There aren’t many electronic records you can identify from a handful of notes, but OXIA’s “Domino” is firmly in that category. Nearly twenty years after its release, that looping synth line still carries an immediate familiarity, which makes remixing it an interesting proposition: everyone already knows exactly how it’s supposed to feel.
For his new remix on Armada Music, New York producer Ares Carter went back to the stems and discovered there was rather more going on beneath the apparent simplicity of the original than he’d realised. What followed involved numerous discarded basslines, some careful decisions about what not to change, and an attempt to find his own space inside a record with a considerable history.
With Carter’s music already supported by Jamie Jones, Joseph Capriati, Keinemusik, Black Coffee and John Summit, we spoke to him about taking “Domino” apart, what makes its central idea work, the changing lifespan of club records, and how New York continues to shape his own sound.
Domino’ is one of those records where a few seconds are enough to identify it. When you were given the stems, what did you discover about the original that you’d never noticed simply from hearing or playing the finished record?
The bassline was probably the biggest surprise for me. It feels so simple when you hear the finished record, but once I had the stems, I realized how particular it actually is. Because the lead synth is built around those triplet notes, the bass has to sit against that rhythm in a really specific way for the whole groove to work. Even small changes completely altered the feel of the record. It gave me a new appreciation for how much thought went into something that sounds so effortless.
I’ve loved “Domino” for years, so I had a pretty clear feeling from the beginning of what I wanted to preserve.
You’ve said you went through several versions before finding the bassline that made the remix work. What was wrong with those earlier versions? Was there a point where you realised you were trying too hard to impose yourself on a record that already has such a strong identity?
I never really felt like I was changing the identity of the track. It was more about finding something that technically worked with the triplets in the main synth, but was still groovy and different enough from the original. I went through a bunch of basslines before I found one that sat with the lead the right way. Once I did, the rest of the remix came together pretty naturally.
There’s an unusual problem in remixing something as established as ‘Domino’: change too little and the remix arguably doesn’t need to exist, but change too much and you lose the thing people love about it. Where did you draw that line, and was there anything you deliberately removed or abandoned because it took the track too far away from the original?
I’ve loved “Domino” for years, so I had a pretty clear feeling from the beginning of what I wanted to preserve. I wanted someone to hear the remix and immediately have that feeling they get from the original, but then realize pretty quickly that they’re hearing it in a completely different way. For me, it was about building a new groove and energy around something that already has so much emotion and nostalgia attached to it. There were definitely ideas I tried that didn’t make the final version, especially when I felt like I was adding something just for the sake of making it different. If it didn’t actually make the record better, it came out.
The original arrived in 2006, when records could become long-term club staples without being constantly measured through streams, clips and online engagement. You’re releasing your version into a completely different electronic music ecosystem. Do you think records are still given enough time to become classics in that way, or has the lifecycle of dance music fundamentally changed?
I think we may have to revisit this question 20 years from now and see if today’s club anthems have stood the test of time. I personally feel that we still have many of these classics, they are just digested by audiences in a very different way.
Space 92 had already remixed ‘Domino’ earlier this year, so you weren’t approaching the project in isolation. Did hearing another contemporary interpretation make you more conscious of finding territory that hadn’t already been explored, or did you deliberately avoid thinking about other versions while making yours?
I actually made my version long before the Space 92 remix came out. I did listen back to some older versions, like Matador’s, and was inspired by how artists from different genres had breathed new life into “Domino” while keeping what made the original special. It showed me there was still room to take the record somewhere new in my own way.
Your music has been supported by people operating in quite different corners of house and electronic music, from Jamie Jones and Joseph Capriati to Keinemusik, Black Coffee and John Summit. Does that breadth reflect how you actually think about your own music, or is there a more specific identity you’re trying to establish as Ares Carter now?
I think that breadth really does reflect how I see my music. I’ve never wanted to be tied to one specific sound within house music, and that’s also a big part of what we’re building with Those Nights in New York and beyond. We bring together artists who can naturally share a lineup but still have very different sounds and approaches. I think about my own music in a similar way. There’s a range to what I make, but the common thread is the groove, energy and emotion behind it. I want my records to feel connected without all having to sound the same.
You’re based in New York but have played everything from Awakenings and Ultra to Ibiza clubs such as Pacha, Amnesia and UNVRS. How much does New York actually shape the records you make? Is there something about the city’s current club culture that finds its way into your music, even when you’re making records for an international audience?
New York has shaped me a lot, both as an artist and through growing up around the city. House music has such a deep history here, but it’s also one of the most important markets for the scene today. You have emerging artists building real momentum here alongside some of the biggest names in electronic music. Being part of that ecosystem, both as an artist and through creating Those Nights, has exposed me to a really wide range of sounds and perspectives. I spend a lot of time playing internationally, so those influences come into my music too, but New York is home and will always be a big part of how I see and approach music.
Taking on ‘Domino’ inevitably introduces you to listeners who may have known the original for twenty years but know nothing about Ares Carter. If this remix becomes someone’s first encounter with your work, what do you hope they hear in it that belongs specifically to you, rather than to the history and familiarity already attached to ‘Domino’?
I hope they hear something that feels like me, even if they’ve never heard one of my records before. I’ve always been drawn to music that has emotion but still makes you want to move, and that’s what I tried to bring to “Domino.” If the remix makes someone curious enough to listen to what I do next, that’s the best outcome for me.
Domino (Ares Carter Remix) is out now on Armada
