Mella Dee

British DJ and producer Mella Dee maintains an open-minded, exploratory stance when shaping his warehouse-focused club tracks and refuses to confine himself to any single genre. His initial output centered on complex yet forceful grime beats, showcased on the 2012 EP Don't Be Nesh, before he shifted toward garage and house productions that drew from jungle, hardcore, and bass traditions. Breakthrough arrived via the 2017 single "Techno Disco Tool," a hypnotic dancefloor staple that earned silver certification five years after release. Rather than chase repetition, he has pursued his own instincts on cuts such as "Ethereal Chugger" and "Big Eff Off Groove." During the 2020s he has increasingly featured guest vocalists, among them Infinite Coles and Bernard Sumner, while also issuing purely instrumental material including the 2023 collection Rug Cutters, Vol. 1.

Ryan Aitchison, who hails from Doncaster, first issued grime and garage material under the Mella Dee name near the start of 2012. The Don't Be Nesh EP featured Birmingham emcee Slick Don on one track, whereas Ruff Cut highlighted his more relaxed dancefloor leanings. Subsequent releases such as the 2013 EP Things Don't Change and 2014's Feel It Out kept exploring house, garage, and bassline terrain, while 2016's Deep Soul leaned heavily into jungle and hardcore breaks. He founded the Warehouse Music label in 2017; its third EP carried the Sister Sledge-sampling "Techno Disco Tool," which Warner Music licensed and turned into a major success. Despite the surge in festival and club offers that followed, Aitchison showed little interest in repeating the formula, naming a 2018 EP Not Here to Make Friends. He kept delivering minimal yet driving club cuts, mostly on his own imprint, aside from the 2020 split release Toe to Toe, Vol. 1 with Subradeon on Ben Sims' Hardgroove label.

In 2021 Mella Dee teamed with vocalist Infinite Coles, son of Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah, for the single "A Little While Longer" on Pete Tong's Three Six Zero Recordings. A version of the track appeared on the Don't Sleep-issued EP Whistle Posse Spangled in the Corner, which also included contributions from Coby Sey and Effie. A follow-up single with Coles, "Love It or Not," arrived in 2022 alongside the solo pieces "Big Eff Off Groove" and "Find Love Yourself." That same year saw the release of "Riptide" featuring Bernard Sumner, whose artwork nodded to New Order's Technique. Two further EPs, Connected Experiences and Rug Cutters, Vol. 1, surfaced during 2023.