Spain-based producer Eric Estornel initially reserved the name Maceo Plex for his festival-friendly house productions before gradually taking the project into a darker, more introspective direction. After establishing himself in the techno world for his work as Maetrik beginning in the early 2000s, and exploring more abstract electro and IDM as Mariel Ito around the middle of the decade, he began releasing some of his most accessible tracks under the Maceo Plex handle starting in 2009. Over the course of the following decade, the project evolved from deep, sexy house with prominent Chicago and Detroit influences (such as on debut full-length Life Index) to a significantly more dramatic sound (particularly the ambitious Solar). In addition to releasing singles and full-lengths on well-regarded labels such as Crosstown Rebels, Kompakt, and Minus, Maceo Plex has mixed volumes of the DJ-Kicks and Fabric series.
Estornel was born in Texas in 1978. Raised in Dallas, his family moved to Miami when he was a teenager. He started DJ’ing in 1993, and by the end of the ’90s he had begun making music, releasing techno and electro tracks under names such as Eric Entity and Tali Wackas on a short-lived label called Illmatic Records. He started releasing music as Maetrik in 2001, and instantly made an impact on the tech-house scene, with EPs and full-lengths on labels like Treibstoff and Iron Box Music. He launched his more experimental alias Mariel Ito in 2005, releasing the full-length My Cyborg Depths on SCSI-AV and the Indexed EP on Modern Love.