From: Naples, Italy
DJ style: Techno/minimal techno
Best known for: Design Music and the Music:On parties

Rising to prominence during the ‘90s, Marco Carola came to define the Neapolitan techno sound during that period. Together with his friend and close colleague Gaetano Parisio, aka Gaetek, Carola’s lean, rolling releases on his Design Music and 1000 imprints set the benchmark for hard-edged techno. Coupled with his three-deck sets, these key releases led to Carola becoming one of the world’s most in-demand underground DJs.

However, there were always different sides to Carola’s musical identity. This was clear from as early as his 1998 debut album, ‘Fokus’, which saw him experiment with breakbeats and deep synth sounds. It came as no surprise, then, that Carola’s love of stripped-back club music shifted towards minimal house during the new millennium. This culminated in the ‘Play It Loud!’ album, issued on Richie Hawtin’s Minus label, and led to Carola moving from underground techno basements to the big rooms of Ibiza to appear at Sven Väth’s Cocoon parties.

This year, Carola returned to Amnesia, this time to his own Music:On parties on Fridays, joined by veterans such as Derrick May, Carl Craig and Green Velvet.

Words: RICHARD BROPHY