Sven Väth – In The Mix (The Sound Of The 7th Season)

Hype text from the label:

Ibiza 2006. Just arrived, switching on the air condition. It's hot, the sun is burning and Mediterranean scents are waving through the car window, a combination of sun lotion, excellent food and the sea. Your sunglasses become the most important fashion item for the next few days, and who has never been to Ibiza does not know that you only need a pair of flip-flops for a perfect holiday.

What makes this island so special, where is the magic of this place? A cosmic place, only a stone's throw away from the dull European cities, a summer meeting point for the international clubbing society. Since seven years ago, the island has finally arrived at the Techno and Tech House universe. Gone are the times when Balearic Beats alternated with British club sounds in calling the tune on the island. Sure, Acid House has made it from here out of the London underground, but that's it more or less.

Meanwhile, everybody is talking about the German Tech House miracle: Cocoon, the CocoonClubs in Frankfurt and Ibiza, Cocoon Recordings, but also DJs like Ricardo Villalobos, Richie Hawtin, André Galluzzi, Tobi Neumann and many more – all of them are now 'calling the tune', and similarly to the times of Acid House at the beginning of the Nineties, Ibiza is again the springboard. However, with the slight but important difference that here, something was built up over seven years, without external hypes and vast media coverage, not an overnight success, no S-Express but our continuously growing House and Techno party culture. The sound and the vibe of the early Love Parades, Love Parks, Green & Blues, the Omen and so on... we were there!

"Finally", you could almost say. The world is listening. What is happening in Germany? What kind of scene is this? Why is so much damn great music coming from here? Well, it is like it is, and for many of us, it has always been like that anyway. And one man was there from the very beginning: Sven Väth!

Of course, the past Cocoon Ibiza Season has continued this evolution consistently. For the seventh time in succession, we have beaten all records and the number of visitors has increased again. This success was made possible solely through own efforts, without major sponsor support and major advertising offensives or concentrated media power. It may be trite, but "Music was the key!" More and more clubs on the island follow this example, and everybody is already curious on what Cocoon is going to do in 2007. Meanwhile, we are looking back to Season 2006 the musical way. Besides the big hits ("This is Sick", "Dump Track“, "Nam Nam"), many brand new listening pearls as well as two treasures from the Cocoon Recordings chest ("Hummel" by Adam Kroll and "Bionik" by Dominik Eulberg) can be found on the double CD, which is again split in a 'Night' and a 'Day' mix by Cocoon head Sven Väth. Let the music speak for itself, watch the best pictures of the summer under the provided link, open a bottle of Rioja, enjoy some bread and Aioli and watch out for the next summer...

Fast forward 2007!

Jetzt, nachdem schon 5 weitere Mix-Cds von Sven Väth erschienen sind, lässt mich “The Sound of the Seventh Season” schon fast nostalgisch werden, da sie grob mit einem Wort beschrieben werden kann: Top!

Wer weiß, womöglich war er damals noch jünger und energiegeladener, doch bin ich jetzt vollkommen überzeugt, dass es die beste Doppel-Scheibe war die er je herausgebracht hat.

Mit der Unterteilung zwischen “Day” und “Night” ist auch in einem größerem Sinne die Unterteilung zwischen leichterer Tracks und herber, dunkler Tracks gelungen. Obwohl Jesse Somfays “Small Pebbled Forest” (siehe http://youtu.be/xokNkPj_gSo) und zum Beispiel Solid Groove’s “This is Sick” (siehe http://youtu.be/6lYZVetEnro) in ein und demselben Mix sind und es trotzdem nicht zu Deep oder technoid wirkt ist ein Wunder meines Erachtens nach. Mehr Auflockerung wird in der “Day”-Cd nur von Elektro-Jazzern wie Cobblestone Jazz erreicht, die dann einen sehr heiteren Einfluss in den Mix bringen.

Auf der zweiten Cd, beginnend mit Hearttrhob (siehe http://youtu.be/I62tmyorlek) vermittelt Väth gleich ein nächtliches Gefühl, von dem er bis zum zweiten Drittel der Platte auch nicht mehr wegkommt, bis er einen sphärischen Weg einschlägt.

Zu den Übergängen bleibt auch nicht viel zu sagen, den er bleibt bei seinen meist stabilen und langgezogenen Überblendungen, die dem Mix ein fast unerreichbares Niveau geben. Die Soundqualität ist leider nicht die allerhöchste, den ab und an lässt sich noch ein leichtes Rauschen vernehmen – von der Platte, vom Limiter – was auch immer, jedoch fällt das auch nur beim sehr genauen (!) hinhören auf. Dafür gibt es von mir keine Abzüge.

Da ich selber 2007 Sven Väth zwei Mal live erlebt habe, kann ich sagen, dass er den Flair und die Stimmung des damaligen Sommers wirklich gut eingefangen hat, sowohl in der ersten als auch in der zweiten CD.

Zusammenfassend ist es zwei Mixe für die Ewigkeit, die wahrscheinlich nie mehr aus der Mode gehen werden – 5 Sterne!

Besides the Fact that this 7th Season collects the best Trax of 2006 (just like the 3 before), i must praise Sven for his mixing. This is a Novum ! Everyone loves Sven for the energy and joy his sets usually evoke, but i never heard someone saying that Sven is more than average as a DeeJay. On the contrary. Mostly the young and upcoming Bedroom DeeJays complain on the Web about his "sloppy" 'don't give a fuck' attitude towards his mixing skills.
But listening to the Craziness CD for about the tenth time on my iTunes app, i took the opportunity to watch when the transitions come and i am astonished: The Time Codes given on the CD don't resemble the actual turnovers. There is usually already 45 seconds of mixing going on before the new Track starts officially. The best i can say about the mixing is, that you do not notice these if you don't search for them. The Mixing for this DoCD was done on the DJ Set-UP in the empty Cocoon Club. So no trickery and fooling around with Computer Software is involved - at least during the mix. There must been some additional mastering for the CD of course.
The tracks are all beyond doubt strong and each with a special twist, when Sven selects them. The Mix works well as a whole, but there are so many great Tunes, that deserves mentioning. Raudive's "Here" is astonishing. Planet Jazz - Monster is a Killer in Robert Babicz Rave Remix. Agoria with 'Code 1026', Audion's 'Mouth To Mouth' with it's French Kiss groove, Trentemøller's smash hit 'Nam Nam' are the type of anthems Sven is known for playing out. 100% RAVE - EXCESS with Satisfaction guaranteed. This 7th Season DoCD works in many ways. You can use it a) as a Compilation of 23 of 2006 strongest Trax - Each song gets played out nearly completely. it is varied enough b) as listening stuff and if you dig deep enough and play the many Rave Parts out loud you finally get c) another fantastic Party Mix.
So hats off to Sven and let's hope for many more Seasons with such excellent material as we find here. While i write this as a type of good bye attention grabber i hear one of Cocoon's own releases, that is typical for the 2006 sound of the label. A very melodic tune with a nice atmosphere and this Rave Piano Sounds, that sound a lot like the GOA Party anthems or that early Harthouse Rave material. it is HUMMEL by Adam (Kroll) Proll. Great stuff.. switching into the ecstatic + fast 'Pablo Assan's' by that french talent Tom Pooks, Dominik Eulberg's (another Coccon 12") Bionik cools down the mood and tempo for a moment before creating another climax during the process before Joris Voorn finally ends the CONTINUES Craziness second side (2nd Didc) of this DoCD with the dubby and floating 'Many Reasons'. A good and fitting motto for this MIX !