Review: Glitterbox Ibiza 2015

Image: Glitterbox Ibiza

The previous season was a difficult year for Ibizan club Booom, the venue beset with problems and issues long before they first opened their doors a fair few weeks behind schedule in June 2014. 

Their one resounding success story however was Glitterbox, the Defected fronted party which managed to bring a slice of disco drenched glamour to the island every Saturday.

They have already announced plans to head to Space for Fridays this season, and their musical manifesto is represented by this double header of mixes, accompanied by a third disc of unmixed tracks from the two.

Musically the party pretty much traverses the early sound of disco through to its inflection upon various club scenes since, meaning eighties funk, nineties house and the twenty first century re-edit culture all feature prominently across the compilation here, curated and unfussily stitched together by Defected boss Simon Dunmore.

The mixing lets the music do the talking, and on the Disc One there's a retro leaning vibe that stands centrally amongst the meat of the mix, The System's 'You are in my system' and Chemise's 'She Can't Love You' underpinning this vibe.

Disc Two makes slightly more noise about more modern efforts, with Soul Clap, Hercules & Love Affair and Claptone's brilliant remix of Gregory Porter's 'Liquid Spirit' (above) shifting the nose of that sound in front.

The trick though is allowing the mixes to raid every aspect of the Glitterbox canon as opposed to solely focusing on one, creating two sets that sound different despite ultimately similar ingredients. Mixes are all to often categorised as Day and Night, pre-club and post-club, but both of these just make you want to hop on a plane and indulge in Ibiza from the very first thud of the beat.

And that's because this is an extremely Ibizan selection. Part of Glitterbox's charm isn't in it doing anything overly new, but blending the joys of the past with a modern twist. When leafing through the accompanying opulent booklet which showcases what the club looked like last year, you're drawn to an Ibiza of old; drag queens, decadence and a grinning David Morales all appear.

That heritage runs through the music here as well, with E-Smoove, MAW, Danny Tenaglia and Robert Owens all reflective of the US house sound of yore. And hearing Ashley Beedle's timeless version of Bent's 'Magic Love' (below) come rippling out of Chaka Khan's 'Fate', the source of Stardust's unmistakable riff for 'Music Sounds Better with You', instantly takes you back to a different time, so too when that same mix ends with Pete Heller's evergreen 'Big Love'.

Much is made of the early days of Ibiza post British invasion, the early free spirited era in the late eighties and early nineties, but the ten years or so after if gave us a lot too.

Defected were integral to that age, and Glitterbox is their joyous reaffirmation of their status as stalwarts of house music legends. This compilation brilliantly ensures that lofty accolade isn't getting relinquished any time soon.

Like this? Try review: Armand van Helden Masterpiece compilation.