inthemix heads to Ibiza

As the nights become ever cooler here in Australia, it’s a bitter reminder that the Northern hemisphere is only just coming out of hibernation and heading straight into the peak partying season of the year. There’s no other place on earth that takes that more literally than the Spanish party isle of Ibiza, which virtually closes down for winter before awakening each year from late May to September for the culmination of the party season.

This weekend sees Ibiza officially coming alive, with opening parties kicking off as some of the world’s most epic clubs step up and show us what they’ve got in store for the 2012 season. We couldn’t just sit back as all this dance music mana comes down from heaven, so inthemix has packed our bags and headed to Ibiza (cue Vengaboys) for the opening weekend to report back on what’s changing over there.

It’s musical chairs a-plenty as some key brands move venues. Tiesto moves from Privilege to Pacha to take over Monday nights from Swedish House Mafia, while Luciano and the Vagabundos return for a weekly Sunday party aims to showcase more “undergound” acts on the big stage. Ushiaia continues to take on the day parties and Carl Cox leads Space into the dominance of yet another season.

But inthemix is also in Ibiza for the International Music Summit, a global meeting of several hundred of the top dance music industry leading up to opening weekend. IMS was started by Pete Tong and Ben Turner five years ago and has been called “electronic music’s equivalent of the TED conference”. This year, IMS features keynotes from Danny Tenaglia, Live Nation’s James Barton, Giorgio Moroder, Diplo, will.i.am and more. A special section of IMS this year is dedicated to looking at the Australian dance music landscape, in a special panel moderated by inthemix. No biggie.

Keep an eye on inthemix along with our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (our username is inthemix_), as we give you the lowdown on everything that happens at IMS and Ibiza’s opening parties this weekend.