Born in Nigeria, raised in Beirut and now living in London, travelling was never the only thing to enrich the life of techno all-star, Nicole Moudaber. The empowering woman that she is, she started off taking over the club scene in Beirut as a kick-ass promoter and leaped her way up to the top as a DJ, producer and soon to be label owner. This musical wildcat is taking over the techno scene and has no mercy for anyone!
In her latest North American tour for the unveiling of “The Journey Begins” EP, I had the opportunity to attend both of her shows at Footwork in Toronto and Stereo Nightclub in Montreal. I swear some would have mistaken her for a hypnotist rather than a DJ with those sleazy, heavy and dirty sets that moved each and every body on the dance floor on both of the two epic nights that weekend. No matter what you play on your iPod, you cannot help but absorb the power that lies within Nicole Moudaber’s music.
At Footwork, her shorter set time reflected the essence in which she constructed the night. Nothing but her best collection of dark and heavy techno all injected into a powerful three hour set. With that mysterious smirk on her face, this girl knew the extent to which she was controlling the shit out of the club (which was at over- capacity…just saying.) and loved every second of it.
Myself being more of a tech house kind of girl, Nicole Moudaber must be one of the very few techno artists that I listen to. She is a music genre of her own! Back at home, seeing her perform at Stereo Montreal was a whole different ball game. Up in that famous elevated space shuttle-esque DJ booth, she prowled down at her eight hundred plus fans like the lioness that she is, as her voluptuous mane swayed to every beat of the tempo and exploded into her face with every dirty drop. A true performer I must say. And how lucky did I feel to experience her first ever seven hour set where I got to begin my journey by moving my body to her sexy yet groovy build up and ended the night with some banging techno.
A week after her performance I got the chance to chat with her over a phone interview and boy I could have stayed on the phone with her for hours! She is so fun to talk to and laughs at everything! In return, I’m here today to share all her juicy info with my fellow readers! Big thanks to Adam at Plexi PR for setting up such a pleasant interview session!
I got the chance to see you both at Footwork and at Stereo Montreal! Both amazing performances! What is your feedback for both nights? Unbelievable—got an email back from both clubs and apparently Footwork is still talking about it and Stereo Montreal just cant wait to have me back which is pretty cool. Stereo was incredible especially because it was a long set… I hadn’t done that long of a set before and to have the opportunity to build the night musically through seven hours was creatively incredible. And I did tell them that next time it is going to be ten hours and that hopefully I will beat Tenaglia [laughs]. But No one would beat Tenaglia!
I have noticed that your style at Footwork on the Friday was a lot darker compared to your groovier set on Saturday at Stereo and this is why a lot of your fans respect you as an artist, because you are far from being that cookie-cutter DJ. How do you decide which ambiance to create for each show? Well the thing is at Footwork I only had a few hours so obviously you have to give it the whole shebang during those two or three hours. Where as Stereo it was a longer set so that gave me the possibility to start a bit deeper and build it from there. And that’s where the challenge is and that’s what I like the most because creatively it’s like telling a story and that’s how I like do it. I start from the deeper sounds and build it from there for it to make sense and for it to reach that point I want to reach.
In a passed interview, you once said “The club that leaves an impression on me is the people in it. There are places where you see and feel everyone loving the music, dancing and releasing themselves as I do.” What kind of an impression does Stereo Montreal leave on you? Stereo and Footwork—But Stereo obviously… I felt the love from everybody. Actually, all the shows I’ve been doing recently, I just feel there is more of a connection with the people and myself and that’s what really drives me. And when that happens, it’s magical.
The Journey Begins EP . Congratulations once again on your release! How has the feedback been so far? Incredible—the record reached number 4 in the techno charts and we are very pleased with that, Vertical Limit in the top 20 as well. I’ve got another EP coming out on Drumcode as well at the end of November—that’s a solo EP with the label. After that I’m finishing an album for Drumcode and that’s going to be released in the first quarter of 2013.
How’s the North American tour going? Last weekend I was in Los Angeles where we did the Nocturnal Wonderland festival and before that I did Senso in Orlando and that was really amazing. Nocturnal was out of this world and yeah tomorrow I’m in Boston and Saturday I’m in Miami! So the tour has been going great and I feel so much love in the States and Canada, I love it.
MOOD Records. (Love the play on words). The launch date is approaching! Any juicy pre-launch news for us? Umm no [giggles], I’m still preparing my catalogue for it and this is why I’m going to be locked in the studio at the end of October and all of November. I don’t’ want to rush things but all I can say is that its definitely going to launch by the end of the year. I’d like to take my time and get everything right.
How will MOOD distinguish itself from other labels in the industry? What is the vibe and energy, or the “MOOD” you and your artists are planning on creating? Well it depends on what “MOOD” we’re going to be in. It’s either going to be a deep MOOD or its going to be a techno MOOD and anything in between. I don’t know how its going to distinguish itself because every label is amazing on its own and they’ve got their own sound. My sound is special to me and people are starting to recognise it now. Whatever I feel and whatever I play will be out on this label.
NICOLE MOUDABER
London-based all star DJ Nicole Moudaber, seen by many as the future of Techno, tells all about her new label, the unveiling of the Journey Begins EP, and her sexy mane.