Stephanos Pantelas, aka El Niño Diablo, was born on the beautiful island of Cyprus, and his relationship with music began with collecting vinyl records that he played on pirate radio stations. Although his homeland is an inspiring place, Stephanos decided to move to the British capital, where the electronic scene was booming in the mid-1990s and the gay scene was much more liberal and welcoming.
It was there that he gradually made a name for himself in London’s most esteemed DJ booths such as Turnmills, Fabric and The End and also began to venture into the world of remixing for other artists and later set up his own PR company, representing the likes of Horse Meat Disco, Salsoul Records, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Mulatu Astatke, Tegan & Sara, !K7, Strut Records and many more over the years.
Based in Berlin since 2016, Elniñodiablo continues to develop his music production skills at Catalyst Music, the creative arts and technology institute housed in the legendary Funkhaus studios.
This time he brings us his new release based on two cuts – Lunchbox Candy and the unmistakable Let’s Get Sleazy – taken from his latest EP, Into The Great Unknown.
This new album boasts an impressive crew to handle the remixes. First up are UK producers Aaron Horn and Jamie Rodigan, aka Crate Classics, who give Lunchbox Candy a tremendous d’n’b treatment that completely remodels the original track. Pure banger that harks back to the golden days of Jungle at the turn of the last century.
The other two remixes corresponding to Lunchbox Candy come from True Romantic (Victor Yrigoyen, visual artist and Brazilian producer based in Berlin) and from El Niño Diablo himself, both of which are funky but with different treatments for each remixer. While True Romantic’s is more classical, Stephanos twists patterns and rhythms to create a sonic artefact aimed directly at the dancefloor.
For Let’s Get Sleazy we find two huge names in charge of the remixes. First up is the legendary New York duo Each Other, made up of a gentleman named Justin Strauss (with more than three decades of immovable presence on the New York scene) and Brooklyn-based Frenchman Max Pask. Classic and effective procedure to turn the original into an unapologetically danceable bombshell, catchy bass line, catchy claps and arpeggios, formulas that Justin Strauss knows so well.
The second remix of Let’s Get Sleazy comes from one of the most in-demand names for these remixing tasks. Andy Meecham, better known as The Emperor Machine, a British legend who has remixed Röyksopp, Daft Punk, Moby, Laurent Garnier, The Human League (the list of names is endless…). Meecham offers us an analogue and robotic revision of the original, with those trademark rhythmic patterns that have brought him so much success throughout his career.
This EP is a very pleasant surprise for the tremendous variety of flavours that we find to spice up the original ingredients. Don’t miss it, it is one of the most original in this section so far this year.
Available now here
