Maceo Plex

Estornel was born 11 July 1978 in Cuba, but established his career in Miami. Not long after he got this start in the industry he began setting trends on his own, exposing the city to a blend of hard hitting low end mix, topped with subtle pulsing synth swashes. His music also featured strong dance influences integrating bass lines dripping with acid house influences and heavily syncopated guitars treated with flanger effect, which seemed to beckon the work of Chic guitarist Niles Rodgers.

Over the years Estornel has used a number of aliases in addition to his most recognized stage name Maceo Plex. The others include Maetrik, Mariel Ito, Plaex, Tali Wackas, and Eric Entity. Some of his earliest documented material was released in 1999 under the latter two monikers, both through Illmatic Records. He put out a variety of 12” singles and two feature lengths under the name Maetrick, some which dated back to 2001. As Mariel Ito, he released a studio album through SCSI-AV in 2005 as well as an EP entitled “Indexed”, which was issued by Manchester label Modern Love Records (whose list of artists include the likes of Andy Stott and Demdike Stare).

It was not until 2009 that Estornel began releasing material under Maceo Plex. Within a few years time he already developed a profuse catalogue with this project. He released the EP “Clubs” in 2009, which was followed by the 2010 single “Vibe Your Love”. 2011 saw the release of his first studio album “Life Index” as well as an additional 7 releases including 2 DJ mixes, 4 EPs and the tech house single “Your Style”.

Though Estornel fell into the rave culture in America in the early 90s and his sound was largely classified as techno and house, he has since progressed into a more classic driven electro funk sound, channeling the influences of Stevie Wonder, Funkadelic, and Isolee.

This change in framework was somewhat evident with Estronel’s move from the US to Valencia, Spain. During Estornel’s career as Maceo Plex he has toured multiple festivals such as the Amore Festival in Roma and in 2014 he factored in at No.5 on Resident Advisor’s poll for the “Top DJs of 2014”. Maceo Plex has also been involved in remixes throughout his career, editing material for Royksopp and having his own compositions revised by artist such as Nicolas Jaar who treated the single “Gravy Train”.

Prior to making his move towards a career in music, Jones had studied chemical engineering at the University of Illinois. The budding scientist however dropped out of his Master’s program at the University of California, Berkeley, to issue his first song “Coffee Pot” in 1991. Raised by a DJing father, in arguably the world's capital of house music, Chicago, Jones easily picked up the cut-and-paste production technique and added a extra level of interpretation. The DJ and producer quickly gained immense popularity and reinvigorated the Chicago house scene throughout the ‘90s under the moniker Cajmere.

The Green Velvet name had initially been launched as an outlet for Jones’ instrumental productions, however soon surpassed the success of Cajmere. Jones quickly created the label Relief, which issued Green Velvet’s debut release “Velvet Tracks” in 1993. Stylistically influenced by the likes of David Bowie and Sly and the Family Stone, Jones donned a flamboyant punk aesthetic, featuring wild and bright green hair. Green Velvet subsequently released the track “Preacher Man” in the mid 1990s, followed by “Answering Machine”, and the No. 1 U.S. Dance hit “Flash” in 1995.

Following periods of DJing under all of his monikers, Jones returned to Green Velvet to release the full length “Contant Chaos” in January 1999. Issued by Music Man Records, the twelve-track release showcased Jones’ humourous and often bizarre approach to house music, in styles that drew comparisons with Prince and Kraftwerk. A compilation album “Green Velvet” arrived in 2000 on the Warner Bros. imprint F-111, featuring a host of previous singles including “Flash” and “Answering Machine”. The compilation was followed by the much darker sounding “Whatever”, which tackles subjects including racism, drug use, and alienation among others. Drawing influence from a more punk-orientated direction, the album lends less from Kraftwerk and more from the likes of Nitzer Ebb and Liaisons Dangereuses. The album also represented a shift away from DJing to producing the songs live in front of an audience.

After taking a hiatus, where Jones appeared under a series of monikers as a part of his remix and side projects, Green Velvet returned in 2005 to release “Walk In Love”. Unlike its predecessors, the album had a distinctively house music style, and spawned the tracks “Come Back” and “Pin-Up Girl”. Green Velvet released the “Ministry of Sound Session” in 2007, followed by the full-length “Lost and Found” in 2009, and “Unshakable” in 2013.

Taking inspiration for the name from the dancehall legend Don "Niryaman" Gorgon and their passion for Greek Mythology, Gibbon and Robson-Scott were influenced by their love of everything jungle, house, grime, hip-hop and garage. Early collaborations from the pair stemmed from working on "The Crypt" EP. In 2012 they released the "Real EP" via digital download featuring singer Yasmin on the title track, with the single peaking at number 44 on the UK Charts.

The duo signed with Black Butter records in 2012, home to Rudimental, Bipolar Sunshine and Clean Bandit. High demand set in for the pair as they began collaborating with the Klaxons on the track "Here For You", produced Jess Glynne's "Right Here" and it wasn't long before the dynamic duo caught the attention of likes of Diplo, Annie Mac and Mistagram.

Following a string on singles, the duo released the incredible "Ready For Your Love" in January 2014 featuring neo-soul British singer MNEK on vocal duties which stormed the UK charts at number four becoming an infectious club anthem across the country.

Their highly anticipated full length debut "Sirens" came out later that year, full of energetic electro-pop tunes featuring a host of global artists including Maverick Sabre, Katy B and Jennifer Hudson on the single “Go All Night” fully immersed in their definitive uplifting soul infused sound. The mainstream radio response which the album received was unprecedented as the album also produced the singles “Unmissable” and a re-release of early hit “Real”.

The duo have taken their riveting and electric performances on the road playing major festivals such as: Glastonbury, Great Escape, Bestival, Reading and Leeds and SW4 building upon their incredible live reputation.