Marco Carola: Play It Loud!
MINUS106 LP, CD, WAV, MP3
In all of his years of being a certified veteran in the world of techno - from his beginning days in Napoli in the early 90s to his celebrated status around the world today - Marco Carola never once lost grip on his main priority: letting the music speak for itself. Throughout his leagues of vital releases and endless stream of DJ dates, his focus always steered clear of sensationalized press angles, or ranking up the charts; he chose to instead keep his head down and his passions high. Carola retains a rare sense of integrity, despite being an artist who's consistently changed the face of techno. He shrugs it off modestly, claiming only to "always try to do something new."
"Inspiration changes a lot," he tells. "When I was a kid, I was inspired by other people's productions, and today I'm more inspired by the energy of evolving. I'm really passionate about the progress of music. I listen to all of the promos that I get sent because I look and search for something that's new to me. For me, music is still all of my passion. I don't really do many other things - I don't run a label, and I don't have people working for me because I don't want to use up the time that should be spent on music. And I think that's the reason that I'm always looking for something new: to expand even more."
It only makes sense that with Marco Carola's latest album, 'Play It Loud!,' his first full artist album in 9 years (since 'Open System' on Zenit), he embraces to an entirely new expansion of sounds, concepts and formats. The album is not a collection of individual singles (as unique as each may be). True to form, and an encapsulation of his incomparable expertise, the artist "born as a DJ" opted to blend all 10 previously unreleased tracks to form one tight-knit, seamless mix. In keeping with a typical Carola DJ set - sometimes on 3 decks, always an energy-fueled dancefloor retreat - the album has a divine ability to morph and shift, bleed and punch between beats and grooves so smoothly, it's impossible to hear when one track ends and the other begins.
He explains: "I had the concept of creating an album of new music that's also a mix CD, because that's the way I produce. I was born as a DJ, so most of my productions were made for DJs. It wouldn't make sense, to me, to produce an album with single tracks, because those tracks were created to be mixed, in a way. For me, that's the way it should be with my art form: it's an expression of everything I am, as a producer and a DJ. I put the energy into what I can do best, and I made this in the way I am; in the way I'm playing and the way I like my music. I made this album to do one thing: to enjoy the passion I have for music, without making any compromises. I was really focusing on what I could create, and Minus gave me a free opportunity to do that with no restriction."
'Play It Loud!' kicks off with no restrictions, and certainly no hesitation. Jittering, building drums in the album's 'Intro' quickly construct the heavier bass-laden groove of 'The Jingle,' a sonic reverie filled with a vast space of percussive layers and stuttering vocals. Sharp rhythms interlock through the divine unfolding of his mix into 'Magic Tribe,' a playground of drums and colorful beat textures. The groove never loses its hold through the gripping twists and turns of 'Kimbo,' and liquidly bounces through the shuffling bassline of his masterful 'Lighthouse,' where around each loop lies a surprising new rhythmic element. 'The Black Box' feels exactly as it sounds, teasing and throbbing with dynamic climbs into a soundworld immersed in shadows, leading into the intricate subtleties of breathy vocal hints and hand claps in 'The Tool.' Melodies slowly emerge and begin to take shape through the aptly titled 'Suspense,' raising the energy to meet stomping bass weigh t through the wide-eyed entertainment of 'One Man Show.' The album, after taking the listener to all corners and colors of the electronic spectrum, kicks into its final chapter on the all-out club shattering closer that will undoubtedly be a mainstay on dancefloors this year, 'Freak On.' From start to finish, so many layers and beautifully subtle intricacies are hidden and tucked inside of the LP's many narratives, if you're not listening close enough - or loud enough - you may miss them completely.
Creating an album his way, and his way only, Marco brings back the art of DJing and the essential elements on which electronic music was founded: energy, atmosphere, passion and, of course, volume.
He agrees: "I called it 'Play It Loud!' because I think my music is based a lot on the groove and the bassline. I don't think I ever play a record if it doesn't have a bassline. So I think the way this album makes most sense is when you actually play it on a big soundsystem. Something like an iPod speakers won't probably make much sense of it. This is just my opinion of how the album should be played: loud! The energy of the music is for that."
