Summer club season has begun and, once again, Ibiza, Spain

looks to be the most likely place for dance music to simmer.

Virtually every prominent club DJ in the world will visit the

cozy party island off Spain's Mediterranean coast in the

coming months, including

COLOR="#003163">Sasha & Digweed,

Paul

Oakenfold and

COLOR="#003163">Paul van Dyk.

"It's insane," said DJ/producer

COLOR="#003163">BT (born Brian

Transeau), whose new album, Movement in Still Life,

is shaping up as a summer hit. "Ibiza makes a place like

New York look like a hut in the woods. Right when you get

off the plane, you feel it. There's something magical going

on at that place; you can't explain it in words."

Ibiza, population 80,000, is the third largest of the Baleanic

Islands (hence the term Balearic house, a style of dance

music that emerged from the area during the late '80s) off

the east coast of Spain. The summer vacation spot's first

true club, Pacha, opened in 1973, near the port of the

island, which has since slowly developed into a dance

music mecca.

Fantasy Island

Near Ibiza, which also hosts the popular Space and El

Divino clubs, are the islands San Antonio and San Rafael,

also notorious clubbing destinations. The latter is home to

Privilige, the largest dance club in the world (with a capacity

of 10,000) according to Adrian Harris, head of the island's

Ibiza Holidays travel agency.

"The last time I was in Ibiza, I had a show until, like, 3 in the

morning, and there was a club still booming at 7 in the

morning, so we went there until noon and then to the

beach, to sleep there," said BT, who played Privilige on

Wednesday. "At Space, the roof rolls back at sunrise and

people scream louder than the sound system when a plane

flies overhead to welcome them to Ibiza. It's so intense and

so much fun."

Space is home to two of Ibiza's most popular parties,

Gatecrasher and Home, both of which are outposts of

popular large English clubs. The former (held every

Thursday night) will host acts such as

COLOR="#003163">Groove Armada, Mo

Wax Records founder

COLOR="#003163">James Lavelle and

Timo Maas

this summer, while the latter (Sunday nights) will feature

Sasha & Digweed, Carl

Cox and

COLOR="#003163">Danny Tenaglia.

Former Underworld member

COLOR="#003163">Darren Emerson is

playing Cox's birthday party at Space on July 30.

"Ibiza is a great place to play," Emerson said. "I've been

going there for 10 years now, and I've always had a great

time. The sun can make you feel a lot better, and there's

some good clubs and beautiful people around you."

Ibiza's summer club lineup and the visitors it attracts —

many of them famous musicians and actors — has

garnered the island the title of 'Clubbing Capital of the

World,' according to James Ledden, publisher of the Ibiza

Spotlight tour guide (www.ibiza-spotlight.com).

Ledden estimated that 4 million tourists visited Ibiza last

year and said 50 percent came for the nightlife. Harris, of

Ibiza Holidays, said the number of tourists is closer to 2

million but pointed out that there are many "hard-cores who

come out specifically for certain nights."

Clubbers usually begin their days at pre-sunset bars in San

Antonio, according to Julia Boehres, a spokesperson for

the Ibiza Online tour guide (www.ibiza-online.com). The

seven major clubs in the area open at 11 p.m., but "the

parties normally don't take off before 2 a.m.," she said. "The

clubs close at 6 a.m., but hey, no problem, there are many

after-hours [parties]. And if you haven't had enough by 2

p.m., you can go to a beach and party on."

Ground Zero For Club Anthems

Ibiza, like the Winter Music Conference in Miami every year,

also serves as a launching pad for dance tracks that

become hits months after they're debuted on the island.

Emerson predicted "Scorchio," a Latin guitar-influenced

track he recently recorded with Sasha, would be an Ibiza hit,

while Harris said songs by

COLOR="#003163">Black Legends (whose

reworking of Barry

White's "We'll Be in Trouble" is a current

dance-floor smash) and

COLOR="#003163">Sandstorm appear

headed for success.

Record labels began picking up on the hype surrounding

Ibiza a few years ago and have since released several

compilations and mix albums with Ibiza themes. Some of

the most popular include MTV Ibiza '99 — culled

from the channel's popular event last summer, which

featured DJ sets and live performances by

COLOR="#003163">Orbital,

COLOR="#003163">Erick Morillo and

Frankie

Knuckles — Sasha's Ibiza entry in

the "Global Underground" mix-CD series and

Perceptions of Pacha, a mix by UK veterans

Farley &

Heller that is the first release on the Ibiza

club's new record label. (Sonicnet.com's parent company,

Viacom, also owns MTV.)

Television networks such as E! Entertainment and travel

agents worldwide (who advertise "clubbing weekend

specials") also have recently capitalized on Ibiza's appeal.

"Dance music is a commercial thing now; people are trying

to make money out of it," Emerson said. "The trance thing

is a big market now, and there's a lot of trancey stuff there."

But, he said, "There's more of an underground side to Ibiza,

also; it's not all commercial."