Independent and innovative music labels will always have a very welcome home in Ibiza, and last night marked the official launch party of such a project, Mental Genius Records, in its new island home.
Sankeys played host to last night's event, which came under the folds of the greater Emerging Ibiza Festival happening all over the island this week, since Dave Lubin (Mental Genius founder) is on call as an official E.I. expert. It wasn't super busy, no point pretending otherwise, but when the music is top rate I find that it's a simply a case of cutting the crowd fat; whoever is left is there for a reason and there to stay. So it was at the Mental Genius launch, with those present making use of any extra space by raving with extra panache (though I'm pretty sure no one was thinking of a word like ‘panache' at the time).
We arrived in time to see Venezuelan duo Fur Coat opening their set in the Sankeys Basement with epic and atmospheric synths that were almost nudging down a trance path. My knowledge of Fur Coat previously had been limited to a few bouncey Hot Creations releases, so I was thoroughly unprepared for the deep, sonorous and growling bass lines that dominated the set. There's one particular sound that is especially popular right now (even synths come in and out of fashion), which Fur Coat featured heavily throughout their set and I just can't get enough of. Have a listen here, around the 2'15 mark of this Fur Coat original, There's No Time, which they dropped on us around 4am. The pair was highly animated throughout, throwing plenty of love back to the eager crowd in front of them and keeping us all engaged by incorporating sounds of all musical reaches, including deep and dark growls, itchy feet marraccas, flutey female vocals (as in Ricardo Villalobos and Mari Kvien's Everywhere You Go) and epic progressive monsters like the SB arrangement of Anthony Georges Patrice Parallel Romance. It really was an hour and a half of power.
The Spectrum had had its own quality line-up throughout the evening, including Spanish favourites Los Suruba, but the Basement was definitely where it was at for me. Flashmob took over at half four, quickening the tempo and announcing their arrival like the start of a race, with what sounded like a revving engine, before kicking off with the beat. All very industrial – which suited the Sankeys Basement just fine.
As new kids on the Ibiza block (the label that is, certainly not the heads behind it), Mental Genius should be proud of the atmosphere at their first Ibiza party. More important than massive numbers is good will – that's what you need to get your head above water in Ibiza and Mental Genius have it. Prepare to hear a lot more from these brains.
