Drawing on a vast array of influences from Disco to House, Funk to Breaks & Dub to Techno, NOLAN remains a forward thinking & innovative producer & DJ. His studio prowess has landed him record deals with some of the most respected & influential labels around the world including Mobilee, Bedrock, Circus Recordings, Stil vor Talent, Renaissance, & Get Physical.
Master of disguise NOLAN is also one half of the enigmatic Cypherpunx duo, and as a massive advocate of the collaboration NOLAN has worked with the likes of Idris Elba, Davide Squillace, Just Her, Serge Santiago, Sébastien Léger, Luke Brancaccio, and esteemed vocalists including the likes of Mr V., Joi Cardwell, & Ursula Rucker among many others.
NOLAN’s overriding ability to blend classic and modern sounds which has cemented his place as a respected and influential figure in the underground house music scene.
Balance Selections 242: Nolan
Balance Selections Q+A
Name: NOLAN
Location: Brighton
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Alias/Producer name: Cypherpunx, Flip Fantazia, T_Mo, Timo Garcia , Tim Sync
Labels affiliated with: Crosstown Rebels, Mobilee, Stil vor Talent, Bedrock, Renaissance
My last 3 releases:
Alexander Church – New Life feat. Rebekah (NOLAN Remix)
Nolan, Markus Saarländer – Flames
Just Her & Nolan – Shadows In Time
What music did you listen to as a child?
I was brought up on Folk Music. Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Baez, Simon & Garfunkel, Pentangle, Bert Jansch, Joni Mitchell etc… All played through a Reel-to-reel tape deck or vinyl. Our dog was even called Dylan!
When was the first time that you realised that you liked electronic music?
I used to promote a night in our local ‘nite club’ on the outskirts of London. It was split across 2 floors I would hire bands to play live upstairs and me and friends play Indie records on the ground floor. I was way to young to even be in that club but things were more relaxed back then and i was tall so looked a lot older than I actually was so got away with it!
Some of the 12” records of the big Indie songs I was playing had remixes on by the likes of Andrew Weatherall, Paul Oakenfold, and David Morales etc…, which I preferred playing in the club for obvious reasons. There were a few other nights in the same venue which we also went to that played only House and after going to a few of them and getting amongst it I fell in love with the sound and vibe of these nights and so ended up buying more of the music made by these remix artists than the Indie bands and started playing House more and more!
When was the first time you saw a DJ in a club?
The DJs who played at the other nights in this club I ran my night at, which included Martin Freeman, Stuart Hogg, Leo Elstob, Terry Farley, and The Junior Boys Own crew plus guests like Mr C, Colin Faver, and Colin Dale.
Which producers/artists/acts inspire you?
The first DJ to inspire me to take it seriously myself and try and make something of it was Laurent Garnier who I heard play every Thursday night at Wake Up in Paris at the Rex Club having gone there on holiday when I was 18, only to stay for a couple of years because I was having so much fun! Trentemøller really inspired me early on in my production days when he was releasing stuff like ‘Last Resort‘ on Poker Flat. Also Nicolas Jaar, and more recently seeing Bonobo take his albums into the live arena. Plus Rodriguez Jr. with his Immersive Sound / Dolby Atmos project on Mobilee is really inspiring.
What was the last album that you downloaded/bought?
The last record i bought was at the weekend and is the new album by our drummer Tristan Banks. We went to see him at the Verdict Jazz Club here in Brighton for his album release party so he performed the whole thing live with his band. He’s an incredible drummer and so we’re very lucky to have him play on quite a few of our Flip Fantazia tracks, which is a guise I use with Doug, the other half of Cypherpunx mostly for Sync/TV stuff.
What is your current production and DJ set up like?
In the studio i have a Moog Subsequent 37 and a Juno Stage as a midi keyboard. Software wise I use all the Arturia, Roland, UAD plugins for production.
DJ’ing is pretty much USB / Rekordbox on CDJs in the club. Although I do occasionally still play gigs on Vinyl too if anyone wants some Funk/Disco/90’s House vibes!
What releases do you have on the horizon?
I’ve got a massive release coming up which frustratingly I can’t talk about until the contract is signed sealed & delivered but it’s with one of my House music Idols from the early 90’s and is coming out on vinyl too with remixes hopefully, on a label i have a lot of love for. Big news coming… No… It really is!
Other than that, there’s a couple of remixes I just did which you can hear on this mix and hopefully the Kariya remix I end the mix off with will come out eventually too!
Where can we hear you perform?
Brighton Music Conference Thursday 25th May at the WaterBear venue for Berlin-Brighton alongside Timo Maas, and a few other legends!
Tell us more about the podcast you made for Balance?
It’s a showcase of all my new, forthcoming and recent releases on Crosstown Rebels, Bedrock, Mobilee, Stil vor Talent, Renaissance, Configurations of Self, etc…
My Recommendations
The top track in my DJ wallet currently is:
One I cant stop playing is by Nors Kode on Mobilee Records called ‘For You‘
If I could recommend only one of my tracks for you to listen to it would be:
Flip Fantazia – Hombre which Huey from Fun Loving Criminals played a couple of weeks ago on his 6 Music radio show as his ‘Beat of the Week’ which was quite a buzz!
If I could recommend only one track for you to listen to it would be:
Lion Theme by Dustin O’Halloran. The most beautiful piece of piano from the film soundtrack
The last movie I watched that I really liked:
A film called LION about a boy who was separated from his family in India. It was really moving and the theme tune is so beautiful I felt compelled to spend the next 3 days learning it on piano!
My favourite TV show:
Favourite ever? That has to be The Wire.
