August has arrived on Ibiza and with it the peak summer crowds. That makes it the ideal opportunity to check the state of play and see what's happening across clubland. After attending the opening party of the Hard Techno extravaganza Cocoricò presents GALACTICA, it felt like time to go back and see if the party was still going strong.
This is what we discovered...
Last Tuesday, we put our chains, black clothing and steel-capped boots on and ventured to Eden in San Antonio. Our earlier visit had taught us that GALACTICA gets the party started right from the moment doors open. That meant that time spent on the warm-up session was brief.
We were right in our assumptions.
Arriving before 01:00, the biggest star of the night, Holy Priest, was already at the decks destroying the frontal lobe of his audience with hard distorted basslines. The area in front of the demoniacal priest was already packed with enthusiastic ravers.
Before we got involved, there was time to meet one of the GALACTICA team and what a welcoming hostess she was.
Her look was totally in line with the brand's aesthetic: a futuristic gothic Japanese anime warrior come to welcome us in all her splendour. She greeted us with a big smile explained that Holy Priest prefers to play early in the night.
Around us, there was no sign of pretense or of anybody trying too hard to be "cool".
Instead, there was a much healthier attitude. You could tell that people were living in the moment, temporarily forgetting about their outside life. There is certainly something freeing about dancing with such abandon. The shackles were off.
Relieved of social pressure for a few hours, this crazy bpm helps people to enter a higher state of consciousness.
As for the music - wow. Holy Priest hit hard, taking his sound in a variety of directions, some of which we didn’t expect. It pooled the most brutal basslines from Hardcore and Frenchcore with sweet melodies and reworks of popular Pop songs.
More proof that we were in the right place came as a girl, dressed in black S&M attire, obviously, dived headfirst into the wall of speakers, completely immersing herself in audio.
We were there, jumping around like there was no tomorrow, enjoying every time the DJ decided to go a bit more brutal with the sound, screaming and sweating - the Techno gods were guiding us to perdition and we followed willingly. No hesitation.
The masked DJ from Germany kept dropping one atomic bomb after the other, shelling the dancefloor with a barrage of Hard Techno. After his set, Holy Priest stayed to meet his many fans to take pictures and chat. Bravo.
After a quick break in the open air, it was time now for the night's back-to-back between Kristenbrugger and Karamustan. The two emerging DJs joined forces to provide us even more hard beats, crazy kicks and unrelenting emotions.
Unbelievably, their set went even more hardcore, placing renewed focus on the basslines and breakneck rhythms.
Despite having the time of our life, it was time for us time to wrap up our night at Eden, but not before one last devastating track shook us to our very core. Fittingly, it was the collaboration between Kristenrbugger and Holy Priest, called Bad Boys.
What a night this was. The next time we will clear our full schedule the following day, so we stay till the death and revel in this liberating madness.
Believe us, if you have a delectation for this kind of music, go and dance. It's good for your mind and your body.
You get a cardio workout and ease the burdens of everyday life. Wave after wave of adrenaline will wash over your brain each time the tempo jumps up. Just when you think you've reached the ceiling, you'll realise the only limitations are those of your own mind.
The name of the party says it all. It's called GALACTICA because its primary goal is to transport you to another galaxy, lightyears away from humdrum existence. GALACTICA facilitates out-of-this-world escapism from the mundane we carry around in our daily routine.
It's good to get away from our comfort zone and try something more extreme and ruthless.
We say with confidence that this party is still going as strong as it was at the beginning of the season, establishing itself as the go to party for Techno freaks and ravers alike. Why don't you test your limits at GALACTICA?
Tickets and line-ups to the remaining four dates can be found below.
