Neil Ollivierra is a Detroit-born multi-disciplinary artist who composes electronic music as The Detroit Escalator Company He first appeared in the early Detroit techno scene as the promoter of The Music Institute (1988-89); the legendary underground after-hours club that served as the pre-release audio testing grounds for the Transmat, KMS and Metroplex record labels.
A growing acquaintance with resident DJ Derrick May led to his employment as the Transmat label manager during the labels' most prolific years (1988-1992), wherein legendary artists such as Carl Craig , James Pennington, and Stacey Pullen first exploded onto the global scene.
The first album by The Detroit Escalator Co., entitled 'soundtrack (313),' was released in 1996 on London-based Ferox Records. The album, now out of print and rare, is considered a cult-classic. The 2nd album by The Detroit Escalator Co., entitled 'Black Buildings,' was Neils' first recording for Peacefrog Records.
Concurrent with the album production, he completed a long-planned series of acrylic oil paintings as part and parcel of the Black Buildings album project. The paintings abstract, monochromatic geometric landscapes were the subject of a solo exhibition at Detroit's Cpop Gallery. Today these paintings hang in homes and corporate environments in Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Paris and London.
In 2000, Peacefrog released a collection of early-era recordings and previously unreleased tracks by The Detroit Escalator Co., entitled "Excerpts."