ELE Records has been on quite the journey. The label was established in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2016, with origins in Manchester and now calls Berlin home. They tend to focus upon releases which reflect this variance, promoting artists whose backgrounds didn’t necessarily thrust them into the scene with the tools and training common amongst many successful musicians today. Instead, they liken their motive to the rise and success of hip-hop, declaring, “our art exists because it has a will to exist, like hip-hop.”
Their releases echo this compulsion to create, churning out gritty, sample based burners combining aspects of hip-hop, jazz, disco and house into deeply reflective and soulful records over the past three years. A VA featuring Byron the Aquarius and Glenn Davis has caught the eye of Detroit Swindle and other DJs around the world seeking those dark, chugging gems for late night sonic explorations. Edits from the ever mysterious Cottam rang in the label’s style with their sexy grooves and hazy melodic interpretations.
[soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/boltingbits/nikki-o-and-javonntte-sweet-midnight/” /]
Now they are back with a flavorful edit of Nicholas’ 2017 track “Black Sugar” featuring vocals from Nikki-O. With Nikki-O combining with Javonntte for ELE’s latest release, it only made sense for label boss Sameed to handle edit duties alongside the deep house maestro. The track features all of the promised attributes of the ELE sound: dusty house chords on top of a hypnotic house rhythm complimented by soulful vocals and a loose standup jazz bass to bring it all together. It is one of those rare tracks that you could thrive both in the dark shadows at the end of a warehouse rave and the sunlit scene of a poolside rooftop party. Expect ELE to continue pumping out the tools for any deep house head. Grab your copy of the full release on juno.
Nicholas
