DubeatsManuel Darquart are shortly to release their second EP on Wolf Music. Realising a dream of working with Don Carlos, the paradise house legend puts his spin on their track ‘keep It DXy’.
“For us it’s all in the name: Don Carlos is THE DON. A holy grail of underground dance music who can create such a strong sense of place and history when you hear a track like ‘Alone’ or the Mediterrano EP. Those two records literally put us on our current path so to have him say our project was ‘very hot’ kinda broke our brains. Then we heard the remix, and it broke them further. It is a dream come true to see our name in the same breath as Don Carlos’.”
–Manuel Darquart
Interview With Don Carlos
Where are you right now Don Carlos? How are things? I am on Lake Maggiore in the province of Varese. For now, life proceeds normally apart from some restrictions, which in any case are much less rigid than in the past months.
What have you been up to during the lockdown period? I have put together some tracks for my next album and I have done some remixes. I am currently finishing editing the second compilation (Paradise House 2) for Irma Records, where I’ll be bringing some new life to a couple of the tracks. I did quite a few remixes and all for new generations who wanted my version of their tracks.
Have to ask you ‘Alone’. How did this track come about? Alone is the record that made me popular across the globe. Still today I receive messages of appreciation from many DJs and producers. Alone came together fairly quickly in the studio, the piano, the bass, and the airs of the Moog carpets made me take off as soon as I heard it complete. I do believe that if we hadn’t made ‘Alone’, we would have missed out on something important in clubbing.
Can you name some other timeless classic in your opinion? Tears by Frankie Knuckles, Do You Love Me by Lil Louis, Indulge by Neil Howard, Tonight by Those Guys, What About This by Larry Heard.
How would you describe ‘Paradise House’? It’s a musical world where those who listen to that sound are mentally captured by the sound. You are overwhelmed by these melodies and harmonies, these sweet sounds, the powerful bass, and the piano that takes you into a whirl.
Tell us about the remix you’ve done with Manuel Darquart. I heard Manuel Darquarts’ EP, and it seemed to me that the music had gone back 30 years. Keeping the integrity of the original, we changed some elements like the piano and made the track more hypnotic.
What do you do to relax Don Carlos? I walk 20/30 km every day, smoke cigars and listen to good music. I like to cook, I watch football matches, movies, especially action, and comedies.
Where will you be spending this summer? I will stay at home on the lake and carry on working on my projects, hoping that the restrictions on the clubs will soon be removed and we will be able to live again. Maybe I will go to Puglia for a few days at the end of September, between the sea and a project called Mediterranean Key Collective, that I am working on with Nico Lahs and Michele Lamacchia.