Brooklyn based DJ/producer Nickodemus has been an ambassador for global club sounds since he started spinning at the legendary Giant Step parties that rocked New York in the mid 90′s. When he founded the legendary Turntables On The Hudson party with his friends Mariano & Nappy G, they continued mixing their eclectic DJ sets with live musicians. The influence of hip-hop, house, reggae, soul and jazz led him to the sounds of Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, the Middle East and India. Throughout his DJ travels he built an extensive record collection and an extended network of collaborators from Puerto Rico to Beirut who performed on his original recordings and became part of the tapestry that started in the club and manifested itself on his first two full-length records, Endangered Species and Sun People.
Moon People, the new Nickodemus project, is a natural extension of his previous work, an album for night people that also captures the energy of the global village that is New York and features luminaries such as Afrika Bambaataa, new-Latin/Electo group Navegante and one of Nickodemus’ oldest collaborators Zeb. “Sun People had a live organic daytime party sound,” he explains. “Moon People is the deeper electronic side of my music. It’s dedicated to the nocturnal people who work, create, party and operate while the rest of the world is asleep, with hints of playfulness and sunshine.”
Nickodemus shows his range on “Under the Volcano,” featuring Latin electro outfit Navegante. It brings together all Latin music’s diverse roots by incorporating accordion, flute, funk and swing into its undulating cadence. “This is an example of the electronic sounds I’m introducing on the album,” he explains. “It’s a fusion of Latin and Arabic music with heavy bass and moody vocals mixed with live instrumentation.” The sultry vocals of Belleruch singer Kathrin deBoer sums up the album’s ethos. “The time is right, when the moon is bright.” The tracks Latin/Arab fusion includes a dose of hip hop and soul. Afrika Bambaataa drops some old school science on “Alkebulan,” a tune that links Africa, the Middle East and America, with its trance-like? oud work and multi-layered percussion. The Candela Allstars, a band Nickodemus put together in Puerto Rico for this album, add their Latin swing to “The Nuyorican Express.” The track rides a thumping house beat, augmented by the band’s sizzling piano, conga, trumpets and a head twisting percussion break that bounces from speaker to speaker. “There’s a Puerto Rican connection on everything I’ve done from Turntables On The Hudson, Volume 1 to Moon People. This is also is a good representation of my live show.”