Ekali
Ekali, born Nathan Shaw, is a Vancouver-based DJ and producer who moved from playing bass in the indie rock band Said the Whale to building a solo electronic career within the city's underground scene through the collective Chapel Sound. After releasing his debut single Unfaith on SoundCloud in November 2013, he was selected as the only Canadian participant at the Red Bull Music Academy in Tokyo in 2014, a formative credential within the electronic music world. His profile expanded significantly when Drake sampled Unfaith on two tracks from the mixtape If You're Reading This It's Too Late in February 2015, exposing his production to a mainstream hip-hop audience well beyond club circles. That same period saw Ekali collaborate with Om'Mas Keith and Dorian Concept on On Me, released via the Red Bull Music Academy's Various Assets compilation in January 2015. Since establishing himself, Ekali has continued to build a touring DJ career rooted in bass-leaning electronic music, with his catalog and profile reflecting a shift from a live-band background into a producer-DJ hybrid whose tracks straddle underground club sounds and festival-facing bass music.