Eli Escobar

Eli Escobar, a DJ and producer based in New York, channels his efforts into curating events by drawing on deep expertise in house and disco, above all the output tied to his hometown. Nearly a decade of regular appearances at gatherings and venues across the city allowed him to sharpen his technique until he became a recognized constant in the local scene. International notice followed the 2014 arrival of his first album-length work, Up All Night, which condensed disco elements into an immediately approachable set that saluted New York’s musical lineage.

Piano study began at age six, yet only in 1998, during his final year of high school, did he develop a passion for hip-hop that launched his music career. Turntables were acquired and handled with striking natural ability; within twelve months he had completed his earliest hip-hop 12-inch singles. From 1999 forward he concentrated on attending and performing at parties, showing no urgency to issue recordings until “Money Lotion,” his first dance 12-inch, surfaced on Money Studies Records in 2007. Performance remained the priority, so singles continued to appear only sporadically over the next seven years on imprints such as Plant Music and Nervous. During that stretch he became firmly rooted in the New York club world through residencies, membership in the Tiki Disco Crew, and events presented under the Night People name, which he launched with fellow N.Y.C. DJ Blu Jemz.

The 2014 release of Up All Night on Night People NYC, an enterprise that grew into a label, marked a decisive shift. The album reached listeners worldwide, expanded his touring calendar, and sparked an interest in longer-form projects. Before his second album, 2016’s Happiness, he was signed to Classic, a Defected subsidiary, signaling his increased profile. So much fresh material was generated for that release that a third album could follow the next year. Shout, issued in 2018, contained selections built around live instrumentation that stayed closer to disco’s original conception than any of his prior work. Last Summer arrived in 2019 and traced a comparable course.