Aux-In

Ibiza: Popular tourist destination the world over, and home to legendary nightlife. I have heard of the island's reputation as a party mecca from various outlets, in passing, although I've never been. Maybe so, but I see no reason to let that stop me from living vicariously through the following song/video, and later via the Ibiza '06 double-CD compilation album. A subsequent Wikipedia search reveals to me that producers and DJs come to Ibiza to perform at various clubs, particularly during the summer months, and that this Mediterranean paradise has become one of thee top places for these electronic wizards to present new tracks in the house, trance and techno genres. Read more: Ibiza.

Before I get to the album review, I'm going to start off with this single. I'm hesitant to add this because I don't want it to take away from the album review, but at this moment in time, I find this as good a place as any to include it in this write-up.


^^ As soon as the video starts, we see an Ibiza sign, which is a tip that we're probably going to have a good time while taking in some of the beautiful sights that this island has to offer, including some of its inhabitants. The video contains multiple scenic shots from around the town + various people gatherings. One element that I found pretty cool was the floating soccer field (or football if you want to be European about it), complete with AstroTurf. The blonde singer, Maruja Retana, looks and sounds like a Britney Spears rip-off. Initially, while that may sound like a bad thing, it isn't, because the instrumental is right where it should be -- i.e., it stays out of the Burmuda Traingle of Lame and Generic Music that a lot of mainstream EDM tends to get sucked into. Vocal-wise, this is the only song on my list that uses a traditional voice-correcting effect (Auto-Tune) in this manner; the same kind of voice correcting that you'd hear in a lot of radio-friendly pop songs. To reiterate, a lot of my selections have amped, edited, spliced, distorted effects and so on, but here the standard voice-correcting format is noticeable. It should hurt the song, but after a few listens you can forget all your troubles, 'cause all you gotta do is put this one on and bang it out, preferably at high volume.




This compilation was put together by Markus Schulz as a way of remembering his summer in Ibiza in 2006, hence the album's apt title. Schulz is the founder of the label Coldharbour Recordings and host of his own Global DJ Broadcast radio show. Over the years, he has made an effort to seek out new talent, and this album was a small part of that process. When it comes to my electronic music, I want to be hearing things that are on the bleeding edge of sound development; I want to find sounds that I've never heard before, regardless of genre. This leads me to the following quote from the album's foldout:

To that point, the more I read or see interviews of many of my favorite producers/DJs, the more I come to find out that a number of them feel the same way about music that I do, not only from what they create themselves, but also in helping other artists with similar philosophies get discovered.

Notes & Sidebars: (a) Several tracks sounded very similar, which was exacerbated by the fact that I listened to both discs back-to-back. Because of this, if a track was either flat/did nothing for me/didn't speak to me in any way, or was hard to describe, I am going to list N/A for that track. This means each of those tracks gets the same rating of N/A, which is neutral in its application. (b) Disc 2 will have a track from a then-younger Andy Moor, who, as I stated earlier in my journal, ended up founding his own label, AVA Recordings. So there's some history here, as both Schulz's and Moor's labels were, at one time, under the parent organization Armada Music. (c) There are at least two tracks that I know of, and I expect the rest of the CD to follow in the same vein -- ambient instrumental music. This means no bangers, which is cool and no biggie, because I already have enough of those on my master list to last a lifetime . Let’s see if I can find any surprises on this puppy...


1) Ohmna - "People Get Lost": Sounds like a rock song with a guitar riff. Wtf? Cool, wasn't expecting that. Vocals come in now with a “people get lost” lyric line which is stutter-stepped and repeated throughout the song. The vocals are also stretched out/extended with an echo effect put on them. Half way through and it goes into more verses: “So we go insane. Nothing comes easy, that’s for sure.” “Does this disease even have a cure?” Overall, a rather spooky way to start off what I anticipated as being some chill-ass ****, although, if I was lost in Ibiza with this tune readily available on my music player, this might be something I could drift away to.

2) Benya - "Mimas": This track has a short vocal splice that is being used as a sound instead of a voice. Sort of lullaby-like sounds fused with progressive-trance synths. Then at about three minutes in, the track takes off with a big synth and a driving beat as it carries the lullaby sounds with it the entire time.

3) Jose Amnesia (ft. Jennifer Rene) - "Louder": Woah. Big sound to this vocal track, which I wasn’t expecting on this album. Jennifer Rene on vocals. This is the type of vocal treatment/filtering that I like. The slower pace of the track is in contrast with the big-voice sound, but it is in sync so that it isn’t out of place. A little too slow for me on this, but the production is solid and it’s a chill tune. For example, Motorcycle – “As the Rush Comes” [Gabriel & Dresden Chill Out Mix] is a slower jam that I've already posted, and that is the type of sound that this has, albeit doesn’t grab me as much as the G&D mix.

4) Joost van der Vleuten - "New Horizon": N/A

5) Lens - "Dusk Till Dawn" [Alex Stealthy Remix]: Same as #4. It’s so stealthy that I wouldn’t notice it if it was walking next to me down the promenades of Ibiza. Sorry.

6) Progresia - "The Shelter": This has more going on in it than the last two, but it’s not something I haven’t heard before.

7) Francis Blaid - "Mystery" [Allende Remix]: N/A.

8) Niklas Harding & Funabashi - "Addictive": Decent but N/A

9) Alex Monakhov - "Feel Lonely":N/A

10) Benz & MD - "Turning the Curve": N/A

11) Nick Thompson - "Strategos": N/A

12) 4Mal & Matthew Adams (ft. Corey Andrew) - "Technology & Computer" [Matthew Adams Dub Mix]: This breaks out from the monotony of the last few tracks. While it's not too bad, I look for songs to sync up with my brain patterns. This isn't doing that, so it ends up being just another track, even if it's better than some of the rest.

13) DJ Remy - "Wink": N/A


1) Ormatie - "Glassgow" [Original Mix]: Moon countdown & NASA radio transmissions. “Ignition sequence has started.” Um, are we going from Mars to Ibiza or what? Not sure what if any connection is meant by this, and I find myself not connecting with the track. Wait a minute, come to think of it, this is a compilation album and not a concept album, nor is it an album specifically geared toward Ibiza's beachiness as so on, so it's all good. Well, I want to say the vibe is like corridor music, ala Star Trek or something like that. Then I want to say it’s ocean-like and space-like combined, while also making me want to walk a city street on a moderately-warm, temperate night. This would be music I would set to a scene in an under-ocean world where the water functions as air and everyone walks around -- not swims -- as if no one is the wiser to the fact that they're living in an alternate universe. I’m mentioning water, but I mean that figuratively, as it would be a mischaracterization to say that this track has any relation to water itself. A beeping noise signals a transition as track 1 smoothly leads into track 2.

2) Joonas Hahmo - "The Fusion" [Hawk Remix]: This was one of the catalysts that made me want to go out and buy the album. Excellent track. It has that perfect balance between driving and ambient sounds, with enough variation in technique to satisfy my brainwaves. The first 1:30 has a slower pace, and then there is a decent build-up in the middle as the song punches as she goes in the latter half. Catchy tune.


3) Perry O'Neil - "South-West Saga": Slightly desert-like, if you will, but it doesn't overdo it. Not to my liking. I’m not against trying to listen to stuff like this, but I just can’t get into it. And not to be disrespectful of artistic creation, but I’m bored by it. I just want the track to finish itself out.

4) Baltic Sound - "Glimmer" [Micah and Joel Armstrong's Ruhnsong Remix]: Cool. Almost feels like Super Metroid meets Ibiza. The song changes tone in the first middle half. There is a trance beat in the background, but there are other parts that sound like dubstep would sound if it decided to go on a diet. It's not dubstep, though. Here again, some interesting sounds, but I won’t be returning to this one as it lacks the necessary melody for me.

5) Andy Moor vs. Orkidea - "Yearzero": "Yearzero," all one word. This is the first vocal track on Disc 2, but the vocals aren't audible due to the fact that they're used as a vocal chop. Second-best song so far on either disc. This is classic Andy Moor with his progressive trance sounds. Moor is such a good trance producer. He's since gone on to produce better stuff than this, but it's interesting to hear some of his earlier work.

6) Kenneth Thomas - "Achems Razor": I take back what I said about #5, as this tune replaces it as the second-best track on the album. It’s slower than "The Fusion" [Hawk Remix]. Tracks like this, when I’m hearing them for the first time on Pandora and the like...they stand out but may not catch immediately. It’s when they come around the way again a couple of times that they position themselves as part of my musical soundscape/collection. Over four minutes in and the track remains consistent. Then at 4:20, it goes through a couple of pauses, then it breaks out in a catchy way as it gets louder and even more driving without breaking its ambiance. The song closes out with another transition that works well in setting up the next track.


7) Roland Klinkenberg - "What's the Point": Over a minute in now, and I have the same quandary as the song’s title. Some bloops and bleeps repeated ad nauseum. Perhaps it would work if I was at a beach bar in Ibiza ordering some shots for my entourage, if I'd ever happen to get one of those. Now at 2:40 it finally does something, but the remainder of the song is a jumble of itself. This sounds more like techno than trance.

8) Nick Thompson - "Once Upon A Time": Even though this track is by a different artist and is its own song, in its own right, it's as if "The Fusion" [Hawk Remix] and "Achems Razor" had a love child, given the fact the some of the techniques used are similar. Also hearing some Andy Moor influences, even if he had no involvement in the track's development.

9) Markus Schulz (ft. Anita Kelsey) - "First Time" [Funabashi Remix]: Some sort of effect that sounds like a muffled school bell. Not bad, I suppose, but I'm going to hang up an N/A on this one.

10) Algarve - "Greasepaint": The beginning sounded good, but as I finished the song, I have to say it didn’t go where I wanted it to go. This electronic instrumental **** is hard to describe other than via vibe/feeling, so apologies if I'm not writing much on the lesser tracks.

11) Ambrosial - "Sunshift" [Arthur Schmidt of Basic Perspective Remix]: As far as the remixer goes, now there’s a name if I’ve ever heard one. Love it. The song: the vibe does keep in line with the track’s title, so good work there. Sun 'n fun.

12) Kyau & Albert - "Kiksu": N/A

13) Sassot - "Where It All Begun": Decent song.

14) Breakfast - "The Air Between": Interesting sounds. This is setting up as the album’s closer. It has two or three different beats going at the same time. Not as catchy as my favorites on the album, but I can respect the artistry on it. Track ends with a sloooow fade to bring a sunset on the album as a whole.

SUMMATION

Ibiza '06 does bring some different sounds to the table, however, there weren't any big surprises, unfortunately. Not only that, Disc 1 was a much bigger miss than I anticipated. The two songs I previously knew about were "The Fusion" [Hawk Remix] and "Achems Razor." I have to say that this is a testament to how good Pandora's algorithm is, as generally speaking, each time I've gone out and bought an album in addition to the singles, I find that I would've done the same going either way with my purchases without feeling left out over things I might've missed. I'm not saying the other songs on the album necessarily = bad music, it's just that, other than the songs I did enjoy, the rest of them were on the boring side of things. Certainly, if I were to spend any time at all in Ibiza, I'm sure I'd have a much better go with this type of music than I get from sitting on my couch, typing away on Music Banter about music that has been compiled as a representation of vibes from an island I've never even visited. Yeah, that would make all the difference in the world. It may be a vicarious life, but someone's gotta live it.

Till next time.

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