Fresh Kicks 104: Elle Dee
Brooklyn via São Paulo DJ Elle Dee delivers an hour of rugged, kinetic techno as part of our Fresh Kicks series...
Rhythm is in Elle Dee’s nature. Based in Brooklyn, the DJ and Mild Fantasy party founder was born in Brazil into a family of Bossa Nova musicians, she spent her childhood in a house full of instruments with music being played live in her living room to the early hours of the morning.
Learning drums as a child lead to a love of club sounds and a desire to start mixing records herself. Indeed, her penchant for propulsive and percussive techno sets in New York clubs like Bossa Nova Civic Club, Elsewhere, Output and, Mild Fantasy’s home, Mood Ring, have showcased a selector for whom that rhythmic energy is intrinsic and essential.
Elle Dee moved to São Paulo when she was 17 and, to help pay her way through her college degree, landed a job working the door at the city’s hallowed but since shut Lov.e Club, an experience that proved hugely formative. It was at the club’s afterparties with the resident DJs and international guests that she first learned to mix, with help from local legend DJ Mau Mau.
Having relocated to Brooklyn ten years ago, Elle Dee launched her Mild Fantasy parties last year in Mood Ring, and has gone on to host the likes of Lauren Flax, False Witness and Heidi Sabretooth. With plans to launch a Mild Fantasy label with her own debut EP in the near future, Elle Dee is getting busier and busier. As she make plans to tour in Europe and make her debut on Amsterdam’s Red Light Radio, it appears as though Elle Dee could soon become a very familiar name on the international underground circuit.
As part of our Fresh Kicks series, Elle Dee has delivered an hour of rugged and urgent techno records, gathered from across her favourite record stores in New York. Check it out below.
Last track that blew your mind?
“Legowelt ‘Deep Magic Begins Here’”
Last film you watched?
“I finally saw Climax by one of my favorite directors, Gaspar Noé”
Last DJ that blew your mind?
“That's a tough one!! Last time I saw Juana she was so great and Volvox always does it for me.”
Favourite album to relax to?
“Wagner's Der Ring Nibelungen”
Favourite producer?
“Really into Patricia at the moment”
What record is on the top of your wishlist?
“Boy Harsher ‘Careful Remixes’”
What’s the best club you’ve played at?
“Good Room”
Photo credit: Carolina Menendez
