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Sven Väth

In the Mix: The Sound of the Seventh Season

(Cocoon; US: 5 Dec 2006; UK: 13 Nov 2006)

Sven Väth brings us another entry in his long-running series chronicling the sound of a season at Ibiza superclub Cocoon. Väth’s earned a reputation as one of the wildest in the business—think after- after-parties till 3pm+ next day, blowing through mountains of coke Scarface-style, that kind of thing—so it’s not a surprise to hear this kind of wasted, aggressive celebration in his sets. The two discs of the seventh season, titled “Wild” and “Life”, differ somewhat in mood but together form a believable recreation of how a night in the club might proceed. A number of familiar hits pepper the “Wild” disc, which takes the aesthetic of minimal techno and “Ibiza-izes” it (i.e. big climaxes, big clicks, big space). Audion’s “Mouth to Mouth” is massive (each time the bass enters); Trentemøller’s “Nam Nam” remains a signifier song, defining 2006, its squelching breakdown, hot cymbal hits, and funky climax a familiar pleasure; and Dominik Eulberg’s “Bionik” pairs a rising, trance-like hook with a cycling, de-humanized Latin beat. “Life” signals its slightly more rounded, organic feel with Jesse Somfay’s padding synth, like a more cerebral version of Röyksopp—but the disc soon settles into familiar minimal-maximal ground. With less of the big climazes and more steady-state, lush atmospheres the disc may be better suited to headphones, but still offers some interest. The Mole’s “In My Song” is demented Moby, with fake gospel and a kind of techno hiccup that’s dark and propulsive. But like so many mix CDs, ultimately The Sound of the Seventh Season is more a reminder of a certain atmosphere or experience—of being at Cocoon in Ibiza—than as a lasting, continually rewarding work.

Rating:

Dan Raper has been writing about music for PopMatters since 2005. Prior to that he did the same thing for his college newspaper and for his school newspaper before that. Of course he also writes fiction, though his only published work is entitled "Gamma-secretase exists on the plasma membrane as an intact complex that accepts substrates and effects intramembrane cleavage". He is currently studying medicine at the University of Sydney, Australia.


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