night drew to a close I was faced with a phenomenal light display, as Ushuaïa had once again cemented itself as an outdoor venue to rule them all…

Swedish House Mafia Review: Swedish House Mafia Opening Party, 4th July by George Mihailovski The lunar effect was in full swing as the Swedish House Mafia’s highly anticipated opening party descended onto Ushuaïa last night. Playa d'en Bossa was already buzzing with excitement by 8pm as I arrived. The streets were starting to fill with thousands of punters marching their way towards Ushuaïa. Tonight was a full moon. How appropriate… Inside the venue, the vibe was super positive. Hundreds of diehard fans danced on palm tree inspired podiums and proudly wore their Swedish House Mafia t-shirts while others opted for a louder tribute and went down the body painting path, all in the name of love for the Swedes. Ushuaïa felt like a purpose built venue. Everything flowed so well. The bars were positioned perfectly and always within reach. The stage was jaw dropping and spectacular with equip-

ment that easily costs millions of dollars, all with the intention of invoking our senses. Ushuaïa is minimalist inspired. The light color palette used throughout the venue is tranquil with a dreamy reminder that you are no longer in Kansas anymore. The VIP areas were luxurious, perfectly catered by Ushuaïa’s well-trained staff and over flowing with expensive champagne and cocktails with flare. The VIP’s were a mixed breed of movers and shakers, Botox enthusiasts and weekend millionaires. As I arrived, Pete Tong was playing. He played a solid set with tracks that were perfectly fitting for an outdoor day party. What I loved about his set is that he wasn’t banging it out for the sake of getting a hands in the air reaction. His set made sense. It was proper house. You know, those beats and loops that you never want to end. I loved it. His choice of music is a testament to his experience. Next up was SHM. As the Swedish house Mafia graced the stage I could see the excitement growing on the dance floor. There was no turning back now. The opening track was 'In my mind'. If Ushuaïa did have a roof, its roof would have been blown off at this point. They dropped a remix of ‘Around the

world’ by Daft Punk and a smorgasbord of SHM classics like 'Leave the world behind' and an unknown remix of Axwell and Ingrosso’s ‘Together’. The real ice breaker in the crowd was when they played 'Miami to Ibiza'. The feeling was surreal and yet so appropriate as you looked up into the sky and saw new airplanes bringing in thousands of new party people to experience the Ibiza journey with us. The Swedish House Mafia was a perfectly coordinated act. Their well-timed production included inspiring visuals, fireworks, confetti, acrobatics, fireballs and loads of other eye candy. The production elements along with the tracks they played complimented each other really well and heightened the journey. Their grand finale was like a ticker tape parade fit for royalty. It was spectacular to watch and a truly magical moment. The Swedish House Mafia opening night was a mammoth success. SHM tweeted 'Ibiza, you crazy!' and 'Ibiza. 9000 of you danced under the only full moon that fu***n counts. A full moon. Wowowowowoowoowow' With the trio recently announcing they are going their separate ways, SHM at Ushuaïa is certain to sell out each week.

Sasha Review: Sasha and Paul Kalkbrenner, 10th August by Jordan Smith Sometimes it all just comes together perfectly... Arriving midway through a warm-up set from the two lovely ladies behindBlond:ish, my companion and I nabbed what we considered some of the best seats in the house, sat around the edge of the baby pool, feet dangling into the warm water, steadily pruning to perfection. After a few tracks from Blond:ish I formulated the words ‘total babes but nothing to write home about, musically’ in my mind, but by the end of their set silently reprimanded myself for being such a presumptuous snob. These girls delivered what eventually evolved into a great warm up set; it was funky as anything and had me dancing well before I’d planned on relinquishing my poolside position. Next up, the instigator and orchestrator of this little shindig – Sasha himself. For a DJ who is well known for acutely moody techno, he took things in a more melodic, accessible direction, to compliment the headliner to come. Opening with Frank Wiedemann & Ry Cuming - Howling (Âme remix), Sasha slowly developed over half an hour from this soothing falsetto to an upbeat house classic in Slam – Eterna (Digweed and Nick Muir remix). Sasha continued to build, with many individual tracks having wonderfully suspenseful and explosive moments in themselves. Things got a bit darker in the latter half of his set, as he headed towards the classic Sasha stomping ground, then smoothed out again for a gorgeous finale, rollingFlutes from the latest Hot Chip album into All That Matters by Kölsch, a track I think you’ll be hearing a lot more of in weeks to come.

All of this had been enjoyed from our new favourite position up the back; nevermind VIP – the baby pool was going off last night. From an eager and unassuming reveler rocking a body roll and grape vine simultaneously in one gloriously demented move, to back flips, conga-lines and impromptu group photos, the pool became a very sociable watering hole, with strangers coming together over a splash and a boogie. And at this point I will impart an invaluable Ushuaïa party tip – many of the outdoor shower heads surrounding the pool are still working in the evening. Go forth – and do your worst. Now it was time for Berlin’s most mainstream techno export Paul Kalkbrenner. I did not expect to be surprised by this set. Having seen Kalkbrenner in a variety of settings, I am well accustomed to his style. As Kalkbrenner will be the first to admit – he’s really no DJ, rarely playing anything but his own tunes and even indulging in a cheeky habit of letting some songs play out in full during a set, and enjoying the generous (though artificially induced) applause. He’s right – his production is good enough to stand up on it’s own, but since we have a pretty good idea of the music that’s coming, what one is looking for from a concert like this is atmosphere; last night delivered on that by the bucket-load.

Booming from the impressive open-air Ushuaïa stage, and coupled with an excellent visual show, came Gutus Nitzwork from the album Icke Wieder, mixed into a sample of Praise You – just incase Fatboy Slim hadn’t played that in the last 4 hours . . . Icke Wieder dominated the first half of the set (my favourites Jestruepp and Kleines Bubu both got an airing), whilst Berlin Calling was the theme of the second, Kalkbrenner filling out the bottom-end of all tracks to make them really rave-worthy. In addition to the album favourites, we were also treated to his sexy little remix of Michel Cleis’ La Mezcla, and Das Gezabel, the first single from his new album released that very day. Shocking no one and pleasing everyone, Kalkbrenner closed with Sky and Sand, featuring the vocals of his brother Fritz Kalkbrenner. Emotional techno at its best, this moment was coupled with an explosion of golden confetti (the only one of the night) and caused such uproarious applause that he had to jog out for an encore (Aaron). Then with a sudden twist of the relevant knob (wouldn’t want to bore you with my…er… extensive technical knowledge) it was all over. Individually, both Paul Kalkbrenner and Ushuaïa have left me disillusioned at times; the combination of the two, however, is stellar. Add cracking sets from Blond:ish and Sasha and you get my favourite night at Ushuaïa so far.

Closing Party Review: Closing Party, 6th October by James Chapman Luciano and friends bring a close to another fine season. There are few clubbing spaces in the world that present such a spectacle as Ushuaïa does; we've said time and time again across our various reviews from the season how we love the whole setup at the venue. Admittedly the whole VIP focus of the place is undesirable for those not well known or rich enough to savour its champagne-on-ice characteristics, but then that's old news now. No expense is spared on production value, with the closing offering up a veritable feast of eye watering entertainment, and a very generous helping of delicious sounds courtesy of Luciano and a bunch of his mates. Although the party had been going on since around the 4pm mark, I arrived an hour before sunset to see the place lit naturally for the last time this year... Alright, alright, I arrived in time to take photos of the lovely lycra clad ladies (a fine example of which can be found below) - strutting and flexing has never looked so good! Andrea Oliva, a former podcaster of oursHERE, provided the soundtrack of the early few hours, with Rozzo's 'Meta001.1' being one of more memorable musical moments, and a blast from past seasons with the track released in 2008. This track was pretty indicative of the style and tempo from Andrea's set, before self proclaimed 'migrant worker' Frivolous, of Berlin residency, took things up a notch with an hour long live performance. Resembling some kind of giant with his seemingly 7ft tall stature, with trilby atop, Frivolous - real name Daniel Gardner - had an absolute blast presenting his live show to a crowd that was feeding off his enthusiasm and circus sounding music. If only all DJs looked like they were having so much fun performing, perhaps the world would be better place... next stop? World peace, perhaps.

Back to the tunes though, we had one of my tunes of the season in Sharam Jey's 'Like Nobody Does' (a perfect example of the sound the Diynamic crew love), The Chemical Brothers' 'Do It Again' (particularly cool after watching their 'Don't Think' movie with the director at Pikes earlier in the week), a remix of the Classic Bowie track 'Let's Dance' (video of the moment here) and Solomun's own 'Kackvogel'... which not only boasts an amusing title, but also the kind of bass licks to get sexy to AND a funny German guy dancing for a video. In my eyes, Solomun can do no wrong, even if his mixing isn't quite up to the standard of say Coxy or Sasha. The fact is his music appeals to lovers of many different genres, old and new, it's accessble and fun, and what more could you ask for?

Enough Solomun loving though, onwards I go to Cadenza favourie Reboot. The set built very nicely throughout, with plenty of recognisable tracks, none of which I know though unfortunately. But Reboot moved things on from the deep-house/disco sound of Solomun to music with a decidedly more techno edge to it. It was the perfect introduction to the main man of the night -Luciano of course. Pink hair highlights aside Luciano has come in to his own this season at Ushuaïa, with the party having an entirely different feel to the Cadenza Vagbundos parties at Pacha on Sundays. The set was book-ended by two outstanding moments. At the start we were all treated to an entirely unique performance from a choir of unknown origin (please comment below if you know who they were!) in tandem with Luciano; you can have a look at the video here and share in the pleasantness of it all. Then towards the end Luciano has dropped this unreleased little gem during most of the sets of his I've seen this season. Titled 'Rise of Angel', it's a long, beautiful, piano heavy piece of music that everyone should enjoy at some point in their life, and made for one of the more perfect moments of the night. Luciano's love affair with Ushuaïa has gone from strength to strength over the course of the summer, so it will be interesting to see what the next step will be in their working relationship in to 2013. Already looking forward to it...

Next up we had surprise addition to the lineup - Solomun. Being the absolute event whore he is, I've seen him more than anyone else this season I would say. He is the in-demand DJ of the 2012 season, of which there is no doubt, but that is for good reason. His blend of old school dance music re-imagined with vocals and sexy synths aplenty conjures up these feelings of pure joy... Even as I write this review a few days after the closing weekend in my weakened emotional state, I find thinking back to the list of tracks which Solomun blazed through brings me back to my happy place. Just listing off a few of them from his set (which if I could would take up several paragraphs alone) leads me to wonder that if I paid him enough, would Solomun follow me around and provide the soundtrack to my life? Wouldn't that be lovely...

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Ibiza Rocks

Review: Ibiza Rocks Opening, 6th June by Hannah Davies Last night Ibiza Rocks opened its doors ready bringing Ed Sheeran and The Milk to the poolside... Last year Plan B and Wretch 32 headlined at the Ibiza Rocks opening bringing British rap to the main stage and this summer, with a slight change of genre, the venue rocked out with Essex lads The Milk and cool kid Ed Sheeran. The Milk gave an incredibly fiery performance with the four piece band not only bringing a soulful and gritty sound to the crowd but also passionately strumming their way through their tracks. Lead vocalist Rick Nunn showed off his wide vocal range throughout the gig which could be compared to that of Maroon 5's Adam Levine. With one foot on an amp and Rayban's sitting on the tip of his nose - due to all the serious head banging going down - Rick powerfully belted out track after track whilst playing his beautiful guitar supported by fellow guitarist Dan Legresley, bassist Luke Ayling and drummer Mitch Ayling. Everywhere from the hotel balconies to the VIP terrace were ram packed with people rocking out to the guys who were giving such an energetic performance. Whether you had heard of the band before or not their bluesy riffs and infectious style was a perfect way to begin the opening party. A purple mist came from the stage as they performed their favourite tracks;'Every time we fight', '54 46 was my number', '(All I wanted was) Danger' and'Broke up the family'; the band even incorporated Wretch 32's single 'Traktor' and Stardust's 'Music sounds better with you'. Ending in style The Milk encouraged the crowd to get down onto the floor and jump up as they built the sound up to an electrifying level; proving the excitement had even got too much for the lead singer, Rick launched himself into the crowd to be raised up by a group of friends... So Rock'n'Roll! Ibiza Rocks residents Doorly and Nicola Bear then took to the decks whilst the stage was prepared for Ed Sheeran's 2 hour performance. Stepping onto the stage in a black and yellow Ibiza Rocks tshirt, wearing his signature necklace and with his acoustic guitar in hand, Ed Sheeran opened with his ballad 'Give Me Love' - which was quite a change from The Milk's explosive finish. However making a bride to be in the crowd cry as she shouted 'This is my wedding song' proved that the little ginger chap had embraced the crowd with his voice alone.

Coming to Ibiza Rocks as a solo artist with no gimmicks, no backing singers and no musicians simply one lad and his raw talent - Ed used a looping technique as well as wordplay to create the sound of a live band on stage. Throughout his performance he interacted with the crowd referring to them as his 'gospel choir' which added a more intimate feel to the gig and at one point he even took a hat from a fan and wore it before passing it back. The diverse and madly skilled singer went on to perform his chart topping tracks 'Lego house', 'Homeless', 'The A-Team' and 'Drunk' which of course had the support of his choir who belted out the lyrics in unison; he also sang Michael Buble's rendition of 'Feeling good' which silenced the audience. After each song the crowd chanted 'Sheeran, Sheeran, Sheeran' mimicking the old football chant of 'Shearer' and Ed played along encouraging the encore by blacking out the stage as if he had finished, only to get the whole of the Ibiza Rocks gang to hold up their lighters or phones as he sang another Sheeran classic. The whole evening was a mixture of high energy performances and moving moments from both acts which really kick started this seasons Ibiza Rocks gigs; and with Maverick Sabre, Labrinth, The Maccabees, Kasabian, Bloc party and many more world class acts all headlining over the summer, 2012 is set to be one of their best years yet.

We Are Rockstars Review: W.A.R. & Rinse FM ft Katy B, 24th August by James Chapman The guys from Rinse FM back in the UK have put together a couple of lineups this season for the Ibiza Rocks 'We Are Rockstars' parties each Friday at the usual Ibiza Rocks Hotel. Friday gone proved to be a great night of music, all with an urban 'kids from the street' feel to it with the likes of Devlin and Ms Dynamite also performing on the night. Not one over inflated ego in sight, which was nice. However, I was down to check out Katy B. A great female vocalist, and someone who I think has kept her feet firmly on the ground throughout her rise to success on the back of the 'On A Mission' album of 2011. Although disappointed to find out she was only playing for 20 minutes, it was enough time to satisfy my needs as all the big 'we've heard this one on the radio' tracks were played. This girl can do no wrong in my eyes.

S ECTION 8

Sankeys

So… do you feel like Sankeys has found its place for this season now? For sure. We’re getting loads of amazing feedback with the style of lineups we’ve put together. We’re creating parties that are not rushed, but have been thought out strongly for the last 6 months. The whole vibe and theme is really positive, I’m very excited about this season. Already we’ve sold more tickets now than we’ve sold for the whole of last season! Last year because of the rushed product we had we were literally a free party for most of the season. Was there much to have learnt from your debut season, although I know you have Sankeys back in the UK, it’s all a bit different here isn’t it…

David Vincent: The Sankeys Vision by James Chapman An insight into the man behind a club with history in the UK... who is still trying to make his mark on the island of Ibiza. We predict 2012 to be a turning point for Sankeys Ibiza and the man who has worked hard to get it there. Throughout Sankeys debut in the 2011 season it would be fair to say that Carnival, along with Monza, were the mainstays of the club, pulling it through what proved to be a testing time for a brand working hard to gain a foothold on the island. In this interview with David Vincent, the guy behind the hugely successful Sankeys clubs, we learn just how tough life can be when setting up a new club in a new environment, although it's particularly surprising seeing just how close everything came to falling apart considering David's success with Sankeys back in Manchester, UK. It's testament to the work ethic and commitment of David and his team that Sankey's is even back in 2012, but it's clear from his refreshingly open and honest interview that this season will see something of a revolution in the small-to-medium sized underground club scene. David has ensured that they have taken time with the preparation, the club is ready, and - judging from the lineup's we have already - the music program looks fantastic. It could be argued that on account of Sankeys... shortcomings... last year, that some less 'in the know' people won't be expecting big things this time round. And that is something the club can feed off - they can completely blow everyone away and be the most pleasant surprise of the season. Ultimately, the club is in a state of transition, and each year it is back in Ibiza is another year of growth and lessons learnt for the next, and after last seasons almost trial run, you can be sure things will be better. Much much better. As David says, “Last year wasn’t really a true representation of what we are about. I feel like this year we are reborn. It’s our second coming.” If anyone deserves a second chance it's David and Sankeys. Roll on the openings...

Of course. Unfortunately there’s no handbook on how to run a club in Ibiza. The biggest difference is that you’re condensing one year’s worth of programming into four months. Running a club in England is totally different, but it also gears us with invaluable experience that we take to the White Isle. Musically speaking, things change so rapidly in clubland we’re constantly reinventing our format and tweaking various things with Sankeys in Manchester to ensure we’re always dishing up something fresh and new. We take this mindset to Ibiza. There is also another train of thought that suggests because we are a smaller club, we have the freedom to be more musically edgy and forward thinking and push boundaries the other bigger clubs cannot do as they need to book bigger artists to pack there club out. As a smaller club, it’s important for us to be constantly thinking outside the box, especially as music is changing at such a fast rate. Running a weekly club in Manchester keep us in tune with exactly what is going on 12 months a year, which in turn ensures we present the most cutting-edge music talent. Because the bigger clubs in Ibiza only run five months a year, it can be easy for them to fall into the trap of thinking what was relevant last year, is relevant now. I guess taking on some of the most respected clubs and events in the world in Ibiza must be difficult with all the huge competition on your doorstep. Have you found it hard to penetrate the Ibiza clubbing scene? Just to be clear - we’re not challenging any clubs or having wars. I hate the idea of ‘taking on’ or taking something away from all these other great clubs– we’re not doing that. We want to bring a new energy to the island. Hopefully the type of DJs we are putting on are new who have never played there before. They might build a career there and go onto play the big clubs. Our intention is to bring a new energy and a new wave or different type of clubber to the island for everyone else to benefit from. Yes it was really hard to penetrate it last summer for us. We didn’t have time to program what we were doing. But this time we’ve had a lot of time to plan the right type of concept that reflects the club and can penetrate the Ibiza scene. There’s a lot of DJs and artists who are literately phoning us wanting to join the Sankeys revolution in Ibiza. Feedback and ticket sales definitely reflect this. Last year was really hard – a big mountain to climb which was so frustrating for me. We just didn’t have the right tools to do what we set out to achieve, but this year is totally different. It’s a bit like being a fantastic artist without being able to use the right paintbrush.

Was last summer a means to test the water in Ibiza then do you think?

When you made the move last year did you take yourself out of your comfort zone do you think?

Inevitably whenever you start anything from scratch, you’re likely to come against some challenges. We announced everything two weeks before opening, so everything was rushed. That culminated in having a very hard season and making every mistake possible, but we survived to tell the tale and re-grouped in the winter, and have come up with a concept more inline with what you expect from Sankeys. As they say failure leads to success!

Completely. Last season we never expected that 70-80 per cent would be frees just to get people in. It was really tough. I had an investor drop out at the last minute worth one million euros and had to max out all my credit cards and borrow money from people just to get by. I was living on pot noodles for a while, which is hardly what you’d expect from a nightclub boss in Ibiza! Haha!

It was so bad that each week, I needed to scrape the pennies together just to get enough money to print posters to go around the island. Some weeks we could not even afford any promotion and had to do it by word of mouth, but this added the magical side of the venue and made it “underground” by default and therefore cool to everyone. But as I say this was a fluke due to our lack of finance for promotion and not intended but it worked in our favour as people really had to look out to find out about us, which they felt we did on purpose, if they only knew…

Hacienda about a legendary Manchester band making an appearance at the club, which will be massive, so watch this s p a c e !

Cheers David, leave us with a little message from you and the Sankeys team for the season…

We’re anticipating a big season at Sankeys this summer. With the quality of talent on show and value for money offered (showcasing everyone from Basement Jaxx, Booka Shade, Solomun and Diplo to emerging talent like Julio Bashmore, Joy Orbison and Guti, among many others!), judging by the massive response already, I can’t see us needing to do any free wristbands this summer. There are still lots more exciting stuff to be announced, so watch this space!

Of course, we expected developments with the music policy this year, as any club would do in a state of progression and growth, but are there any new physical elements to the club itself that people will see?

Is that something you thrive on then, the whole doing something new and challenging yourself?

We’re going to paint it and re-tweek the soundsystem a little bit and add a bit of graffiti. We’re also looking at adding more air conditioning. It’ll be a nice organic growth. We talk a lot about this Sankeys adventure being something new for you, but you’ve been in the industry for a long time, and you’ve some experience with the likes of Pacha. What happened there, presumably you took a lot from it?

Absolutely, I thrive on it. But last year was beyond a challenge and the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. The most important thing to me is surviving the challenge, picking yourself up, reflecting on the mistakes you’ve made and going forward and moving onto the next level.

Working at Pacha was probably one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. It has a real family vibe – some people have worked there for over 30 years. In terms of the club, owners and management it’s basically the Mona Lisa of nightclubs; it’s an artistic masterpiece. If there was ever any club I would have worked for if I did not set up my own nightclub (and I did not consider it) it would have been Pacha, all the people there were amazing.

Every week I had to think totally out of the box. I just knew we had to survive the first season, then the future would be bright in years to come. Everyone says it takes three years to make it in Ibiza, and we are well on our way to getting there. I could see by the end of the summer the islanders and workers loved what we are doing. There loads of new and exciting events involved this season, what was it you were looking for when programming your schedule? Something new and exciting. The beauty of Sankeys is that a lot of people kind of got what we were trying to do last year. Literally every week we’d have a new promoter coming to us offering us a different idea. Guys like Steve Lawler came to us because he loved what we were doing and wanted to be involved. The Diynamic night with Solomun is another beauty – I’ve got a great feeling about this too. Carnival’s line ups are getting ridiculous now, we are putting a policy together or hardly repeating any artists, there is so much amazing stuff being booked there and moving it to the Saturday I believe will become a good move for us as there is nothing going on in the evening on this day for this type of music. Also this year we’ve got Italian night Supalova with Joe T Vanelli on Friday, Baccanali on Thursday and Propaganda, which is an Indie night on Sunday.

You quite boldly stated that you ultimately intended there to be 7 Sankeys, like there are 7 wonders, around the world. Do you think that plan is still achievable? It should be after the end of this year when we open in New York. After last season I was thinking that it’s definitely not achievable, but with the feedback and the momentum built up t h i s s e a s o n , w e ’ v e o n l y g o t f o u r t o g o !    Is that your actual ultimate goal? What have you set out to achieve here, both this season and in the long-term?

You’ve plans to introduce a live element to the Sankeys crowd this year right? What can you tell us about that?

This season I’m looking for consistency. Sankeys last season was one long soft opening. The things that stood the test were Monza and Carnival, which both did the whole season. I think consistency is the most important thing. If our attendances are better than last year, then that’s a massive step in the right direction. My long term goal in Ibiza is to create a club I originally set out to do, but got stifled by a lack of funding; it may take 5 years to get there but by the end of it, but it’ll be an organic journey for everyone to witness. Sankeys Manchester t o o k 1 2 y e a r s !

It’s more of an electronic live element. You have to be careful not to put live stuff on for the sake of it. They can be boring if you don’t have the right type of lights. We’re adding that element to Saturday nights at Carnival. We’re also speaking to

Diynamic Neon Nights Review: Diynamic Closing, 11th September by Jordan Smith Lights out for Diynamic With such a successful first season in Ibiza, it was only fitting that the Diynamic send-off was a thoroughly Ibicenco affair, with the extended hours Neon Nights at Sankeys prefaced by a day of sun, sand and music on the Diynamic Boat Party which set sail from Playa D’en Bossa mid afternoon yesterday. This was pure torture; I found myself standing opposite Solomun with a canapé in my mouth, a drink in my hand, neck popping and head knocking to Dr Dre as the waves washed beneath me on my way to a sandy cove for more partying… truly terrible. Later I had more complimentary drinks and a bocadillo mercilessly shoved down my throat, a refreshing swim and a stomp on the sand at the S’Estanyol beach restaurant (north of Talamanca and Ibiza Town) called PK2 (a Spanish play on words which sounds as pecados, or “sins”), which was all equally horrific. We eventually disembarked onto dry land around 9:30pm, at which point I wondered what demons I was to face at the official Diynamic Closing Party to come, beginning only a few hours from that point. Well the official closing party was too good for sarcasm, so I’ll quit playing with you and give it to you straight. My first impression was how wicked the box was looking. Usually not open for the Diynamic Neon Nights, the Box is a favourite space of mine so I was excited to see it given the Neon treatment. No holds barred on this front – the high ceilings and varying levels, when combined with glow-in-the-dark smiley faces on the walls and equally flurescent graffiti, had transformed this space into a 90s acid warehouse rave (though the music was at least 100% slower), with a bubble machine to boot. Both Basement and Box rooms spent the first few hours at a lazy but enjoyable pace, easing us ravers into the groove one deep and soulful track at a time. David August, H.O.S.H. and Uner were rotating around the decks in the Box; sometimes alone, sometimes b2b, and things really swung into action when H.O.S.H. dropped his newest release Woohoo, featuring Ost & Kjex, which isn’t out until the 16th of this month. This track is a serious party starter, which we were lucky enough to catch on the boat party as well, and in both scenarios had everyone singing along to the less-than-complicated lyrical passages that the name suggests. Over in the Basement, Stimming was indulging in some slightly more underground clicks and gurgles, emerging from these depths towards the end with his own remix of one of the better offerings from Deadmau5 – Raise Your Weapon.

Solomun began in melodrama unusual to the Basement, with what sounded like it could be the opening fanfare to some epic Hollywood movie, where lots of people die, yet truth prevails . . . or something. He then tickled us with some percussion for thirty seconds before plunging into a booming bassline – and from that point we were never really given the option to stop dancing. At the cooler and more collected opening end of his set, we grooved to gems like Solomun’s remix of Let’s Go Back, originally by Kraak and Smaak, but as we neared and then overtook the 5am mark Solomun’s sound got harder and heavier, though he stilled weaved in the recognisable classics like the Daft Punk remix of Mothership Connection. The vibe in the Basement was electric – but the atmosphere in the Box was equally so, so I just had to duck back in there for one last warehouse experience, fortunately popping my head through in time to see the Bookashade vs MANDY classicBody Language, sending everyone present into joyous hysterics...

Then it was back in the basement with Solomun, who was cementing his growing reputation as The Party King, by dropping Chemical Brothers Do It Again, followed by Missy Elliott Work It, followed by Montell Jordan This is How We Do It, followed by everyone’s head exploding from way too much happy times in just 15 minutes. It was around about now I spied Claude Von Stroke strolling in (does he ever not stroll?), who was later spotted front and centre of the Basement crowd, splashed in neon paint and fist pumping like a bandit! Although homage was paid to many artists last night, the Diynamic crew had their deep and dirty paws all over the productions, through originals and a whole heap of remixes. They’ve well and truly established themselves on the Ibiza scene - and if it’s good enough for Claude Von Stroke, it’s good enough for us all. See you next season Diynamic!

Diynamic threw a free beach party in Barcelona for offSonar last month. Firstly – much respect for doing it pro bono, and secondly – how did it go?

Solomun: Game To Game by Jordan Smith Solomun discusses the perks and pitfalls of starting a new night at Sankeys and tries not to plan too far ahead...

Ahh! This was absolutely outstanding! Everybody from us was playing only one hour and this was a mega show. So far away from the city, on the beach and to have around 2000 party people coming ‘cause of us was really, really special!

With free beach raves, regular Diynamic parties all over Europe, a club of his own called Ego, an ever-expanding label to direct and new releases coming out all the time, Mladen Solomun is casually grooving his way across Europe’s underground scene, leaving thousands of blissed-out music-fans in his wake.

You also released a 5th anniversary compilation recently, all proceeds going to charity. In a time when artists are coping with illegal downloading, how easy or difficult was it to convince the artists involved in both the party and the compilation to work for free?

Soulful, melodic, with a deep bass and determined kick – Solomun and the Diynamic crew’s sets are becoming a bit of an addiction for us at Spotlight. The Bosnian born, Hamburg based Croatian (another resounding win for globalisation) took some time to discuss with us his recent successes, risks and almost working with Yann Tiersen and the Dub Pistols…

As you can imagine it was long hard way to get all these great artists to do remixes for free. We also asked lot of other fantastic artists we had on the wish list, but cause of too much touring or album commitments it was not possible. We spent about nine months working on that. One of the artists we waited very long for was dub pistols. Then, when he almost finished his remix, his computer crashed. We also had a confirmation from Yann Tiersen, for example (he made the music to the movie from Amelie for those who don't know him), but he also had to cancelled it cause of touring. This was very sad for us.

You don’t have much of a history with Ibiza – can you describe how you went from a few appearances to running your own night for the season? This is correct - maybe because I'm not the kind of guy who wants to mix vacation with party. I have family in Croatia and I love it there, so that’s been my vacation. Besides that I didn't have many requests in the past to play there. This year it was different. I had many request to play, but Sankeys was one of the first also who asked me and I asked if they were up for a Diynamic night and David [Vincent] was happy with that. Our Diynamic nights are running everywhere in the Europe very well, so we thought let's do it - the next new challenge. There’s a real buzz around the island after the opening couple of parties of Diynamic Neon Nights last week. Tell us how the night went for you? I was very relieved about that. We feel really comfortable at the club and have had great two nights so far. The second was also a bit more busy then the first one. I'm super happy cause of our neon night concept we have paintings during the night and the crowd are really into it, the people started to ask for more colour painting during the night and they all do it on their own and coloured other guests. This all gives them a familiar vibe. Sankeys is the newest club on the island; with Diynamic running a party in these early stages you play an influential part in Sankeys’ development. Where do you want to take it? In the end of the season I can give you a total resume. Like I learned when I was playing soccer in the early days, you have

Your label has expanded quickly in six years – how have the new faces involved changed the nature of the business and its releases? to think from game to game. After that we have an overview about that what we have done and where we want to go next. The best option is that everything is running super well and we will have it next year even easier at Sankeys. A whole chunk of artists on your label has committed to a weekly residency over here, is Diynamic building a relationship with Ibiza that will continue to grow in years to come? I hope so. We chose maybe the hardest way for a newcomer on the island: new club, new brand, with Diynamic and only our artists playing and no other host or promoter who will fill the club with guest lists or support. The NEON theme looks wicked in the promo video – how did that idea come about and is it connected to the music we can expect, or just a fun aesthetic choice?

We do what we do and we are getting close and closer with our artists. Also with the newest members, we are trying to involve them as much as possible to feel at home. We are all a part of it and we all do our homework. There is nothing more we can do than that. Has your personal production or DJ style altered much since you started Diynamic? Sure. This is important. Always trying to go new ways. Finally, a deadly serious survival question: Out of Elton John, Sting and Lenny Kravitz, who would you most like to be stuck in an elevator with? Sting. But I'm not sure if he will be happy to be with me in the elevator...

It's a fun aesthetic choice and it gives us lot of headroom to play with the name and concept. We thought it fits also very good to the basic light and design concept from the club. This, all together in combination with our sound, was a good idea I think.

Viva Warriors Review: Viva Warriors, 5th September by Hannah Davies Warrior headbands at the ready, Steve Lawler's in town! Steve Lawler is often a DJ associated with the world's best club, Space, but not since moving to Playa d'en Bossa's most intimate underground haven,Sankeys. A nest for thumping tech-house and its fans throughout the week the venue has seen a flurry of holiday makers and workers invade it making it their new musical Mecca. And a Wednesday serving of Lawler's Viva Warriors is just what they want, need and flock to and last night's party was no different. In fact it was busier, better and dirtier than before.

Just like the party's poster the evening played on many of the elements of the cult classic film 'The Warriors' - which the night is ultimately based on; incorporating gimmicks, fancy dress and even projecting the film onto the smoking terrace's wall banded together the evening and united all the clubbers as Lawler's very own army. The dancefloor was amass withwarriors of music marching to Steve's tech sounds; cleverly executed in a way which portrayed strength, fierceness and unity, just like the film. Strong and relentless fast pumping basslines, hard sharp symbols slicing through the tracks and deep chords anchored by groovy melodies and vocals is what gripped the crowd from start to finish and made the vibrating floors bounce without rest.

With sets from Darius Syrossian, Detlef, Steve Lawler and Sascha Diveplus the Spektrum being hosted by 'U Wanna Escape' the party was pumping and did so solidly from Darius's opening set right through to Sascha Dive's closing show. With tracks likes wAFF's Hot Creations debut 'Jo Johnson 'being played the party not only adopted a strong tech vibe but it also embraced a sexy side through seductive whispers, penetrating basslines and naughty synths which continuously chopped at the melodies; tracks such as 'Black shoes white socks' by Freaks really showed this off. Steve Lawler's presence was one of the main wow factors of last night's party; with an extra long set from 2.30am-5am he put together a powerful set of sounds including 'Insane' - Charles Ramirez, 'Hear me out' - Nic Fanciulli & Gary Beck and 'Westworld' - Chiapet. Occasionally straying from his strong tech style Lawler played with some disco sounds with Marshall Jefferson's track 'Move your body' and he even pulled at the fist pumping arm of the trance world with unique record 'Aisha' by Gaia. Sankeys for me this summer has really been about bringing quality music to the island on a more intimate scale and it really does seem like the place to be. So, it comes as no great surprise that Viva Warriors has extended its season by an extra week - now closing on Wednesday 19th September, when Steve Lawler will be joined by Alex Tepper, Amir, Antonio Piacquadio, Butch, Carlo Lio, Leon, Marco Effe and Sante... Surely that's one not to be missed?

Carnival Review: Carnival Radio 1 Essential Mix, 28th July by Jordan Smith Sankeys united the sounds of the underground with a truly choice selection of artists The problem with Carnival was that my body is so gosh-darn conservative it only let me be in one place at one time. Ask any of my partners in crime last night and they’ll tell you I was racing back and forth between rooms like a ping pong ball. Sankeys had truly united the sounds of the underground, presenting such a choice selection of artists, each with a unique offering, that my Fear Of Missing Out was resulting in serious commitment issues.

I kicked the night off with Bones in the Box – a space which I absolutely love. Its darkness and tiered floor surrounding the raised DJ booth looks impressive, feels communal and yet is still a good space to fumble about disoriented in, should one choose such a direction for their evening. Bones was steadily swinging the room into gear with some leisurely badass bass lines; an enjoyable set, but I was hanging out for the imminent arrival of my two-stepping hero from Sheffield, England - Blawan, which was to occur any minute . . . E x c e p t i t n e v e r d i d .  Sankeys I love you, I do, but where was Blawan?!? He’s a little-known name in Ibiza, which I was hoping last night would rectify, but his savage garage and techno fusion still has yet to terrorise the White Isle. At time of writing the interweb still hasn’t come through with an explanation regarding Blawan’s no-show; I can only hope Sankeys sorts a re-match soon.

Back in the Basement and the mountainous DJ Sneak had just taken the helm, his jacking house instantly shaking the room into a higher gear. Mixes were speedy as the Chicago house legend relentlessly threw classics in our faces, some highlights including Auntie Flo – Oh My Days and Let the Beat Control Your Body – Brodinski feat. Louisahhh. Though housing like a maniac in the mainroom for the bulk of Sneak’s set, I peppered those hours with frantic dashes back to the Box for everyone’s favourite monobrow - Boys Noize. He was easily the odd one out on the bill in my opinion – but rose to the underground challenge brilliantly, reminding us all there’s a world outside of techno and house and that electro can be just as deliciously dirty, when done properly. With the absence of Blawan, Bones and Boys Noize had longer sets to play with, but I couldn’t say Boys Noize had a great deal in the way of light and shade. Given the extended hours available to him I’d have preferred if he’d taken the sound in a few different directions, before inevitably returning to the carve-your-faceoff-with-razors electro drop. In fairness, however, he did carve our faces off really, really well . . . Cajmere (who you may know better as Green Velvet) manned the Basement from 4:30, inviting its temporary inhabitants into the weird and wonderful house world he seems to permanently float around in. It was impossible not to groove about to hits like Millie Vanillie – Green Velvet feat. Russoul, Au Seve – Julio Bashmore and the frenzy inducing Spastik –Plastikman (Richie Hawtin). Incidentally, during Cajmere I briefly dipped into Spektrum (successfully hosted by Departure) at a very opportune moment, the room exploding to La La Land – Green Velvet, as homage to the big tripper next door. Cajmere continued into the wee hours and just when our bodies started to give way, our arms to flop and our dancing relegated to the left-to-right grandpa shuffle, our ears caught one of the most familiar bass lines of this season and last – the Jamie Jones remix of Hungry for the Power – and everybody found that last little bit of energy to carry it on until close. Fellow ravers will be able to re-live the madness - or hear what you missed - this Friday as the Radio 1 team were there to record parts of DJ Sneak, Cajmere and Matt Tolfrey for an extended Essential Mix which will surely be immense.

Sankeys 24 Review: Sankeys 24 Part 2, 10th October by Hannah Davies Extending the season by an extra week was clearly a good idea as this season's closing parties have attracted the most serious ravers and made only the most hard core workers stick it out until the very end. The clubs were perfectly busy leaving us enough room to play with - and dance, run around and cut some crazy ass shapes on... and Sankeys 24 Part 2 was no different. Hosting not 1 but 2 closing parties - just like their memorable opening fiesta, Sankeys pulled out all the stops and even decorated the smoking terrace in a beach theme with bamboo stick walls and thatching creating a Hawaiian escape. There was also a side section open that I had never seen before where films and documentaries played which were based on sex, drugs and dirty house. Smart old Sankeys even played docudrama 24 Hour Party People starring Steve Coogan (2002) which went hand in hand with the party's name and explored Manchester Mecca, The Hacienda - ironically also the name of

a 5-star hotel which sits on the cusp of an untouched, peaceful nature reserve in the North of the Island... Oh the irony! Admittedly the club was providing almost a little too much dance-floor space at times but seeing as part 1 was hosted just hours before and DC10's popular closing hours before that it was hardly surprising that the crowd was smaller than during the season. However, that did mean that only the truly resilient were left standing and with all rooms open in full glory and playing home to huge headliners the atmosphere was fun throughout. The Box was taken over by Acid House and its icon, with the Spektrum hosting aWolf and Lamb Experience whilst the Basement had some of this season's favourites tearing things up. OK, so I was little disappointed that my personal fave Heidi couldn't make her set because of slipped discs... No not those ones, but with H.O.S.H and Solomun playing b2b solidly from 4am who could complain? Bouncing from H.O.S.H's track Woohoo to summer hits like Ben Pearce's What I might do and Solomun's remix of Kraak & Smaak's Let’s Go Back (feat. Romanthony) the room was exciting to say the least making sure that everyone was letting go for one last time. Taking us back to his Diynamic Neon Nights with deep and bouncy disco basslines Solomun, as per usual, had the crowd in the palm of his hands.

Venturing into the Spektrum was like walking back in time and an untouchable buzz was created for the crowd to dance to. Queen's Another One Bites the Dust and Sharon Redd's Beat the Street went down a treat with the seventy-odd dancing legend who put anyone that wasn't there for part 2 of Sankeys' party to shame. The happy floaty vibe of Sankeys last night shot straight from room to room and landed us in an adrenaline fuelled acid house dream decorated in wild graffiti aka. The Box. Sneak took centre stage and smashed out some of Chicago's finest jackin-house to which the room's hyped up revellers two-stepped uncontrollably to. That's Real Mutha f**kin Talk - Jesse Perez, did a good job of smashing the room to pieces with its Miami-booty sound and ass grinding bass. Later Cajmere took over sounding us into sunrise with his remix of Freak's track Black Shoes White Socks and as The Box's party came to a close the crowd happily filtered into the Basement to enjoy Solomun's seemingly never ending set. Bliss. Although Sankeys was quieter than usual and most definitely home to a very powerful air conditioning system there was no denying each room pulled in a strong and passionate crowd last night and actually changed what I predicted to be an awfully (but fantastic) messy night into a social and most importantly memorable season finale

S ECTION 9

Pukka Up

Although the Playa d'en Bossa gang are only able to host one boat, they made up for it in size as it was considerably bigger than those which depart from San Antonio, in fact adding a more elite and exclusive vibe to the party. This only heightened once we set sail and I was able to enjoy the sounds of Cream resident DJ Adam Sheridan who was joined by percussionist Ian - plus his insanely talented finger tips and electronic drums. We were even treated to a couple of special guest DJs such as Jodee Kitchwho took charge of the cabin booth with some warm progressive house beats which occasionally crossed over to some techier sounds. Arriving back at 5pm after 3 hours of a slightly grittier Pukka Up experience I only had an hour to make it back to San Antonio and onto another boat... Making it with a little time to spare, I was of course greeted by a swarm of tourists on arrival eagerly waiting to board one of the 6 boats which were lined-up along the harbour. Catering to a more typical Pukka Up crowd of attractive ladies sporting pink bikini's and pouts to match closely followed by a mass of lads grinning from ear to ear, the San An party was obviously going to be a more lively one. With a much larger work force, fleet and market compared to Playa d'en Bossa, the San Antonio party and crowd proved that Pukka Up are clearly having one of their best season's yet; which left me to wonder whether they would be able to maintain the experience across so many boats. Each set off armed with a resident DJ, gimmicks and a couple of Pukka Up IT Girls and faded into the distance as they parties to the backdrop of stunning views. Blaring out classics from the likes of Avicii and Swedish house Mafia, Pukka Up know what their clientele want, and it is a fun and uplifting package. Several Kopperburgs later and the party was over, with the Pukka Up fleet docked it was time for the after-party before 'THE after-party' to kick off. Flocking to the new Pukka Up Ibiza bar for a drink or two gave everybody a chance to cool down, spruce up and board the buses ready for Carl Cox's 'The Revolution Recruits' party at Space. A little skeptical about having to be in the club before 11pm I was hoping to sneak in a little later, but instead I bit the bullet and dove straight into the Sunset Terrace where I caught a blinding set from Wildkats and Krankbrothers before heading up to see main Pukka Up resident DJ, Sam Walker hosting a busy Premier Etage.

Review: A Day With Pukka Up, 2nd August by Hannah Davies We joined Pukka Up for a full day of fun from Playa d'en Bossa to San Antonio; nicely topped off with a bit of Carl Cox...

After a full day in the blazing hot sun I had successfully stomped around to some tech infused beats on the Playa d'en Bossa boat, waved my arms in the air like an excitable child to more proggy-electro sounds in San Antonio as the sun set and now I was almost ready to lay my head down and catch some zzz's. But not before checking out Coxy and his fierce line-up - which remains one of the best in Ibiza from week to week, let's just say I left Space (and Pukka Up) a very happy and rather sun-kissed girl - although definitely ready for bed!

Luckily I am one of those people who enjoy cruising around the Med listening to a selection of classic house tracks and dance-floor bangers - don't we all? So, spending a day darting from Playa d'en Bossa to San Antonio to ensure that I made it onto both of the Tuesday Pukka Up boat parties was a mission which I was willing to take on. Having only been on the Playa d'en Bossa boat once before, I was a little more excited to see how the 350 strong vessel was getting on approaching the mid-season madness. As expected it was a sell-out event and with a more mixed crowd than the San An gang, it was nice to see the people of the world gelling together over a free glass of bubbly at Plastik Beach Bar. I was a little surprised but in no means complaining, that a Pukka Up branded bus arrived to pick us up and transport us to the jetty - a pretty short stroll away. Arriving in style and admittedly a little sweaty from the cosy bus trip down there, I hurried towards the boat which sat in the picturesque waters between the beaches of Figueretas and Playa d'en Bossa.

S ECTION 10

Es Paradis

Hed Kandi Review: Hed Kandi, 18th August by Jordan Smith Es Paradis remains one of the most stylishly and creatively designed club interiors I’ve come across – its white, winding staircases, ivy covered balconies and multi-levelled main dance floor combine as the perfect habitat for the chic Hed Kandi brand to make its own. Since Es Paradis is also the most well lit club on the island, it’s a very different clubbing experience to most. No hiding in dark corners or swaying disoriented during a strobe… at Hed Kandi it’s about smiling, dancing, meeting new people and wearing gorgeous outfits that are simply meant to be seen. A sizeable chunk of Hed Kandi’s usually swollen crowd had been borrowed, last night, by the free party for Sant Bartomeu festival only metres away on San An beach. Fair play to Hed Kandi for drawing what crowd they did – it’s very hard to compete with free. Having a little extra space actually made it easier and more enjoyable to flit around the many different spaces of Es Paradis, and there was a friendly, communal atmosphere amongst those present. Hed Kandi DJs Andy Daniels, Steven Quarre and Ben Santiago provided upbeat House classics, with the balaeric and disco infusion that Hed Kandi are known for. Tasty though the mixes were, what set this night apart was its live component. The Drum Warrior clanged away on his drum pads, last night, clad in the Daft Punk-esque LED robot suit that has somehow become a fixture of this entertaining tradition. The highlight, as ever, was the aptly named Lovely Laura, who hung playfully above our heads blowing sweet notes into her saxophone, jazzing away with the DJ to several songs, most notably the classic Mark Knight and Funkagenda remix of Laurent Garnier’s Man With The Red Face. Man, will ya dig those cats! Once Lovely Laura retired and I got over my Beatnik moment, the bass really kicked in and our collective arms started to grope for the sky. Some beach party dropouts filtered through to bulk out the dance floor and the night really became all about the dancing. Hed Kandi have fine-tuned their accessible - but not always commercial - house sound, and it was very well received last night. This is a party with its own distinct flavour which is just too sweet to resist

S ECTION 11

Ocean Beach Club

Deepflight Review Deepflight Opening ft Sister Sledge, 12th July by James Chapman San Antonio's newest and arguably best venue opened only a short while ago now, bringing with it a very pleasant offering of otherwise none existant day-time to evening parties for the San An massive. Being the receptive bunch they are, the venue has gone down extremely well, the idea is sound, and the venue is beautiful. In fact, never has the view from that side of the bay been so nice, or at least I've never stopped for long enough to particularly notice. I suspect the large crowd on the promenade taking a very cheeky peek over the glass wall over the Ocean Beach Club grounds were wondering what was going on. Is someone playing a Sister Sledge compilation CD? But no, my friends, Sister Sledge ACTUALLY PLAYED. So with Chic the other week at Ibiza 123 festival, and now the sisters the other side of the bay. Suddenly the music scene in San An just got considerably cooler.Â All the favourites were played, 'Greatest Dancer'. 'Lost In Music', 'We Are Family' and 'Good Times' - all absolute tunes! The kind that just make you grin wildly, you know, where you grin so much and you catch someones eye and they think you're a little weird? That kinda grin, but really really good. It was really cool to see some musical legends take to a relatively small stage, with their family in tow, and still sound as great as they do on the various funk/soul/disco related CDs I have. Seriously good times as I was totally lost in the music (sorry, couldn't help myself). All this of course, on top of the mighty Tom Novy, rounding off a pretty cool lineup from a cool new venue that is sure to bring plenty of attention back towards San Antonio. Line ups look very interesting with Oliver Koletzki feat. Fran headlining next week - let's get hypnotized.

S ECTION 12

DC10

main room party to a close. As 2.30am passed the main room was closed and the solid underground fans filtered into the main room bringing it back up to capacity and elevating the terrace euphoria even more. The Martinez BrothersÂ rounded off the Lola ED Circoloco extravaganza in the terrace and were constantly interacting with the crowd bringing a beat in with their magic hands and dropping some filthy tracks. It was great to see the Circoloco crowd still going strong right up until close, roll on next Monday for some more DC10 fun!

Lola Ed Takeover Review: Lola Ed Takeover, 4th June by Hannah Davies A week into the season and DC10 opened its doors for the Paris based agency, Lola ED and some of their underground stars. Last night saw Djebali, System of survival, Clive Henry, Dan Ghenacia, Dyed Soundorom, Tania Vulcano and Martinez Brothers take over the terrace; with Yakine, Anthony Collins, Sossa, Seuil, Shonky and Andrew Grant completing the parties line-up in the Main room. Now that the dust had settled since the official opening party last Monday, which saw hundreds of tech-house heads flock to the islands most unique venue, DC10 was ready to delve into the more relaxed June parties. Starting in style with their Lola ED take over the party attracted a larger crowd than last years June dates but there was still plenty of space to carry out your best house bounce. The club has also had a little make over which made a huge difference, the venue is now sporting a new 'Loud Professional' sound system in the main room and garden; with the main room also being redecorated making it look like a real underground venue. Brickwork has replaced the old plastered walls and the DJ booth sits perfectly within the new design bringing DC10 up the aesthetic ranks. The terrace has also had a small tidy up although they have kept with the red theme as it perfectly matches the rooms passion and energy at each Circoloco party. The Apollonia crew from Lola ED all played sets between 9.30pm and 12.30pm with Shonky taking on the Main room and Dan Ghenacia and Dyed Soundorom playing in the terrace. Ghenacia even dropped Shonky's track'The Minneapolis Touch' creating a great unison between the two artists and their conflicting set times. Dyed took over from Ghenacia and went on to take the daytime party into the night with Desolat hip house track 'Party non stop' by Pirupa which spread a trippy bounce through the terrace with its infectious bleep riff. In true DC10 style the pretty busy DJ booth spurred on the crowd to get down on the floor as they built the beat up for a dirty drop. Last night the Lola ED team not only brought quality music with them but they also landed with a really upbeat and happy vibe which was unmissable within the buzzing crowd.Â Shonky gave the main room a blinding set encouraged by an air horn which could be heard from time to time. Andrew Grant followed on from Shonky and stepped into the brick booth bringing the

Visionquest Review: Visionquest, 1st August by Gareth Sutcliffe Four of the most influential bodies in global house music descend on DC10 for a third year of one-off shows at DC10. Visionquest as a record label began only in 2010 but has now become one of the most well known labels in house music to date. With their sound fitting perfectly with DC10, there is no wonder why they've had been invited back for a 3rd year of one off parties at the nightspot. Via Seth Troxler's Facebook fan page, he stated “expect something that has never seen before in DC10 Ibiza (Official) :)” so we were slightly intrigued to what they had waiting of us. Also throughout the day we were updated with photographs of the Secret Production team setting up the venue, they were most definitely building up some excitement!

Music wise, there is no surprise that the Visionquest boys – Seth Troxler,Lee Curtiss, Shaun Reeves and Ryan Crosson – tore the DC10 main room up with their own blend of detroit techno, deep and tech house. We two stepped our way back in to the main room where Shaun and Ryan were playing a back to back set. They were both bouncing off each other which gave plenty of energy to the crowd. You can't get much better than watching 2 very talented DJs working together, especially when they were enjoying it as much as we were! The stand out track for us was most definitely MK's remix of Amirali's track 'Just An Illusion' which had everyone singing along - “I know you're watching me, but it's just an illusion”! Troxler and Lee joined in the party later on in the night, all playing back to back until we left the venue, dropping tracks such as their own remix of Kiki's 'Good Voodoo' and their re-work of Dinky's Acid In The Fridge'. With Seth's partner in crime Jamie Jones earning himself a weekly residency at the club and after 3 years of successful one-off parties, surely this means a potential residency for the Visionquest boys coming up over the next few years?

DC10 has seen some transformations over the past few years, changing from a stripped back warehouse style venue to a more clean cut looking club – which may annoy some of the die hard fans of the club – but last night's Visionquest night took it to a new level. We walked into the pebbled outside terrace to see that it had been transformed in to what can only be called a circus-come-cirque de soleil style design. There were tipi tents set up throughout the outdoor terrace with ambience lighting pulsating through each of them as well as jugglers with flashing hulahoops performing various routines and small flags hanging all over – very nice touch. We could see some flashing lights coming from the indoor terrace, which I originally thought would be closed, but as we walked through the main room where all the action was happening, we entered the indoor terrace through a thick red curtain to be greeted by a psychedelic art installation. Trippy music playing in the background with strange lighting installations was definitely a shock to the senses, especially with the strobe lighting going off every couple of seconds. Huge 4 poster beds were put in and as you can imagine they were full of people lounging about immersing themselves in the surroundings set up by the Secret Production team – thumbs up from us. With many parties across the island now, they are turning more in to concepts rather than parties – which I really enjoy. It adds a different dimension to the parties and when they are done to such a high level as the Visionquest party, it always ends up being a very good look for both the club and the party and leaves the party goer leaving like they've experienced something quite unique.

S ECTION 13

Ibiza 123 Rocktronic Festival

and convince yoursel f'he beamed with pride at the now obvious success of the event. Proving the skeptics' wrong, the first day of the Ibiza 123 Festival was definitely a hit, it plunged a fire ball of euphoria into San Antonio, both old and young generations were seen dancing on the mud-free greener than green fake grass (take note England) and a friendly and most importantly fun atmosphere was consistent throughout. Finishing with smashing performances from chart-topper Guetta and every trance fans dream being, Tiësto the party definitely ended with a bang... Now for this evening's event! Review: Ibiza 123 Day 2 by Hannah Davies Yesterday the second helping of the Ibiza 123 Festival kicked off with a little help from Rocket man Elton John - yes Sir Elton John! Bagging one of the world's biggest stars was a commendable achievement even for Pino and gang. After being introduced to the crowd by island regular Pete Tong, Sir Elton John stunned the crowd with his friendly nature and beautiful voice - his pretty dazzling jacket with 'Fantastic' embellished in jewels across the back went down a treat too.

Review: Ibiza 123 Day 1 by Hannah Davies Somewhat of an innovation, the Ibiza 123 Festival has finally laid down a mass of bright green grass on San Antonio's wasteland and kicked off the 3 day event which has been eagerly anticipated since whispers of Elton John performing traveled in the wind. After a week of tropical heat and copious amounts of sweat the sun had finally decided to put its hat on, allowing us to enjoy the first day of the festival without a care in the world - and being able to whack out your best loony swerve sweat free was a welcomed bonus. The sheer size of the festival site was quite astounding and being home to a large VIP section serving Barcardi infused Mojito's and nibbles helped attracted a flutter of 123 girls who oozed sexiness and were clearly enjoying the summer buzz. The impressive stage was set against the beautiful scenery of San Antonio; allowing all festival goers to catch a glimpse of the amazing sunset. Sunday's line-up featured DJ Pippi, Japanese Pop Stars (live), Madeon, Chase & Status, Nile Rodgers presents Chic, Sting, David Guetta and Tiësto. Unfortunately the young talent Danny Avila was unable to make his set in time but with the Euro 2012 final between Spain and Italy being shown on the stage screens the crowd were quite happy to bask in the sun as Spain went onto win 4-0... Viva Espana! Without a shadow of a doubt Chic and Sting went onto steal the show; although all the electronic acts such as Chase & Status and David Guettadid a great job at getting the crowd going the old school stars took things to a whole new level. Belting out classics such as 'Le Freak', 'Good Times'and David Bowie's hit 'Lets Dance', Chic wowed the crowd from start to finish. All dressed in white and with a passion that was simply infectious, the legend that is Nile Rodgers and his gang proved that they can still "dance the blues."

Before he belted out a selection of hits, The Heritage project aka. Amnesia legend Alfredo and his son Jaime Fiorito warmed up the festival crowd; Rob da Bank, Labrinth (live), Sub Focus and Tiny Tempah (live) continued the party bringing a bit of diversity to the waterfront stage plus a slightly stronger following compared to day one. Things got into full swing as2ManyDJ's partied through until sunset mixing in dance-floor favourites such as the late Donna Summer's 'I feel love', Prodigy's 'Out of Space' and 'Yeah Yeah' by Bodyrox ft. Luciano. From old school hippies swirling florescent wands around in a state of glee to the dedicated clubbers fist pumping the humid air, everybody on that manmade field was loving the 123 festivities. An adoring anticipation was in the air as 9pm approached - Sir Elton's set time, and arriving in style as the red hot sun lay to rest in the picturesque horizon the globally renowned and much loved star strolled onto stage waving his little arms in the air and grinning from ear to ear. A previous Ibiza Virgin, Elton John greeted the crowd and appeared more than happy to be performing on the White Isle for the first time. Taking his pew at a pretty sexy Yamaha Motif XF8 the glammed up chap opened with 'Your song' and was immediately joined by his backing choir - the festival goers of course. Truly knowing how to work a crowd he performed his older, classic material plus a few newer tracks but the ultimate pleasers were hits like 'Rocket man'and 'Tiny Dancer.' Later joined by Australian band, Pnau - who he has been working on a newRoctronic material with since joining forces in preparation for Ibiza 123, the collaborating acts opened with track 'Sad' which brought a more up-tempo sound to the festival and the world's of rock, hip electro and band culture fused together nicely. A personal favourite for me was their track 'Good Morning To The Night' as it managed to emphasise the talents of both acts, creating a lovely union of sounds. The rather mystic group, Pnau were dressed in Asian inspired clothing and bounced about the stage with excitement whilst Elton John continued to tap away at the piano with his magic hands. Possibly a little over shone by the legend, Pnau went onto perform their own material which made way for Fatboy Slim's penultimate set.

After the big game Sting and his band took to the stage, a simpler set up than Chic's angelic army, he stood alone at the mic wearing his finest lounging gear armed with his bass guitar. Joined by Peter Tikell - a pretty fierce violinist, Sting's performance maintained the passion and soul of the evenings events and his hits such as 'Englishman in New York' and 'Fields of Gold' topped off with Sting & The Police classic 'Roxanne' helped keep his performance captivating and energetic.

Fatboy Slim took the gig to a different realm with vibrant visuals, extravagant graphics such as bright crazy faces, city skylines and retro DJ equipment which flashed across the screens as he created an ear buzzing combination of electronica and recognisable tracks. Dropping his own record 'Right here right now', 'NYC Beat' by Armand Van Helden and Sir Mix a lot's hit 'Jump on it' kept the crowd riled up for Steve Angello's closing set. Treated to a colourful, loud and exciting fireworks display day 2 was rounded off to the fierce sound of one third of the soon to be split up (Nooooo!) Swedish House Mafia, Steve Angello.

Meeting with Ibiza 123 Festival Promoter, Pino Sagliocco I discovered that the festival was simply about 'rockstars and DJ's joining together for a celebration' and living by his personal rule 'to belief

So, with tomorrow being the final day of the Ibiza 123 Festival and offering a collaboration between Lenny Kravitz and Luciano things can only get better - and far more interesting...

Review: Ibiza 123 Day 3 by Hannah Davies The final day had arrived and the union of uber cool Lenny Kravitz and island favourite Luciano was on the horizon but first the stage made way for a combination of electronic acts and live bands. Troublemakers, T.E.E.D(live), Reboot, Nicolas Jaar (live). Pete Tong, Azari & III (live), M83 (live) and Mr Blake all performed on the last day of the Ibiza 123 Festival nicely rounding off the 3 day event. Bringing an edgy vibe to San Antonio, Lenny Kravitz and his well equipped band rocked out in real style unleashing the raw sounds of trumpets, trombones, saxophones, drums and guitars on festival-goers. Yesterday was undeniably the busiest of the 3 days and the crowd was heaving with all ages with both tourists and locals alike lapping up the old school rock euphoria. Throughout the gig Kravitz had the crowd singing along finishing his lines such as 'American woman', 'Stand by my woman', 'Believe', 'Stand' and 'Fly away'. Pleasing the crowd for well over an hour, Kravitz said that he had 'been waiting 23 years to do this' when referring to the 123 Festival and after his third attempt to plunge into the crowd I believed him. Finally the moment had arrived and Luciano joined the rock legend on stage, a little skeptical about how the two would gel together I was pleasantly surprised by the tightly produced track they went onto perform. Cut short due to Lenny's set over-running the duo only got to perform the one hit but as the stage prepared for Luciano's solo set the crowd was a sea of frenzy. Luciano stepped up to finish the 123 celebrations with a stella set dropping Goyte's rather popular track 'Somebody that you used to know', 'Rhythm is a dancer' by Snap and Fine Young Cannibals classic 'She drives me crazy';managing to incorporate old house and disco sounds with his unique style was a great way to end the event. Finished with an impressive display of fireworks the highly anticipated Ibiza 123 Festival had successfully provided San Antonio with a diverse party catering to all sounds and tastes. It will be interesting to see how the event progresses over the next few years and what other amazing headliners they can bag - not forgetting what collaborations they may encourage. I for one enjoyed the whole event and will be returning next year, providing that they manage to rival the world class line-up of their Ibiza debut.

Festival Photo Book and Report by James Chapman It’s been just over a month since the festival now but, you know, we at Ibiza Spotlight made a lot of noise about this festival and I thought it would be best to do a little analysis of it, now everyone has had a chance to think about it. I liked the concept and I was interested to see how it worked. But, it would be fair to say that many people weren’t convinced by the idea of fusing rockand electronic music together. Frankly though, any event that brings together some of my favourite electronic artists like Luciano, Nicolas Jaarand Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, and then adds in some genuinely legendary ‘rock’ (although some aren’t really rock, are they!) artists likeElton John, Chic, Sting and Lenny Kravitz is surely worth the price of a day in the sun in Ibiza for what was a pretty reasonable amount in my opinion? Unfortunately the festival wasn’t the huge success the promoters and its supporters wanted it to be, but whilst looking at what could be improved, there are a huge amount of positives to be taken from the festival. Musically I think the variation was great, there were some acts on there that didn’t appeal to me at all as I‘m sure was the case for many people, but I’m not one of these close-minded music snobs that thinks Ibiza is for house, techno and nothing else. I’ve said it many times, but I’ll say it again - the music on the island hasn’t always been this way. Long before Sven Vath, Carl Cox, Cream and so on dominated the island the music was hugely varied, with loads of live music from ‘bands’ (for those of you unaware, that’s a group of people typically with drums, guitars, keyboards and microphones). Crazy eh? No. No it’s not. It is a good thing. We have to think about the island, and the health of the business that goes on here, so we can promote the island as a holiday destination for people of all ages, backgrounds and interests. Perhaps this festival could be used as a stage to educate people on this in the future? Because, personally, I’m sick of all these kids coming to the island thinking that anything other than Richie Hawtin and his Techno brigade playing on the island is blasphemy. They should ideally take their caps, oversized vests and sports socks, go home, and have a word with themselves. Having said that though, I do recognise that there were issues with the music policy. If the promoters are to keep with the theme of ‘Rocktronic’ then some more thought needs to go in to programming the stage. In wanting to provide a festival with music for everyone, they have inevitably put some people off – the purists of whatever genre they love. Dance music fans might not want to see Labyrinth, rock music fans might not want to check outReboot, and so on. So then you have to start looking at grouping similar acts together to avoid people losing interest or not coming at all, or even separating styles in to different stages or arenas, like you find at most festivals around the world - although you then miss the whole point of creating a blend of music. There’s no denying it is a difficult

situation, particularly on a site that was relatively limited in size. I guess the main draw of the festival was the live music, or rather the live music provided by the bands, as oppose to the DJs. Many of the DJs can be seen at one or many other parties around the island on other nights, which could account for some people not getting involved in the festival. It’s the unique location of the festival that should have helped balance that out though. There are few more iconic locations for music than beside Café Mambo and Café Del Mar, looking out towards THAT sunset, to watch some amazing live music from the likes of Chic and Sting (my 2 favourite acts from the festival). There was a fair amount of noise in the run up to the festival about the costs involved with attending, particularly from workers slaving away selling tickets (see our Ranting Raver piece on this!). At €72.50 for a day pass, and€167.50 for a 3 day pass I think it works out at excellent value. But many disagreed. The thing is you can pay up towards €80 to see Guetta alone, or probably more than that for an Elton John concert! So to have so many different artists, including some huge acts, on one day for less than that is surely a good thing? Factor in that residents, or holders of an NIE, also benefited from a 20% discount (although a very late addition) and I find it hard to see why so many people had such a problem. In talking to some island residents, they made it clear though that this just isn’t the done thing – island residents, promoters, those involved with the clubs, and workers rarely pay to get in anywhere. It’s very much a family vibe and so that makes sense I guess. With that in mind, perhaps a 50% discount (at least) would have satisfied that camp, and seen increased attendance numbers. There was an interesting point made though where festivals on the mainland are quite considerably cheaper, but then we are on an island and setting something up of this scale isn’t cheap when you consider the logistics involved in it all, this is certainly something that would need to be looked out for the future. Moving on from that though, if you take a look at prices on site with the likes of food and drink, again there isn’t much to complain about, especially considering the average prices of the Ibiza clubs! Your Mojito’s were €6, a soft drink €4 and water only €1! Not bad compared to a bottle of water in the big clubs at €8 +. Food was also reasonable at around €4-5 for your standard hot dogs and burgers. The fact you could leave the festival site and come back also reduces costs for the average attendee – allowing you to come in, see the act you want, then shoot back to the flat for a few drinks, and still be back in

time for the next act you wanted to see. You can’t say fairer than that, can you? I suspect there were huge issues to be tackled with the site alone, the politics of it all was quite complicated. The site is owned by the richest landowner in Ibiza, Abel Matutes, who also owns the likes of Ushuaïa. The guy has wanted to build apartments on the land for years, and there’s no denying it’s prime location for just that. But do we really need more apartments? Surely a multi-purpose festival/park site would be of more benefit to San Antonio as a whole, year round? Working with the people who live and work on the island is an absolute must. Whilst the addition of the 20% discount for residents was an improvement, more consideration for their needs and wants would have seen many more locals attending the festival. Residents rates inside the festival, residents guestlists perhaps? It was clear much of the festival was geared up for tourists, something I’m sure will change for the future. Further on from this cooperation notion, many people would have liked to see stronger links with the clubbing brands that so many people know this island for. It was initially said that there would be a VIP section hosted by each major club, likePacha, Space, Amnesia, etc. Whilst some areas were hosted by clubs, there was no branding to suggest that, and so unless you had paid the cost to indulge in said VIP treatment, people were none the wiser. The festival should be here to promote Ibiza as an island, for its music, and the clubs that support it all, much like a continuation of the IMS conference at the start of the season. The IMS conference should prove as a positive example of working with the rest of the island - the entry ticket to the conference provided the opportunity for attendees to go to the conference in the day, seeing what they wanted, when they wanted, then take in one of the after parties at the likes of Dalt Villa, Pacha, Bubbles (etc) for free! Perhaps those coming to Ibiza 123 could get combo tickets allowing entry to a major club that has hosted a space at the festival? Much of this is possible and would make sense considering the same players that run IMS are those behind Ibiza 123. The simple fact is that the clubs hold so much power on the island, that any other event is never going to truly succeed without their support. Further on that, more effort should be put into promoting the festival outside of the island. Thousands descended on Ibiza for the Radio 1 Weekend just gone, why can’t this be the case for Ibiza 123?

amount of people, was asking a bit much considering the heat at that time. When security are being forced to hose down the crowd in an amusing attempt to keep them cool (but mostly soak the girls I suspect) you know something needs changing. Many of these issues that I have brought up are easily changed for the festival of 2013 and (hopefully) beyond. Nothing is confirmed in terms of this happening however, with the only inkling that we will see the festival back next year coming from an interview with Pino Sagliocco on the first day of the festival. He said that he had an agreement with the Mayoress for use of the land for the next 3 years (the same amount of time the Mayoress is in office). It will be interesting to see if the passion, and financial backing, is still there and strong enough to pull it all off again. I really do hope this isn’t the end before it all started.

Ibiza 123 Photo Book by James Chapman

Taking in to account the daily routine of the standard visitor to Ibiza, it was always asking a bit much for the festival to start at 12pm, and again with the closing time of 12:30am – it is far too early. I suspect attendance numbers would have considerably higher had they started the festival at mid to late afternoon and had it finish at say 3am, like it did on the first day to leave time for the Euro 2012 Final between Spain and Italy being shown on the big screens. You know, asking people to rock up at midday to seeT.E.E.D. on the main stage, playing to quite a small

C HAPTER 5 Here's our in-depth report of Summer 2012. Compulsory reading for all Ibiza devotees during these autumn days. After the dust has settled over another Ibiza Summer season, it's beautifully quiet on our beloved island again. The clubbing circus has moved on to international journeys and now, with a bit of distance, we feel it's time to have a close look at the bygone Summer. It might not have been the busiest clubbing season ever (even though airport arrivals have been record breakers), but it was certainly a very busy and exciting Summer on the White Isle, with a few surprises, some moves and much-needed novelties as well. Looking ahead at summer 2013 is interesting and exciting... but we're not spilling the beans just yet. Let's focus on the 2012 season first.

Full Report here.

C HAPTER 6

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