Overview
The unique flavor of Layla Benitez’s productions and DJ sets stems from her diverse heritage, bringing roots of Britain and Puerto Rico to her hometown of New York City.
The musical breeding ground of the UK, the disco of NYC, and the Latin grooves of Puerto Rico mesh together on the dance floor in a style that has rightfully earned Benitez the status of an in-demand act all around the world. Percussive elements, silky grooves, traditional melodies, and club-ready aesthetics are all part of her output, and you never know what to expect from her in the best way possible.
Over the years she’s played a wide variety of impressive gigs including the Tribeca Film Festival’s official galas, to underground functions in established dance music destinations like Mykonos and Ibiza, to mainstay parties at Miami Music Week and Art Basel.
New York has assuredly played to host to some of her most notable sets like those at “Babel”, “Kuna”, “Sonara”, “White Lodge”, “Disturbed”, “Playroom”,“Memoirs", “Funkbox”, "Love Medicine”, "Sonic Jungle” and “Bang On’.
With very few productions to her name, Benitez is a paragon of the skilled selector, reminding every crowd she stands before that dance music culture is a result of DJs. Whether in Los Angeles, Tel Aviv, Turkey, or anywhere else, her passion comes from getting the dance floor moving.
Just because DJing is her primary outlet though, that doesn’t mean she lacks the skills to make ace club records. In fact, the opposite is true. Her limited catalog includes releases on Lee Burridge’s All Day I Dream as well as Damian Lazarus’s Crosstown rebels, two labels that are inseparable from the evolution of dance music.
But for Benitez it all comes back to her roots. She is a classically trained piano player, and her father is Jellybean Benitez, one of the pillars of the New York nightlife scene in the 1980s. She was born into a world of music and has done more than her part to contribute to that world.
