- Recently, I was out for a few beers with mates, and we were chatting away about travels to here and there, exchanging silly stories, laughing at drunken tales of disaster and reminiscing all about hapless adventures throughout the world. The talk inevitably turned to Ibiza and, of course, to DC-10. Upon the very mention of the club, the volume at the table rose at least 12 decibels as we all burst alight with our Circo Loco experiences. One friend proclaimed he "wasn't done with that dusty dance floor of debauchery." Another said he wanted to celebrate his 30th birthday at the club "that parties like the apocalypse is hours away." As I went to buy another round, beaming at the very thought of dancing to Tania Vulcano deliriously with upside-down sunglasses and a rubber chicken, I thought that no experience—clubbing or otherwise—could incite such incendiary passion for hedonism. By the time I got back to the table, my friends were already talking about booking flights.
The legendary Circo Loco@DC-10, an Ibiza day party at the end of an airport runway that only opens on Monday morning, has turned dance floor delirium and debauchery into success. Over ten years, it's defined underground clubbing in Ibiza, growing steadily throughout the '00s to be the bright hedonistic center of what the White Isle was really all about. It helped populate the twisted deep house and minimal techno sound throughout the island and shifted the focus of clubbing away from holy trinity of Pacha, Manumission and Space to the Monday doubleheader of Circo Loco and Cocoon. And, as a result, it's ruffled a lot of feathers—a renegade club that threw up a sweaty middle finger to the mainstream and became outrageously successful while doing so.
But fate finally caught up with DC-10 this season and it was shut down. Why? Who really knows? Maybe it was Ibiza's new Giuliani-style mayor and his relentless crackdowns. Or the organized crime that controls all the clubs. It could have even been rival clubs paying the council off to sabotage their success. Whatever the reason, another true clubbing icon, like Hacienda, Tresor and Twilo before it, is almost sadly extinct.
If its brief reopening for the rest of the '08 season was to be its last hurrah (indeed it will be, bar a miracle) then this ten-year anniversary, six-disc behemoth of deep druggy house du jour is even more essential, if only for the true believers. Those unfamiliar with DC-10 sound will be bemused at how such "deep" music can enthrall over a two-hour set, yet alone nearly nine hours. Those in the know understand it's all about stamina at DC-10 and these mixes require just that. Beloved resident Tania Vulcano, Italo boy DJ Sossa, those Romanian [a:rpia:r] upstarts Rhadoo, Petre Inspirescu and Raresh, the irrepressible Matthias Tanzmann and the sublime Thomas Melchior program a swirling subterranean soundtrack for a day in the dust. More snapshot than retrospective, it's a mix that effectively puts you, sonically at least, right amongst the DC-10 maelstrom.
Vulcano's opening disc is a deep house leviathan. "One, Two, Three. No Gravity" marks out sparse but emotive territories, playing at a sublimity lacking in the current crop of deep house. By the time she drops Mountain People's "5.2," a succinct and menacing tidal groove grips and doesn't let go until the ketamine march of Miss Fitz's "Moongina" lumbers the set to close. If Vulcano exudes confidence in straddling relentless groove, DJ Sossa falters and flatlines his set with a weak selection and some pretty uninspired mixing. The whooshes, flicks, gurgles and skitters, mostly of his own Vinyl Club tracks, get a little cumbersome after an hour, but there are some snippets of magic, like the brooding funk of Matthias Tanzmann's "Still Like It Like That" and the closing bracket of D.Diggler's "Fractals" and Michael Ho's "Gisele," which sprinkles black sonic tinsel through shafts of summer sunlight.
Romania's [a:rpia:r] posse are about where the Chilean trio of Luciano, Villalobos and Dandy Jack were a decade ago and their two discs are exemplary of what DC-10 is about at 1 PM on a Monday. It's a potent cauldron of tech house that rarely simmers over, but in the heat of the Iberian Monday madness would aptly ride along with you on whatever rollercoaster of narcotics you've chosen. There's lots of their own gurgling, woozy productions and some real stormers, namely Cabanne's crisp techno cut "Keep Going" and Guillaume's puffed up deep house strut "Flying Dutchman." Matthias Tanzmann ups the tempo with a current best and brightest selection of pumping minimal, pivotally sending the tunes a little darker and meaner as if he was soundtracking the sunset; Johnny D features twice ("Orbitalife" has been on at least 4 comps in the last month—easy, people) and Reboot's "Clear Motion" flashes in brilliantly but the seductive monotony of "Kinda Strange" by Dot sends sweaty arms flailing.
The best set of all though belongs to veteran minimal hero Thomas Melchior. His first recorded mix is a rich, surreal journey into afterhour's techno, mixed with the aplomb of a master. Riding on a murky crest of shuffling percussive house, he pirouettes with ease through Alexander East's spooky and skeletal "Hope You See" to Bart Skills and his pumping dark techno stormer "One 2 One," before sending heads splintering through the balmy Iberian night with Lusine's sparkling "Excess."
I pray to the clubbing gods regularly that they may save our beloved DC-10, for the world will be a poorer place without it. For now, though, just put this mix on, grab your Dior's and imagine you're shoulder to sweaty shoulder with a thousand people from around the world screaming and dancing like it's about to end.
TracklistPart 1 of 3 - CD1 mixed by Tania Volcano
01. Closer Musik - One Two Three (No Gravity)
02. Tania Vulcano & Tatto - Wayna
03. Freaks - Look Behind You
04. Mountain People Djs - 5.2
05. Monne Automne - Too Late
06. Freaks - Dance & Disorder (From The Wax - Without Acid Mix)
07. Daze Maxim - Woodbird
08. Dj Sneak - Latin Seoul
09. Dj Rasoul - Untitled Deepness
10. Tattoo - Yonocomprepan
11. Tomas Estaben - Ñoquis Con Pollo
12. Tatto - Neeito
13. Miss Fitz - Moongina
Part 1 of 3 - CD2 mixed by Sossa
01. Anthony Collins - Reeves
02. Yonurican - Kokotaso (Instrumental Mix)
03. 2-Travelers - The Organ Track
04. Sossa - Vignola
05. System Of Survival - Togo
06. Matthias Tanzmann - Still Like It Like That
07. Sossa - Persival
08. Boola - Predator
09. Mountain People Djs - 5.1
10. Sossa - Regalia
11. D.Diggler - Fractals
12. Michal Ho (Feat. Signor Andreoni) - Gisele
Part 2 of 3 - CD1 mixed by ARPIAR
01. Cezar - Susur
02. Petre Inspirescu - Laruss
03. Praslea - Jurnal De Bord
04. Atbash - Vrabos
05. Jens Zimmermann - On Drumzzz
06. Mica Publicitate - Creante
07. Brothers’ Vibe - Feelin' House (Raw Mix)
08. Petre Inspirescu - Trombonist
09. Mara Trax - Strange Moods
10. Herodot - S’lupu
11. Pedric - Pedric 1
12. Robert Dietz - Suite 900
13. Simitli - Gee Baby (Ain't I Good To You)
14. Petre Inspirescu - Tremut
Part 2 of 3 - CD2 mixed by ARPIAR
01. Matthias Tanzmann - Hotel Sapporo (Petre Inspirescu Remix)
02. Two Armadillos - Hamlin (Sascha Dive's Secret Dub)
03. Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts - Flying Dutchman
04. Seth N Shaun - Still Hot
05. Hermannstadt Collective - Connected (Original Mix)
06. Rhadoo - Denouri
07. Markus Fix - Call
08. Minimono - Sweet Murmur
09. Petre Inspirescu - Fiare
10. Cabanne - Keep Going
11. Brother's Vibe - Spherical Bones
12. Petre Inspirescu - Slabisimo
13. Atbash - La Masa
14. Luna City Express - Suki Zuki
Part 3 of 3 - CD1 mixed by Matthias Tanzmann
01. Patrick Chardronnet - Percussiontrack
02. Luna City Express - Seven
03. Efdemin - Lohn & Brot (Tobias. Remix)
04. Kabale Und Liebe & Daniel Sanchez - Mumbling Yeah (Unreleased Marco Carola Remix)
05. Losoul - Open Door
06. Johnny D - Orbitalife
07. Matthias Tanzmann - Crazy Circus
08. Ds - Orangefood (Jens Zimmermann's Additional Vitamin C)
09. G-Man - Quo Vardis
10. Reboot - Clear Motion
11. Sebbo - Watamu Beach
12. Dot - Kinda Strange
13. Guido Schneider & André Galluzzi - Baccara
14. Glimpse - For Fleur (Johnny D Remix)
Part 3 of 3 - CD2 mixed by Thomas Melchior
01. Funzion vs Gurtz - Shiva
02. Kate Simko - She Said
03. Ion Ludwig - Q Of Munich
04. Vera & Frederico Molinari - It Ain’t Music
05. Napi Headz - Raga Parmananda (Minx’s Queen Beats)
06. Melchior Productions Ltd - Out There
07. Boris Werner & Lauhaus - Revenge Of The Nerds
08. Alexander East - Hope You See
09. Rozzo - I Wish I Was A Black Cat
10. Pheek - Blue Blue So Electric Blue
11. Bart Skils & Anton Pieete - One 2 One
12. Tom Demac & Ducket - Critical Distance
13. Andomat 3000 - Bnd2
14. Brothers' Vibe - Quero Para Me Gente (Raw Skins Mix)
15. Lusine - Excess
16. Leonel Castillo - Y El Viento Blanco