Real Ibiza 5: The Sun Lounge
May 15th, 2002 by freddie96
REAL IBIZA V
Mixed by Rob Da Bank & Phil Mison
(React)
Each year, while I am waiting for the sluggard English summer to start, I pack my bags and head off to the quiet northern beaches of Ibiza – in my head.
In truth I have only ever made it to Ibiza once, but I enjoyed enough lazy afternoons on those sandy beaches and balmy nights drinking under the stars to know why the white isle should have played such a formative role in the emergence of chill out. Away from the horror of San Antonio and the crassly commercial superclubs, there are plenty of quiet beaches and bars where you can assuredly find damn good times and top quality music. I will never forget finding that the first bar I entered in Ibiza town – a low-key backstreet place with about ten people in it at the time – had Jose Padilla crammed into the tiny DJ booth at the back, playing a truly beautiful selection of tunes.
That, at least, is the Ibiza that I dream my way to each year when the latest installment of ‘Real Ibiza’ comes around. Although compilations like this have been much maligned of late, and with good reason, the ‘Real Ibiza’ series can claim a degree of authenticity as well as longevity than so many of the bandwagon-jumpers have never had. At least its compilers actually play Ibiza each summer.
This time around it is Rob da Bank and Phil Mison’s turn to do the job that A Man Called Adam, Chris Coco and Bruno Lepetre have done so ably in the past (though Mison has been involved with the last three now). As you’d imagine, it is a thoroughly dreamy, lazy affair. At no point does it attempt to get you off that sun lounge and onto the dancefloor: it is made for long hot summer days when the heat makes dancing out of the question until long after sundown.
Naturally ‘Real Ibiza V’ has a good deal of that smooth Euro lounge sound that has been so influential over the last couple of years – Yonderboi, Plastyc Buddha, Sven Van Hees, Nemo all put in an appearance – but they have been skillfully blended into a selection that emphasises the more minimal, electronic side to this sound. Certainly that is true of CD1, which opens with Bliss and Röyksopp’s ‘In Space’, and closes with an ambient mix of Vangelis’ ‘Love Theme’ from Blade Runner and Plaid’s ‘Ralome’. Despite the inclusion of these oldies, it sounds very now.
CD2, to my ears, is less successful. Too many of its tracks – like the first three by Sa Trincha, Mystic Diversions, and Bazeado, for example – can all too easily slide by unnoticed, while the A:Xus re-rub of Badmarsh and Shri’s ‘Day by Day’ simply sounds too Radio 1 for my liking. However, there is little arguing with Fenomenon’s ‘Pacific Memories’ or End of Orgy’s (!) ‘Villa Bleue’, or the closing wind-down of Cantoma and Bliss (who open and close this double compilation); the latter’s ‘Kissing’ is tailormade for wistful memories of summer loving. If you feel like spending some time in the Ibiza of your mind, tracks like these will you get there at the drop of a hat.
Freddie B.
