Once again, Carl Cox and team held a DJ competition, selecting 3 talented winners out of what were surely hundreds, if not thousands of applicants. One of those with enough skills to best the rest was Italian DJ and producer Waltek, who played El Salon for the Pulse Radio takeover at Carl Cox’s The Revolution Unties at Space Ibiza on July 23rd. Waltek’s submission, which can be found on Mixcloud (who hosted the competition) here, starts off with a groovy, hypnotic tech house original by Waltek, featuring an incredibly unique female vocal sample, urging Cox to put the phone down, stop checking his email, and listen, promising he’ll be hypnotized by the mix to come. It’s a brilliant way to cut through the noise and get noticed, if not a little cheeky. But hey, it worked!
But this wasn’t Waltek’s first trip to the studio. Back in the mid 2000s, Waltek began sending out letters to dozens of music production academies in the hopes of being accepted, and was finally chosen along with just 8 other students (out of 500 who didn’t make the cut) to the Music Lab Studio of Turin. Since then, he’s released on labels like Aenaria and SFR Recordings, churning out soulful, Afro tribal influenced deep and tech house, a departure from his decidedly tech driven winning set.
Though listening to Waltek mix, it’s clear he’s comfortable with just about any record, as long as it fits the situation. At times he’s clearly in Afro-jazz-soul territory, others, straight into the groove and on the dance floor, just like his set for The Revolution, which you can read about in greater detail here.
First off, congrats on being one of the winners of the competition! Listening to your winning set, the first track, “Carl Jump,” stood out so much. It’s incredible! Where did you find Nisey? And how did the idea to make such an attention-grabbing track come about? I have a secret! Annarita, she is a dear friend, and, as concept designer, is also my partner for the creative projects. For this set I wanted something stunning that sounds different from the others, and so we had the idea of an a cappella that can 'talk to Carl.' Nisey is an American actress who was in Rome with Annarita for some months. Nisey was a great interpreter and vocals for this a cappella. From that we started to record a cappellas for some tracks as the next release “Get Lost” [will be out] soon on T's Crates records.
What is your DJ career like in Italy after winning the competition? Has it improved? I hope that my career asa DJ will be improved, we will see. But for sure, to win Carl's competition improved me personally as DJ.
Has Carl been an influence of yours? Carl is a godfather his genre. He enlightens.
What was it like to win the competition? It was amazing! I think that to play at Space for Carl's Revolution is a dream for a DJ. The most important thing is to get Carl's appreciation. It makes me feel very proud.