Nicole Moudaber: In The Mood

Nicole Moudaber is an artist for whom the details count. To an outsider looking in, Nicole appears to have enjoyed a meteoric rise to stardom. Amongst her many successes, her EP ‘One Day Later’ currently sits at Number 1 in the Beatport techno chart. But hers is a considered success.  Promoter, DJ, producer, manager; Nicole Moudaber has excelled at everything she has put her hand to in a career spanning nigh-on 20 years in the industry. When we sat down to talk on a New York morning I found her listening to demos in preparation for an impending tour of Central America. A ferocious appetite for all things new and bold remains truly alive and kicking…

Nicole, you leave for Chile in an hour, and here you are religiously pouring through demos; that’s some dedication to your craft. Do you typically have a team around you that helps identify emerging music, or is it very much you driving the project forward?

Well I’m not producing right now, just traveling and performing, so I tend to do it on my own. I do have people that help me select promos, but I always like to have a hands on role with what’s going on. 

You’ve noted previously how difficult it was to break through as a DJ. Does that give you an eagerness to help other people now, having gone through those trials yourself? 

Absolutely. In my opinion it is central to what a DJ does. We help each other in any way we can and that’s the whole drive of what we do really. That’s the whole ethos about it. 

Speaking of your entry into house and techno music at the Tunnel Club in NYC, you’ve claimed it was “the drums that reached me”. On the subject of your productions, though they have changed over the years, from a very early track like ‘Boxer Girl’ to your more recent album the percussion remains distinctive. Is percussion the most important consideration during your creation phase?

I normally start with my beats and my grooves, and yes I do tend towards percussion and drums. Only then do I start adding the baselines and stabs. So percussion is definitely the core and the essence of my work.

I think as a consequence of that you’ve gained the “Queen of Dark House” moniker. Write-ups frequently associate your music with adjectives like ‘sleazy’ or ‘sexy’. Do you think that’s overplayed?

I think it’s overplayed for sure and I really want to drop that whole ‘Queen’ thing; it does not ring well in my ears.  But having picked up on it people are stuck on it now. It’s a hard image to get out of!

Yes, a track like ‘Fly With Me’ chimes as anything but dark: its light and euphoric and uplifting. To disregard that from your catalogue is it limit you; to ignore the elegance and nuances…

I know… you’re the press! You should know how to get me out of this! Its quite hard isn’t it…

While we’re talking about the industry’s willingness to ‘brand’ artists right now: you’ve said previously that while many artists are inspirational, you’ve also been disappointed with the amount of jealousy in the music business. Do you think the marketing culture surrounding DJs now has contributed to that, with increased competition making each artist weary about how they are perceived?

You know, I think jealousy is part of human nature. It happens everywhere really. I was a little baffled by it because I’d never come across it in music before, but now I think its just human nature, whether in personal relations or work.

I think that everything we do is becoming more and more about branding and marketing. Anybody that tarnishes another person’s image will cause an effect on them. Consequently there is some level of respect we have to give to everybody; respecting their art, and what they’re about. Everyone is unique in their own way and everybody is doing their own thing and at the end of the day music is taste. You can’t really argue with taste, in music as in art. 

So do you think the culture has changed? Or was it always so prominent but perhaps more disguised without the internet and constant streams of information?

It has changed obviously. It became a little more, shall we say aggressive nowadays. The global market has become so big that it’s all about mass marketing at the moment. It’s very competitive. Gone are the days of DJs just walking up with their records and playing and making their mark like that. I think at the end of the day it’s necessary to have the whole package now: you have to have a label; you have to have your interns, your publicist…you’re this and you’re that to be able to penetrate the market. The number of artists is growing exponentially. So it takes more work, and it’s much harder to break through these days.

I was listening to one of your early tracks ‘Born in Ibadan’, and a more recent one called ‘Brooklyn Hangover’. You’re in New York now, but you’re originally from Ibadan in Nigeria…do they intentionally serve as placeholders that trace your journey from where you began to where you are now?

Yes, all my titles really mean something to me. I’m always inspired in a certain moment with a certain thing, and that’s just how I live. ‘Brooklyn Hangover’ is a track came out of a massive debauched night we had in New York. And obviously I had to give it a title. I was born in Ibadan, a city in Nigeria, so I thought I must give it a tribute.

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