COMBINATIONS & INSPIRATIONAL IDEAS 3.
1. Eli Escobar — In My Bones (Original Mix)
Background & origins: Eli Escobar is a New York DJ and producer whose musical identity is deeply tied to the city's house and disco traditions. He began playing with turntables in the early 1990s and became a professional DJ in 1997.
Career & influence: His breakthrough album Up All Night arrived in 2014, followed by Happiness on Defected's Classic imprint. He's also been central to New York's Tiki Disco scene and runs Night People NYC. His DJ profile has taken him to Boiler Room, BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix, Resident Advisor and Mixmag's The Lab.
Why this track: Escobar is a particularly good fit because his records often reveal their disco, soul and New York house DNA gradually. In My Bones feels like a record built from the foundations of the city rather than simply referencing them.
Artist: Eli Escobar
Track: In My Bones – Beatport
2. James Curd & Karizma — I Know You (Inkswel Remix)
This is an interesting meeting of Chicago and Baltimore house sensibilities. James Curd has long been associated with Chicago's groove-heavy house/disco continuum, while Karizma is one of Baltimore's most respected house producers and DJs.
The original I Know You is their first collaboration, with remixes from Rocco Rodamaal, Ralph Session and Australia's Inkswel. The record bridges deep house, disco and more peak-time club territory.
Inkswel himself has been an important figure in the modern boogie/funk underground, with releases and collaborations involving artists including Gary Davis, Reggie B and Kid Sublime.
Why this track: It's exactly the kind of combination that makes the mix work: take the same musical idea, pass it through three different house traditions, and see what gets revealed.
Artists: James Curd · Karizma
Track: I Know You – PRONTO Records
3. Craig Sherrad feat. Amp Fiddler — The Technician
This one has some serious Detroit pedigree.
Craig Sherrad was born in Detroit and grew up surrounded by jazz, hip-hop and electronic music. His father was a live jazz promoter, and Craig was playing drums and keyboards by the age of 12. His later work has crossed techno, house, hip-hop, soul and nu-disco.
He's released music connected with Transmat, including work appearing on Derrick May's Transmat 4, and developed his own Dnaut label and various virtual production collectives.
Then there's Amp Fiddler—the late Detroit keyboardist, singer and producer whose career included Parliament-Funkadelic, Prince, Moodymann, Carl Craig, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Jamiroquai. His Detroit connections extended across funk, soul and techno.
Why this track: The Technician brings together two generations of Detroit musical thinking: live funk and keyboard musicianship meeting electronic production.
Artist: Craig Sherrad
Track: The Technician – Apple Music
4. Ethiopian Chyld & Afro Descent — Let's Hit The Road
Ethiopian Chyld, real name Tebogo Joseph Ndala, is a producer and DJ from Pretoria, South Africa and founder of House Head Session. His work explores soulful house, Afro rhythms, ambient textures and what he describes as a "3-Step" approach.
His 2023 album Melanated was an important part of that development, followed by projects including Let Me Heal Youand collaborations with Afro Descent.
Let's Hit The Road is a particularly recent release: it appeared in August 2026 on House Head Session and is classified as Afro House at 120 BPM.
Why this track: There's an obvious road-trip quality to the title, but musically it also fits because it exposes the rhythmic and soulful foundations underneath contemporary African house.
Artist: Ethiopian Chyld – Bandcamp
Track: Let's Hit The Road – Beatport
5. Angles Morts — Mame Note (K15 Remix)
Angles Morts are a four-piece from Marseille's new jazz scene, comprising Samuel Diouf on keys, Raphaël Thoreau La Salle on guitar and synths, Paul Philibert on bass and Jérémi Martinez on drums and percussion. Their music sits across jazz, broken beat, house, UK garage and bass music.
Their Dérive Asphalte material was subsequently remixed by producers from different corners of the underground, including K15, Goldie B, Hitch.93, Brothermartino and Ficus.
K15's remix is particularly appropriate here: his work has long occupied the space where jazz, soul, broken beat and electronic music overlap.
Why this track: Take a live jazz composition, remove the obvious genre boundaries and expose the rhythmic architecture underneath.
Artist: Angles Morts – Bandcamp
Track: Mame Note (K15 Remix)
6. Sio & Max Sinàl — Counting Stars (Extended Mix)
This is a particularly good one for your audience.
Max Sinàl is a London DJ and producer who started out on East London's pirate-radio circuit and has been DJing for around 25 years. Before adopting the Max Sinàl name, he released music under aliases including 2fox, M.A.X and Sinàl. He's also worked with artists including Rudimental and House Gospel Choir.
He co-founded Soul Quest Records in 2023, concentrating on deep house with soul and developing what he calls his distinctive London sound. He was named a DJ Mag Best Emerging Artist and has received support from Gilles Peterson, Laurent Garnier and Kai Alce.
Sio is a South African singer, songwriter, poet and DJ whose work brings spoken-word sensibility into soulful electronic music. Counting Stars has been highlighted as a collaboration combining her poetry with Sinàl's warm, jazz-inflected deep house.
Why this track: This is exactly the kind of London-meets-South-Africa connection that ElecSoul does so well—soulful, lyrical and deeply rooted without being nostalgic.
Max Sinàl: Official website
Sio: Sio – Instagram
Track: Counting Stars – Soul Quest Records
7. Inta-City — Runnin' Outta Time (Kons Got It Together Flip)
This is one where I would keep the spoken introduction deliberately short. I couldn't find enough reliable biographical information about Inta-City or the specific Kons flip to give you the kind of background we normally want without risking inventing details.
What we can say is that Kons is known for the "Got It Together" approach to reworking records—taking an existing musical idea and reshaping it for a contemporary dancefloor.
Why this track: Sometimes the record itself is the story. Runnin' Outta Time is a good example of the ElecSoul principle of digging beyond the obvious artist names and finding the record that makes the set work.
Track: Runnin' Outta Time – search on Traxsource
8. Rochelle Jordan — I'm Your Muse (Ron Trent Extended Remix)
Rochelle Jordan, aka ROJO, is a Toronto-born singer-songwriter whose music has moved between R&B, soul, electronic music and club culture. Her album Play With the Changes established her as an artist particularly interesting to electronic-music listeners.
Her 2025 album Through the Wall continued that evolution, with I'm Your Muse becoming particularly interesting in its various remixed forms.
And then you bring in Ron Trent—Chicago deep-house royalty. Trent's music is rooted in jazz, soul and spiritual house, with an approach to rhythm and arrangement that has influenced generations of producers.
Why this track: This is a great example of what happens when contemporary R&B songwriting meets a producer whose musical vocabulary comes directly from Chicago's deep-house tradition.
Rochelle Jordan: Official Bandcamp
Track: I'm Your Muse – Bandcamp
9. Vanessa L. Smith — Girl From 8G (Bonus Drummer and Percussions)
Vanessa L. Smith is a vocalist whose work sits comfortably between soul, jazz and contemporary electronic music. The Girl From 8G material is particularly interesting because of the emphasis on additional live percussion.
I would make the introduction here about the musicianship rather than biography: the title's "Bonus Drummer and Percussions" immediately suggests a production where the rhythmic layer is important enough to warrant its own attention.
Why this track: Listening past the lead vocal and hearing what the drummer and percussionist are actually doing underneath it.
Track: Girl From 8G – search on Beatport
10. Charles Dockins — The Way You Love Me (CDocks Orig. Concept Mix)
Charles Dockins, known as C-Dock, is a veteran of the soulful and deep-house world, with a particular connection to Chicago's house tradition.
The CDocks Original Concept Mix is worth highlighting because it represents something fundamental to house music: producers who aren't necessarily trying to reinvent the song, but understand how to reshape its emotional and rhythmic centre for the club.
Why this track: It brings the soulfulness of the vocal tradition into the deeper side of the set, maintaining the emotional thread while allowing the groove to breathe.
Track: The Way You Love Me – Beatport search
11. Gershon Jackson — Take It Easy (Mike Dunn Blackball Ezee Mixx)
Now we're talking Chicago house history.
Gershon Jackson began as an underground Chicago DJ and radio mix-master in the early 1990s, mentored by house legends Farley "Jackmaster" Funk and Mike Dunn. He played clubs including the Courtyard, Club Music World and the legendary Warehouse.
His 2015 Traxx That Jack U EP produced the hugely successful Take It Easy, which reached the top of charts on several digital music stores.
And the remix here is by Mike Dunn, one of the architects of Chicago's acid-house and deep-house sound. The production was recorded and mixed at Dunn's Chicago studio, "The Dunngeon."
Why this track: This is a genuine Chicago house lineage record: mentor, protégé and a shared musical vocabulary.
Gershon Jackson: Spotify
Track: Take It Easy (Mike Dunn Blackball Ezee Mixx) – Apple Music
12. Lyric Jones, Byron The Aquarius & Wake The Wild
This is a particularly fascinating combination.
Lyric Jones began in Boston as a hip-hop MC, drummer and live performer, studying drums and voice through the Boston City Music Program and Berklee. Her early career included collaborations with Phife Dawg, Esperanza Spalding, Little Brother, Skyzoo, Blu, Guilty Simpson and Rah Digga.
More recently she's moved decisively into house and electronic music, working with artists including Terry Hunter, Melba Moore and Byron The Aquarius. In 2025 she launched Tempo Soul Records, a label aimed at creating more space for Black women in house and dance music.
Byron The Aquarius is a Birmingham, Alabama-born keyboard player and producer with a deep jazz background. His Highlife EP on Theo Parrish's Sound Signature became a landmark release, while subsequent albums appeared on BBE, Mutual Intentions, Jeff Mills' Axis Records, Wild Oats and Shall Not Fade.
And Wake The Wild are part of Jones's newer electronic-soul direction, with the two appearing together as East West Honey.
Why this track: It brings the whole ElecSoul philosophy together—hip-hop, jazz, live musicianship, soulful vocals and contemporary house culture meeting in one place.
Lyric Jones: Official website
Byron The Aquarius: Official artist profile
East West Honey / Wake The Wild: East West Honey
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