As the 2011 Ibiza season enters its final few weeks, we thought it would be an appropriate time to share with you what we consider to be the tracks that have really taken the island by storm over the last four months. Featuring artists from both inside and outside the Defected camp, these are the 10 tunes that you just couldn’t escape this season, wherever you chose to spend your time on the white isle.
Don’t agree with our selections? Think we’ve missed anything that quite obviously should have been included? Well, that’s life I’m afraid…but the comments section below is your oyster for agreement, argument and debate. We strongly encourage and look forward to all three…
Hot Natured featuring Ali Love - Forward Motion
If there was one track you really couldn’t avoid over the summer, this was it. 2011 really has been Jamie Jones and Lee Foss’ year – both on and off the island – and ‘Forward Motion’ epitomised why. Jones and Foss’ typically funk-ridden production gave it an irresistible groove, and the vocals courtesy of Ali Love seemed to be embedded in your brain before he’d even finished singing them. A track for the guys as well as girls, house-heads as well as house music virgins, this really has it all.
Osunlade - Envision (Ame remix)
The original of Envision was undoubtedly one of the stand-out tracks from Osunalde’s ‘last ever house album’ Pyrography, but it was the subsequent remix by German duo Ame that really got under people’s skin. Perhaps their finest and most unifying work since the seminal ‘Rej’, there has barely been a jock on the planet that hasn’t been charting, hammering and singing its praises over the summer.
Noir & Haze - Around (Solomun Vox remix)
Ibiza isn’t all about sun-drenched beach clubbing and happy smiling faces; sometimes people like to embrace a little darkness, provided here by the electrifying combination of Noir & Haze. Creepingly paranoid lyrics are made even eerier by the irrepressible Solomun, who creates a claustrophobic atmosphere that never quite allows itself to dissipate. Not quite sounding like your cup of tea? Hundreds of Ibiza DJs spent most of the summer urging you to reconsider…
Oliver $ - Doin' Ya Thang
Like it or loathe it, this was one record you simply couldn’t ignore. Rare is the track that can be found in the wallets of both Dimitri from Paris and Tiesto, but Oliver $ pulled it off. Sampling one of Moodyman’s legendary monologue set over a simply rolling house groove, it infuriated some but delighted many more, forever cementing its place in the history of Ibiza 2011/
Ray Foxx - The Trumpeter (Chocolate Puma Remix)
Not since the Gypsymen’s ‘Barbarabatiri’ has a trumpet found such prominence within the collective clubbing community, but Ray Foxx and the his eponymous trumpeter pulled it off in decisive style this year. Championed by an alarmingly diverse selection of DJs and tastemakers, it was the Chocolate Puma remix that allowed it to find its true calling as an Ibiza anthem. Perhaps now destined for mainstream success as ‘La Musica’ (The Trumpeter), it was the Ibiza underground that gave birth to one of the year’s biggest success stories.
Danny Daze feat. Louisahhh - Your Everything
Another fine moment for the Hot Creations crew, this time in the shape of label debutant Danny Daze. Accompanied by the equally brilliant ‘Fall Away From Love’ on the flip, ‘Your Everything’ just about pipped it as the more prevalent of the two, due mostly to the fact that its ridiculously epic bassline pummelled anyone who disagreed into quick submission. Accompanied by spacey, twisted vocals and a hell of a lot of reverb, this was one the biggest tune of DC10 and subsequently the rest of the island.
Human Life - In It Together (Director's Cut Signature Togetherness)
A few years back, no-one would have anticipated Frankie Knuckles returning to the world of dance music at all; fewer still would have predicted that his return would have been this prolific. Alongside Erci Kupper his Director’s Cut project has seen an unequivocal return to form from the man credited with the birth of the scene, and this remix of Human Life is quite simply stunning. Soundtracking more Ibiza sunsets than we’d care to imagine, Knuckles manages to uphold the finest virtues of house while making it relevant for a new generation. Respect is due.
Rogerseventytwo - You Take Me Higher
Unashamedly feel-good disco/house edits are usually associated with the house scene of some 10 years ago, but RogetSeventyTwo bucked the trend with You Take Me Higher, proving that if you do it well enough, people are open to listening to pretty much anything you’ll throw at them. With so much energy it feels like a six minute breakdown and a vocal sample that just won’t quit, this was found all over the island this year, causing wide grins and wild finger-waving of quite unprecedented levels.
Tuccillo – Disco en Paradiso
As a permanent resident on the white isle, Tuccillo should know better than most what makes the island’s thrill-seekers tick, something he proved this year both with his ‘Mathematics EP’ and this all-conquering anthem. Based around a staccato lead-lead reminiscent of Donna Summer legendary bassline, ‘Disco en Paradiso’ is a 10 minute epic representing the very best in driving, groove-lead dance music and was a constant fixture at Pacha, Space and numerous other clubs and bars across the island.
Benoit & Sergio – Everybody
One of the year’s most talked about duo followed up the warped darkness of ‘Walk & Talk’ by dropping a unifying , blissful anthem for Ibiza 2011. Soaked in Balearic lovliness and with the ‘Everybody, be somebody’ call to arms, this captured the spirit of the season and could be found pretty much everywhere you went. Rarely does house get as intoxicating yet still work on the dancefloor, but ‘Everybody’ pulled it off and much more besides.
For more big tunes from the season, make sure you check The Closing Party Ibiza 2011 - out now on iTunes