After all the issues Eden has been through, it seems that San Antonio's mythical club is rising from its ashes - and it proved as much last night during Repent's opening, the new party that completes Eden's full line-up for the 2015 season. It's a new Sunday night concept for Eden which advocates for both demanding and sybarite techno waves depending on the moment, and which will give a lot to talk about in the underground scene.
As I always say, there's nothing like a proper dark-red lit club to make my night. The arched and roguish décor, designed as somewhere a little further south of the Garden of Eden, surrounded all the guests who were ready for Repent to kick off its season with a deep party holding techno at the forefront. While KiNK's tune Pocket Piano was coming out the speakers, two pretty dancers welcomed me at the door: on the one side, the Grimm Reaper carrying a large scythe, on the other, a pretty scary priest, both dancing to the rhythms of one of the two archangels of the night, Sam Paganini. The Italian artist offered two hours of groovy dark techno with sensual and powerful bass lines and solid grooves, also proving that he is even better producer by playing some of his biggest self-made tracks like Chocolate or Zoe, much acclaimed by the dancing public. The club wasn't packed, but all party-goers present were guided to redemption on the dancefloor, feeling the music vibration and whistling the DJ's on point beats.
But Repent's baptism from hell was not only hosted by Drumcode's guy; Marco Bailey didn't want to miss the ceremony either and, once in charge, kept the quality music coming. The crowd was asking for hard techno and the man delightfully obeyed, filling the room with his particular sound: vocals, melodies and light percussion blended over hard and deep tech kicks. Sound that was amplified beautifully thanks to the Eden's sound system, a Void Gold Incubus. Two dancers started playing with fire at the stage, the music intensity increased and attendees sped their dance movements to match (most of them English, so it's time I recognised that you lot know how to dance techno!) creating my favourite kind of clubbing sphere. But still the party was not busy enough to properly fill the place. Novelty can be a risk in itself, but after this very first party Repent will start to make a name for itself and should attract a larger crowd.
Ibiza has room enough for all kinds of parties and music but in the past few years San Antonio has dropped the ball on the underground music scene. Repent represents techno's rebirth on that side of the island, which has more to offer than happy hours bars and flashing lights. From now until September 13th, Eden will continue to host the techno party which showed all its weapons on this opening party, establishing its character with techno, old-school clubbing soul and a deliciously dark satanic aesthetic.
WORDS | Natalia Gutiérrez PHOTOGRAPHY | Eden
