‘Phonetic Ibiza Night & Day’ – the best Ibiza album of 2014
One of the most successful house music labels in the world is proud to present their new compilation ‘Phonetic Ibiza Night & Day’ – two breathtaking albums featuring day and night of sheer Balearic class. Dan Prince checks in with head honcho Rob Roar as he reflects on another crazy summer on the White Isle…and a strange telephone call to Des O’Connor…
Rob Roar back in the DMCWORLD house! Where on planet earth are you right now?
“Hi Dan, I’m back at Phonetic HQ where we’re beavering away on a fabulous set of singles coming through, as well as the all-new ‘Ibiza Night & Day’ album of course…”
A superb new Phonetic release swinging our way, in the form of the mouth watering Ibiza Night & Day compilation…most labels are looking at the Christmas No. 1 or Des O’Connor’s Greatest Hits around this time of year, not the best house label in the world however! You getting everyone in the Balearic mood early dude?
“To be fair, I did speak to Des O’Connor about working on one of his records. He didn’t feel our street cred was good enough so I stopped calling him!! It’s not so much getting everyone in the mood early, it’s more a case of celebrating another great Ibiza season. There’s nothing better than listening to a set of tunes you’ve been dancing to all summer and reminiscing on those great times, whilst looking out the window at the black winter sky.”
True! So let’s kick off with Ibiza Night mixed by your good self – what can you tell us about the world exclusives in there that will be seeing the light of day later this year…?
“The great thing about the album is it gives us a great chance to showcase some of our biggest Phonetic releases for early next year as well as some tunes I’ve been hammering over the season. There’s a couple of new singles from myself and some artists I highly recommend checking out like Barber, Rory Lyons and Jay Robinson. Forthcoming singles from these guys have already had early tastemaker support from the likes of KISS FM, Laurent Garnier and Eddie Temple Morris – plus continued support from people like D.Ramirez & Doorly.”
22 massive tunes most of which caused all sorts of damage out on the white isle this summer, what a job to undertake Rob! Where the hell does one start after such an incredible season…how many tracks were in the original pile?!?!
“It started off with about 40 tracks. The records were picked via numerous sources; myself from playing in clubs and seeing the response first hand as well as the Phonetic team – a wicked set of lads that spend most of their time in Ibiza chasing girls, propping up bars and dancing terribly to great records. Big ups to Daniel, Harry, Chris and the noobs Ollie.”
What was your tune of the summer?
“There’s been allot of great music around of late…Anja Schneider & Cari Golden – ‘Something That’s For Life’ is a beautiful tune. As you know, my ‘Rockerfella’ single all went a bit mental. We then put a vocal on it from Stella Attar (The Freaks/The Creeps). The record’s like a bad rash. It just won’t go away. I’ve just signed a deal today with a big Asian Company who’ll be working our releases hard over there, including everything it’s done in Ibiza, around Europe and the US.”
2014 broke all sorts of records for Ibiza. It was the busiest summer the island has ever had, more nationalities than ever zoomed through passport control and clubs boasted their highest attendance figure of all time. Which is brilliant. Then we have the haters moaning about the door prices, drink prices, club overcrowding, DJs doing too many gigs close together…what did you think of Ibiza 2014 as a whole?
“To be honest, I’ve never had a bad season in ibiza and I’ve never got bored of going. I’m sure that applies to you too Dan? It’s always been expensive, it’s always been busy – but there are plenty of great places in Ibiza that aren’t on the public radar. You’ve just got to do your research to find them.”
Totally correct! One of the places that didn’t have a good year though was San Antonio. Whilst Playa d’en Bossa has seen major investment in recent years, poor old San An (other than sunset strip and Ocean Beach) has dropped down the pecking order…Gatecrasher was a disaster and bars were closing down every week throughout the summer. I just think people are looking for new exciting places now – what are your thoughts on this tired old town?
“It’s been great to see Playa d’en Bossa evolve over the years with Ushuaia and Sankeys coming into the frame…and of course the stalwarts ‘We Love…Space’ and DC-10 doing the business as always. And you’re right, maybe San An was lacking slightly but Ocean Beach has been a massive success story for Tony Truman and Wayne Lineker – and fair play to them. The venue is stunning, the programming was great and it gives San An a new angle. Plastik has been kick-ass as always, the same for Mambo of course and nice to see Café del Mar having a resurgence too. It was a shame about Gatecrasher, but they’re not really delivering anything new…more resting on their laurels. But it’s never nice to see such an iconic brand struggle on the island.”
The biggest buzz on the island this year was undoubtedly the Clockwork Orange Weekend in July, taking over Café Mambo, Es Paradis and Sands for three superb parties. Airports around the UK were buzzing with clubbers flying out, there was a real sense of excitement for an event in Ibiza for the first time in Ibiza and boy did they pull it off! What were your highlights of that crazy weekend or Orangeness?
“What a beautiful story. I feel truly honoured to be part of Clockwork Orange over the years. Not only for their electric parties they put on but also for the banter and fun times we had staying at the infamous Clockwork villa and being terrorised by Danny. They really have found a niché in the market and are selling out venues months in advance. Clockwork at KOKO/Camden Palace sold out 2 months in advance with a couple thousand capacity…and the beauty of their events is that they capture that same Clockwork energy the old parties used to have. I closed the Clockwork @ Sands, Ibiza party – again a real honour to be asked to do that. And WOW, what a party?!”
What do you think of your old mate Andy Manston running the London Marathon next year? Has the Clockwork guvnor got it in him or do you think he’ll do a Paula?
“Haha! Fair play to him. He’s taken the mantle from Danny who’d religiously run the marathon. Wouldn’t surprise me though if he had a moped parked half way round to take him 100 yards from the finishing line with spray mist in hand. I take it you’ll be doing it next year Danny? Maybe we can hire a pantomime cow and do it together? Questions is, who’s taking the rear??”
Album 2 of Phonetic’s Ibiza Night & Day comes in the form of a sumptuous chilled mix courtesy of Leigh Devlin of Minus Blue fame. Poolside mixes are two a penny in Ibiza, everyone is doing them. What makes this mix so special?
“We took our first ‘Phonetic Ibiza Night & Day’ album out to Ibiza making sure all the stores and Ibiza Town stalls had it. When we went back few months later the response was amazing with shop keepers telling us they thought the album was better than Café del Mar’s chill-out album, which again was really nice of them to say. It’s not a wafty kind of chill-out album where all the tracks are the same, there’s a real selection of extremely talented producers and live acts featured which is something we’re really proud of. I asked Leigh to mix the album on the strength of a DJ mix he gave me whilst I was touring in Australia. To this day, still one of the best DJ mixes and selection of tracks I’ve ever heard. I’m a big fan of Leigh and chuffed he’s on board.”
2014 was the season live artists really made an impact on the island. The Prodigy, Nas, Kylie, Snoop, Nile, Lily Allen, Disclosure, UB40, Madness, Bombay Bicycle Club, Ellie Goulding and Brand New Heavies just some of the artists belting out on stage this summer. Who though would you like to see singing live next year? There’s been rumours of Prince and Madonna all year…
“I don’t know about you, but Madonna performing in Ibiza seems a bit strange to me. I’m a fan of both artists but is it really Ibiza? Especially when you have got the likes of Disclosure destroying dancefloors at the minute. I still can’t get my head round how young they are, considering the standard of music and production they are releasing. A real class act.”
Ibiza 2014 – Rob Roar’s No. 1…
Club night…
“Clockwork Orange.”
DJ set…
“Disclosure live.”
Newcomer…
“Rory Lyons and Jay Robinson.”
Remixer…
“GIOM. I’m playing quite a bit of his stuff at the minute. He really cuts the mustard for me this season.”
Tell us the latest about the Joyce Sims hook up…did you know it was her when she called?
“How did you know about that young Sherlock? Have you got a ‘DMC’ bug in our office recording our antics??? All a bit mad really. As a young whippersnapper I remember dancing around to ‘Come In To My Life’ – what an amazing voice she has. She liked one of my tracks and is currently trying some ideas on it. With the deep house thing blowing up and songs coming through I’m really excited to hear what she comes up with. I’ve been lucky enough to work with Sir Tom Jones and Boy George and if you had told me I’d be adding Joyce Simms to that list, i wouldn’t have believed you Dan. I mean Sherlock!”
A question from my sister Gab as she is interested…what qualifications did you gain to become a dolphin trainer?
“Being Chief dolphin trainer at Brighton dolphinarium was never easy. There was a time in the middle of a pool performance with flipper and daisy I was being propelled through the water on their noses. Flipper slipped and I spent the week in a Hernia ward. This was 15 years ago and we’ve only just started communicating again. I’m thinking of putting him on my next record and calling it ‘Dol-sit Tones’…”
Was that the worst job you ever had?
“To be honest it was probably the dolphin training that was my worst job to date. Although the underwater hang gliding didn’t really go that well either!”
The big 5 tunes in your box this weekend…
Barber & Madigan – Back To Go Forward’. A real deep and driving underground track. Goes off every time I play it.
Rob Roar Feat. Keithen Carter – ‘Crack Cadillac’. Designed for the Terrace at ‘We Love…Space’ and featuring my old mate Keithen. It’s getting lots of interest from DJs when I play it.
Rory Lyons – ‘Piss Take Number 2’. Something very different from a lot of stuff at the moment and everyone’s going nuts about it.
Bouthier – ‘4 Words’ (Jos & Eli Remix)’. One of my favourite remixes this year. The guy’s have really done the business with this one.
Jay Lumen – ‘Radio Ready’. Jay’s on fire at the minute, everything he’s producing is getting an instant reaction.
A famous quote from you : “It’s easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself”. Have you ever played the oboe?
“Doesn’t he play for Arsenal? Yes, it’s true to say that it’s one of my lesser known quotes. The problem is touching the right key at the right time – something I’ve never quite mastered!”
It was the DJ Top100 Poll last week, as per usual people were moaning that the list isn’t about the DJs anymore, it’s about artists and their voting machine, it’s about studio genius’s pressing the synch button to suddenly become a DJ and it’s basically worthless as there are too many genres out there that get overlooked. What do you think?
“I absolutely agree, it’s become a running joke in the industry. It’s not a reflection of wicked DJs, as you and I know. Shame there’s not a better way of compiling it. Maybe DMC and all of their know how should put one together? At least we’d know it would be genuine.”
Watch this space on that one Rob! Loved your gripe about music magazines during the summer; “too many adverts, the same old EDM names featured blah blah blah. What has happened to the great music writers out there?” There is so much great music to cover huh?
“This is very true. It used to be educational and informative reading reviews in the usual publications. Now it seems as if they only wanna write about the big acts, even if some of the productions are just okay. I understand they want big names to drive sales but they should all be listening to the hot new producers coming through. The Phonetic label has been instrumental in helping many producers careers, some of the first ever productions by Daley Padley (Hot Since 82), D.Ramirez and Bodyrox and Luciana came through us. Where I’m going with this is, even though we got their tracks serviced to the usual reviewers it was only after they really started blowing up that reviewers started jumping on board. If one of their records hadn’t blown up we may have never heard of those artists as the press wouldn’t have got behind them even though they were producing kick-ass tracks.”
And finally, Phonetic. What are the next releases we should be getting our dancing shoes ready for…?
“That would be…Rory Lyons – ‘Piss Take Number 2’ with remixes from Alex Ross, Jay Robinson & Barber. ‘Barber & Madigan – ‘Back To Go Forward’ with remixes from Robert James (Hot Creations), Jay Robinson and Al Bradley. Aashton’s new forthcoming EP on Phonetic and also…definitely worth checking out is the phD label (Phonetic Deep) for the cooler deeper stuff…https://soundcloud.com/phd_deep
On a personal note as I’ve said earlier in the interview, several exciting projects being finished that I’m really looking forward to getting out to DJs. I’ve also been asked to host a ‘Rob Roar Presents…’ stage at some big festivals next year. More to be revealed soon. Thanks for all your support Dan and hope to catch you for a beer/mojito/peach schnapps/red bull/sambuca/tequilla/bucket soon.”
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Phonetic Ibiza Night & Day – Audio Preview: http://pitch-one.net/phonetic/release/080/phonetic_nd2014.html
Come and say hello:
Phonetic Website: http://phoneticrecordings.com/
@Rob_Roar and @phoneticlondon
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Phonetic Single Reactions:
Rockerfella: http://www.pitch-one.net/phonetic/Reactions/ph73r/ph73rreactions.html
Rory Lyons: http://www.pitch-one.net/phonetic/Reactions/ph79/ph79reactions.html
DASCO: http://www.pitch-one.net/phonetic/Reactions/ph86/ph86reactions.html
Rory Lyons 2: http://www.pitch-one.net/phonetic/Reactions/ph82/ph82reactions.html
