In the wake of some online backlash about what some are seeing an the homogenisation of the White Isle, Defected’s Ben Lovett takes a closer look at the reality of Ibiza in 2013.
Comments on Ibiza’s season-by-season changes are, it seems, made by the Balearic bucketload. Whether it be discussion around the development of upmarket hotels on the island (and an associated move towards daytime clubbing), the emergence of rock music and live events, or the rising popularity of outdoor parties (wed to the softening attitudes of local authorities), change is an unchanging topic.
Of course this summer pundits, DJs and revellers alike are talking up White Isle evolution to a particularly extreme degree. Much of the talk stems from the departure of Pacha’s long-term Music Director Danny Whittle (now co-owner of imminent superclub Bomba) and that club’s monumental revamp to its weekly line-up. As such, five similarly long-term Pacha club nights, including Luciano’s Vagabundos, All Gone Pete Tong and Defected In The House, have disappeared or moved on. The breaking up of what many felt were some of Ibiza’s strongest musical partnerships neatly reflects the wider changes happening on the island this year.
2013 is perhaps the definitive year of change. It is the year of free-trade DJs and performers, operating in a reset microcosmic environment where club exclusivity is a thing of (or nearly a thing of) the past. DJs are no longer being contracted to play one specific venue only, paving the way for a range of sets at multiple venues; not to mention a range of interesting and previously inconceivable collaborations.
Loco Dice is a stellar example. The Desolat king has already launched his major new daytime residency Used + Abused at Playa d’en Bossa’s Ushuaia Ibiza Beach Hotel, but is still due to play Richie Hawtin’s ENTER night at Space (on two occasions), as well as Cocoon at Amnesia (three times) and, back at Space, Carl Cox’s collaborative night The Party Unites. Tomorrow night, Dice plays Amnesia for Marco Carola’s techno-focused Music On Ibiza residency and, lest we forget, there’s also his hugely anticipated return to DC-10 for Jamie Jones’ Paradise: The Next Dimension affair.
His various hosts are returning the favour. Cox and Hawtin are both set to play Used + Abused this September; whilst Cox will also play for Carola at Amnesia and Hawtin will guest for Vath, as well as Jones. Carola promises a reciprocal performance for Coxy at Space on July 23. Jones, meanwhile, will drop one-off sets at Used + Abused and ENTER. Ibizan dancefloors have never been so interlinked by the stars shaping them.
Such cross-pollination has a number of commentators concerned. Ibiza Voice recently remarked that with too many DJs covering too many clubs, Ibiza risks losing its kaleidoscopic edge: “People come, people go and a DJ wants to deliver his trademark sound to everyone – that’s an indisputable reason to repeat the same tunes again and again. Ibiza is losing its musical diversity. The island is supposed to be the clubbing capital of the world – but instead of offering an astonishing assortment of entertainment it is getting more and more uniformed.”
Promoters, Ibiza Voice argues, are inclined to place safe bets with their bookings considering southern Europe’s ongoing financial instability. If any significant emphasis is placed on launching new, less familiar talent then there is the real chance of low footfall and thump, and subsequent bankruptcy: “It’s a very safe bet for promoters to invite the DJs that people for sure will come to listen to – just as they came to listen to them two weeks ago in the club across the road. The stakes [in Ibiza 2013] are unprecedentedly high.... But...promoters tell us please why should we go to your party if we can listen to the same music somewhere else? And what is the unique identity of your event if you invite just the same artists as anyone else?”
Photo credit: Tony TK Smith
The website does, of course, acknowledge another side to this step-change in artist booking. Indeed, surely there is a case to make for the same DJs playing in different venues with different musical moods and atmospheres, and in turn creating one-of-a-kind, wholly individual sets? If one only looks back over Dice’s Ibiza itinerary on paper, there is still evidence enough to suggest he will offer variety across his various dates. Used + Abused, on its own, is an incredibly varied programme of parties designed to reflect Ibiza’s long forgotten tradition of open-air, open-minded musical celebration. It’s also there to capture Dice’s personal experiences of the island over the past decade or so. The far-reaching line-up of guests epitomises this; corralling everyone from island regulars Jones and Cox to comparative rarities Nightmares On Wax (making a truly one-off appearance) and underground Chicago specialist Jus-Ed. It follows that Dice, as host, needs to inspire his party (and guests) in a similarly eclectic way.
His reluctance to conform at Ushuaia was noted on the Defected site earlier this week: “You should just let yourself go and your feelings and your experience will guide you through those masses of people this way. Honestly the people are always expecting something, especially when you have a huge crowd like this. You might have 20% hardcore fans who accept anything you play then you have 20% people who have never heard anything about you they just follow the hype of Loco Dice or Ushuaia, then you have 20% fans of others DJs and so on. So to deliver a sound or a certain style to this crowd it is sometimes difficult.”
But when you also consider Dice’s guest slot at Music On Ibiza, a night with far stronger leanings towards techno (as typified by the booking of fellow guests Stacey Pullen and Joseph Capriati), and his return to DC-10, with all the historical and personal va va voom you can shake a stick at, it becomes even harder to imagine him sticking to a rigid summer-long game plan.
At the same time, Ibiza’s power shift from club back to artist means that your typical two-week tourist will have a greater opportunity to see who they want, when they want, being that their top DJ picks are not confined to specific timings in specific booths. From the clubber’s perspective – and, let’s be honest, how they vote with their feet carries crucial sway – can that really be bad? The current Balearic landscape seems to fit comfortably with the way in which audiences choose to consume their precious BPMs these days – convenient, instant access, on the go. The electronic industry is operating at speeds, and in boundary-less spaces, none would have thought possible a decade ago, which Ibiza’s latest evolution mirrors, or at the very least compliments.
Lack of exclusivity means little, however, if the levels of creativity and quality have truly dropped across the White Isle. Defected chief Simon Dunmore believes that, if anything, Ibiza’s new reality is encouraging an opposite effect. “Of course all promoters would prefer to have their talent exclusively, but that is not realistic for DJs in these times. Once you understand that you have to creatively put your line-ups together. Defected is not about one particular sound or artist, our strength is down to the collective of artists that produce music for the label and for the broad house sound for which our events are renowned for. And while...you can hear some of the artists playing for us elsewhere, a Defected event is much more than the sum of its parts; it’s about the experience and the careful curation of the DJs.”
Photo credit: La Skimal
That more than translates to Defected’s Monday DFTD residency at the Ushuaia Tower. Like the new DFTD sub-label it has launched alongside, the focus is on fresh, undiscovered international talent – with occasional ‘curveball’ input from some of clubland’s most established acts. There is also considerable desire to collaborate with friends at associated labels. Hence Defected, making the most of this summer’s freely-moving DJ traffic, has conjured a truly eclectic, engaging line-up of guest collaborations including deep spiritual dancer Osunlade, Bristolian bass-er Eats Everything, vintage Yank housers Frankie Knuckles and David Morales, dubby, twisted Poles Catz ‘N Dogs, London’s off kilter party pair Krankbrother, ‘Boompty Boomp’ king Derrick Carter and New York’s master of multichannel Francois K.
The spirit of unique, even surprising collaboration is alive and well elsewhere too. Luciano’s own new Ushuaia season, Luciano & Friends, includes several ‘mini festivals’ at which the tech-house strains of his renowned Cadenza imprint will blend with a number of different vibes– for example, Louie Vega’s jazz-house shtick and, excitingly, Hawtin’s future-facing ENTER flow. Carl Cox’s aptly titled The Party Unites residency at Space, meanwhile, pivots on tantalising tie-ups between house and techno’s hardest and most soulful – Masters At Work on the same bill as Nic Fanciulli (August 20), for example; Panoramabar’s super-deep Cassy and techno powerhouse Marco Carola (July 23), Drumcode’s relentless Adam Beyer and the utterly organic Gilles Peterson (July 16). There can be no predictability here.
In an Ibiza where downbeat veteran James Lavelle plays ENTER next month and electronic maverick Four Tet is booked for DC-10 (making his Ibizan DJ debut) – and where bold new venues are still being launched, such as Pacha’s cliff-top Cap Martinet spa retreat Destino (with Kim Ann Foxman as resident DJ), the delayed Bomba (also now including the proposed return of Manumission’s as Cinemission) and Nikki Beach in Santa Eulalia (due open early July) – it is hard to believe that there is any real risk of the dancefloor becoming stale and unfulfilling. The demise of exclusive contracts between clubs and performers has led to the greater proliferation of certain DJ ‘brands’ across the island, and with that there is the chance of some musical repetition. For many clubbers, however, there is now the easier opportunity to follow their idols where and whenever they want. In time, the weakening of the clubs’ monopoly over certain acts might actually see ticket prices fall and the local marketplace becoming even more accessible.
Certainly, the sheer variety of parties on offer in Ibiza this summer remains impressive. Where DJs are hopping between venues there are clear distinctions in set-ups, supporting line-ups and, therefore atmosphere; all of it has to influence what revellers are hearing night by night, week by week. Every party is different. The diversity of Ibiza’s wider cast of performers this summer – new, old, hard, soul, emphatically multi-genre - heightens that feeling further. There are still plenty of sunshine surprises, one feels, to uncover.
Words: Ben Lovett
Loco Dice In The House is out 21st July - pre-order from Amazon
Most Rated Ibiza 2013 is out now - buy from iTunes
Defected presents DFTD is at The Ushuaia Tower every Monday from 3pm, full listings info here
