If venues on this island were drinks, Destino would be my drink of choice. This outdoor venue encompasses all things I look for in a great night: spacious area to dance, good sound system, attractive people and of course great music. Last night German event label Diynamic kicked off their string of summer parties Diynamic Outdoor at the fabulous Destino Resort.
Complications with initial venue choice Cova Santa, left Diynamic scrambling to claim an open air venue this season in Ibiza. A Pacha owned resort, Destino did not hesitate to extend a hand to one of their resident DJs (Solomun), by offering up their poolside venue. Only four of their eight daytime parties will be held here, making these exclusive events a night I definitely couldn't miss.
The first time seeing Solomun for me, there has definitely been a buzz surrounding his name leading up to this. After winning Ibiza's best deep house DJ award of 2012, Solomun has continued to capitalise on this hype by packing out Pacha every Sunday for Solomun +1, dropping new remixes and of course bring back Diynamic's finest (H.O.S.H., Adriatique and Thyladomid) to the island with him this season.
Arriving half past nine, it was clear that I wasn't the only one who caught onto this hype. The poolside party was packed with a beautiful collection of well dressed party goers, in their finest Ibiza hippy chic look. Solomun was already behind the decks pushing out an infectious deep house sound, so magnetic I spared no expense exploring the grounds and pushed right to the front. The sky fell dark as low end-synth radiated through air from track, Trommer Og Bass by Andre Bratten. Solomun drew out the muffled percussion breakdown of the tech house jam giving my usual sway a bit more energy. Looking around I noticed the crowd was predominantly Spanish and definitely more mature than I expected. Solomun read the vibe well as he seamlessly blended Reach Out by MKTL & Polyrhythm, which features a latin style bass-line carried by maracas. The crowd responded fittingly, as their shuffle became rhythmic and allowing me to finally make use of those salsa classes I took in Puerto Rico on spring break.
The deep haunting voice of Lana Del Ray rang out, as Solomun gave his personal touch her seductive vocals on track West Coast. A funky remix, he stripped off the moodiness and pumped up the bass making this ballad dancefloor friendly. As his set progressed I started to take note of what I liked about him the most - his attentiveness to the audience. Having underlying deep house vibe, he flirted us with tints of techno, ultra funky bass-lines and of course sultry vocal samples. His fingers played along with the beat and never hesitated to sing along with us during vocal drops. The dancefloor turned into a full fledged choir during the chorus of Late Night by Foals. Muting the vocals, the crowd kept up with the beat giving their finest acapella version of this emotionally charged track. Half past eleven Solomun drew the deep fifteen minute remix to a close. The crowd cheered and claps heavily causing him to linger on stage for a bit and give us exactly what we wanted, one more song. Paper Face's Remix of Gem by Zootwoman followed suit, with a pounding bass-line the crowd stop along with the beat rounding off the night.
Wifi (more like the lack of it) is my favourite first world problem making the free internet access at Destino a pleasant treat. Cozying up on a poolside, my departure got delayed a bit as I divulged in a much needed FaceBook creeping session. Twenty minutes into creeping on my old roommates-boyfriends-cousins-sister I was interrupted by a herd of people shuffling down to the Tox club. Curious to see what was going on I followed the pack and found myself down with them for the grand finale of the evening, Solomun b2b with H.O.S.H. ! A more intimate venue, the duo seemed to be having a blast by hugging each other repeatedly and cheering with the crowd. Playing more energetic set, their loud sweeping build ups had the dancefloor packed out until early hours of the morning.
WORDS | Sara McNutt PHOTOGRAPHY | James Chapman
