The Sound Of The Eleventh Season

In the summer of 2010, Sven Väth and his comrade-in-arms rambled into the night like wild animals scouting out their trail, impelled by an insatiable desire for life. Only a quick glance into the wild animal's eyes is necessary to make us want to join this adventure. Our inner predator awakes and starts to ramble. The heartbeat speeds up, the hackles rise. We face the mysterious glance of a tiger; entranced we gather on the dance floor. Väth levitates over the crowd, and the party is ready to begin. The party animals come to life. They dance, they scream, they sweat. The beats are relentless, bass lines burst with energy: It is a raw, intensive experience. Yet there is a subtle side to it: sweet melodies and charming vocals seduce us. Inaugurating its second decade in Ibiza, Cocoon has presented a whole new range of musicians, performers, costumes, masks, choreographies and visuals. With the eleventh season, Väth opened another chapter in Cocoon's never-ending metamorphosis: A butterfly of unknown splendor is born out of its cocoon. Perceived in all parts of the world, the Cocoon parties in Ibiza are a major cultural event. Yet they are anything but anonymous. A night at Amnesia is a personal encounter with Mr. Väth himself. As much as Cocoon at Amnesia is a concerted effort, Väth's artistic vision reaches far beyond the music. Physically present or not, Techno's master of ceremony is a resting sovereign of the blustering wildlife. He is encouraging the crowd to explode in yet another outburst, at the same time never losing sight of the herd. Väth's smile: charming, yet mysterious, inspiring confidence, yet challenging. Visiting the island since his teens, the Ibiza experience helped Väth to form his artistic vision. The tension between the luscious beaches and the rocky inland being a never ending source of inspiration, he built a stronghold of first rate electronic music on the mythical island in the Mediterranean Sea within the last decade. Cocoon's parties attract the international club music community as well as the island's natives. They are among the few cultural events that fuse down-to-earth partying with sophisticated glamour. It is the place where the easy-jet-set and the actual jet set imbue each other. The virgin looks into the eye of the sage, wisdom and naivety have an inspirational encounter. Darkness turning into light, it is a vortex where you get lost in order find yourself in a new way. Being a manifesto of infinite transformation and growth, "The Sound of the Eleventh Season" is as well a chronicle of the past summer. Väth manages to melt this season's most ecstatic moments into two sets, spanning over 2 1/2 hours. Having spent the season partying on Ibiza or elsewhere, both discs form a musical diary. Väth transforms this season's records into a very special experience. Reaching beyond the current hits Väth retrieves the profound qualities of contemporary electronic music. Naturally, the trip begins at night. The charming, humorous vocals of Gerd fuse into Chateau Flight's subtle, elegant house grooves. The mood shifts, and Jacek Sienkiewicz enters with uncanny soundscapes and graceful Detroit grooves. The set accelerates with Edit Select's Remix of Speedy J's "Trails", and with the frenzy of Soul Center's "Dyr Bul Scyl" and MMM's "Nous Sommes MMM", it turns into a series of climaxes. Hours fly by and suddenly the heat of the night is gone. But the glittering light does not wake us up. It just puts us in another state of trance, in an ultimate condition where only the music counts. We are captivated be the adorable melodies of Koze's "Blume der Nacht". We lose ourselves in the dub landscapes of Skudge's "Convolution", we are amused by the cut-up vocals of Kabale und Liebe. The hypnotic grooves and mesmerizing melodies of Martin Buttrich's "Song Six" make us finally forget time and space before we are enchanted by the daring naïveté of Plaids "Dett". The "Eleventh Season" might be over, but its experience lasts: The music abducted us into the world of sound, yet it is as bodily and vital as a real physical encounter. Väth's DJing awoke a longing which was forgotten for quite some time.