Five Reasons To See Erick Morillo

Retracing the giant steps of the New York DJ dynamo

From New York's underground to Top of The Pops, globe-trotting superstar DJ to skating along the edge, Erick Morillo has burnt a bright path through the sky of electronic music. His Subliminal label defined a generation, spending over a decade bringing his good-time party vibes to Ibiza, and like Morillo it's currently on yet another hot streak.

Playing Egg on November 19th as part of an intimate UK tour, the Colombian-American is joined by Pirupa, with Berlin's Keinemusik crew taking over the second room. Looking back over his finest moments, we pick five reason why Morillo has stayed at the top for so long while many of his of his contemporaries have faded away...

1. Erick produced some of the biggest anthems on New York's Strictly Rhythm during the city and label's '90s heyday, moving in a progressively more vocal direction on the suggestion of Masters At Work's Little Louie Vega . Try these classics on for size.

2. He was originally know as Erick ‘More’ Morillo, a name given to him by Gladys Bezoar from Strictly Rhythm, who nick-named him Eric ‘more for your money’ Morillo on account of the fact that he would always hand over tracks with six or seven different mixes. This epic work rate and energy has never diminished.

3. In 1994 he had a huge international hit with the Reel 2 Real smash 'I Like To Move It' featuring the ragga vocals of The Mad Stuntman. (The duo were introduced by El General, the 'Father of reggaeton', who Morillo had previously remixed.) It hit the No. 5 spot on the UK Singles chart and Morillo made the first of a number of appearance on Top of The Pops. Lady fame had come knocking.

4. The founding of his Subliminal Records label in 1997, alongside fellow New York DJ/Producers Harry Romoeo and Jose Nunez, helped catapult his to superstar status. Holding down a 13-year residency at Pacha Ibiza, his life became a blur of private jets and parties, with the DJ buying several houses around the world and collaborating with stars like P. Diddy. Eventually, however, the party life caught up with him and he sought out a therpaist to deal with his substance abuse.

5. Morillo is back stronger than ever. After taking a hiatus, Subliminal have a release pencilled every two weeks. As well as playing the Space closing party, Morillo also mixed one half of the club's final season compilationx alongside Carl Cox, for whom he wrote an entire track, which you can listen to below. He's collaborating with fresh talent such as Eli & Furr, exploring a more underground angle, while also putting out big room hits like Eddie Thoneick collaboration 'Lost In You'. Catch his extended set at Egg Presents on Saturday November 19th. Get tickets and further info here.

And if that still hasn't convinced you, we'll just leave this here...

By Fidel/Nicky Trax