Nathan Shaw (born September 22, 1991), known professionally as Ekali, is a Canadian

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

producer, DJ, and musician based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. To date, he has released one studio album, ''A World Away'' (2020) via Big Beat Records and two EP's, ''Crystal Eyes'' (2018) via

OWSLA Owsla (stylized in all caps) is an American record label and creative collective. It was founded by Skrillex, Tim Smith, Kathryn Frazier, and Clayton Blaha in 2011. Skrillex announced the label on August 17, 2011. The label's first release was ...

and his most recent, ''Alinea'' on June 23, 2023, through his independent imprint, Awakening. Over the course of his career, Shaw has collaborated the likes of ZHU,

Denzel Curry Denzel Rae Don Curry (born February 16, 1995) is an American rapper. Born and raised in Miami Gardens, Florida, Curry started rapping while in the sixth grade and began working on his first mixtape, ''King Remembered Underground Tape 1991–1995 ...

, KRANE,

ILLENIUM Nicholas Daniel "Nick" Miller (born December 26, 1990), professionally known as Illenium (stylized in all caps), is an American musician, DJ, music producer, and songwriter. He has released five studio albums, his most recent being ''Illenium'', ...

and performed at a series of high-profile music festivals, such as

Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...

The Grass Is Greener ''The Grass Is Greener'' is a 1960 British romantic comedy film starring Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, and Jean Simmons. It was directed by Stanley Donen, with a screenplay adapted by Hugh Williams and Margaret Vyner from t ...

, and

Shambala Festival The Shambala Festival is an annual four-day music festival in Northamptonshire, England. The daily capacity of the festival is 15,000 people and although the exact location is not disclosed until attendees buy a ticket, the event has frequent ...

History

Originally hailing from

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Shaw's first experiences with music started from a young age, learning the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and branching out to other contemporary musical instruments as he grew up. He would initially gain recognition in the music industry as the bassist for Vancouver-based

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band,

Said the Whale Said the Whale is a Canadian indie rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia. The band was founded in 2007 by the group's primary songwriters, guitarists and lead vocalists, Ben Worcester and Tyler Bancroft. Their current lineup consists of Worc ...

which he joined in 2011. Concurrently in-between touring, Shaw also began to learn music production and started creating sample-based instrumentals, as he didn't feel confident enough to perform vocals on his own material. He quickly broke into the local underground music scene as a DJ and would become a member of Vancouver electronic music collective, Chapel Sound. On November 20, 2013, Shaw released his debut single, "Unfaith" via

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

. In 2014, Shaw attended the

Red Bull Music Academy The Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) is a world-traveling series of music workshops and festivals that was founded in 1998 by Red Bull GmbH. The main five-week event is held in a different city each year. The public portion of its program is a festiv ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

as the only Canadian participant of that year, to workshop and collaborate with musical peers and contemporaries from around the world. A collaboration during the program between Shaw, American

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-winning producer/songwriter

Om'Mas Keith Om'Mas Keith (born December 20, 1976), also known simply as Om'Mas, is a Grammy Award-winning record producer, musician, composer, engineer, and songwriter from Queens, New York. He has worked with Frank Ocean, Erykah Badu, John Legend, Jay-Z, K ...

and RBMA alumni, Austrian producer

Dorian Concept Oliver Thomas Johnson (born 16 September 1984), known by the alias Dorian Concept, is an Austrian composer, music producer and keyboardist whose work draws on an eclectic variety of sources including Modal jazz, modal and free jazz, funk, Hip ho ...

called "On Me" would be released Jan 13, 2015 via RBMA and highlighted as a single for their "''Various Assets – Not For Sale 2014''" compilation. The following month, Shaw quickly rose to prominence after Canadian rapper and singer,

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

sampled "Unfaith" for his surprise mixtape, ''

If You're Reading This It's Too Late ''If You're Reading This It's Too Late'' is the fourth mixtape by Canadian rapper Drake, released on February 13, 2015 without prior announcement by OVO Sound, Young Money, Cash Money and Republic Records. The mixtape was produced by Drake's ...

'' released February 13, 2015 via

OVO OVO may refer to: * ''OVO'' (album), by Peter Gabriel, 2000 *OvO (band), an Italian rock band *Ovo (Cirque du Soleil), a touring Cirque du Soleil show * OVO (payment service), an Indonesian digital payment and fintech company * OVO (video encyclope ...

and

Young Money Entertainment Young Money Entertainment is an American record label founded by rapper Lil Wayne in 2005. It was launched as an imprint of Cash Money Records — a joint venture colloquially branded as Young Money Cash Money Billionaires (abbreviated as YMCMB ...

on the songs, "Preach" and "Wednesday Night Interlude" both featuring Canadian R&B singer,

PARTYNEXTDOOR Jahron Anthony Brathwaite (born July 3, 1993), known professionally as PartyNextDoor (often stylized in all caps), is a Canadian singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer. He was the first artist to sign with Drake's record label OVO Sound ...

respectively. Soon after, "Unfaith" was officially re-released to streaming platforms on March 31. 2015. Following the mixtape's release, Shaw's profile was significantly raised internationally as a producer and DJ. In 2016, Shaw would officially leave Said the Whale to focus on touring his own music and producing full-time and relocated to Los Angeles soon after, to sign a recording contract with American producer,

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...

's label,

in 2017. Shaw would go on to release several singles through the label, including "Babylon" featuring Florida-based rapper, Denzel Curry on Aug 18, 2017 alongside the announcement of his signing. Shaw's debut EP, ''Crystal Eyes'' was released on Oct 21, 2018 via OWSLA. preceded by lead single, "Leaving" featuring Malaysian singer,

Yuna Yuna may refer to: Places * Yuna, Western Australia *Yuna River, Dominican Republic People *Yuna Kagesaki (born 1973), Japanese manga artist * Song Yoon-ah (born 1973), South Korean actress *Yuna Ito (born 1983), American-Japanese singer *Yuna ...

released Aug 24, 2018. On Jan 24, 2020, Shaw released his debut studio album, ''A World Away'' via Big Beat Records, featuring guest appearances by

Au/Ra Jamie Lou Stenzel (born 15 May 2002), known professionally as Au/Ra, is a German singer and songwriter. She released her first single "Concrete Jungle" in 2016, which quickly gained 15 million streams worldwide. She rose to prominence in 2018 wi ...

Elohim ''Elohim'' ( ) is a Hebrew word meaning "gods" or "godhood". Although the word is plural in form, in the Hebrew Bible it most often takes singular verbal or pronominal agreement and refers to a single deity, particularly but not always the Go ...

Kiiara Kiara Saulters (born May 24, 1995), known professionally as Kiiara, is an American singer-songwriter from Wilmington, Illinois. She is currently signed to Atlantic Records. Her 2015 single "Gold" peaked at number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 10 ...

, ILLENIUM,

Wafia Wafia Al-Rikabi (born 4 August 1993), known professionally as Wafia, is an Australian singer-songwriter of Iraqi-Syrian origin. Originally studying biomedicine at university, she began to write songs to escape its monotony. Career Al-Rikabi s ...

and Reo Cragun. On June 23, 2023, Shaw released his second EP, ''Alinea'' via his independent record label, Awakening Records.

Discography

Studio albums

*''A World Away'' (2020)

Extended plays

*''Crystal Eyes'' (2018) *''Alinea'' (2023)

Playlists

*''Awakening - Mix 1'' (2017) *''Awakening - Mix 2'' (2017) *''Awakening - Mix 3'' (2017) *''Awakening - Mix 4'' (2018) *''Awakening - Mix 5'' (2018) *''Awakening - Mix 6'' (2018) *''Awakening - Mix 7'' (2019) *''Awakening - Mix 8'' (2020) *''Awakening - Mix 9'' (2022) *''Awakening - Mix 10'' (2023) *''Awakening - Mix 11'' (2023) *''Awakening - Mix 12'' (2023)

Singles

Remixes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekali Living people 1991 births EDM trap musicians Owsla artists Monstercat artists Canadian electronic dance music DJs Musicians from Vancouver