Kai Alcé
New York, Detroit, Atlanta: the three cities behind Kai Alcé’s NDATL Muzik, from coat check at the Music Institute to building Atlanta’s deep house scene.
- DJ and producer raised in New York and Detroit, based in Atlanta.
- Hired in 1988 by Chez Damier to work at Detroit’s Music Institute.
- Founded NDATL Muzik in 2008, named after New York, Detroit and Atlanta.
Kai Alcé’s label name is a map. NDATL stands for New York, Detroit and Atlanta, the three cities that shaped him. For three decades he has carried Detroit’s deep house tradition to Atlanta, a city where, by his own account, trap dominated the local scene.
Queens, Detroit and the Music Institute
Alcé is a first-generation Haitian American. He grew up between Flushing, Queens, and Detroit, in a home full of music; his father was a jazz lover and an audiophile. He got his first turntables in 1983. In 1988 Chez Damier hired him at the Music Institute, the Detroit club Damier started with Alton Miller. Alcé worked the coat check and the lights.
Building a house scene in Atlanta
He moved to Atlanta in the early 1990s to study at Morehouse College. By then the city’s two underground house DJs, Ted Patterson and Ron Pullman, had left. Alcé started his DJ career there and, as he told Stamp The Wax in 2016, “held the flag up for deep house” into the early 2000s. To win crowds over at first, he played house remixes of radio hits.
He used his Detroit and New York contacts to bring artists such as Chez Damier to town, worked for the Atlanta branch of Satellite Records and co-founded House in the Park, which now draws around 10,000 people. At the venue Sound Table he has booked Kyle Hall, Moodymann, Theo Parrish and Dego. Detroit names followed him south too: Octave One and Reggie Dokes later moved from Detroit to Atlanta.
Records and NDATL Muzik
Alcé started producing in 1996 on an MPC2000XL and a Juno synthesizer he still uses. His Kaizer EP came out on Track Mode in 2002, followed by “Sa K’ Pase” in 2004. In 2008 he founded NDATL Muzik to release his own music and that of his circle. The catalogue includes Power Thru Pt 3 (2009), the World Causes EP (2013), a Record Store Day EP in 2014 and the Luv Fantasy EP (2021). He later added Nutria Sounds, a label for music less tied to the dance floor.
The NDATL Special Edition 12-inches pair him with other names: Norm Talley and Kyle Hall in 2013, Mike Huckaby and Jay Daniel in 2014, Galcher Lustwerk and Patrice Scott in 2017, Brett Dancer and Nick Holder in 2019, Delano Smith and Ash Lauryn in 2023. He has also mentored the Atlanta producer Byron the Aquarius, whose first house record came out on Theo Parrish’s Sound Signature, and works with keyboardist Chris Irvin. As a remixer, he reworked Mark Adams’ “Talking Walls” for the remix album Detroit Rising: Lush Grooves Vol. 1.
In the booth
Alcé prefers long sets — three hours or more, usually between 118 and 128 BPM, as he told Star Wax in 2026. That pace leaves room for deep, soulful house built over time rather than quick peak-time hits.
FAQ
What does NDATL stand for?
New York, Detroit and Atlanta — the three cities Kai Alcé has called home. He founded NDATL Muzik in 2008.
Where is Kai Alcé from?
He grew up in Flushing, Queens, and in Detroit, then moved to Atlanta to study at Morehouse College. He is a first-generation Haitian American.
What is House in the Park?
An Atlanta house music event that Kai Alcé helped found. It draws around 10,000 people.
