- 12 months ago, the idea of Skreamizm taking place at DC-10 would have been laughable. Until 2012, Skream was a dubstep DJ, tearing up clubs and festivals with his full-throttle brand of 140 BPM fare. That life is now a thing of the past for Ollie Jones, who has since taken to playing mostly house, techno and disco. And so, as the second in a four-part series of events curated by Turin's Movement Festival, Skream joined Loefah, Hrdvsion, Matt Tolfrey and Simon Baker in the main room of DC-10 this month.
If the lineup strikes you as a little muddled, it's a sentiment clearly shared by the island demographic. Neither Tolfrey or Baker is a huge draw in Ibiza, but both hold significantly more weight here than either Loefah or Hrdvsion. Surprising, then, that they were chosen to warm up the night. As they dished out pumping, vocal-laden selections, the club could hardly have been more empty, with less than ten people on the dance floor. Up next, Hrdvsion (whose remix of Carly Rae Jensen's "Call Me Maybe" has been a staple of Skream's recent sets) opened with a delectable slice of piano house, before descending into what became a lacklustre set of mid-range selections, often poorly mixed. Had he played live (as he often does), it may have been a different story.
By the time Loefah took to the decks the crowd had swelled considerably, with the main room a touch over half full. The Swamp 81 boss threw down a riveting set of upfront, bass-heavy cuts, with Boddika's "Heat" and Mak & Pasteman's Kendrick Lamar-sampling "Jimmy Kendrick's" proving particular highlights. Skream's set, which moved from edits of Prince's "Erotic City" to Barnt's "Geffen," was entertaining and confusing in equal measure. While his expertise and passion for DJing never fail to shine through, he could have given a little more thought to the direction of this milestone performance—a feeling, in fact, that applied to the night more generally. If Skream wants to be adopted as Ibiza's new prodigal son, he'll have to think more clearly about the island's market.