MADELINE
You feel a Madeline set before you hear it. The DJ-turned-producer has spent over a decade developing a unique sound at the intersection of soft intimacy and raw sensuality. Madeline’s selections are rooted in sultry and soulful vocals, jacking basslines, and polyrhythmic percussion, regularly pushing into the 130-140bpm range without losing sight of the Chicago house groove that saturates their sets with a characteristic warmth. They leverage Chicago-style mixing techniques like extended, heavily layered transitions and re-contextualized vocal references to explore the liminal space between contrasting forces: new and familiar, analog and digital, mind and body.
The Bay Area transplant developed an ear for under-appreciated tracks through years of hosting radio on WNUR 89.3FM and working at the storied Gramaphone Records before earning a Smartbar residency (Statement Piece) in 2023. Since then, Madeline has had international debuts in Berlin and Toronto, a Boiler Room Chicago debut, a feature in DJMag’s artists to watch, and a growing catalog of production releases. A passionate student of music history and skilled DJ in both vinyl and digital formats, Madeline’s club- and techno-tinged house sets weave the genre-defining sounds of Chicago into the varied sonic fabric of the future.