Richie Hawtin’s presence when he strode past me spoke a thousand and one words. His target is purely Space across the road. It’s dusk of ENTER Ibiza Week 1 and he’s a man on a mission. It’s not surprising having checked out the absolute bad ass line up for the opening party and he’s the big guy behind it (well actually he’s quite wee but you know what i’m sayin). Bella Sarris, Guy Gerber, Recondite, who’s a legend for his live sets, Blind Observatory, Tale of Us, Mr Hawtin himself and toughest of all the total treasured favourite of mine techno genius GAISER! I love this guy!! I had the bliss of meeting him late last year, his sets are unreal and knowing I was gonna see him again made my tummy tingly! The whole thing made me a big bit fuzzy… Music does this to me a lot and I bloody love it…
ENTER is in a whole new era this year round – it’s 4th year running in Ibiza – and has completely transformed Space, inspired by naturally occurring ‘DOTS’ that imitate the imprint ENTER black dot which they’ve discovered all over the island and used to dream up a different atmospheric experience in every single room of the club with the visuals, music and vibe changing as you move through the 5 rooms all mega-carefully created by the experimental brain of Richie Hawtin. Taglined ‘Music.Sake.Technology.Experience’ – just to hint at what he’s getting’ at.
ENTER. Sake started off the night at 9pm – The sunset terrace of Space reborn into a Japanese indulgence, inspired by Hawtin’s journey through Japan + his crazy big-love for the country & it’s culture (and sake!). The kinky oriental vibes of the room stole me away from the norm and served up specially created sublime Sake cocktails never tried outside of Japan, spirits, beers and delicate Sake options that mingled with the lush beats that swirled between the dancing people. An intimate back2back session with Guy Gerber and Matthew Dear. Two artists who are renowned for being experimental with sounds anyway, I could sense the freedom they had with each other and that they could be playful with tracks and each other using the energy of the room to guide their set. Fusing the vibes of Enter.Sake with smooth beats and vocals using tracks like the Rumors headman Guy’s gorgeous rework of Art Departments ‘Catch You By Surprise’ for it’s seductive vocal and rolling bassline and ‘Finding Love’ by Einzelkind – a complete belter choice of track throwin a fat industrial bass straight in our face. Something you’d find in Panorama bar, Berlin. What an absolute delight!!
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A new addition to add the interactive touch , ENTER.Cntrl was an ace new aspect of the clubbing experience. An area devoted to creation, sound and experiment. New in 2015 and with CORVUS by Conductr – a massive multi-touch pad for me and my fellow beat lovers to launch, mix, create, transform and more – sounds are provided from tracks by the artists who were playing through ENTER for clubbers. I’ve been in many a music gathering in my nearly 30 years on this Earth and I’ve never seen anything like this before.
Bella Sarris lured me into ENTER.Terrace. The Enter resident for 3 years and beat-loving beauty has a real romance between the decks, the dancefloor and the ENTER.Terrace room that was for tonight only featuring warm sandy tones and cave-like cosiness to surround hypnotic house music. Everyone in the room was involved in that romance she’s created with her finely tuned feel-good set and talent that she’s brought from Sydney to grace the white isle this summer. Bella gives a real sweet-touch to the Enter experience and a feeling unlike the other ENTER artists – she’s a girl with beats on the brain and an even deeper way of captivating the crowd into her 2&a half hour music journey on the Terrace. I got lost in that journey for a good hour or so before craving a massive belting bassline to knock me around a bit more.
It was a full moon that night and a full moon makes for some crazy creatures… ENTER.Main was rammed with ecstatic Gaiser fans who were all after exactly the same tantalizing techno hit as me. A beat fix that he hits me with me like no one else can. I’ve already said before – I LOVE THIS GUY!!!! I’m a massive self confessed intense bass junkie and he was my dealer for the night. I’m actually so worked up as I write this cos I know how passionate I am about this guy’s music. In fact you’ve got me sittin right up in my wee seat! He blows me away every single time. He’s a genius and his productions are something else! I can’t express this enough!
ENTER.Main has been stripped back to its raw essentials and has a real mysterious feel and being the biggest room in the club the sound bounces off every surface in there and then comes back and gives you a hard blow to the brain. Best feeling in the world if you ask me! The Minus prodigy Jon Gaiser isn’t afraid of anything at all –that industrial mechanical heaviness he toys with in his sounds and crosses over with a good bit banter (when I met him last year to interview him I shared a good old chuckle with him!) and the energy he brings from his 1-hour live-set from 2-3am and his only ENTER appearance of the season is beyond belief! Tracks from his most recent album ‘False Light’ like ‘Strangers’ and ‘Oozewave’ hit the spot and killed my cravings in a single beat. The crazy creatures that were like a Gaiser cult group in Enter.Main were sucked into that techno oblivion he’s pulled us into and we didn’t wanna find a way out! I’m gutted it’s his only ENTERappearance this time round but delighted I was there for it!! I honestly believe that Gaiser for God would make the world a better place.
I dipped into the Tale of Us journey that was bashin’ on back in ENTER.Terrace. Eight times I’ve seen these bad boys + every time they’ve told me a different story – always showing their fans something different to the last. They’re a sure fire fit for the ENTER posse, dropping a lovely jubbly Franky + Sandrino creation – ‘Acamar’, a track guaranteed to be one of the summer specials 2015. I guess I was more drawn to the ENTER.Mind room though – there was just something charming about this one… Shifty but swiftly moving from Tale of us to the tail-end of Charlie Don’t Surf. Swedish Charlie may not surf but he sure as hell fires out some bangin’ tunes! Taking over from him and closing the room was Ateq for the 2nd set of the night in ENTER.Mind jolting us into the Friday morning sunrise on that dreamy little Space sunrise Terrace. He was the cherry on top of the tasty techno dessert that Charlie Don’t Surf was.
I’m not crazy about Richie, so I wasn’t too fussy about hangin around his closing set in the main room. Gaiser had set the scene for me there already + there’s no way that was being beaten by him (sorry big guy!), and anyway, ENTER.Mind was treating me nicely and keepin me boppin’. Everything was smooth. Grabbing a bevvy from the bar was never a difficulty and even though it was rammed you never felt uncomfortable or crazy busy. After being in a mentally overpopulated DC10 the previous night which was a sweat-box like i’ve never seen before, Space was a well-needed change of atmosphere. I’m not sayin it wasn’t hot but it was bearable and I didn’t need to brave the daylight at hometime lookin like a DROWNED RAT close to death tryin to avoid the ‘normal people’!! And the crowd was diverse yet all there for the music. Every single person. My feet hurt from dancing for so many hours straight – the sign of a successful night for me.
As a self-confessed beat junkie I think I can also now call myself an ENTER regular. My only complaint is that Gaiser won’t be back this summer. Once I’ve gotten over that they can bring on ENTER Week 2!!
