Who says techno music can’t be tropical? Certainly not techno queen Nicole Moudaber, who brought her percussive, loopy style of techno to the stages of Groove Cruise 2025. EDMHouseNetwork caught up with the techno icon about the evolving state of the genre, her affinity for racing, and more onboard Groove Cruise 2025. Read the full interview below:
Q1: “Just to start off, what’s the unique experience of playing at Groove Cruise compared to your typical festival? Your Tomorrowland, or where you got to play with Carl Cox earlier this year? Playing those sets in a typical club or festival setting?”
Moudaber: “It’s a city on the sea. It’s almost like Vegas on water, so I don’t know. I’m just gonna check it out later, today and tomorrow and get a feel for the place. I’m not gonna probably play my typical kind of techno on this boat. I’m just gonna keep it a bit groovier and sexier. And a bit lighter.”
Q2: “How does the atmosphere kind of change your set in that sense? Compared to when you’re playing in a club setting, or playing in a London or Ibiza nightclub, compared to playing on a cruise ship. How does that kind of change your set selection and building process?”
Moudaber: “The music that I’m gonna play is the same. It’s just the way that I’m gonna put it together, really. So, yeah, if I know if I’m gonna play tech house, I will be going through certain records. I’m gonna be doing a back to back with Layton [Giordani], and so that’s going to be a bit of melodic techno, and I have all the ammunition. I just need to put it together basically, and for it to make sense.”
Q3: “How incredible has it been to kind of see a resurgence in techno this year? Whether it’s Anyma playing in The [Las Vegas] Sphere with melodic techno or even, you know, with women? With Sara Landry being the first hard techno artist on the Tomorrowland mainstage, and you this year with the back-to-backs with Carl Cox killing it in your own right. How great has it been to kind of see techno get a little bit more of that mainstream attention?”
Moudaber: “It’s got so many different styles. Now, let’s not confuse what real techno is. What I played with Carl Cox at EDC is like the real underground techno. Melodic techno, it was definitely Prague, what we know as Prague. And what Sara is playing is pretty much hard pop, probably. Which is good in its own right. And I love to listen to it, and she’s excellent. I love that girl. But, yeah, let’s not confuse techno with the other stuff, because they’re not the same.”
Q4: “How great has it been to kind of in your own right, preserve that true style of techno. You know, with these other genres of techno kind of popping up, being able to really represent that old style that really still rings true.”
Moudaber: “It’s not really old, because there are tons of new records like that at the moment with incredible labels releasing that sort of music. It’s just for me, I prefer that, you know, the big kick, kick drums and the loopy kind of hypnotic, heady kind of techno. You know, not the massive drops and the fluffy stuff. You know, we need to keep it serious a little bit in techno.”
Q5: “I know the only thing that rivals your passion for techno music is racing. How is it kind of similar, you know, the thrill of being behind the wheel on a race track and being, you know, up on the decks in front of 1000s, 10s of 1000s of people?”
Moudaber: “It’s actually the same kind of adrenaline rush when I’m on the wheels. Probably, it’s more intense than being on stage, being on the wheels, going at 300 miles an hour, you know? Yeah, you can’t beat that. That is the ultimate rush. But, yeah, obviously being on stage with all this energy coming back at you, it’s just an incredible feeling and that’s what I live for, really.”
Q6: “Just to finish off, also, I know you come from a lot of diverse backgrounds. Growing up in Nigeria, Lebanon, and now being based in London, how do all those unique backgrounds really show in your style of music and kind of blend in the influences in your production?”
Moudaber: “It has influenced me a lot, especially my childhood in Nigeria, where I grew up with a lot of rhythmic and percussions and all about beats and grooves. You can hear it in my production. [It’s] Very percussive in a way, and it’s got funk and soul in it. Even if it’s like the hardest techno that I play, it’s always soulful in a way, and it’s got that sexiness in it. You know, even if I’m playing at 145 BPM, you can still dance to it, so it does reflect in my music. And I’m quite lucky to have experienced all sides of these worlds, and I’m still learning wherever I go all over the world. I absorb their culture, and I try to, I don’t even try. It just comes naturally to me, and I hear it.”
