The other day we caught up with rising star Nicole Moudaber, to reflect on her summer in Ibiza; talking about her collaborations with Carl Cox and Danny Tenaglia, her favourite spots on the island, and her take on the Ibiza scene this season.
– Hi Nicole, tell us a little bit about how your summer has been?
Summer has been amazing actually. I had two major parties in Ibiza. One with Carl Cox at Space for his Revolution party – celebrating the 10th anniversary – this summer was my third consecutive year with Carl, and it was incredible.
And I also went back to my roots a little bit in being a promoter, when I organised a party with Danny Tenaglia at Ushuaia Beach Hotel in Ibiza, and that was, amazing. I invited Danny to play, and the concept was a Classic House set, and he delivered an amazing set. He did his entire set classic and all edits as well, so you will not find these records anywhere, they are all his own edits. It was really great for Danny to take the time to do all those edits especially for the party.
– Ushuaia is proving to be a great venue in Ibiza this year, how did you find it?
Well it is a great venue and we actually enhanced it with our lighting ideas. I got this amazing water projector machine, projecting a thin layer of water from the pool – it was 8 metres by 5 metres, and we projected stuff on it. It just looked so real. And coupled with the lighting Ushuaia have, it was just really euphoric.
– And some great music as well…
Yeah, it was amazing, I got to play the records I don’t get to play in the clubs that I normally play, because they want what I mainly represent which is mainly Techno, but I got the opportunity to play lots of Deep House and House records with vocals during that hour by the pool, so I loved that.
– How did the party at Ushuaia come into being? Have you known Danny for a long time?
Well I have known him for years, and I used to hang out and listen to his 12 hour sets everywhere – from Miami to New York! So from that perspective I knew him then, but we cemented a closer relationship when he played a gig in Beirut 2 years ago, and I opened for him, and from then we became closer. And that led to a track that we are doing together, it’s still in progress. Then one thing led to another and I asked him about doing a classics set at this amazing venue, and that was last year actually, and I worked on it, and that’s how things rolled.
– I guess it’s pretty special because he doesn’t make many appearances in Ibiza?
He doesn’t make many appearances anywhere unless the gig is right, you know, he doesn’t like to travel, that’s his problem. I guess he has done it for so many years now, he doesn’t want to move unless it is right, and he has the leisure to select the gigs he wants which is great.
– Were there any stand out records from that night that really got the crowd going?
I have the entire set posted up on my Soundcloud , but I did get a lot of questions about one particular track that I played, and that was the Tracey Thorn record called ‘Why Does The Wind’, and it was an Andre Lodemann remix, and it’s really cool.
– What other records have you been enjoying playing out this summer?
Well to be honest, I have all my records that are not out yet, and I have been playing them, and the response has been incredible, especially my new remix that’s not out yet, of Carl Cox’s new single, coming out on INTEC, and that has been destroying the floors everywhere, and that’s going to come out end of the month.
– So it’s been a good chance for you to test the water with the new stuff?
I always test them, you know, and it sounds unique because no one has them yet, so it’s pretty cool.
– We have noticed a lot of musical variety in Ibiza this summer, with a real range of nights around. What is your perspective on this, and what direction do you see Ibiza going in the future?
Funny enough, I thought Ibiza this summer actually went a bit commercial, with nights like Swedish House Mafia, which has been pretty amazing on the island, I mean these guys were packing it, which shows you the level of the people on the island. Not really your discerning crowd I wouldn’t of thought, unless you go to niche parties like DC 10 or Cocoon, but those people were smashing it everywhere, getting acts like Usher, and I thought that was a bit too commercial from what we are used to. Nonetheless, all the cool parties were still happening, you know, you have a bit of everything for everyone, which I think is really cool.
– Do you have any favourite spots on the island? Places that you like to go back to every year?
Oh yeah, there are amazing places to visit. There is a really cool spot called Amante, and that is in Cala Llonga, and that is an amazing spot in the island, a restaurant run by David Piccioni, who used to run Azuli records and he has done this place up and it’s lovely, and especially if you want to go to the full moon, I mean it is perfect to watch that. And the food is great! And of course Formentara is amazing if you can take the boat out, it’s 30 minutes from Ibiza, and it’s just the Caribbean over there, white sand, turquoise water, you could spend the whole day there and I just love it. It’s my favourite spot.
– That’s the thing with Ibiza, it has so much to offer as well as the big clubs. There is something for everyone there?
Yeah, you select the big club maybe once or twice a week, but what are you going to do the rest of the week? You can go to Sands, have the best Sushi and the best burger actually. And it’s such a cool atmosphere, you’ve got people like Nightmares on Wax playing Funk and that sort of vibe. My favourite restaurant as well is a French restaurant called Pastis in town, and it’s the best French Nouvelle Cuisine that you can ever taste. It’s amazing.
– With the summer in Ibiza drawing to a close now, what do you have planned for the rest of the year?
Well I made sure I had all my mixes done before the Summer! So I won’t be in the studio again till October time. I have just come back from a North American and Canadian tour, so it’s been busy. I am just taking it easy at the minute.
