Dark and moody techno duo, Tale of Us, had 2016 pencilled in as a year that would propel their position within Ibiza's underground community. After storming through a mini residency at DC-10 in 2015, it would be Matteo Milleri and Carmine Conte who'd be filling the void left by Richie Hawtin's ENTER.
Their curation of artists from Life and Death, Innervisions and Dystopian had the techno heads on a unanimous level of “YEEEEEEEEEES. YOU BEAUTY,” and when the full line-up dropped, with Dixon, Mano Le Tough, David August, Recondite, Rødhåd, Mind Against, DJ Tennis and Mathew Jonson all confirmed, the above release of elation jumped up a good few notches.
The Tale Of Us vision for Afterlife was to “take people on an odyssey through the unknown, a journey to explore the uncharted,” and to bring a taste of Berlin's underground scene to the White Isle. After 17 weeks of dabbling with the darker side - where melodic intensity and guttural bass were unleashed upon tenacious clubbers - it's beyond any doubt their mission has been achieved.
We reviewed the opening back in June and to close, here's our top picks of the tracks that drew the curtain on Afterlife's Ibiza debut.
Bart Skills / 'Lost Boys' / Played by Confidns
While on a breather from the relentless beasts chucked in by Rødhåd and the mass mob in for Tale Of Us' last spin in La Terraza, this beauty was heard ascending through the Sunset Terrace. It's a track that cries for an immediate punch of the button to identify its creator.
Midland / 'Final Credits' / Played by Confidns
This synthy disco juicer took the hardened vibe that had been enforced by brutish, gnarly techno and spun the floor into a rotation of rapid smiles.
A.Mochi / 'Kommen' / Played by Confidns
Japanese producer, A.Mochi, was given an opportunity to tumble in with a dark and powerful track that was lifted from his Hammer EP.
FANGO / 'Vena Cava' / Played by Mind Against
It definitely wasn't the first time this has been heard showering from the sound system at Afterlife, and another blast of its razor sharp goodness was met with welcomed roars across the crowd.
Recondite / 'Phalanx' / Played by Recondite
Deep, sinewy techno was played by the man who crafted it and no doubt he'd have been struck again by the sense of power he can wield at the flick of a digit.
King Unique / '2000000 Suns (John Digweed & Nick Muir Remix)' / Played by Rødhåd
Matt Thomas (aka King Unique) productions were given the kind of remixes that people are screaming for before it's up for grabs. John Digweed and Nick Muirs gave it some big room thunder and this alone was a signal that Rødhåd would giving us his tougher side.
Recondite / 'Stomper' / Played by Tale Of Us
Ominous and daunting – just how Recondite likes it – Tale Of Us gave their fellow spinner extra airplay by fixing this into a menacing set of sonic airstrikes.
Larry Heard Presents Mr. White / 'The Sun Can't Compare' / Played by Rødhåd
Landing close to the end of a chaotic set by the red-headed German, he did some wand waving with a sample of the vocal from this track that had it ranked in the highest reaches of eargasm potential.
Oni Ayhun / Oar004-A / Played by Tale Of Us
Tale Of Us get a kick out of sending our minds through the blizzards into a new state of reality and the mind-bending sounds which infiltrate within this track sure as hell did the job.
Howling / 'Signs' (Rødhåd Remix)' / Played by Rødhåd
We watched in various states of physical exhaustion on account of how hard Rødhåd had drilled us with the techno sledgehammer, and just when we thought it was all over, he served us this ethereal stunner.
WORDS | Aimee Lawrence
