Truesoul, and dedication to the sinewy, more muscular side of techno — as inspired by the dark innovation of Detroit as it is by the thunderbolt nightlife of Berlin — set his craft out as one to be trusted. Resistant to passing fads, the Maetrik approach has always remained a self-assured one, technically solid and as functional as it is groovy. Even with the onset of minimal, while all the others boiled the sound to a series of bleeps and blops, he stayed true to his LFO/ Warp/R&S-inspired roots, never sacrificing substance for style, playing to hardline techno heads, people — just like him — unwilling to compromise.
Not that this guy is a one-trick pony, stifled by purism, something he proved in 2009 with nu disco-tinged deep house gem ‘Vibe Your Love’, written as Maceo Plex after Damian Lazarus asked him to make a house album for Crosstown Rebels, he tells DJ Mag as we shelter from the late afternoon Miami sun under palm trees, the backdrop a glistening panorama of skyscrapers, yachts and jet-skis. “I wasn’t planning on doing much of a house sound, but when I sent him a couple of tracks I had done that weren’t quite Maetrik — it was a little slower and deeper…” Eric trails
SIMPLY THE FESTS
off to think for a second. “It was a pretty good thing for him. The man is very good at A&R.” Getting headhunted by a label manager as esteemed as Lazarus may offer Eric proof of his talent, but anyone who’s visited a dancefloor in the past nine months will testify the music has done the talking, especially recently. ‘Vibe Your Love’ may have caught people’s attention as the crest of a new wave of disco-informed house was crashing over clubland back in 2010, but it was only a taste of what has since ensued. While its string riff, dampened chords and heartfelt vocal refrain laid this guy’s heart on his sleeve, offering a pristine dose of gyrating digi-soul while successfully tapping into the modern-day vogue for soul- inflected deep house, there was a rustiness to his approach, a grubbiness that, though intriguing curious minds to a new, slightly elusive figure on the block, marked a producer (in hindsight anyway) slightly ill at ease in his new pursuit. Said album, ‘Life Index’, reinforced it, leaving a little to be desired.
OOMPH! But, while Estornel initially made
Maceo’s festival tips What’s your favourite festival? “Detroit Movement festival — has been for years. I need to go play at more festivals to see which one can top it for me.”
Most mental/bizarre festival experience? “Probably Sonar three years ago, involving bad after-party directions, troublemaking DJs, booze, cops, and terribly scratched-up vinyl. Guess you can put together the rest?”
Essential festival items? “Sunglasses, rolling papers, stashed liquor, fresh t-shirt, tons of tissue paper, and noise- cancelling headphones, in case somebody plays shitty music!”
Most important festival of all- time? “This one is the easiest, Woodstock.”
his mark by slotting tidily into the deep disco canon, it was not until the tail-end of last year that he really began to separate from the pack. Clearly an admirer of the low- slung funk sounds of Jamie Jones, Art Department, Visionquest and co, he found himself setting his sights on giving this sound more bite than his contemporaries, as he became increasingly bored by the monotony of some dancefloors. In an industry full to the brim with overly sanitised sycophantic nicety, it’s refreshing to hear him admit this. “To be honest, when I am working on something that is slow like that, I get a little bored,” explains Eric candidly. “Let’s get real here, I am kind of noticing that everyone is playing the same shit. I want to play something else and hopefully it will go well for me. Maybe not, I might disappear next year, you never know...”
Thanks to Eric’s fastidious creative approach, we’re almost 100% certain it’ll be the former. The arrival of ‘Can’t Leave You’ on Crosstown Rebels in December last year, with its tech-tinged teeth, swallowed disco riff and deep piano slabs — not forgetting the tug-boat air horn guaranteed to flatten ten- pins on any dancefloor — didn’t only offer evidence, it beat us around the head repeatedly until we
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begged for forgiveness for doubting it. Its simple-yet-distinct formula, chunky and pronounced enough to storm any deep house dancefloor stuck in its groove, set Maceo’s record straight, something that has culminated in him scoring a place in the A-list roster of Ibiza institution DC10’s Circoloco residents this summer, thanks to his excellence as a DJ. “I want to add a little more ‘oomph’ to things,” he adds. “Even if it is a slow, deep, really sexy, really beautiful track, it’s got to have ‘oomph’ underneath, which comes from my electro/techno background, so it is not a pure sound — it is a little crossover. If you are into techno, you can dig it. If you are into house, you can also dig it. I think that is ultimately why my personal approach appeals to people.”
OTHERWORLDLY
IMAGINATION But it’s not just the snarling growl of tracks like ‘Stop Your Hate’ on the flip of ‘Can’t Leave You’ or the sinister, fiendish stalk of ‘Stay High Baby’, dropped onto newly inaugurated (alongside Crosstown’s Leon Oakley) imprint Ellum Audio (see box-out) in November 2011, that demonstrate Maceo Plex’s supremacy as a producer. The sublime majesty of last summer’s ‘Falling’ (Visionquest), after making its grandiose entrance more than once at last year’s Detroit Movement festival, hoisted another of Maceo’s flags. Built around a regal brass hook, swaying bass rumble and vocoder soul echoes, it displayed a level of sonic dexterity at the time unheard of; an imaginative propensity yet to be established by Maetrik, and arguably by any of his deep house contemporaries. Adding to that came ‘Under The Sheets’ (No.19), also in December (rapid-fire prolificacy is another of Eric’s remarkable traits), this time dominated by a combination of salacious, robo-sleaze and synthetic bugles, depicting a vivid world half constructed out of antiquity, half from an assumed, slightly warped digital future, told with more otherworldly imagination than anything since Daft Punk’s ‘Discovery’.
“[My music] can be futuristic deep house, but sci-fi and sexy-sounding at the same time. I wanted to keep going in that direction, maybe not so bassline driven, because everyone is now putting in these huge basslines, so I wanted to make music that sounds dark; that can be trippy and futuristic, as well as something that the girls will dig,”
www.djmag.com
DOWNRIGHT ESSENTIAL
...On nailing his Radio 1 Essential Mix “I was jumping for joy. That’s it, right? For a DJ, it is kind of it. Pete [Tong] has done something that for the past 20 years is the most important show. It’s got so much history. I grew up listening to all the sets. I personally took it very seriously and really wanted to pick out good music that captures the sounds that I want to do going forward, as well as put some old music in there. I can’t even put into words how excited I was, but it was a sweet moment. I think I even teared up when I was asked to do it.”
says Eric. To tell a story, then? “Yeah, totally tell a story, and put in a little bit more composition,” he confirms.
Talking to Eric, his focus never wavering, an assertive tone far from faltering, DJ Mag gets the distinct impression that as soon as he detects his sound is in danger of stagnation, liable to pale into the backdrop of its surroundings, he makes a concerted effort to push it forward. Part and parcel of this man’s creative dedication is an air of perfectionism that fully translates into his meticulous production. When listening to Maceo Plex, it is obvious each track has been rigorously layered, scrupulously packed with musical ideas in a way that side-steps the linear, often featureless forms conjured by some of today’s more functional dancefloor producers. Like the namesake of his flagship tune, he clearly can’t leave it alone. But that’s a good thing (for us anyway). Just take the flourishing narrative driving the latest opus for Ellum Audio, ‘Deez Nuts’. Spilling with imagery, it’s a patchwork of numerous parts with a beginning, middle and end. It tells a story, one with an ominous, brooding overture that shares as much with the synth composition of smouldering electronic movie soundtracks as it does with your usual stock of peak- time dancefloor fodder. “I am a very visual person, so I imagine a bit more,” he holds forth. “‘Cos of my electro background, I am into your typical sci-fi movie stuff. It’s 2012. I think a little less about 1990 or ‘89 house music, try to go forward and push off a little more.
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