Mitchell Street Records proudly presents its second release following the success of Jasper’s James ‘Crypto’ opening the labels account back in late 2018. The Dutchman has a Moroccan background but grew up in the Netherlands and is now a firm fixture on the capital’s club circuit, and takes over both sides of the latest MS record, with two off-kilter electro jams and a twisted remix delivered by Scandinavian upstart Samo DJ.
Jasper and Elias’ musical relationship stretches back a few years after a chance encounter at Amsterdam’s Claire nightclub. The two young DJs instantly hit it off after sharing a DJ booth and were playing b2b minutes after their initial meeting. Following a late-night trip and some home-grown hospitality around Amsterdam. Jasper returned the favour by inviting Elias to join him at Glasgow’s legendary Sub Club alongside another Dutch favourite, Tom Trago, and their friendship was firmly established.
For a number of years Elias has been a regular at Amsterdam’s most respected institutions including his residency at De School. His ‘Private Hearts’ show on Red Light Radio is a go to show on the world-famous radio station and shows his eclecticism as a selector. Elias openly admits to being passionate, emotional and sensitive, and it shows in his DJ sets which take inspiration for the music around which he grew up – Michael Jackson, Prince, Stevie Wonder – as well as from more contemporary flames like Omar-S, Zip and Beautiful Swimmers. To date he has played venerated night spots like Concrete, Sub Club, Le Sucre, Institut für Zukunft, Nitsa, objekt klein a and many others.
“When I make music and I play out, I have to open up my heart and be able to spread the same love that I get when I’m on the dancefloor,” he admits. “That warm feeling that hits my soul is the thing I aim for when producing my tracks or when I play in the club. Music is a highly emotive way of expressing myself, and when people recognize that I’m the happiest person on the planet’’
The two original tracks demonstrate his ear for sounds that span genre and time. The EP’s lead track ‘The Right Key’ is rooted in electro but borrows from the electronic palette of Kid A or Aphex, whilst maintaining enough of a dancefloor feel to make it into one of Craig Richard’s DJ sets. Vocoders and a sense of melancholy make for a unique track that anchors around a musical bassline and melodic synth pads.
On the B side ‘Driving With No Purpose’ has a more Balearic feel, again taking lead from a melodic bassline. Synthetic strings rise with more of the melancholic introspection found on the A side, walking the line elegantly between dancefloors and lonely train journeys.
Samo DJ takes his remix into all together darker territory, sharp synths sit under Elias’s melodic arpeggiators whilst drilling down into the core elements of the original. Reverb washed cymbals and synthesisers fill the mid-range and the tracks notable lack of kick drum stops the track becoming predictable.