Nicole Moudaber maps the landscape of contemporary techno
With Nicole Moudaber Curates Techno (P/D), the Lebanese-British DJ and producer goes far beyond assembling a playlist — she builds a sonic manifesto that X-rays high-impact techno in 2024. Across twenty surgically selected tracks, Moudaber charts a course between the most devastating Peak Time techno and the hypnotic textures of Raw & Deep, while leaving room for a few revealing detours.
Labels and alliances that define the selection
The curation pivots around her own MOOD Records, represented by the razor-sharp Black Silk (138 BPM, G Major) and the turbulent Twistin' My Mind, which veers into Raw/Hypnotic territory in C Minor. But the selection avoids self-referentiality: Drumcode's weight is felt through Report to the Dancefloor alongside Zlata, while CLR delivers Symphonie des Seins — the colossal alliance between Chris Liebing and Charlotte de Witte at 140 BPM. Second State Audio contributes Pan-Pot and JindaLee's Phantaxxxy, a subtle half-time exercise at 70 BPM that plays with tension and release. Factory 93 Records completes the collaborative arc with Love Someone Else, the surprising union of Deep Dish, Moudaber and Skunk Anansie at 126 BPM.
Standout tracks
- Evil Therapy (Exos) – 146 BPM of Icelandic industrial techno in G Major via X-IZE. Relentless and unforgiving.
- Echoes of Freedom (Skaliger) – The chart's longest cut: 8:21 minutes of epic construction at 146 BPM from Blush Recordings.
- How It Makes You Feel (Carl Cox & Nicole Moudaber) – The most emotionally charged collaboration, at 132 BPM in Ab Minor via BMG, where deep house sentiment brushes against profound techno.
- CHROMA 004 ROLA (Bicep) – The chart's wildcard: chromatic electronica in Gb Minor that stretches the selection's boundaries.
- Like This (Truncate & PUSHMANN) – Raw/Hypnotic techno in Db Minor from LILA RECORDS, the list's true underground gem.
A detail that breaks the mold
The inclusion of U-Tool 01 by STIPP and Alec Dienaar (UK Garage/Bassline, F Minor, Hardline Sounds) is no editorial accident — it's a declaration of influences. Moudaber acknowledges contemporary techno's debt to the syncopated rhythms of British garage. That curatorial courage, combined with the tonal coherence anchoring much of the selection around G Major and Eb Major, elevates this chart into a definitive sonic document.
