In the midst of this year’s season, we sent a golden ticket to Zenna, asking him to play in Ibiza at the legendary Cafe Del Mar. Prepare for the full Zenna experience as he commands the booth, leading you on a journey through the realms of house music. Check it out here…
THE STORY BEHIND THE MUSIC
After Zenna blew our minds, we snagged a front-row seat to pick his brain about the magic he just unleashed. We zeroed in on the tracks that he wanted to highlight. So, let’s spill the musical tea…
Miguel Campbell – Something Special
Something Special came out in 2012 on Hot Creations and marked a golden era of deep groovy soulful house, certainly for my friends and I. That distinct sound of 2012/13 Hot Creations marks a very special point in time for me as I was really starting to discover club music and tracks like this and Benediction were my entry point. There were four of us living near a club in Dublin called the Button Factory. Our friends Marcus and Dave Dev ran a night called ‘Jack’ and brought a lot of the top Ibiza talent to Dublin, it’s a time I often feel a lot of nostalgia
Erik Hagleton – Ain’t Nobody
There are a lot of great remixes of this absolute classic from Chaka Khan but this one is my favorite because it respects the original and just makes it a bit more playable in a club setting. One of my favorite ever dancefloor moments involved a remix of Ain’t Nobody. There is a beautiful little festival in Ireland called Body & Soul and they used to have a stage sponsored by Absolut. The music was always amazing because it was curated by a legend in the Irish music scene Arveene Juthan (Big Up Bon Voyage!) It was the last night of the festival and the vibes were absolutely electric. There was a big B2B2B2B going on and one of the DJ’s dropped Ain’t Nobody or some remix of it and everybody lost it. Such good times.
Folamour – Ya Just Need 2 Believe in Yaself
Folamour is just so good isn’t he? In this track he samples a Soul/Gospel track by the Supreme Jubilees called Do You Believe. I really love the original track and have a big soft spot for tracks that take beautiful vocals from Gospel music both for the lyrical content and the warm silky tonality that you typically get with them.
Ray Mono – Esperanza
Ray Mono is a savage producer, it was actually my teacher and mentor Will Kinsella (Hybrasil) who introduced me to his music. I spent a few years digging really deep into minimal music and found some serious gems.
Luke Solomon – Come On Over
During the aforementioned minimal deep dive is discovered Rominimal or Romanian Minimal. It’s kind of hard to articulate the genre but it’s super grainy, almost LoFi in its sonic aesthetic. This remix is from Mihai Popoviciu, one of the amazing producers I found from the Rominimal scene along with the likes of Barac, Cosmjn and many more. I still have a soft spot for this style of music and will make it to sunwaves for the full experience some day.
FULL TRACKLIST
Miguel Campbell – Something Special
Roberto Palermo – Mela feat. Pablo Fierro
Black Coffee – Buya feat. Toshi (Da Capo Remix)
Erik Hagleton – Ain’t Nobody
Dwson – Nights On The Floor
Alin Paradise & Christian Lepah – Whitney’s Song (Tribute)
Folamour – Ya Just Need 2 Believe In Yourself
Ray Mono – Esperanza
Martin Eyerer & Benno Blome – So We Can Fly feat. Kollmorgen (Mihai Popoviciu Remix)
Kreature – Everything’s Cool