When you arrive at a venue to a spinning wheel of gloves and optical illusions, you know it's not set to be a normal night, and that is definitely Guy Gerber's intention with his new night and residency at Pacha this year, Wisdom of the Glove. It seems beneath Pacha's effortlessly shiny surface, white washed walls and exposed brick, there lurks a dark decadent creature with a penchant for eclectic techno; think Tim Burton meets Cabaret and you can get a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Last night saw Musical genius Mathew Jonson and Matthew Dear join Guy Gerber in a room full of giant sparkling gloves, eyeballs projected on the ceiling and Alice in Wonderland-like top hats and graphics. Fourteen year Pacha resident Angel Linde was as usual great at warming up the crowd, before Jonson played an epic live set. Playing live, his set was complex, and in typical Jonson style, genre- jumping from one sound to another with nods to old school funk and slap bass and then wrenches of heavy or atmospheric rain-like techno, his track Marionette going down a storm.
A caped Guy Gerber joined Jonson and they played for what ended up as almost two hours of live musical collaboration, overrunning into the slot that Guy was originally planning on filling alone, as the crowd couldn't seem to get enough. With a blend of off-beats, rolling patterns and synths, they created a carnival-like atmosphere, the whole crowd dancing in unison and feeling like they were witnessing something unique, similar to Luciano's spontaneous takeover of Barcelona Train Station last summer. With more and more DJ's playing live now there are so many levels of what ‘live' actually means, however clearly a lot of time and talent had been put into this intricate set, scoring them extra points for not only musical brilliance but for serious effort too.
Finally Matthew Dear took over the decks, with a set chockfull of machine-like repetitiveness, thumping bass, sinister vocals and surging crescendos, then changing the atmosphere with his style of minimal futuristic techno. His unreleased track ‘Let's Go Dancing', a collaboration between his electronic alias Audion and Tiga was really well received and we can look forward to that coming out at some point this summer.
The Funky Room stayed true to its name all night long, with Paola Poletto and Danny Wade providing the perfect warm up, cool down or simply a break from the antics downstairs. As one of the first regular female DJs to play Pacha, Poletto is hugely appreciated here and it's clear why as they played a mix of old school funk and house to a backdrop of white leather sofas, baroque curtains and mirrored ceilings.
As a venue, Pacha is perfect for a night with a tongue-in-cheek theme but still seriously good music. It boasts several rooms with strong attention to detail, from the vases of lilies to the naked flame candles to the cherries on the bathroom walls. A scatter of Pacha magazines everywhere meant a map of the venue was easy to come by, but if you want to relive the buzz you got as a child exploring forbidden buildings, then you're better off having a sneaky wander through every door. Throughout the night the crowd was packed with locals and glamorous long-standing Ibiza goers dressed in kaftans and embellishment galore, complimenting this stylish venue.
Each week Wisdom of the Glove promises to take you and your imagination to a techno metropolis, showing you a different side to this infamous club and showcasing some of the best DJ's around (Glittering gloves optional but encouraged!)
