Seeking a decent club mix to jump-start your summer nightlife? Spun the hell out of Eddie Halliwell’s “Cream Ibiza 2007″ already? Pick up the latest offering from Azuli Records, “Space Ibiza 2007″ – an ode to the (in)famous dance club located on the White Isle. Light, spacious and deliciously fresh, this album embodies the innate spirit of summertime with a thorough list of artists and some fantastic tracks to boot.
Kaskade’s funk-infused “Sorry” kicks things off, transitioning into the pleasantly moody “I Thought That” by The Migrants. Unlike Space Ibiza 2006, the 2007 release seems to seek a certain direction and embraces tracks which aid in marking that direction. In this case, the path Azuli Records seems to want to follow appears to be that of the hybridization of relatively cutting edge electro and tech-house with surprising minimal numbers. The `NY Sexy Mix’ of “Changes” will send club-goers bouncing like children on an over-sized trampoline; hell, it had me doing just about the same in a desk chair. Sky-high lyricists, such as those featured on tracks like “Guilty” and “I Got Cash” revive memories of the innocence of mid-90′s EDM, and the compilation has several familiar tracks like “Magic Carpet Ride” and “Volta” which, instead of aging like moldy bread, snuggle nicely within the m�lange of the bumping house featured on disc one. For a club compilation, disc one certainly books the ticket without being stale; the second disc, however, caught me off-guard!
I did not expect an Ibiza-influenced release to feature any minimal tech-house at all – that style of EDM simply has not previously coincided commercially with Ibiza before. Disc two, however, is so heavily influenced by minimal tech-house that it sounds like a hopped-up version of some wacky Alex Smoke, M.A.N.D.Y., Tigerskin, Omid 16B, and so on. Truly surprising, as the two discs juxtapose with one another like night and day. For me, THAT was the selling point for Azuli’s 2007 compilation and makes it stand far apart from the label’s lukewarmly received Space Ibiza 2006 release. With a wonderful lineup of minimal artists including Remo, Smash TV, Oxia and the beloved Audion, disc two surely impressed me with its diversity. But make no mistake – it is not a minimal house album in a purist sense. The minimal house is interspersed amongst sensual melodic house tracks like Bob Sinclair’s “I Feel For You,” Steve Angello & Sebastian Ingrosso’s “Umbrella,” Guy J’s “Agent Blue” and of course the closing track, Slam’s “Azure (Part 1).” Booka Shade lends two grinding and soulful tracks to the mix to keep things shaken, not stirred, and the same can be said about “I Got Cash” and “Da Bump.” And so, while disc two is neither a downtempo nor a purely minimal house mix, it breathes stark contrast to its predecessor, which oozes energetic and fresh body movement.
Azuli’s Space Ibiza 2007 is a decent and thoroughly ripe collection of tracks snatched from the uppermost surface and innermost depths of the electronic dance music spectra. It by no means surpasses the quality of Eddie Halliwell’s Cream Ibiza 2007 mix, but Azuli’s offering is definitely worth the purchase – if not for the consistency of a sweaty club atmosphere, then for its enjoyable and nearly unrivaled stylistic diversity. Kudos.
-James Woodruff
