Last night, after nearly a full month on from its pre-opening, HYTE knuckled down into full season mode for Ibiza round two. We might be in that period of the summer stretch when clubbing numbers have taken a dip after the opening boom, but any fears of not being able to bounce off the buzz with thousands of other techno guzzlers were quickly written off after being hit with the sight of the biggest queue I'd ever seen assembled outside Amnesia.
'YES TO ALL' is HYTE's promotional insignia for 2016, which seems to emit a feeling that we're all chucked into this one together - like some sort of circle of trust that's prepared to take whatever sonic pelters are disseminated across its 16-week mission. You even had a booth parked up in the smoking area with that tagline illuminated in the backdrop for all the dancefloor hopefuls that wanted to show their allegiance with the big brand. I caught the tail end of Chris Liebing who holds a reputation for buffering punishing hard-edged sets that deciphers the true techno fans. He was in the darkly shrouded main room, which is ideal for anyone who blasts out the gritty good stuff. He pelted out hammering chords with 'Exsurgence' by DJ Deep & Roman Poncet & Adventice and cracked the whip a little beyond his allocated slot time, giving him more precious minutes to galvanise the crowd. He was coming to a close, but it was also on my radar that Robert Hood as Floorplan was due to wrap up soon, so it was a skoosh straight into the terrace to check out what kind of beat-led tumbles were holding the court.
Already I got this feeling that after its Ibiza debut last year, HYTE has returned with a bag of self-assured confidence and a stronger sense of identity on the island. It's production level inside has been taken up a notch with the podium kitted out with a red LED structure that found form as a kind of glowing cage for the assemblage of pert-bummed dancers – far too hard not to have a little creep. You had your stag do crew in WWF get-ups bouncing about the back and Floorplan pumping through a seductive selection of tracks that showed his leaning for utilising soulful vocals escapes that bleed into his hard-hitting constructs. A massive classic that's also found itself woven into one of Joseph Capriati's most unrelenting techno sets at Circoloco (if memory serves me correct) was The Bucketheads', 'The Bomb' - an absolute classic.
Back in the main room, Liebing had been replaced with his fellow countrymen, Pan-Pot. It was pure electrical storm in here with crescendos packed in, only to be pulled back for the sub bass drops to reveal their pounding beauty. 'Freedom' by Kaiserdisco is a track that's been a magnet thanks to recent Pan-Pot gigs and it proved just as explosive here. Peter Bailey's power hungry track 'Swept' was given a blast before bassy, low-pitched beats got a spin in one that's becoming an island favourite - 'Boost' by Marco Faraone. I was in for the final quarter of Loco Dice's selection scroll until the roll and tumble into Ibiza sunshine and finally, I got a moment I've been silently pleading for since I saw Ben Klock pay homage to Prince with a blast of 'When Doves Cry' to a festival crowd. Loco Dice brought in the vocal from that very track just as I was about to catch a breather and consequently, fresh air wasn't quite so important. Testament to Loco Dice's magnetism, he had the room packed while he laid down old school ´90s style rave beats with groove driven, upbeat techno ammo until the final supercharged roll was brought to stop.
HYTE you trailblazed it. You can have your 'YES TO ALL' from me in writing.
