Y
ou’d think after four particularly large singles and an album, Eric Estornel — aka
Maceo Plex, Maetrik and a handful of other aliases — would be free to do as he pleases on the label that has become his home since 2010. It seems it’s not always like that.
“Part of an A&R’s job is to hear a good song, and make it better,” he says. “So if you’re an artist out there that’s sensitive to criticism — constructive criticism, at that — then maybe Damian isn’t the right person to send your music to. “But when you’re done with it, if you follow what he’s telling you — he’s not going to steer you towards making a commercial cheese record — it should come out really well. At the same time, not everybody is as patient as I am. Some artists and producers don’t want anyone to touch their music. I’m open to opinions on how to make it better. “Sometimes you have to stay firm, sometimes you need a good A&R to tell you.”
Of all the labels vying to get a piece of Eric Estornel, Crosstown Rebels has perhaps been the most voracious. Though it’s always been something of an open relationship, Estornel has
A
shique Subhan has been a long-in-gestation artist for Damian Lazarus. He’s watched him closely
since things began to blow up for him on labels like Matt Tolfrey’s (another of the Crosstown alumni society) Leftroom, LA’s Culprit and Birmingham’s One Records.
But it wasn’t until mid-2011 that he made his Crosstown debut, dropping the chugging monsters ‘Misleading’ and ‘Positive Expression’, featuring Anomaly Jones. Since then he’s become an entrenched part of the family, mixing the recent ‘Rebel Rave 3’ compilation, the de- facto 10th birthday celebration album for the label. He’s also featured on the lion’s share of the 30 dates of the Rebel Rave world tour. “Puerto Rico was great, Lima was insane,” he says, still buzzed a week later. “Such a young crowd, and to see such enthusiasm was great. I got to play sunset. It’s an amazing place. We had a week in Japan too,
and we played Womb in Tokyo, which is a place I’ve always wanted to play. It’s been crazy.”
So far, he’s made all the right moves. He was making his own music aged 15, and managing to get into Fabric aged 16. So despite being 25 now, he’s already got near a decade’s experience under his belt. Now he’s shifted from his hometown of Birmingham to Berlin, a move which is yet to harm anyone’s career in dance music.
He’s set to drop his debut album later this year, something that he’s been waiting to assemble for some time, and with full support from Crosstown behind him, things look set. “Now feels like a good time to showcase what I’m about,” he says. “Things have been bubbling this last year, so it feels like a nice time to present what I’m doing. “Damian has always shown an interest in having the album from me, and it feels that it will get to the right people on the label. I’m super-excited about it.”
returned to Crosstown time and again, and now is among those splintering off, notably with his Ellum Audio label, already 10 releases in, with many more to come.
But he still — as he always has — has his fingers in a number of pies, so to speak, with a ‘DJ-Kicks’ compilation forthcoming for !K7 among other projects. And though the Maceo Plex moniker has seen much success, there could be time for a change. “I’m still making techno,” he says. “I still make electro music, and I make experimental music. If I feel the urge to make a drum & bass record, I will make a drum & bass record. I can feel things going back to harder, yet still soulful sounds. And I’m making a lot of that right now.”
He’s called trends before, so maybe it’s time to get in with Eric on the ground floor. Watch this space...
djmag.com 025
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