The integration of rock and pop music into the traditionally dance-dominated fabric of Ibiza has been slowly increasing for some time. Here, Defected's Ben Lovett takes a closer look at the relationship between the genres and asks whether Ibiza is a sustainable home for them…
When another musical genre plants firm roots in Ibiza – the heartland of all things electronic, club and DJ – you know times are changing. The creation of promoter Ibiza Rocks in 2005 was a tipping point, rising as it did from the exotic ashes of cult White Isle night Manumission to host raucous live events fronted by Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys and the Kaiser Chiefs. Holidaying clubbers were suddenly confronted with a wider range of party options than they could have possibly imagined; the previously polarised cultures built around ‘DJ’ and ‘band’ were starting to bleed into one another. New communities and ideologies were forming.
Ibiza’s radical cross-pollination has continued apace. In 2008, the Ibiza Rocks Hotel opened its doors for the first time, providing reasonably-priced Med accommodation with poolside gigs from a suitably interweaved roster of performers including The Prodigy, Florence & The Machine, Biffy Clyro and Calvin Harris. In due course a boutique hotel, Ibiza Rocks House, opened, and the over-arching Ibiza Rocks group spawned revelry in Mallorca, as well as hostels, bars, fashion labels and a travel company.
Now, this summer, Ibiza is gearing up for Rocktronic: Ibiza 123. Running for three days in early July, Rocktronic will represent the island’s first ever festival. Conceived by International Music Summit (IMS) founders Ben Turner, Danny Whittle, Mark Netto, Simeon Friend and Pete Tong, alongside Live Nation legend Pino Sagliocco, the event aims to bind rock and electronic more closely than ever before, hence the title.
Its aims are big and intentions entirely genuine. A look at the current line-up – more names are to be added soon – says everything. Sir Elton John will be collaborating with his well-publicised apprentices Aussie dance duo Pnau (equally established as breakthrough side-project Empire Of The Sun), Lenny Kravitz will be jamming with Cadenza king Luciano (with whom he has been in the studio recording cuts for his next album) and Sting is close to confirming another electronic tag team. Beyond that, Rocktronic promises shows from French-Spanish indietronica star M83, Labyrinth, David Guetta, the Japanese Popstars, the Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, DJ Tiesto, Fatboy Slim, Tinie Tempah, Tiesto and Axwell. It’s huge.
“The concept of fully mixing two different genres of music, rock and electronic, is right at the heart of we’re doing here” Whittle, also Brand Director of Pacha, attests. “This isn’t a one-off gimmick. People like Sir Elton and Lenny Kravitz are only getting involved because they know we can offer them something completely unique and exciting for their music. They don’t need to do Ibiza but with the proposition we have, they want to.”
Which makes it sound like rock is finally kneeling at the altar of the DJ, rather than the other way round. “I think an event like this provides opportunities on all sides” Whittle suggests. “When you’re any kind of music-maker you want to push you sound forward. But, still, the reality is that electronic music has been around long enough now to be taken seriously. The wider music industry has finally accepted its place within things. Well-respected electronic DJ-producers are now accomplished enough to make records across genres, for other people, rather than just for themselves, and the wider music industry wants to utilise that expertise.”
Interestingly, this year’s Winter Music Conference in Miami made a similar point. One of its forums, sensationally titled 2012: The Year Dance Music Killed Rock & Roll, generated a lot of media attention around the considered discussion of dance music’s increasing dominance – supposedly – over other musical forms. In all fairness, the end result was stalemate. Legendary rock A&R Seymour Stein commenting on rock’s historic ups and downs, and continuing ability to keep going without major compromise to its soul, whilst music manager Simon White flagged how much easier it is to manage DJs – they can tour off just one new track a year, they can use CDs at shows, they don’t argue themselves ‘over’ like bands....
Other contributors – the panel also included Skrillex’s agent Lee Anderson and Insomniac Events promoter Pasquale Rotella – raised the question of whether or not dance music, with its strong community spirit, could survive a transition into stadiums; the very altars of rock. Clubland has, in recent years, focussed more on stage rather than ‘booth’ craft, and on all the concert-scale lighting and AV that supports such performances, but it still has some way to go. WMC’s forum, which has been touring America, concluded that audiences for both genres are now equally strong and that where things go next is still to be decided.
Whittle picks up on White’s point about dance music’s greater flexibility: “What you’re seeing now is bands who have grown up with electronic music; something that didn’t happen in the earlier days. When they’re not playing their own concerts they’re looking at other things they can do. Concerts are big things to plan and there’s a lot of downtime in between. Band members have therefore decided to DJ, not because they need the money but because it’s an exciting creative outlet they can tap into relatively easily.”
Fast rising electro-goth Swede Karin Park – a captivatingly experimental singer-songwriter who mixes electronic and industrial – has recently supported European tours for Azari & III and SBTRKT, gained support from Giles Peterson and Annie Mac, an d been bracketed (in the best possible way) with perennial boundary-breaker Bjork, argues that we need forget musical sides and just accept hybridism as natural artistic progression.
“It’s not necessarily about one genre being consumed by the other; it’s about natural fits” she says. “Korn [US nu-metallers] recorded with Skrillex not so long ago; personally, the collaboration didn’t connect but I understood why both acts had come together. They had much in common to share and that is what always happens in music. It has always been done that way, artists hearing other things, being influenced and growing their sounds in different directions.”
Radio 1’s resident rock DJ, Daniel P Carter, agrees: “It is natural progression. It’s rare for people to find inspiration in just one place; musicians, DJs and producers don’t just listen to one genre. Anyone creative who is making tunes will take influence from a bunch of different sources and bring in elements of various genres.
“At the rock end of the spectrum there’s bands like Enter Shikari whose whole sound is a mash-up of hardcore in both scenes [rock and electronic]. Sleigh Bells have done well combining the elements of the art punk guitar and bass music scenes. Dance acts like Pendulum and The Prodigy have combined rock and dance so well they can play happily at a rock or dance festival. And a slew of dubstep artists just sound so close in structure to alot of the heavier rock and metal stuff. They seem like super close relations.”
Park, whose debut album Highway Poetry arrives next month, grew up in Sweden on the electronic-friendly sounds of Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode and incredibly avant-garde Einstürzende Neubauten. The point she is keen to make is that the seeds of ‘rocktronic’ music were, in fact, sown a long, long time ago. Much earlier than Paul Oakenfold’s landmark indie-rock remix of U2 hit Lemon in the mid-90s; much earlier than Ibiza rock-outs.
“I’m inviting people into my head” Park offers, “and talking about basic human feelings, but filtered through my history and imagination. I have a different angle because I’m influenced by different sounds and ideas.”
That in turn feeds others - a remix of Park track Fryngies by dubstepper FuntCase exploded all over the internet only three months ago; natural progression indeed. But with the internet’s furiously catalytic role in musical merging well documented, is there any risk of artists losing their shape; their identities?
“Fusion is a good thing” Whittle says. “And when you consider how artists today release 57 different remixes of each single and their original work usually still shines through then there’s no risk to identity. I don’t think any genre is in danger of extinction but, weird as it is to say, I just get the feeling now that electronic music is like the conductor of the band... pulling together all these other genres like rock and hip-hop, and co-ordinating them in different ways, at different levels. Most of the money is in electronic music now; the scene has shown that it’s one of the few that offers a viable career and return; hence the interest.”
That burning interest means the end of our brief call; Whittle has much still to do before July, including finalising Sting’s headline show, organising stages, and managing those notoriously restless local Ibizan authorities. “The results will be worth it for everyone” he rushes. “We had to standout here, with something different, credible and exciting. Rocktronic taps into the growing interest in electronic music and its infiltration in other scenes. That interest will keep growing; we could do Soultronic or Poptronic next... you never know.”
Words: Ben Lovett
Rocktronic: Ibiza 123 runs July 1-3 on San Antonio’s Sunset Strip; visit www.ibiza123festival.com for more info.
IMS runs 23 - 25 May at Ibiza's Gran Hotel - head to www.internationalmusicsummit.com for more details
Karin Park’s debut album Highway Poetry is released on May 28 (single Restless precedes it May 21).
Daniel P Carter presents The Rock Show on BBC Radio 1 every Tuesday from midnight to 2am.
