SF Bay Area native Marc Barrite created the DJ/Production alias Dave Aju as a vehicle for his fresh and expressive take on electronic dance music. Though raised on a steady diet of Jazz and Soul music, and several years of paying dues in the South Bay via various B-Boy and Hip-Hop crews, it wasn't until he moved to the city of San Francisco that the final ingredients to the Dave Aju recipe were added. Immediately drawn to the open-mindedness of the SF underground scene, he soon found himself on the vanguard of contemporary dance music - gladly straying further into left field from the traditional house and electro styles he had been getting down to in earlier years.
Equipped with a sampler and microphone, Aju began carving out his own musical niche with unique and adventurous concoctions of outsider art-styled concepts and handmade sonics blended with naturally deep- rooted soul and an undying love for the dance floor. Diversity is key in the Aju sound, as he easily goes from deeper and darker moods to sun-kissed warm weather jams.
Working at a quality-over-quantity pace, Aju has earned much respect and kudos from like-minded peers with his original releases and flavorful remixes. The masses have taken notice as well, turning tracks such as "Be Like The Sun", "Crazy Place", "All Together now", and "Caller #7" into veritable underground anthems. Even the critics, who gave his mouth-made debut album Open Wide high praise and saw it nominated for multiple awards, as well as the autobiographical funk of his follow-up LP Heirlooms, have sipped the tequila- spiked Kool-Aid.
Of course Mr Aju shines just as bright outside the studio, as his sublime DJ sets and Live performances have blessed crowds from Moscow to Sydney to Mexico City, and everywhere in between, including repeat visits to legendary establishments such as London's Fabric, Berlin's Panoramabar, Paris' Rex Club, and Montreal's MUTEK festival.
Aju's distinctive voice, a fixture in his production and live performances, has proven to have a life of its own as well; the formative years adding stripes to his coat as an MC in the underground hip-hop scene paid off, with vocal contributions for fellow artists like dOP and Tiefschwarz as well an ongoing collaboration with fellow Circus freak Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts as lead vocalist for The Side Effects band.
With a full upcoming release schedule, including new EPs for home-base label Circus Company, Musique Risquée, a variety of collaborations, and a highly-anticipated third album, Dave Aju, indeed the opposite of déja vu, is a seasoned veteran that's also just warming up.