What an experience that was! Since Eric Estornel debuted his Maceo Plex project on record label Crosstown Rebels back in 2011, Eric has made this alias one of the most recognizable names in the underground scene.

On NYD he took over the London venue Tobacco Docks with his ‘Dream Don’t Sleep’ party. The event completely sold out a week prior to the event with people travelling from all over the place to party. The hype running up to the event was buzzing! The queues leading into the venue were running smoothly from the start, with the venue filling up quickly.

With only Adam Beyer’s set being announced prior to the event, people knew they had to be at the venue for at least 14:00 to catch him playing. Boxia played the car park from 12:30 – 14:00 with a selection of deep grinding techno warming everybody up for the acts headlining later in the day. Finishing his set with Ben Klock’s rework of Kerri Chandler’s track ‘Pong’, he handed over to Drumcode’s very own, Beyer!

Adam Beyer played in the car park for two hours and went in with the suspected ‘Beyer’ set. People had only just got there when they were put straight into the deep techno. Being set in an underground car park, it made the heavy hitting hits that much better to digest. The car park filled up exceptionally quick from the front to the back with crowds of techno two steppers.

I spoke with Dino Lenny backstage who played the opening set in the ‘Great Gallery’, who was then followed on by Odd Parents.

Welcome Dino! Firstly its a pleasure to meet you, secondly how did the set go? What kind of music selection did you play being the first set of the day?

“Set was good, I started the set in with some cosmic arpeggios as people were settling in followed by some nice trippy tunes from my label, ‘Fine Human Records’ (Savino & Black Mami) that will be out soon.”

Describe to me what the experience was like to play at the monstrous venue Tobacco Docks?

“Tobacco Dock is a great venue, it was so packed that I didn’t really get a chance to move around and check out other rooms, plus ‘Dream Don’t Sleep’ Great Gallery room was so hot that it was hard to miss a beat. Had a fab time listening to Mano Le Tough, AME and always exciting to be next to Maceo while he performs.”

Tell us what your highlight was from 2015?

“I think ADE was the highlight for me and the after-party was great too.”

What a way of starting the new year, the whole day was constructed with beautiful music. What can we expect from your own music for year 2016 though?

“I’m just going to keep working and having fun trying to push myself as much as I can in a more experimental direction. Ellum is my priority label wise. This is a Love Song is out now and doing quite well so not much in a rush.”

Mano Le Tough went in after Âme’s exceptional live performance set. Mano was using two Pioneer CDJs, but mixing with a Rane MP2015 rotary mixer that I hadn’t witnessed live before. The transitions of mixing through this mixer was so smooth, or maybe that was just Mano… Maceo told me on stage that he was going to use this mixer in his set but changed his decision late on.

Maceo Plex. The one that most people had been waiting to see all day stepped up after Mano Le Tough’s heavy hitting techno set to close the night. What a feeling it must have been for Eric to know that he sold out the whole of Tobacco Docks and that most people were there to the very end to catch his playing. Two hours through a transition of a ‘Maceo Plex’ style set that no other artist can compete with. When he recently played at the Drumcode party on Halloween at Tobacco Docks last year I caught some amazing footage of him playing his track ‘Solar Detroit’ which got an amazing response from the crowd. To view this – Click Here

Maceo Plex is due to release his second album ‘Solar’. “Wash Away My Tears (12 inch mix)’ is a more DJ friendly version of the original on the album. ‘Solar Detroit’ was written when I took little baby Solar to Detroit in May.” The Solar Sampler will arrive on July 27.

“Maceo Plex announces a long awaited forthcoming album with the first single on his Ellum Audio imprint, featuring two stunning andspaced out compositions in the Solar Sampler. A side Wash Away My Tears (12 inch mix) is beautifully deep, dreamy and introspective with emotive synths and luscious melodies. On the flip Solar Detroit is rich in depth and quality as it builds into an epic affair with dramatic synth lines, grumbling FX and sonic acid giving us a taste of whats to come on his long player.”

To Purchase ‘Solar Sampler’ – Click Here

Eric ended his set with ‘Polygon Pulse’ last night to a full capacity crowd which stayed until the very end of his set. Some sight from the crowd and the whole of the stage was absolutely buzzing!