Eris Drew & Russell E.L. Butler

Who they are

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  Eris Drew

  Chicago · 10 bookings since Dec 2023

  “Eris Drew is a DJ, producer and trans ecstatic from Chicago.”

  their own biography

  the whole biography

  Eris Drew is a DJ, producer and trans ecstatic from Chicago. She runs the T4T LUV NRG recording label with her loving b2b partner Octo Octa from a log cabin in New Hampshire. Together, they are BBC Radio 1 residents for the 2020 Spring/Summer season. Eris is a recording artist for her own label, Interdimensional Transmissions (Detroit) and Naive Records (Lisbon). She conducts the Psychedelic Rites of the Motherbeat with her friends at Pittsburgh's Hot Mass and at Room 4 Resistance in Berlin. Eris has been playing and programming keyboards since she was a child. A long-time resident at Chicago's Smart Bar and DJ for the Bunker NY, she starting mixing records in 1994 at the age of 18. Her experiences as a musician and dancer showed her that rave is a powerful apparatus which can be used to transform individual lives and communities. In an effort to contextualize the rave experience, Eris gives talks around the world on the connections between dance music culture and other ecstatic traditions such as shamanism. In addition, she is an advocate for trans/non-binary/queer people and mentors aspiring DJs and electronic musicians. When Eris was 18 she had an intensely disruptive spiritual awakening. House music cracked her open and revealed a mystery contained within sound. This “Motherbeat”—as she would call it—was first beheld by Eris following a rave in 1994 at Chicago’s Oak Street Theater. She has helped Eris to heal, create art and find her friends for over 23 years. Motherbeat is a fundamental primordial pulsation; a whispering geometric wind with the power to heal; the archetype of a goddess ascending. She is there to remind us that: I. Ritual dance music has been here since the beginning, before historical time. II. Each of us is made for better things than the cultural download we receive provides. III. We can use the music as a technology to unlock our bodies, dissolve boundaries and models, and find each other.
  SoundCloud ↗Bandcamp ↗Discography ↗
  Their RA profile lists Interdimensional Transmissions, Needs (not-for-profit), Naive, T4T LUV NRG and 2 more.

  often with Octo Octa, Immy, LYDO, none of them here that night

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  Russell E.L. Butler

  New York City · 64 bookings since Aug 2023

  “Russell Ellington Langston Butler is a Black artist from Bermuda, living and working in New York City.”

  their own biography

  the whole biography

  Russell Ellington Langston Butler is a Black artist from Bermuda, living and working in New York City. Russell has painstakingly cultivated a unique artistic expression that integrates and investigates themes around process, technological innovation, the archive, and confrontation. Their works have taken the form of vinyl records, digital audio releases, live A/V performances, and special archiving projects.
  SoundCloud ↗Bandcamp ↗Discography ↗
  Techno on 41, House on 23, Electro on 14 and Ambient on 11. styles on their catalogued releases

  Released on .FREQLINK (1), Black Artist Database (1) and TRNWRK (1); their RA profile also lists Spectral Sound, Mister Saturday Night Records, Opal Tapes, CGI Records and 1 more. labels on their catalogued releases and on their RA profile

  Recently at Good Room, Bossa Nova Civic Club, Mansions · often with Ali Berger, Nick Boyd, Eden Aurelius, none of them here that night