Go On, Mison!

When you think of Ibiza, Phil Mison isn t the most obvious association. However, along with Ibiza resident Jose Padilla, Mison was responsible for bringing the soundtrack of Cafi Del Mar to worldwide attention.

Dropping 70s funk, soul, instrumental hip-hop and deep, spiritual house music, Mison has almost single handedly re-defined the concept of chill out and ambient music. One of Leftfield s tour DJs, Mison is also responsible for compiling some of the more tasteful Ibiza compilations, including Real Ibiza and the Soundcolours series and has just finished work on his own debut album as Cantoma. Not bad going for a former milkman from Essex.
How did you start DJing?
I was never desperate to become a DJ, I just bought records and I started DJing in London in about 1991. I still don t have any decks at home. Mind you, when I had a residency at Cafi Del Mar I was DJing four times a week for six or seven hours in a row. In that kind of situation you learn quickly!
When did you first go to Ibiza? It must have been a life changing decision
What happened is that everyone had been over there, all my mates. They had been at me to go and when I went, I had to admit, you guys were right . I d never seen anything like it! I got to know Paul Daley from Leftfield there in 1994, but it wasn t a big deal. I got to know him through friends. We just got drunk together, had a good laugh and made sure not to talk about Leftfield! I ve got my own mates so I ve never been into that whole DJ networking thing; going to The Miami Winter Conference would have to be my idea of hell, I couldn t think of anything worse. Ibiza can be a bit like that at times as well. I understand why people do it; dance music has become a really powerful thing, a multi million pound industry. I m only a tiny part of it, so I don t take it too seriously!
What do you make of the White Island nowadays?
It s easy to slag Ibiza off. I really like the place, but I don t really like the clubbing side anymore, it s just not me. Space and Pacha are too full-on for me. I still go every year for a week, but I avoid the big clubs. Anyway, it s a big enough island and you can escape them. Ibiza isn t crap, it s just changed a lot. One of the differences is that in the past the people who went there wouldn t have ventured outside of San Antonio but now they re going to Pacha and Amnesia and other, more exotic places.
Surely it s become too commercial; after all, Ibiza is well and truly ensconced in mainstream culture nowadays?
Yeah, it must be weird being 18 or 19 and having the whole scene you re into being promoted by Radio 1. Imagine if Dave Lee Travis got on the case with acid house ten years ago! I think programmes like Ibiza Uncovered did a lot of damage, though, it attracted the wrong element to the island. The result is that Ibiza won t go away it sells compilations and lifestyles.
What do you make of the trance and disco soundtrack that rules Ibiza nowadays?
Well, even if I don t like the cheesy trance side of Ibiza I can t even pretend to get excited about it it s just as representative of the island s sound as the chilled music I play. There is still a lot of diverse music out there, and it s great that the chilled scene is getting more coverage, but don t forget that it s a place for dancing as well as chilling! It s pretty mad that one tiny island changed the face of modern music, but that s what it achieved.
You ve just released the third Soundcolours album. It s more house oriented than the strictly horizontal first installments. How come you went down that route?
I just sat down and chose records that I really liked; the third compilation is a bit more commercial than the first two. We decided the third one would be the selection I d make if I was still resident at Cafi Del Mar, that these were the records I d play, my ideal set, as it were.
It s weird, I went back there this year, and they d employed a house DJ, someone who d only play one style because that s what the kids want to hear. When I was resident, there were no restrictions. There was deep house, but it got played alongside other styles. When I DJ for Leftfield in front of 5,000 people I can t get away with playing deep house so I have to play harder, but I ve also finished my debut album as Cantoma which is just atmospheric listening music. There s no point in having one musical style, it s so limiting.
Soundcolours 3 is out now on X:treme. Cantoma s debut album is available on Flex later this year.