Ellie Stokes

With individuality and experimentation at her core, Ellie Stokes is very much her own DJ. Having immersed herself in Bristol’s music scene since arriving in the late 00s, she could reasonably be considered a product of the city’s unique creative culture. Let’s sidestep tired ideas about trip hop and D&B for a second and focus on the West Country capital as a hotbed of broadminded experimentation, with a community ethos and supportive framework that encourages talent to shine through.

Stokes was already working within the music industry when she started to channel her passion into DJing – she was working at vital independent venue The Love Inn, one of the hubs of Bristol’s underground music culture, where she’s now the booking agent and venue manager. When the female / non-binary Mix Nights DJ course began (helmed by leading lights such as Danielle and Daisy Moon), Stokes found the right nurturing environment to discover her instinct for selecting and spinning, initiating a career which has grown exponentially ever since. In 2018 she became a resident at Bristol’s leading club space Motion, and played life-affirming slots at premier league events and spaces such as Glastonbury, Love International, Warehouse Project, Love Saves The Day, Corsica Studios and Simple Things.

As well as her dancefloor presence, where she’s likely to be plying leftfield house and techno tinged with industrial and 90s motifs, Stokes has a regular radio outlet via Bristol’s leading station, Noods. It’s on these shows her tastes truly open up, touching on ambient techno and electronica, all manner of wave-related sonics, EBM and much more besides. It’s a non-conformist style that favours individual expression over generic consistency, championing the omnivorous spirit of the times and presenting selections that feel honest, heartfelt and constantly surprising.

Stokes’ musical endeavours reach beyond her DJing too – she also helps steer the city’s much-loved queer dance party Bitch, Please! and came on board as a partner in Futureboogie, which will soon branch out into a new label project in the near future. Her keen ear for the unusual and distinctive shine through in these ventures as much as when she’s on the decks, rounding out her positive contributions to all corners of the music scene in Bristol and beyond. She may be representative of the city as it stands right now, but Ellie Stokes is just as much her own vital energy in a tangled network of scenes, communities, parties and platforms that stretches out internationally.