About Moncef

Moncef grew up in Casablanca, Morocco, and discovered House music in the late 80s via Spanish radio. He taught himself how to DJ using tape decks and CD players (no pitch control back then), and started playing at various high school parties.

While attending the University of Virginia, he bought his first pair of Technics SL-1200MK2 turntables and honed his beatmatching skills. Around the same time, he met Nicolas Laget (aka Kolai), and they started making music together as Nicolicious Productions.

In the summer of 1997, Moncef met Doug Smith and Rich Payton (aka 95 North) at Club Red in Washington, D.C. and gave them a demo mixtape. They liked it and invited Moncef to open for them at Red on a regular basis. This led the club to offer him a Thursday-night residency, which he held from May to December of 1998. Inspired by Rich Payton's live keyboard overdubs, Nicolas accompanied Moncef's DJ sets with sax, flute, and keyboard solos.

Moncef and Nicolas also held a Saturday biweekly residency at Andalu (also in D.C.) from December 1998 to April 2003. Renowned DJs who have graced the decks at Andalu include Alain Ho, Anderson Soares, Antonio Ocasio, Bougie Soliterre, Deep Dish, DJ Oji, DJ Mandrill, DJ Pope, DJ Spen, Doug Smith, Jask, Jerome Sydenham, Karizma, Lars Behrenroth, Matthias "Matty" Heilbronn, Neil Aline, Nicolas Matar, the late Phil Asher, the late Sam "The Man" Burns, Teddy Douglas, Tiefschwarz, and Tommy Musto.

Moncef's DJ skills and creativity have been witnessed by many dancers in clubs in the US, France and Morocco, such as Djoon in Paris and Pacha in Marrakech. His mixes have also been streamed via the internet and airwaves on various North American and European radio shows, including AOL Radio and Deeper Shades of House. You can listen to many of those mixes on this site, including all 209 episodes of his "Monfresh Sessions" radio show on Handz On Radio.

As a producer and remixer, Moncef has released several original titles under the "Nicolicious" moniker, and under is his own name:

  • Nicolicious "Goin' On" feat. Karla Brown on 95 North Records. This Moncef's very first release!

  • Nicolicious "Vermilion Vibe" on Vinylicious Recordings (including remixes by Jask). Check out the unreleased "Flute Intro Dub".

  • Nicolicious "I Like It" on the Capitol Vibes compilation

  • Moncef "Such Is Life" on the "Bedroom Rockers" compilation sponsored by XLR8R Magazine and Adidas.

  • Nicolicious "Mute This!". This was a test pressing on Vinylicious Recordings that never got a full release. Only a handful of copies were handed out during the Winter Music Conference in 2000. Apparently, it's a sought-after record now!

  • 95 North feat. Heather Rose "Unbelievable" (Moncef's Unbelievably Raw Mix) which was originally released on the "Vinylicious Epiology Vol. 1" on Vinylicious Recordings. In 2024, it was revived on the "90's House & Garage Vol.3" compilation on Z Records.

You can listen to many more of Moncef's creations on his SoundCloud page.

Between 2003 and 2020, Moncef built and ran his own online record store: Monfresh Recastow. The inventory that was left over is now for sale on Discogs.