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20 YEARS ON… IT!


DJmag celebrate two decades in dance at Space… Words: JOE ROBERTS Pics: BETH CROCKATT


of dance, from the roaring ’90s when house tracks would regularly top the charts to today’s fractious myriad of micro scenes, DJmag has reported on an unprecedented evolution in the popularity of DJing. Along the way, competitor publications have come and gone, swallowed up in the churning foam as the crest of the music industry wave crashed into the digital breakwater, but in their wake, new exciting technologies have evolved, harnessed by young talent to bring about fresh sounds and movements. We never dreamed that we’d outlive the production of the Technics 1210, the iconic record player that remains


W SOS (left - right: Demi, Omid 16B)


e all love Sundays at Space, so what better day and venue to celebrate our milestone 20th anniversary? Having overseen two decades


the industry standard, but we’re still here thanks to the support of our readers and the passion we all share for the artists and DJs continuing to make dance music relevant.


If you doubt that Ibiza continues to amaze and thrill in a similar way, consider that when we arrive at the beginning of June, many island regulars tell us that they’ve never seen it this busy early in the season, a testament to the Balearic island’s spirit of adaptability, or that Space, itself over 20-years-old, was voted the world’s best club this year by our readers, fuelled by a list of residents that last year included Carl Cox, Simian Mobile Disco and Nick Curly. With DJmag Spain presiding over the Sunset Terrace when we arrive an hour before the room’s midnight turndown (necessitated by retaining a small section


of Space’s once open air glory), a young crowd have already almost filled the room, as Coxwain and Victor FL use Traktor’s four decks to weave together chunky house, the guitar lick of Doobie Brothers’ ‘Long Train Runnin’’ emanating from Space’s mighty speakers. Upstairs, meanwhile, in the Red Box, DJmag Italy unveil a line-up headed by Planet Funk’s Alex Neri, teaming up with fellow veteran Francesco Farfa.


Tonight is all about the Main Terrace, though, and when it opens to the sounds of SOS, aka Omid 16B — author of one of our favourite all-time tracks in the shape of ‘Water Ride’ — and Demi, the flood of smiling punters begins. Opening with deep, pad-rich house, the pair filter their way through all manner of 4/4 goodness, the chords of Inner City’s ‘Good Life’ sounding as fresh now as back in 1988, as first the dancefloor, then the balconies, heave with a pan-European crowd. On the balcony by the DJ booth, surrounded by cosmetically-enhanced female porn stars taking a break from a shoot, we catch a quick word with Justin Martin, former DJmag cover star and Dirtybird player, learning that he’s had an unenviable 28-hour flight to reach the party. Fortunately, after an absence of five years since his debut, his set also marks the first of three gigs in the season before his debut album drops. Bringing the bass to the place, Justin rolls out a succession of booty and juke-influenced house bangers, his brother Chris’s industrial strength mix of Tanz/Tanz’s ‘Okay’ cutting a swathe through any Ibiza clichés to contrast with the white-clad stilt walker and aerialist joining the podium dancers positioned on each corner of the dancefloor. Claude Von Stroke’s remix of Girl Unit ecstasy crunk anthem ‘Wut’ might leave a few faces perplexed, but for those that get it, it’s another round in Justin Martin’s arsenal of 21st century house.


If you want a measure of the popularity of Jamie Jones, one half of Hot Natured, and general Ibiza legend, then you only need to know that he’s flying home tomorrow to get a second passport; despite expiring in 2016, his current one has run out of space. There’s a visible ripple through the still-rammed club as he takes to the decks at 4.30am, the unmistakable melancholic euphoria he’s made his own shining through, as he switches seamlessly between moody house and techno, Cheek’s ‘Venus (Sunshine People)’ giving way to the Ali Love-fronted ‘Forward Motion’, Hot Natured’s current


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