By the time Ekali gets back to Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»next week, the beatmaker otherwise known as Nathan Shaw will be playing his biggest hometown show, as part of the two-day Contact Winter Music Festival at B.C. Place.
But while he recently that it’s been a dream of his to play the iconic, if cavernous, local stadium since he was a pre-teen, he’s just as excited to be hitting smaller clubs in the U.S. on his current tour. Caught on his cellphone during his first time through Madison, Wis., Ekali reveals that every fan gets his full attention.
“Sometimes you’re playing a small city you’ve never been to on a Tuesday or a Wednesday. The rooms are half full, [but] for me, I really enjoy that,” he tells Westender, adding: “It doesn’t matter how big the crowd is, you play the exact same.”
For the record, captured later that night from the Cheese State’s capital shows the producer bounding along in a packed club with an energized audience.
Shaw’s a longtime vet of the stage, having previously played bass for pop group Said the Whale, but he’s currently got his full focus on trap and house rhythms as Ekali. He got a major boost a couple of years ago after the silky harp sounds of his “Unfaith” were sampled on Drake number “Wednesday Night Interlude,” while Shaw has also been praised for full-bodied remixes for fellow electronic acts Snakehips and Flume.
But Ekali’s 2017 may well be defined by “Babylon,” a single which finds the producer providing a framework of ground-shaking bass tones and a brassy fanfare of synths beneath rapper Denzel Curry’s powerful, triplet-paced flow. It’s nearing two million spins on Spotify alone.
While the single is only one of a handful of Ekali originals out there right now, Shaw suggests there’s more in store for the faithful.
“This year we transitioned from doing a lot of remixes into doing a lot of originals--you could say it’s a learning curve for me,” he says with a self-deprecating laugh. “Originals are a lot harder to finish. Remixes I’m easy going about; I can dial them and put them out and its fine. With the originals, I’m a perfectionist.”
Though Shaw is slight on the details, an EP of new music is in the works for 2018. Considering the online success of tracks like “Babylon” and the recent “Past Life” track he penned with Opia singer Cole Citrenbaum, Ekali can confirm that a wave of yet-to-be-detailed vocalists will be working their magic above the producer’s next round of digital soundscapes.
“I think there’s something special about the human voice. There are so many musical instruments, but none of them speak words except for the human voice,” Shaw says, revealing that it’s not just his in-studio collaborators’ pipes that are giving him a thrill. “From the performer’s perspective, you see people singing along to this music... it connects people in a different way than instrumental music.”
While Ekali heads back into Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»for the holidays, he’s not here for long. After wrapping up at Contact on Boxing Day, he heads out to North Carolina for a New Year’s gig, and more festival sets are expected throughout 2018. He’s making new friends and fans at every concert, but Shaw’s stop at B.C. Place is going to be special.
“I don’t really get nervous for shows anymore, but I think that because it’s in my hometown, and I’m bringing my mom and my sister, I’m definitely going to be getting some pre-show jitters for Contact. It’s going to be an emotional show for me.”
• Ekali performs on Day 1 (Dec. 26) of the at B.C. Place.
