YO CiTY – Elle Shimada ft. Co-Dreamers

Elle Shimada

Violinist, Producer, Curator, DJ and Multi-instrumentalist

嶋田会希–Elle Shimada is a violinist, producer, curator, DJ and multi-instrumentalist from Tokyo based in Melbourne. A unique combination of thickly layered string lines making tender love to heavy new-jazz influenced beats creates a cinematic and other-worldly atmosphere while keeping the dance floor pulsing with visionary and edgy production. Fluidly fusing between Tokyo’s futuristic underground scene, Melbourne mellow-jazz and influences from jazz, house and traditional music from around the globe, Shimada’s production and live sets are a kinetic succession of dance beats and abstract compositions. Elle Shimada Band’s live shows often feature multicultural and diverse artists of various mediums of arts (dance, fashion and fine arts etc.). Her curation is a politically charged peaceful protest, and emphases on exchanging knowledge and energy between the stage, dance floor and the community. Shimada has independently collaborated with a myriad of artists in Melbourne and overseas, performing and recording with Clever Austin, Paul Bender (Hiatus Kaiyote), Jace XL, Allysha Joy and Dufresne, Triple J 100 artists such as 40 consecutive sold-out shows with Tash Sultana – music that can be found on releases by Worldwide FM and Stamp The Wax, appearing on festival stages such as Womadelaide, Blues Fest, Strawberry Fields, Meredith, Sun Cycle, Laneway. With an undercurrent of feminism, cultural curiosity and a political mindset, Shimada’s musicianship has been shown on stages supporting Lonnie Liston Smith, Giles Peterson, and The Australian Art Orchestra as well as sharing stages with Sampa the. Great, Freddie Gibbs, Floating Points, and many more. Shimada utilizes the uniting power of music to cultivate a dance-floor-activism that is inclusive, honest and raw creating progressive spaces beyond musicianship, through collaborations with the Human Rights Film festival, model, and as a conceptual event curator.