Maceo Plex

Spanish producer Eric Estornel initially reserved the name Maceo Plex for his festival-ready house productions before gradually steering the project in a darker, more introspective direction. After establishing himself in the techno world under the name Maetrik in the early 2000s and exploring more abstract electro and IDM under the name Mariel Ito in the middle of the decade, he began releasing some of his most accessible tracks under the name Maceo Plex in 2009.

Over the following decade, the project evolved from deep, sexy house with strong Chicago and Detroit influences (as on the debut album Life Index from 2011) to a much more dramatic sound (especially on the ambitious Solar from 2017). In addition to releasing singles and long-players on renowned labels such as Crosstown Rebels, Kompakt and Minus, Maceo Plex has also released compilations on the DJ Kicks and Fabric series. In the early 2020s, he collaborated with artists such as Faithless, Liberty City and Johnny Jewel.

Estornel was born in Texas in 1978. He grew up in Dallas and moved to Miami with his family as a teenager. He began DJing in 1993 and started making music in the late 90s, releasing techno and electro tracks under names like Eric Entity and Tali Wackas on the short-lived Illmatic Records label. In 2001, he began releasing music under the name Maetrik and made an immediate impact on the tech house scene with EPs and albums on labels such as Treibstoff and Iron Box Music. In 2005, he adopted the more experimental stage name Mariel Ito and released the full album My Cyborg Depths on SCSI-AV and the Indexed EP on Modern Love.

At the end of 2009, Estornel released a digital EP entitled Clubs, which was produced together with Maetrik and Maceo Plex. After moving to Valencia, Spain, in 2010, he focused on his stage name Maceo Plex and a more soulful house sound. “Vibe Your Love”, a cover version of Stevie Wonder’s “For Your Love”, was released by Crosstown Rebels in 2010 and quickly became a club hit.

This paved the way for the long-player Life Index, which was released in 2011 and also became a success, and Estornel began to devote more time to his work as Maceo Plex. His subsequent EPs, such as 2012’s Space Junk and several releases on Conjure, struck a darker, more sci-fi influenced tone, but remained generally club-ready.

K7’s DJ Kicks series in 2013, he began working on an ambitious album titled “Solar”. The Solar 12″ compilation from 2015 included the epic “Solar Detroit”, which became one of his biggest tracks. The 2016 EP Journey to Solar paved the way for 2017’s Solar, a more introspective, vocal-driven album inspired by his marriage and fatherhood.

His second commercially released mix CD, Fabric 98, was released in 2018. The EPs Mutant 1, Mutant 2 and Mutant Romance were all released in the same year and combined in the Mutant Series 2019. The solo singles “When the Lights Are Out” and “Lonely Tribe” were also released in 2019, as was the collaboration with Josh Wink “Destination Mars”.

In 2020, Maceo Plex released the singles “Nu World” and “Cinemax”. This was followed by “Insomnia”, a new edition of the Faithless classic, and collaborations with Liberty City (“You Know What I Got”) and Program 2 (“Revision”). “Surgery” with Johnny Jewel and Glüme was released in 2022, “All Night” with Oscar and the Wolf in the same year.