Cocoon in Ibiza

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  • I've been coming to Ibiza since 2013, and every year since then there's been talk of Cocoon calling it a day. Certainly, the party is not in its pomp anymore: having been the island's techno torchbearer for more than a decade, it now shares the stage with a great many spin-offs. Even at Amnesia, its home since 1999, Cocoon finds itself up against two younger rivals in Marco Carola's Music On and this season's new addition, HYTE. Marcel Dettmann, Chris Liebing and Loco Dice all left Cocoon for HYTE sometime in the off-season, causing many industry insiders to sound the death knell once more. It was important, then, that Sven Väth and his team got a few things right going into 2015. Perhaps most crucial of all was pinning down Ricardo Villalobos for a six-week residency, doubling the Chilean's count from last year. It's likely that part of the appeal for Villalobos, who also has a working relationship with HYTE, was being able to curate his own Terrace lineups. For his second show of the summer he brought with him Zip and Sonja Moonear, who were both returning to Cocoon for the first time since September 2012. Part of many people's criticism of Cocoon is that it doesn't get going until 4 or 5 AM, which is largely due to Circoloco's ever-later end time. But rather than hinder the night, it improves it, giving savvy early-birds the opportunity to really cut a rug to rare warm-up sets from the likes of Sven Väth and Zip. The latter played brilliantly, subtly easing up the energy with every new cut of tumbling minimal. The genre's intricate sonics were a perfect match for the Terrace's sharp system, and it was a real pleasure to dance freely for those 90 minutes. I could tell the rest of the crowd felt that way too—everyone wore broad smiles beneath the soft blues and purples of the lights. Amnesia is loved for the sun-lit grit of its early morning sessions, but, for me, the first few hours of Cocoon show the club at its immaculate best. Zip finished with a medley of chunkier rollers, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a shame when he came off. Those feelings soon dissipated, though, as Sonja Moonear segued neatly into a run of percussive cuts. Her sense of pace was as pitch-perfect as Zip's, riding a smooth upward curve towards big-room techno with a strong rhythmic edge. One track she played sounded like a STOMP cover of Mathew Jonson. Villalobos came in bang on 4:30 AM with a seductive US garage number and the night's first vocal, firing up the floor. Oddly, he went loopy and dry for the next hour, before winning the crowd back with the one-two punch of Floorplan's "Never Grow Old" and C-Rock's "Funky Dope Track." "I'll House You," "French Kiss" and "Let's Groove" all followed, and as fun as it is hearing Villalobos hot-mix his way through the hits on a system that good, it felt like he was phoning it in a bit. Cocoon might not be the busiest party on the island these days, but who cares when everything else—music, atmosphere, aesthetic—is such a cut above the rest. Photo credit: Tasya Menaker
RA