Features : Elix kicks off a DJ/producer career with techno-house, summer fun “Feels Like a Dream”

At the beginning of a career as a DJ and producer, house/techno artist Elix has come out with a fast-moving party song called “Feels Like a Dream.”

It’s got a banging piano beat throughout, drums kicking in at the run-up to the drops and poppy vocals. It’s a fun listen.

“‘Feels Like a Dream’ is a summer house song,” said Elix. “It’s really for when you’re at a pool party or on a boat or at a day club. It’s meant to really get your body moving, feeling good in a good environment.”

Elix, a political science major at the University of Alabama, only began his career as a DJ and, as a producer under his given name Eliot Gregoire, back in May of this year. He has a handful of tracks out, but they display a variety of sounds, beats, rhythms and mixes of styles.

It’s called creativity.

“This is the first song where I’ve actually used solid piano keys,” he said. “The piano is heard throughout. The rhythm gets jumpy during the drop and then settles down in the second verse-slash-buildup.”

We run wild, we run free
I can tell from your eyes that it feels like a dream
Side by side, we go deep, can you tell from my eyes
It kind of feels like a dream

Explaining the creation of a party-time house track, he said, “The audience still has a groove as the keys are still there, then it builds back into the second drop, giving them another chance to dance.”

He was drawn into techno by house music, like “Ferrari” by James Hype and the “old house’ music of Calvin Harris.

“Then it started switching over to, like, the more underground James Hype songs, the John Summits, and now it’s Hardwell and Maddix and Martin Garrix and all that stuff.

“I would probably say I like listening to house and techno, and I would like to be known to perform in the techno aspect of the music.”

Another of his tracks, “Shining in the Dark,” has a poppy vibe in the vocals, but “Feels Like a Dream” is “a little more house.”

“I wanted to mix pop vocals with what I can do with beats and rhythms to use my creative side. I’ve only been in music production since May, and I have mentors and other DJs who are very successful. They give me tips. I’m getting the hang of it. I want to use my creativity to make music in my own way. Hopefully, people bring joy when they listen to and dance to it.”

A song he is working on now, “Let You Down,” is more rave techno with drums in house style.

“It’s got a mix of techno, so you can enjoy that rave style, but where the beat drops it’s a house style. It’s a different, creative way that I mashed them together. It’s like 50 percent techno, 50 percent house, and it’s sounding great. It’s just got to go through the mastering and perfect the transitions and it will be good to go.”

He regards it as his best work yet. He went back and forth for days about whether to promote “Let You Down” or “Dream,” but one was ready to go and the other wasn’t and it was time to start promoting his music.

Elix, finance turned political science major, has been around music all his life, but he didn’t fall in love with it until he got into music production and started embracing his musical creativity.

“I want to get my name out there and be able to entertain an audience, hopefully in different cities and different countries. I want to bring my own creativeness into the industry.”

With “Feels Like a Dream,” especially as an entrée to the music he already has out, is an excellent start.

“It’s your prime, summer-feeling just-listening-to-some-house-music song,” he said.

It’s a roll-the-windows-down-and-drive kind of song, with a lot more to come.

Connect to Elix on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.

“Feels Like a Dream,” SoundCloud
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