Maceo Plex

Maceo Plex is Eric Estornel, born in Cuba, raised in the US. He built the Maceo Plex project in the 2010s as a vehicle for something between house, techno and electro that didn’t quite fit any single category. He also records as Maetrik — the darker, more techno-facing alias — and under his own name. He founded Ellum Audio in 2011, through which he’s put out his own and others’ work consistently since. The “Solar” EP (2011) and the “Life Index” album (2013) are the most-cited early documents. He’s played Berghain, Fabric and Tresor as well as Sonar and ADE. The Boiler Room Berlin session on this site is a good single document — driving, atmospheric, built across a longer arc than most. He’s Cuban-American in a world dominated by German and British names, which shaped the sound more than genre categorisations would suggest.