Madrid’s Reverse is new to the White Isle, having made a name for itself in mainland Spain’s capital city by consistently bringing the likes of Maceo Plex, Matthias Tanzmann and more to their La Riviera events. Bringing together a host of tech house and techno sounds, Reverse occupies Privilege’s side room, the Vista Club.
If you’re in Ibiza, you may have noticed the blue animation alien-like characters on billboards and in costumes around the island. These are Reverse’s extra-terrestrial mascots, and inside they are everywhere. People wearing masks, blue faces hanging from the walls and appearing on screens above the stage. The blue hue was cast all across the room, whilst the dancers in their blue wigs gyrated to the cold techy sounds.
Frenchman Vitalic’s set began with a barrage of abrasive and metallic electro. Wild synths and high tempo thumping kick drums were weaved together to create a series of unrelenting dance floor stompers. Vitalic toyed with his equipment to create razor-like synth sounds which were combined with swathes of delay and reverb effects that increased the tension rapidly.
Vitalic then dipped the tempo with more out and out electro, which subsequently morphed into crazy acid lines that jumped from the speakers and took on a life of their own. Changing things up a little, I was then pleasantly surprised to hear Vitalic drop Len Faki’s edit of DJ Hyperactive’s ‘Wide Open’. The cavernously dark Berghain techno swallowed the room in its pitch black landscape and thundered throughout the room. The bass throbbed out of the speakers as the almost discordant lead melody jerked and stuttered. It’s a truly mind bending track.
Once Vitalic’s set came to an end it was time for UNER and Technasia to take control. In contrast to the straight up stomp of Vitalic, the combination of the Spanish underground star UNER and French techno head Technasia brought more groove to the table with jacking house beats and skipping rhythms. These percussion elements were united with deep and dark techno sounds to build on the atmosphere that had been established early in the night. The duo kept it tough with more stomping tech-house and techno for the lively and mainly Spanish crowd.
The pair continuously built up huge waves of intense rushing delay and reverb effects before dropping the grooves back in alongside huge blasts from the CO2 cannons and confetti, which drove people into a frenzy. The crowd continued to lap up the selections as the twosome continued to bump out the dark and groovy tracks, seemingly enjoying playing off each other and guiding the set through peaks and troughs that gripped the dance floor.
Privilege seems to do well amongst the local crowd and the club’s side room proves to be a sound venue for homegrown, underground nights such as this one. Reverse combined fun, carefree production elements with solid music selection to deliver an intriguing party to a healthily sized crowd. The programming of the artists worked nicely as the peak-time electro and techno of Vitalic made way for the heads down fare served up by Technasia and UNER.
With acts like Steve Lawler, 2manydjs, Andrea Olivia and Pig & Dan still to come, it looks to be a solid season for this Ibiza newcomer.