Every night at Pacha we've got the club's residents crashing in with a distinctive formula to make it their own incarnation, and Martin Solveig's straightforwardly-titled My House cuts straight to the fact that you're deep in his domain. The Parisian future house pusher is no stranger to the island, but it was only two years ago that he infiltrated the club on a summer residency basis – first with Martin Solveig & Friends and then with My House last season.
Boosting straight in at peak-time, it was Hamburg-born Boys Noize doling out the tunes. My point of reference for this guy has mostly been the kind of thrashy, beaten-up electro he chucks out at village-sized music festivals, however, with Martin Solveig, I couldn't count my coinage on what he'd be sending to the rafters. It was tribal-esque drums that were given a kicking and having that through my ear vents was like the sweet sound of a children's choir at Christmas mass. One woman obviously felt the same as she lost her shit and nearly destroyed her vocal chords with an impressively stretched-out “WOOOOOOOOOO” and I had to give her a wee nod of dance floor respect. 'A Bit Patchy' by Switch is a nostalgic beast for me. I must have smashed this until I felt like I'd become one of the bongo drums that was sampled to produce it. Cracker. From that peach, he was sending the steam from the techno train with 2000 And One's, 'Kawasaki', and his own reworking of Audion's, 'Mouth To Mouth' to give it a slice of euphoric height. He wasn't afraid to pick the crowd up and chuck them through to the disco era and bring them right back to present day. It's always good to parade your ears in a clubbing environment that throws you an element of surprise and this was one of them – it was cool to get a load of Boys Noize's more underground taste.
Solveig, the main disc runner of the night, made it known that he was back after a b2b alongside Boys Noize by standing on the booth and addressing the pack below. Burglars and general trespassing creeps don't require a welcome pass, but most respectful humans would rather a formal invitation and that's what he stepped up to do. ”WELCOME TO IBIZA, WELCOME TO IBIZA,” and then bosh – straight out with confetti and his own track, '+1' featuring Sam White (Lodge21 Remix), which clearly said, “right guys, you're in my dwelling.” Robin S' 'Show Me Love' was fed to a monster uproar and served to remind us that this night, although he may experiment, is really all about house music. Experiment he did, as he flirted with poppier electro persuasians with Calvin Harris & Disciples track, 'How Deep Is Your Love' and hip house with Tinie Tempah's, 'Girls Like'. Like with Boys Noize, he wasn't shy in the risk-taking business, as he plugged Beyonce's latest track, 'Hold Up', which was a slightly disorientating direction change that was lapped up nonetheless. In a recent interview blether, Solveig said that in the last 18 months, he's defined a new house groove sound that's produced pure club tracks, one such being, 'Do It Right' featuring Tkay Maidza, which was put to the test to aplomb – a new definition that he clearly wears well. New school tech house was also on Solveig's radar with Eats Everything's latest club boomer, 'Big Discs'. Just at the moment I was headed to hurtle along in the disco bus, he got caught in showing off his deft hand at quickspeed mixing with a track that was laden with cuts from Swedish House Mafia, Justice and Daft Punk. Brilliant execution. So, it's his house and therefore, his rules, but at least he feeds you enough treats that you'll probably obey the guy - even if you do topple over some furniture.
WORDS | Aimee Lawrence PHOTOGRAPHY | Pacha
