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| The Bassment Bar&Club Ibiza |
I love discovering and stumbling across new places and fresh sounds in Ibiza, and this season, one of the finds of my holiday was The Bassment club in San Antonio, Ibiza’s only dedicated Bass Music venue. Located down a side street, off the main West End drag at the KFC junction, The Bassment is a welcome and real breath of musical fresh air, from the sugary and industry driven house scene, which has prevailed on the island for the last decade. Personally, I hope the era of overpaid celebrity DJ’s playing the same electronic sound over and over again, is nearing its end, as Ibiza needs a new direction. Pacha, with its finger on the musical pulse of the island, has thankfully rescued Ibiza from another season of listening to the same overpaid DJ’s and their managers dictating to young people, what music they should listen to. With the arrival of Sankeys and the evergreen popularity of Ibiza institution DC10, there is light at the end of the musical tunnel, for the dawn a more real and authentic music scene, where mixing and concentrating on the music, not the fashion and ticket price, become the priorities. Fashionable, celebrity and stylish DJ’s are all fine in their own market and its important to have them in Ibiza, but they should not be the only scene that dictates the musical trends to the detriment of others.
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| Down In The Bassment |
Thankfully, people like Mal Hindmarsh are taking the brave decisions and moving away from the commercial mainstream and opening their own music bars and clubs, where a personal love for their style of music can be experienced. Mal recently opened The Bassment bar and club in San Antonio and has been working hard to try and establish the venue, playing Bass music such as drum and bass, dubstep, bassline and drumstep with a mix of DJ’s and live acts. The bar itself has a real feel to it, as its hidden below a Spanish clothes shop with a flight of narrow stairs leading down to a cavernous underground bunker, where an atmosphere of “loosing yourself” in the darkness prevails. Cutting through the dark gloom, intermittently lit by lasers, is the sharp and edgy sound of bass and the smiling faces of the cool staff all dancing to the heavy beats behind the bar. As the eyes adjust to the surrounding mood lighting, the layout of the bar comes into focus. A cool, non scene venue, where people go to loose themselves dancing to the music on a dancefloor, tucked away privately in a corner with bass bins and speakers surrounding it. The night I was there, Utah Saints, were killing it with some slick mixing of old classics like the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim and new sounds from Harmonize. It brought me back to the days when music and dancing mattered first in Ibiza.
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| Mal Hindmarsh |
Bass music, with a hint of reggae, emphasises the sound of basslines, grove and melody, the building blocks of music and dancing. Its reassuring and fundamental feel, makes you remember why you fell in love with music in the first place. My experience in The Bassment brought a smile to my face that I haven’t experienced for years. Its the feeling you get when you discover a new sound or track that you like for the first time. It lifts you from the monotony of the current scene and brings you on a trip…..a musical journey back to its roots. When Utah Saints dropped the old skool classic of SL2’s On A Ragga Tip, for me, Ibiza was playing good music again. The Bassment may not be everybody’s cup of tea, dont go there if you are a fan of David Guetta, Luciano or VIP surroundings, go there for the music, the cool atmosphere, the free entry and the ridiculously cheap drinks. Is Bass Music making a comeback in Ibiza? I for one would love to see it return as it represents real values with no BS or fake spin attached. Next big gig for the Bassment will be The Freestylers on July 31st, so if you are on the island during that time, make sure to check them and the venue out. People like Mal Hindmarsh deserve to succeed, as they are the real musical innovators who create things from nothing. Lets hope we see more individuals like Mal open their own music bars so that a diverse and healthy independent music scene, thrives in Ibiza. Below is a track taken from The Freestylers current new album, The Coming Storm. For all readers who mention the Dannykay Blog, Mal has kindly agreed to offer a “buy one get your second drink free” deal to anybody who visits the bar
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