DJLarge

Nicole Moudaber Pumps Up the Volume: Lebanese-British DJ and producer Nicole Moudaber says that she was a producer way before she became a DJ, because all she wanted to do was make music.

“I didn’t think of it too seriously and I didn’t think it was going to take me anywhere,” she says. “I wasn’t expecting anything, I just did it because I loved it. But I had a few releases and did a gig here and there from 2009 to 2012. It got serious when I won an award at the 2012 International Dance Music Awards in Miami for my remix of Carl Cox’s “Chemistry.” Before then, I was hitting the charts at number one with my releases on Intec – Viva Music, as well – and it snowballed leading up to me winning the award for ‘Best Minimal/Techno Track’ that year. Everything just spiraled after that – the rest is history!”

Moudaber released her debut album Believe on Drumcode Records in 2013, and that reached number one across the genres.

“The requests started coming in and I began playing all over the world,” she says. “That’s how I got onto the DJ circuit. Unlike everyone else, I am a music producer first and foremost. Before that, I was a promoter, then I made music, then I DJ’d. So… always against the grain, always against the grain.”

The artist describes her sound as rhythmic, hypnotic, and meaningful.

“It can vary between tech-house, techno, and deep house,” she says. “I’m a bit of a mixed salad, and it’s tastier.”

Moudaber is based between London and Miami, though at the time of writing she’s in Bali.

“I’m playing a gig tomorrow because there is still an electronic scene here, unlike in London,” she says/ “Please take me back to the scene in 2019 because it’s nonexistent right now. However, I think we are coming back in the summer (hopefully). London is known for its revolutionary pop culture and dance culture. We have created so many scenes and we are still breaking boundaries; we’re just up for it.”

“It’s always evolving. I would say people are more into tech-house in the UK – they love their tech-house – and techno, that’s the electronic scene in London. Not much different than New York, for example, or the rest of the world. I think we make the electronic scene when we are thriving and when we are happy and when we want to create memories, this is the electronic scene. We’re also trendsetters, everyone follows what the UK is doing musically, from pop all the way to the underground.”

Her latest release is the Volume EP, a collab with Alan T.

“Alan and I met in Miami many, many years ago and have been good friends ever since,” she says. “We finally decided to collaborate on a project last year and spent many weeks coming up with the concept behind “The Volume.” Seeing as we both have big personalities, we wanted to create something metaphorical that embodied power, scale, and control. Alan wrote the lyrics in a stream of consciousness — the rest was easy! This EP is actually the longest project I’ve ever worked on and believe it’s the most exciting release of my career; I’m beyond thrilled with how it turned out.”

Looking ahead, Moudaber says that she has a lot of exciting projects in the pipeline this year.

“For starters, I’m participating in a special B2B stream for Mixmag’s 10-year anniversary celebration of their iconic “The Lab” series on Friday, March 26th,” she says. “I’m doing another exclusive ‘Artist Of The Month’ stream with Beatport on Tuesday, March 30th. We have a lot of cool stuff planned for this one so you definitely will not want to miss it. I’ll also be celebrating 7 years of my “In The Mood” radio show later this year. More details to come!”

Nicole Moudaber Pumps Up the Volume: The Volume EP is out now.

 

 

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