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Nick Curly In Five Records

This New Year’s Eve Mannheim’s finest Nick Curly will be playing at both Ministry of Sound, London and The Asoria, Portsmouth for Defected In The House.

Having been heavily involved with Defected for most of 2013 Curly should be familiar to fans of the label. To fully prepare you for what awaits this New Year’s Eve however, we’ve pulled together a selection of his best tracks and remixes.

Hold onto your hats, things are about to get techy…

Nick Curly – Another Tearjerker    
The debut release on Curly’s 8bit imprint back in 2006 ‘Another Tearjerker’ came at the height of the minimal explosion, but as undoubtedly stripped back as it is there was something that set it apart from the crowd. The melodies might be few and far between, but it was produced with enough sensitivity that you felt there was a real person behind the controls, rather than just a mechanical algorithm. Much more that simple by-the-numbers minimal, as the name suggests there’s a decent amount of soul to be found here… and of course a killer, drum-lead groove.

Nick Curly – Critical Mass
If ‘Another Tearjerker’ hinted at the heady emotions Curly was only too willing to explore, 2008’s ‘Critical Mass’ was the full realisation of these early signs. Released on Gedde’s murmur label, its power lies in its patience as Curly allowed the record all the time it needed to make its unhurried point. And that point was? That you don’t need a huge break and a shitload of white noise to make a crowd go absolutely ballistic. One of the most understated records in Curly’s arsenal is surely one of his most potent: that fact that it’s also inescapably beautiful only adds to its appeal.

Nick Curly – Hairline
“I wanted to produce music that I could listen to in the car, at home, during the week” said Nick Curly of his debut studio album. “I would say the album is more Nick Curly Monday to Friday afternoon”. Released back in 2012, Between the Lines was – as intended – a departure from the club-ready tunes of Curly’s past. Introspection and delicacy were key aspects of the album’s aesthetic, with no record encompassing his artistic intention with more aplomb than ‘Hairline’. Like an even more fragile sister of Ame’s ‘Rej’, this is Curly at his most tantalizing. 

Zoo Brazil – Slob (Nick Curly Remix)
From the delicate to the deadly, Curly’s 2011 remix of Zoo Brazil’s ‘Slob’ is one that is without doubt for the weekends. Tense and foreboding throughout, Curly pitch-shifts and warps the vocals almost out of recognition, which with the addition of a creeping, eerie pad and hellish snare clatters results in one of the more visceral moments of his career.

Nick Curly – Underground (Dennis Ferrer Remix)
If you’re a fan of Defected you probably know this one fairly well, but it’s definitely a record that deserves revisiting. Omnipresent on house dancefloors in Ibiza for the last two seasons, this is another stand-out moment from Between the Lines. Dennis Ferrer transforms the original from languid, after-hours cut to a peak-time, piano-led monster. Hi-hats open, bassline pumps, chaos ensues.