Makèz

Downstream, the ID that opened the international dancefloor

When Downstream together with Life on Planets snuck into the DJ booths of 2023, Makèz went from being a cult signature on Heist Recordings to becoming one of the most requested house tracks of the summer. BBC Radio 1 supported it from start to finish and DJs from ANOTR to Louie Vega turned it into an anthem. That cut on No Art was not an isolated hit: it was the synthesis of more than fifteen years of listening to soul, jazz, disco, and hip hop with the same obsession, and translating it into a house sound that works just as well at 4:00 AM as it does through headphones.

An attic by the canals

The duo met in high school, in the south of the Netherlands, sharing classic disco and soulful house vinyl. In 2014 they moved to Amsterdam to study production and sound design, and ended up setting up their studio in an attic next to a canal: synthesizers, drum machines, vinyl, and an almost telepathic chemistry. Kees handles sound design, programming, and arrangements; Willem handles melodies, warm chords, and basslines. Before their current name, they released music as Soultage —the Old School Love EP on the Berlin label Magic Jams, with a remix by Jacques Renault— and organized the intimate party series Peak Mystique. The demos they sent to Dam Swindle at Studio 80 led in 2019 to Different Planets, their debut on Heist Recordings, with support from Seth Troxler, Danny Krivit, and Chez Damier. Shortly after, they signed two EPs on Let's Play House, Jacques Renault's New York label.

From the portrait of Amsterdam to the second album on No Art

City of All (Heist, 2021) was their first full-length album: thirteen tracks conceived as a journey through the city, between jazz-funk, orchestral disco, and dancefloor house, featuring LYMA, Allysha Joy, and Fouk. Their discography expanded towards Razor-N-Tape, Classic Music Company, Balance, and Defected, and in 2023 they launched their own label Sonic Soil with Love You More. On October 10, 2025, they released Arriving Home Elsewhere, their second album again on No Art, the label of ANOTR: fourteen pieces featuring Ben Westbeech, AVA LAVÁ, dreamcastmoe, 30/70, Cor.Ece, Goya Gumbani, and once again Life on Planets, straddling the line between club energy and intimate listening.

From Circoloco to London's Broadcasting House

On stage, they mix underground rarities with their own anthems. They have played for No Art in Barcelona and at the ADE Weekender at De Hollandsche Manege, at DC10 with Circoloco, at fabric, and at Lofi alongside Kerri Chandler and, in 2026, a summer set for Defected from Broadcasting House in London. Worldwide booking is handled by Arcade Talent Agency.