This season Defected's Hannah Thomas will be bringing you weekly updates direct from Ibiza.
At the start of the season, I bet most people would have envisaged crowds at full capacity at Ushuaia in July, especially at Thursday’s Used and Abused party, Loco Dice’s first solo venture on the island. I would have thought that, after 15 years in Ibiza, with Monday’s famous DC10 parties and Cocoon residencies to his name, the legend’s reputation and hype behind the party itself, coupled with Ushuaia’s status as the island’s première day time destination would be more than enough to secure sell out crowds week in and week out. But last Thursday’s visit just proved that nothing can be taken for granted on this island, and that this season is continuing to be one of the most unpredictable in recent times.
When my friend Anna and I arrived at around 8.00pm we were immediately struck by the relatively small turnout for a man of Loco Dice’s caliber. The dance floor must have only been half full midway into Loco’s set.
However, like much of the slowly building crowd, we had no problem getting into a party mood as soon as we hit the dance floor. What was so apparent to us both was the obvious connection Dice has with his fans; his signature driving hard-edged tech house sound perfectly in tune with the vibe of the crowd who had an almost militant march on to his seriously heavy selection of tracks, Felix Da Housecat’s ‘Citizen Bishop’ a case in point.
Things got even better during tINI’s set who I felt played with a little more depth as she dropped the likes of Sascha Funke’s ‘Semi’, Copyright’s ‘Nobody’ and Mobius’ ‘Skudge’; her selection of slightly more vocal and atmospheric tracks, whilst teasing the bass lines in and out, definitely doing the job in energizing the crowd even further. tINI definitely had the distinct advantage of playing after sundown though, to a crowd that by 10.30 had finally swelled to way over half capacity. Against a backdrop of genuinely talented dancers in their early 90s get up and the green neon Used and Abused logo, the party had definitely reached boiling point.
Things were equally, if not more impressive later on that same night at Sankeys for the second installment of Dirtybird’s residency. When I arrived at around 1.00am the party was in full swing to tech funk master Claude Von Stroke; the wall to wall predominantly British crowd, me and my gang included, so obviously up for the party. In fact, I don’t think we stopped dancing until the lights came on.
Justin Martin, who was playing back to back with Eats Everything was loving the vibes so much so that at one point, he got hold of the mic, told us how much he loved England and then proceeded to join us for a boogie just as Eats mashed up his reworking of Double 99s ‘Ripgroove’ and Martin’s ‘Don’t Go’. Aside from Martin looking rather like a typical American dad who’s about to take his kid to a game of softball, I have to say the Dirtybird crew are so blummin’ cool. I really love the way they don’t appear to take themselves too seriously and are all about the good times. The last track of the night ‘Music is the answer’ definitely summed up the night perfectly for me.
Off the dance floor this week the highlight has to be working for Defected on the video shoot for Maxxi Soundsystem and Just Jack’s forthcoming single ‘One in Three’. Aside from the grueling hours and blistering 38 degree heat, it was so much fun exploring the island in a cute vintage 2CV with our tiny crew of 5. 
Much of the video is set on the cliff top overlooking the tiny island Es Vedra, which in case you haven’t heard, is the famous landmark just off the east coast and is shrouded in so much mystery, myth and legend. According to Ibizan hippies, it is the landing place for ancient ‘inter-galactics’ whilst others say it is the tip of the sunken civilization Atlantis. Whatever the truth behind the 3rd most magnetic spot on the globe is, no one can deny the sheer beauty of the place which has to be visited at sunset. There’s also a really cute sandy beach called Cala d’Hort close by, from which you can take boat trips around the Es Vedra, and if you’re feeling like splashing out a little on lunch, you can take a boat around the bay to Es Boldaldo, a restaurant famed for its fish.
We also filmed at OceanBeach in San Antonio, my first visit to the popular daytime beach club. Although it’s not my cup of tea (I think the fact that Joey from TOWIE was living it up in the VIP says it all), they do serve amazing strawberry dacheries!
All in all, I can definitely think of worse locations to work!
Muchos besos xxx
Defected In The House is at Booom! Ibiza every Saturday while Defected at The Tower takes place every Monday throughout the season - click here for full line-up details
