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Sven Väth is co-founder of the Cocoon label, and this is The Sound of the Fourteenth Season. For 14 years, the island Ibiza has been haunted by Sven Väth and his high-spirited tribe. In 2013, Cocoon turned the beloved Amnesia club into a tropical jungle. The jungle seduced with lush colors and intriguing sounds, and the creator of this groove was techno ambassador Sven Väth, who hosted the whole event, using music, dance, performance, pyrotechnics and set design to create an integral experience. As a keepsake of these amazing nights and days, Väth assembled the most memorable tracks into a mix-album. This time, the approach is different. Instead of creating two mixes representing each night and day, he produced one continuous set. As the sun lowers dazzlingly over the Mediterranean Sea, the astonishingly beautiful yet inaccessibly distant chords of "Allowance" by Isolée leave no doubt: everything is said, everything is done. Yet this is only the beginning of the set. The chords of Lusine's "Lucky" translate the thoughtful mood into a celebratory energy. Remixing "Lockdown Party" by The Mole, DJ Sprinkle fuses the joy of a block party with heartfelt deep house chords and harsh cross-fader effects, adding an unlikely twist. Cocoon hero Ricardo Villalobos creates an unlikely encounter between a driving bass line and restrained beats topped by intangible strings. This contradictory tension is dissolved by the sweet piano riff of Marcus Fix's "I Wanna Let You Go." With his dry, tense groove, Losoul bundles the dancefloor's playful energy into one focused kick. With its beseeching vocal, Viktor Shan's "How You Want It" adds new emotional layers to the set. John Heckel's marching grooves and nagging acid sounds drive the night further towards its peak. Adam Port's remix of Daniel Stefanik's "Confidence" is all about the bass line prowling around the dancefloor like a hungry animal. Soy Mustafa's "Bug in the Bassbin" picks up the bassy energy, grounding Carl Craig's classic with the same title in London's contemporary bass music. Losoul returns with another one of his subtle yet powerful grooves. The Third Man picks up the Detroit vibe, turning glistening chords into an ecstatic anthem, calling 2013's most intense moments back to the mind. The second part sets on a slightly different, mellow note. Henrik Schwarz's keen house sounds explore inert, gloomy indie-rock sensibilities, fusing perfectly into Ten Walls' "Gotham." The contrast of its alluring melodies and the heavy bass put the crowds of this season consistently under their spell. The restrained choir of DJ Yellow & Flowers And Sea Creatures has a sacral quality, recalling the sublime voices of medieval music. Matt John's "The Keys" dissolves this withdrawn energy in a playful vibe, his cool voice reminding of the hard-boiled crooning of '80s-era David Bowie. Butch clears these conflicting emotions, creating space for Roman Flügel's unique way of carving out the fun and joy of quirky electronic sounds. Makam releases the raw immediate energy of his emotionally versatile house style. At this moment, wAFF only need very little to finally push the crowd into the abyss of pure ecstasy. Nihad Tule drops fierce electronic sounds barely heard before, and Psyk creates a multilayered sound sculpture full of movement and life. Bursting with energy yet controlled and subtle, Developer's marching electro riff creates an intriguing psychedelic effect. Len Faki and Johannes Heil suggest a certain seriousness. A horn call seems to ask the dancers to persist for a moment and remember the smiles and sweat and everything else that counted in the summer of 2013.
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