Club review: Ovum @ Space Ibiza, 26/06/12

Josh Wink brought his friends along to Space last week to showcase the sounds of his label imprint Ovum.

Jayne Robinson

Date published: 5th Jul 2012

Alix Alvarez, Steve Bug and Gregor Thresher joined the acid house don on la Terraza whilst Chris Coco took the spotlight of the Sunset Terrace all night long with a Balaeric house medley.

Wink brings his label across to the island for an all night feast of Ovum just once a year, so it was clear the team were going to smash it. On the smaller nights (smaller in comparison to the Carl Cox and We Love parties), Space has just the two terraces open, so there is no roof terrace, main room, el salon or VIP. It's not Space in all its glory, but this is by no means a problem as La Terraza is possibly my favourite room anyway.

When we arrived we headed straight for the main party, as Alix Alvarez began to bring the sounds of Ovum. Alvarez began with a couple of well known deep house tunes like Subb-An's remix of 'Around' before bursting out of nowhere from a quick build up into a mix full of bouncing tech house that I hadn't really heard out much before; it was really fun, carnival style music that allowed us to very quickly get in the mood. The surges of percussion rattled through the mass of bodies who had clambered through from the Sunset Terrace as soon as the main terrace had opened, until Alvarez' set drew to a close with the euphoric vocal led 'Use Me Again'; Carl Craig's version of the Tom Trago belter.

Steve Bug popped up a couple of hours later, boss of highly acclaimed label Poker Flat and also good friend and collaborator of Wink. Bug began his own build up, bringing the tempo back down from the off with deep and mystical techno, before again quickly building up into smile inducing tech house that created an electric atmosphere across the club. He played an amazing remix of Inner City's 'Future'; many of you will have come to know Kenny Larkin's Tension remix and it was pleasant to hear a fresh version (unless it was just Bug mixing the parts differently). Bug knows his stuff and having seen him a few times now I can safely say he never fails to seriously impress.

Label boss Josh Wink was next to take the helm and then it really started to get exciting. He started off with a percussive heavy track bursting with crazy drum loops that led to one of the most intense build ups I had ever heard, causing bodies to go rigid as they reached for the drop that was taken right up to the limit. This was what followed for the rest of the set. All night each artist performance had been one big build up, and now Wink was throwing them out left right and centre.

After a while he began his acid treatment, which is just what I know Wink for. The squidgey acid sounds of the tunes felt like we were transformed into little creatures scuttling around the club, but maybe that was just me!

As Wink's set came to a close, he started playing crazy old school acid rave music, which was an eye opener but it didn't seam to go down very well. A few people began to leave and we went along with them. Apart from that, all of the DJs had been amazing and it is a shame they only do one Ovum night across the season. I suppose that is what makes it so special though, and it was a pleasure to be a part of the night. I might be wrong but in my eyes, after this, Ovum Recordings stands for BIG, AMAZING BUILD UPS - to say the least.

Words: Jack Law