Maya Jane Coles
Winner of numerous awards, British-Japanese queen of the electronic underground Maya Jane Coles has proven herself internationally as an artist, producer, songwriter, and DJ, amassing a staggering 3.2 million followers on Soundcloud alone!!
Maya has played in over 40 countries. Gigging from the Tate Modern to MOMA, stadiums, cranes, hotels, car parks, bridges, deserts, fashion launches, mountains, muddy fields, and beaches, not to mention the most prestigious clubs in the world. Critical and fan support have closely followed her career with Maya picking up multiple awards including Beatport’s ‘Staff Pick: Artist of the Year and ‘Best Producer’, ‘Best DJ’, ‘Best Compilation’ or ‘Best Underground Track’ from Mixmag and DJ to FACT and SPIN.
Indeed, Maya has already graced the cover of over 20 magazines in 8 different countries including twice for Mixmag (UK), DJ Mag (UK), Village Voice (USA), Trax (France), Groove (Germany), and Vicious (Spain), alongside coverage as diverse as Vogue and Nylon through to Rolling Stone, Wall Street Journal and GQ. Maya even found time to front an international campaign for Doc Martens.
So why all the fuss? Well, Maya is somewhat of an enigma; on a typical Maya Jane Coles record, Maya will have written, produced, engineered, arranged, mixed, and performed every element of the track, sometimes top-lining and, on many occasions, even designing the sleeve artwork too. Maya is no overnight success, rather someone who has been paying their dues and honing their craft for years… First intrigued by the musical mixture of sounds from dub to punk to soul to jazz to world to classical music played at home; Maya began to pick up a few instruments herself and started songwriting. The production felt like the natural next step to release her own vision at every part of the process from beginning to end. First producing hip-hop at 15, Maya migrated to dubbier electronic sounds aged 16, and following the experience of exploring underground house music in the clubs and warehouses of East London she started to make house records, culminating in her first release ‘Sick Panda’ on Dogmatik back in in 2007. The release led to gigs at events like the BBC Electric Proms and Bestival. Whilst earlier tracks were all well received it is arguably ‘What They Say’, originally released on Real Tone, that would see Maya rise up the ranks of the underground house scene.
Topping both the sales charts on Beatport and Resident Advisor’s charts week upon week. Further Maya productions ‘Don’t Put Me In Your Box’ EP (Hypercolour), ‘Humming Bird’ EP (Hypercolour), ‘Focus Now’ EP (20:20 Vision), ‘Beat Faster’ EP (Mobilee) cemented her position and built anticipation for Maya’s debut LP ‘Comfort’. Led by the single ‘Easier to Hide’ in 2012, July 2013 saw the release of Maya’s debut album ‘Comfort’ on her I/AM/ME imprint. The record was produced, engineered, and mixed solely by Maya herself. She even created the artwork for the album and all of the singles. Maya’s debut was critically acclaimed, delivering an eclectic melting pot of sound and texture drawing on everything from house and techno through to R&B and Dub. Vocal guests on the record included Tricky, Miss Kittin, Kim Ann Foxman, Karin Park, Nadine Shah, and Thomas Knights; the latter also directed two of the album’s music videos! 2014 saw a club smash ‘Getting Freaky’ on Heidi’s Jackathon Jams and a return to Dogmatik with ‘Watcher’. Maya also collaborated with GAPS on a Mobilee EP release. Maya in turn released a GAPS album to mark the first release on I/AM/ME other than her own material in 2015.
In 2015, Maya’s eponymous album under her bass-driven ‘Nocturnal Sunshine’ alias, won the best Producer at the DJ Mag awards and was further included in DJ Mag’s Top 10 Albums of 2015. Again Maya took on all duties from music to artwork with Catnapp and Chelou the only guest artists on the album. Maya has also remixed emergent talents The Orb, Karin Park, and Phil Kieran, and originals ‘Can’t Hide The Way I Feel/Broke’. Maya would debut the moniker on her own branded stage at Secret Garden and later play a handful of special gigs under the moniker alongside Jamie XX in NYC and Bonobo in London.
2017 saw Maya release her most substantial body of work to date; her sophomore album ‘Take Flight’ on her own label, I/AM/ME. The 24-track album peaked at number 37 in the overall UK albums chart during the week of release, number 26 in the Independent label chart, and number 15 in the Billboard Dance and Electronic Album Sales Chart. The album received immense support, receiving a 72% score on Metacritic, gaining coverage from a number of high-tier publications including Mixmag, Pitchfork, and Billboard, as well as receiving DSP support such as a banner on the iTunes Electronic page, a spot in Spotify New Releases, Apple Music New Releases and was named Beatport Artist of the Week.
Maya gained two ‘Essential New Tunes’ from Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1 for two of her singles from the album, ‘Cherry Bomb’ and ‘Trails’ and to top off her year, she won Best Album and Best Producer at the DJ Mag Best of British Awards 2017 off the back of her ‘Take Flight’ album.
2017/2018 also saw Maya gain a number of selected mix placements such as her Essential Mix, which was shortlisted for Essential Mix of the Year, Annie Mac’s Mini Mix, Channel 4 Best Before, Beats1 Mix as well as Radio 1 Live in Ibiza. As well as supporting Depeche Mode on the European tour and further releasing album EPs.
The end of 2018, saw Maya simultaneously release a new stand-alone EP “Waves & Whirlwinds” as Maya Jane Coles, and the first new music in years under her Nocturnal Sunshine alias the bass-driven “Foundation/Heroes”. Maya will announce a second yet untitled Nocturnal Sunshine album that will be released at some point in 2019.
Maya has also produced acts such as Alpines, Nimmo, and Little Boots recently working with Chelou on his cult single ‘Halfway to Nowhere’ and five tracks on his forthcoming debut album. Also, a prolific remixer with Maya’s credits includes Depeche Mode, The XX, Bonobo, Massive Attack, Tricky, Little Dragon, Sia, Florence & The Machine, Peaches, and even the legendary Ella Fitzgerald! Maya’s breakthrough track ‘What They Say’ was slowed and looped to form the backing track for Nicki Minaj’s ‘Truffle Butter’. The track – featuring Lil Wayne and Drake – went on to receive a Grammy Nomination and peaked at 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, placing at 66 for 2015 overall. The track has sold over a million copies around the world with artists such as T.I. and Ludacris releasing cover versions. “What They Say” was sampled again in Katy’s Perry 2017 hit “Swish Swish” ft Nicki Minaj which went platinum in the USA, Canada, and Australia; as well as Gold in the UK, France, and Italy.
Alongside her production and remixing credentials, Maya is an esteemed DJ. Aged 17, Maya bought herself a pair of 1210′s and learned how to mix on vinyl, and since then Maya’s reputation as a DJ has reached heady proportions with acclaimed mixes for Resident Advisor, XLR8R, Boiler Room, a Mixmag covermount CD, and multiple Essential Mixes. In April 2012, Maya’s position as one of the world’s top DJs was further solidified with the release of her multi-award-winning edition to K7’s legendary DJ Kicks mix series, which gained international chart success and massive critical praise. Maya would later release Fabric 75 in 2015 to similar success. One of the world’s true DJ headliners Maya has played every key club from Fabric (UK), Womb (JPN), Panorama Bar (GER), and beyond holding residences at various Ibiza super clubs. Maya has also played the world’s key festivals from the electronic like Sonar (SPN), Detroit Movement (USA), and Melt (GER) through to multi-genre behemoths Coachella (USA), Roskilde (DEN), Glastonbury (UK), Fuji Rock (JPN), and Montreux Jazz (SUI).
Maya has also programmed her own ‘MJC & Friends’ festival stages and parties with performers ranging from Bonobo, Tale of Us, Daniel Avery, Charlotte de Witte, Ellen Allien, and Dixon through to burlesque royalty Dita Von Teese!