Marco Carola brings Music On to Miami
Marco Carola’s love affair with music began when he was 12 years old, spending his time in clubs and record shops in Napoli, Italy. His penchant for DJing began at fifteen and two years later he was traveling to London to buy vinyl to hone his sound. Since then Carola has been one of European nightlife’s most sought after names, leaving an indelible mark on Ibiza and the entire techno landscape. This December, Carola brings his famed Music On residency stateside to Miami Beach, a location that Carola believes provides “the perfect blend of North and South American influences and styles.” The residency itself will be identical to its European counterpart: a finely-curated techno showcase from one of electronic music’s most compulsive consumers.
Who better to elucidate the new residency at Story Miami than the Italian techno luminary himself? Carola’s vision behind the concept is clear. Since his inception as an artist to his rise to global prominence, he’s never lost sight of what truly matters to him: the music.
“Since I started this adventure with music when I was young I was always focusing on the music, I didn’t have many other skills other than making music and producing, even in my later years I realized my goal was to just focus on the music. When I started promoting I focused my parties on the artists and the music, concentrating on the music. It was myself at the beginning and this is where the idea came from. I can’t understand this world of DJs, these guys do many things except sometimes they forget the music. It’s crazy to me but I guess that’s just the way it is.”
The thing about Carola is he’s particular down to the last detail. Aside from working closely with his lighting and sound engineers to foster the perfect experience, Carola is particularly selective about his supporting artists:
“The popularity is of course a factor of the choices I make, but it is always a choice because I like their music first. It’s important to have a DJ with experience with good taste in music, and of course a name, but most important is the music.”
Meeting Carola’s criteria isn’t easy, but when you’ve got names like Bill Patrick and Stacey Pullen lined up to perform at Music On, the system is clearly working. The residency is also quite unique in the North American landscape. Designed as a weekly techno showcase rather than a monthly EDM bottle service party, Carola plans to satisfy fans thirsting for what the mainstream just isn’t delivering. His decision to set up shop in Miami was a calculated one: “I have a great connection to Miami, since I started DJing Miami for me its a mix between North and South America. The city has always been, first and foremost, a home for electronic music in its purest forms.”
When it comes to curating his performances, Carola is borderline obsessive compulsive, listening to over a thousand new songs every week so that his sets are truly spontaneous and never repetitive — a concept that escapes most mainstage performers.
The real question is whether or not the US is ready for something focused solely on the music. Even Ibiza has been experiencing a shift in tastes thanks to the recent EDM boom. For years, traditionalists have been complaining that the White Isle is losing its magic but Carola disagrees: “I think that the people who say Ibiza is losing its magic are only saying that because they used to party and now they don’t. After all those years of spending your time on the island of course you won’t feel that same excitement, but I am sure the people who go there for the first time now will get more of that magic than we ever did in the past. To be honest there’s much better music than there was years ago. I don’t agree that it’s lost its magic, I think the people lost their magic. They probably just got old.”
When it comes to acquiring new fans on US soil, Carola is confident that Music On will do just that. While he may be critical of the mainstream market, Carola is not dismissive of dance music’s recent pop adoption: “It’s weird that most of the new DJs were never traditional DJs in the first place but at least mainstream sounds will eventually lead your ear into good electronic music. It’s always good when a synthesizer gets played for a billion people, because we all use synthesizers and if you like that type of sound you’ll find more music. At the end of the day, people who want to hear good music will find it and the people who don’t really care what they listen to — they can go listen to the bad stuff.”
Music On begins in Miami this Saturday at, 12/6/2014, at Story. Tickets are available now.
Photo Credit: Michal Ignition