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DJ MANOLO
Manolo has dedicated nearly two decades to mastering his spell over the dancefloor, building a vast and intensely loyal hometown audience in the process. His residencies at Boston’s two megaclubs, Avalon and the Roxy, are much more than just credits on his DJ resume – his hard work helped to earn worldwide recognition for both venues. Breaking new ground for Boston clubbers over the course of his unprecedented 8-year residency at Avalon, Manolo played alongside many of the world’s top DJs, including Oakenfold, Sasha, John Digweed, Tall Paul, Nick Warren, Dave Seaman and Danny Tenaglia.
“I really think the music is inside me,” confides Manolo, earnestly leaning forward. Listening to a sneak preview of his latest production and remix work, it takes only a moment to realize just how sincerely – and modestly - he means it. Manolo is not creating some meaningless, atmospheric soundscape or crafting a heady, artistic journey; his music springs entirely from real emotion and real feeling. These are songs intended for big dancefloors, and there is nothing subtle about their impact. It’s really no wonder, then, that it comes from a man who has spent most of his career working in the DJ booths of Boston’s biggest clubs. Survey a club where he spins, and everywhere you look, you’ll find hands raised in the air and a look of rapture on the upturned faces of the crowd. Nowadays, Manolo spends more time locked away in his state of the art recording and production studio than behind turntables – but he unquestionably brings the same overwhelming sense of joy to his recording work that he brings to his energetic DJ sets.
Manolo makes powerful, driving music, with big feelings and big sounds. Take a spin through his recent re-working of Sasha’s ‘Wavy Gravy’: the kick drum pounds out an insistent rhythm that doesn’t waste time getting anywhere - from the first beat, you’re already there. An earth-shaking bassline provides enough low end to rattle the chest cage of any dancer and enough deep-down funk to get even the most reserved clubgoer into moving. It is Manolo’s melodic touch, however, that stands out above everything else in his recordings. Darkness has long been an integral part of dance music, and Manolo has always sought to find the beauty within it. He combines everything from dark and deadly serious rhythms to lush and uplifting vocals, creating a singular sound of his own. It’s a sound that has caught a great deal of attention, including that of world-renown vocalist Jan Johnston. She enlisted Manolo’s help to write and record a new batch of original songs.
“I have a difficult time playing my own music,” says Manolo, “because it’s very personal. It’s a form of therapy. If other people like it and play it, then that’s great! I have fun making it, and I believe in the music we’re producing, but as far as other people liking it, well, I guess that is always going to be a matter of personal taste.” If the personal tastes of Jan Johnston and Paul Oakenfold, are a dependable barometer for success, then the dance music world will be hearing a lot more of Manolo’s music very soon. When they first started working together, Jan Johnston heard ‘Lament’, a track that Manolo and the studio partner Gene Therapy had done together purely for fun. She urged them to send the song to Paul Oakenfold immediately. Oakenfold loved it, and ‘Lament’ quickly went into heavy rotation his playlist. At the 2002 Winter Music Conference in Miami, Paul invited Manolo to a private poolside party at the Surf Club Hotel with Madonna. “I was standing at the bar with my wife and Jan,” Manolo explains, “and I heard Paul mixing in ‘Lament’ during his live set. I'll never forget that moment. To top it all off, he ended his set with ‘Delirium,’ the first single that we co-wrote with Jan in our studio.”
Now living in the Philadelphia area, Manolo has also been widely recognized for his collaborations with rising international trance DJ-producer Tom Colontonio. (The duo is better known as Double Agents.) Clearly, there are few roles that Manolo has yet to fill in the world of dance music – as a successful DJ, producer, remix artist, and, most recently, a major event promoter in Atlantic City, where he hosts some of the biggest names in EDM -- Manolo has done it all with humility and integrity. He is a gentle, honest, and caring artist with a tremendous passion for music. “Who knows what the future holds,” he concludes on a hopeful note, “..but there is one thing that I am sure of: the music has always been and will always be my mistress."
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