I'm about to get just a wee bit patriotic on this one. If it was possible I'd be spilling out the words of this review while tanking a can of the Scottish liquid orange staple, Irn Bru, and chewing down a fish supper. Mixed herb pâté on biscuits and coke is about substitute Plan J in comparison but it'll do.
Anyhoo. Windtalkers – a Privilege newborn for its side sectioned Vista Club, kicked off on Monday fuelling the ‘underground' tech/house tank it's intent on feeding. As soon as I stumbled on the line-up which included Scottish Glaswegian techno titans, SLAM, at its opening helm, I was there. Toot toot down the highway on the disco bus. If techno is your modus operandi and Stuart McMillan and Orde Meikle who comprise SLAM aren't names you're familiar with, get on it. Begin with their weekly SlamRadio broadcasts which after two years of activity, is now a goldmine of exclusive recordings from a catalogue of techno heroes from Sven Väth, Dave Clarke, Joseph Capriati, Marcel Fengler, Pan-Pot and DVS1 – to name a very select few.
The titans arrived under the glowing geometric booth structure after the heavy beat meatened sets from Ibiza based underground trailblazer, KINTAR, Ibiza nurtured talent Mambo Brothers, east/west electronica fusionist, Technasia, and Marc Houle who has been knocking crowds with eargasmic fever for over a decade with his live sets.
This next statement can be said about every night in Ibiza, depending on your electronica tastes, but Monday is a biggie for the techno troopers – Circo Loco at DC10 from 4pm and then if you're not completely hanging by the rafters, straight onto Sven's Balearic treasure – Cocoon. It's heavy competition and that was visible in the turnout numbers. A strong capacity is an atmosphere creator, there's no getting away from that, but the track selection was bang on and those that were there, lapped it up as enthusiastically as they re-chucked the white confetti that was layered across the floor. Houle delivered carnivorous, thundering basslines, electric synths touched with sonic injections of erratic 80s videogame – esque sound productions heard in his track Techno Vocals. He was an ideal pick as the predecessor for the final act.
SLAM. I might have mentioned that I think they're pretty good. Their track selection puts the mince between the lasagna sheets. Buffed techno thrillers with kick drums, claps, patterned riffs and synths clearly energised the folks that stayed on. It included a crusade from an alteration of Green Velvet's 1995 classic Flash, to Recondite's floor leveler Cleric and back to the classics with DJ Rolando's Knights of the Jaguar. As we'd say in Scotland, a bunch of braw belters.
Quality, intelligent dance music was there until the final minute, unfortunately the numbers weren't - yet. But its line-up for the season ahead is a tight package. Vitalic, Fritz Kalkbrenner, Umek, Tiga, DJ Sneak and Booka Shade are part of the strong collective of names who could really fuel this party based on bonding, freedom and crowd connection and celebration through dance. Quality electronica, community spirit and with sunrise, panoramic views from within the pyramid-like windows across to Ibiza Town. It has the potential to be a winning formula.
…and check out SLAM. They're a bit of alright.
WORDS | Aimee Lawrence PHOTOGRAPHY | Tillate
