Ultra 2013 was only a month away, and as long as this Carl person didn't conflict with Avicii or Swedish House Mafia's then-final show, I figured I could devote a minute or two and see what the fuss was about.
Seeing Cox spin under at the Megastructure stage was like discovering electronic music's burning bush. Eleven years later — and after seeing the DJ/producer live roughly 35 times — I recognize that he's the kind of artist who can change everything for a novice dance music fan.
On Friday, May 3, during Miami Race Week, veterans and newcomers alike can witness an extraordinary four-hour showcase by the venerated grandmaster for Ultra Music Festival's Resistance party at M2.
"I think when I play techno, it's on the edge of techno music; when I play house music, it's on the edge of house music," Cox tells New Times from his home in Australia. "I always had this edge to what I would lend my sound to. It's the same with funk and soul music. It's something that I've always known how to do, and that's what I think has people coming back. I was getting sound engineers approaching me, thinking I'd pushed the levels. I didn't push the levels at all; it's the intensity of what I create. They think the sound is in red, and they scratch their heads, thinking, How'd he get to that level of that sound without turning it up with that intensity?"
Trying to predict how and what Cox will play in any given set is an exercise in futility. He has been playing and releasing music for the last 45 years, boasts more than 50,000 records in his collection, and has picked back up performing hybrid live sets. "I always consciously make sure not to play the same set twice. Every year at Ultra, for example, there is a different set, from tempos, funkiness, the groove, and all new tracks — maybe not. It all depends."
If one could distill Cox's sound, it would be a triptych of soul-stirring house, dance-floor-ready classics, and the genre few can spin as well as him, techno. It's a pounding bass, flickering hi-hats, and Cox going on the mic to say his patented salutation, "Oh yes! Oh yes!"
"M2 will be a pure DJ set; Carl Cox on a mission," he says with a chuckle. "This is me with a lot of great tracks that have come through and a lot of my own music that I have been making over the months combined with stuff from my labels: Awesome Soundwave, Intec, and 23rd Century. There's a lot of new music and energy, and now it's up to me to put it into some perspective of where we are in the moment."
Born in 1962 in Oldham, England, to Barbadian immigrants who lived in Brighton, Cox described his parents in his autobiography, Oh Yes, Oh Yes!, as coming from nothing but being rich in music. "Dad's record player was meant to be out of bounds, but after hearing the likes of Aretha Franklin, Booker T. and the M.G.'s and Elvis Presley, I was always trying to play his records, and he'd usually turn a blind eye," he says in his book.
Over the decades, Cox has played it all, including the Love Parade in 2000, where he spun to a million ravers on the streets of Berlin and has headlined every club in Ibiza imaginable. And, since 2001, he has had a symbiotic relationship with Miami's Ultra Music Festival, which eventually gave him his own stage, dubbed Carl Cox & Friends, in 2005. "I was able to command what I believe was the music you should hear now," he says of the opportunity.
With Cox's relationship with Ultra going back decades, it was surprising not to see his name on this year's lineup. "I missed not being there this year," Cox adds.
Cox has fond memories of his first time in Miami before Ultra even came into existence. "I remember playing Factory, Warsaw, Crobar, and early Space. You had Danny Tenaglia doing a 24-hour set at Space. I love that club. It was dark and dingy, and I would come out, not even realizing it was 4 p.m. It was always great — never a bad set or time."
Cox returned to Club Space last year, his first time at the venerable club in years.
He described those early days in Miami as a wasteland for electronic music. But when the sound took over the city in the '90s, Cox was there to reap the benefits.
"The city was a discovery for people. As electronic music was coming up — house, breakbeat, jungle — it all landed in Miami for the Winter Music Conference," he remembers. "House music was always there because of the accessibility of David Morales and Tony Humphries. At the end of the day, it was kind of Miami's version of Studio 54. When I went there, I just ripped it up — breakbeat, jungle, rave, techno."
Carl Cox says testing the waters for a fully live show. “I like the challenge. It’s what really gets me to go out and give something to the people," he says.
Courtesy of Ultra Music Festival.
This is not to say Cox resists convergences. In 2010, he hosted EDM stalwarts Steve Aoki, David Guetta, and Afrojack at the Megastructure. "We gave them a platform to play the most underground music they wanted to do," he says. "They never came back, which is fine, but I wanted to give them a chance for people to see who they really are."
Cox still has plenty of youthful rebellion left in him. He's planning for a fully live show — a challenge to create music that can never be replayed or relived, with few safety valves if things go array.
"I like the challenge. It's what really gets me to go out and give something to the people," he says. "I'm really pleased to be at this stage of my life where I no longer need to DJ. People know I can do that and do it well, but now it's time for me to turn the corner and do new things in the realms of being creative."
Ultimately, Cox knows who has afforded him to be one of the most in-demand DJs even after all these years: the fans.
"I always want to work hard and give people exactly what they saved their money for or to stay in the queue in the rain for an hour," he notes. "The least I can do is go back with something that is an experience."
Carl Cox. With Hidden Empire and M.O.N.R.O.E. 10 p.m. Friday, May 3, at M2, 1235 Washington Ave., Miami Beach; 305-771-0388; resistancemiami.com. Tickets cost $124.95 via dice.fm.
