Eli of Soul Clap, in a New York Groove
Eli Goldstein might be a Boston club kid at heart, but it's New York that gave him his groove. When Deee-Lite released their first album “World Clique” in the summer of 1990, Eli was only 8 but that album planted the seeds of his own trajectory in modern dance music. Later on, it was UK jungle that grabbed his interest and turned it from jazz and hip hop to the rave scene and electronic music. And twenty years after its release, it is Deee-Lite's funkiness that clearly influenced the aesthetics and ethos of his band Soul Clap.
All Photos by Jérôme Viger-Kohler
NOUVEAU YORK: You've been raised in Boston, before moving to Brooklyn. After the first lockdown, you settled in upstate New York… Do you still enjoy the country life post-pandemic?
ELI GOLDSTEIN: We moved to the Hudson Valley full time August 2019 and ended up not really going anywhere from March 2020 to May 2021. I’ve always lived in cities and was expecting to continue my previous life of traveling and working in Brooklyn, so it was pretty weird to transition to country life so quickly and drastically. It was also amazing to really have the time to settle in and get into the rhythm of nature and the seasons. I’m really thankful for that.
NY: Right after the first lockdown in March 2020, you hoped “that we can all learn from this quiet time to be more in tune with and respectful of this beautiful planet that we call home”. Two years later, did people learn anything? Did you?
EG: I definitely learned a lot about nature and my own headspace, and I think that many people used the time to figure out what really mattered to them and how we can all make positive impacts on the world. That being said, now that the pre-pandemic lifestyle is mostly back, I have ended up busier and with less quiet time than ever before. And I think this is the case for many people, as we all try to continue our work, plus add on all the other activism that is now more important than ever.
NY: With Charles, you released your 3rd album as Soul Clap “WTF (World Transformation Force)” last year. You write “activism around climate, equality and politics has become more central to our mission.” Did the pandemic act as a catalyst?
EG: We started working on this body of music in 2019 and with the 2020 election coming up, we decided that we wanted to write music that was more overtly political and with positive, motivational messages. I also had been getting more involved with DJs For Climate Action and felt like it was important to speak to the dangers facing our planet and everything that lives on it. When the pandemic hit we were almost done with the album and that made the timing and themes feel even more important to address.
“Who is cooler than Lady Miss Kier and Deee-Lite?”
NY: You picked “World Clique” by Deee-Lite as one of your NY favorite records. Do you remember what you were doing the summer it was released in 1990?
EG: I was 8! That summer I went to England with my parents and spent the rest of the time at a creative arts day camp…
NY: How did Deee-Lite influence your fantasy of New York City?
EG: Who is cooler than Lady Miss Kier and Deee-Lite? Even to this day, their music and style embody the diverse and creative dance music communities of New York like no one else. From around the time of seeing the “Groove Is In The Heart” video I was so curious about what was going on in New York and how I could be a part of it.
NY: And what about your fantasy of NYC before Deee-Lite? Living in Boston, did you have any interest in NYC?
EG: Before Deee-Lite and getting into electronic music I was really into jazz. My dad played bass and I played saxophone and he shared so much of the history of that music with me. New York was also the epicenter of that world. So yeah, I think I’ve always been fascinated by the musical cultures of NYC.
NY: Fast forward to the mid-1990’s. You’re in High School in Boston and you start going out to raves outside of the city and soon in the NYC area. One of your favorite CDs is “This is Jungle Sky”, which brought UK jungle to the USA. Why did you click so much with jungle?
EG: I went from jazz to acid jazz, hip-hop, trip-hop and that led me to more electronic music. I was learning about new music from reading magazines and buying CDs (I wasn’t into records yet). Jungle grabbed me early on because of the samples and the breaks. It really connected to my jazz roots and also the hip-hop I was getting into (Gangstarr, Tribe, etc...). Then from there I started listening to house and techno and everything else and I wanted to learn how to DJ...
“[New York club nights] The Shelter and Body & Soul were the Meccas so we would go down whenever we could.”
NY: Could you tell us about those car rides to go to raves? Those sound very cinematic to me.
EG: Looking back it really does feel like a movie. I had a friend, Andrew who was a little older and he was a dancer and his older sister, Emily was going to Mass Art [Massachusetts College of Art and Design] and started taking him to raves with her crew. I had been to the UK with my family and stayed up late listening to essential mixes and electronic music on BBC Radio 1 and reading about raves in magazines, and I was soooo curious. So when Andrew told me about his sister and invited me to join them I leapt at the chance. I told my parents I was sleeping at a friend's house and Andrew and Emily picked me up from my job at the neighborhood pharmacy and went to a pre-party at one of Emily’s friend’s houses. Then we drove up to the Bahama Beach Club in Nashua New Hampshire where they had this weekly Friday rave called Booom and my little mind was totally blown. At that time all styles of music were played across two rooms during the night so I got to dance to everything and all the musical dots connected in my head and I decided that I wanted to devote my life to DJing and music right then and there. I still remember the feeling of dancing in the sun-rays coming in through the door onto the dancefloor as the party ended. We went to the afterparty at Crystal Lake and then I went right from there back to my parents house and passed out. They were like “why are you so tired Eli?!” I got away with saying I was sleeping at friends houses for a while, but eventually I blew it and stayed out too long without calling home and they caught me...
NY: After that, I believe you started going out to club parties in NYC, The Shelter, Body & Soul, Deep Space. How did that transition happen, from the jungle rave scene, to a more “traditional” NY club experience?
EG: Raves were basically over by the end of the early 2000’s and I had friends that started moving to New York so I had places to stay when I went down to explore the city. Charlie and I were close by then and we had gotten really into the strain of soulful house that was big at that point. There were a couple parties in Boston (shout out Utopia Sundays and Soul Revival), but The Shelter and Body & Soul were the Meccas so we would go down whenever we could, hit those parties and go record shopping at Dancetracks. There are a few elements that always stay with me about those parties and even the similar ones in Boston: amazing dancers and the most diverse crowds.
NY: You started doing your own parties with Charles in Boston in 2001 and touring as DJs through the 2000’s. Soul Clap's DJ style is described at that time as “heavily influenced by the 80’s and 90’s”, “ anything goes”, mixing pop, soul, r&b, and house but with a freaky futurist sense of experimentation. Do you agree?
EG: My style and Soul Clap’s style draw from so many influences: raves, UK garage, disco house, jungle, soulful house, jazz, funk, hip-hop, r&b... really everything. What really brings it together is a saying that we were taught by one of our mentors, Caril Mitro, while sitting on two stools that were labeled “chit” & “chat” at her record shop, Vinyl Connection, in Boston. Caril was one of the leading DJs in Boston’s thriving disco scene in the ‘70’s and had witnessed dance music change and develop over the years. She told us that “house wears many hats” because house music is the umbrella that encompasses all the history and different styles of dance music that came before. That idea has always stuck with us and I still don’t like getting caught up in genres and subgenres. If someone asks me what I play I usually just say house music, and if they ask me what style then I say house wears many hats. That’s the essence of Soul Clap, we go through so many styles but it’s always HOUSE!
“Many cities attract and cultivate diverse artists and communities, but New York always feels like the center of it all.”
NY: You write that [New York musician] Arthur Russell embodies that “creative spirit of New York”. How would you describe that spirit?
EG: Many cities attract and cultivate diverse artists and communities, but New York always feels like the center of it all. From the generations after generations of New York born and raised artists who embody the spirit of the city, to transplants like Arthur who tap into the unique energy and mix it with their cultural experience, it always feels like anything is possible in New York.
NY: What is your NYC golden age? Is it the early 80’s, the decade of Arthur Russel and Basquiat, of early hip hop and house?
EG: It’s really hard to look back and choose just one golden age of any scene or city. At the moment there are so many different golden ages for so many different people, and contrary to popular belief there are still new golden ages being created today!
NY: It's a generation thing and for you, as a teenager, I guess the 1990’s in the city with its super-clubs and the rave scene… That must have looked like a golden age?
EG: Yeah, if I had a time machine I would probably go to the Paradise Garage first [in the 80's], then probably NASA at the Limelight [in the 90's], I would add Mancuso at The Loft in the 70’s, but I also feel lucky to have been able to attend a number of Loft parties since I moved to New York and they really keep the spirit alive.
NY: What about the late 2000’s and early 2010’s? The Marcy Hotel and your collaboration and friendship with New York duo Wolf+Lamb. That was YOUR golden age, the age you guys rocked the city…
EG: I feel very lucky to have actually participated in various “golden ages” of my own. I caught the end of the Rave era in New York and New England, I caught the end of the Bar25 years in Berlin, but I guess more than anything I was really a part of those Marcy Hotel years. That was a really special time and I’ll always cherish those memories.
Soul Clap's latest album “WTF (World Transformation Force)”
“I do hope to end up settled back in New York one of these days.”
NY: You love New York but you know when it’s time to take some distance. You spent some time living in Miami, you’ve been upstate and I guess you still spend time in Boston. Is there a reason why you keep some distance from NYC?
EG: Good question. I never really thought about it. Once I left Boston, I guess I moved around a lot. I had a good 5 year stretch living in Brooklyn, which was amazing, but I guess it just feels right to keep it moving. I do hope to end up settled back in New York one of these days...
NY: Kathy Grayson told us “Movies and music have really shaped the myth of New York, and shaped what we, as New Yorkers think we are doing here. It is a bit of a collective dream.” How does your own experience fit in that vision?
EG: That quote definitely resonates... My experience of New York is so tied into the music I have heard, played and made while in the city. From raves in the 90’s to the minimal underground of the 00’s to The Marcy to the disco, funk, house scenes I’ve been around the last decade. These sounds, dancefloors and communities are what shaped and continue to shape the New York dream.
NY: What’s going on these days in the world of Soul Clap?
EG: I’m very thankful that I’m busy with music! April is a big month... We're finally touring starting this month and releasing an album of remixes called “WTF (Transformed & Remixed)” on April 13th with versions from Todd Edwards, Toribio, Jubilee, Terry Hunter, Seth Troxler and more… The weekend of April 22nd also marks the 5th annual Earth Night initiative that I co-founded with DJs For Climate Action. Later in the year we’re celebrating 10 Years of Soul Clap Records with a compilation of new remixes and a Soul Clap DJ mix... and then I need to write my master’s thesis on measuring emissions from the live sector of the electronic music industry in Europe and North America.
NY: Busy schedule! Did you actually measure the emissions you make when touring with Soul Clap?
EG: For the WTF tour we’re really trying to embody the principles that we explore on the album so we came up with the idea of “Conscious Clubbing” which includes: thoughtful travel, less single use plastics, diversifying lineups and focusing on local scenes, safer and more inclusive spaces, offsetting our emissions… And of course Peace Love Unity Respect!
Eli Pick 5 New York Classics
Downtown 81 (2000)
This art-film with Jean-Michel Basquiat basically playing himself and wandering around a bombed out looking downtown Manhattan embodies my romantic image of the downtown scene in the 80’s, complete with a Kid Creole & The Coconuts performance.
Deee-Lite “World Clique” (1990)
The ultimate early 90’s, early rave spirit record for me. Deee-Lite had the funkiest outfits and the smoothest breakbeats and Lady Miss Kier is one of my biggest inspirations.
This Is Jungle Sky (compilation, 1995)
Not sure how I ended up buying this compilation, but it was probably my first intro to jungle music. Looking back, Soul Slinger perfectly translated the UK sound for all the New York city raves I ended up traveling to from Boston (getting down in the jungle room of course).
Wolf + Lamb - The Brooklyn EP (2009)
Gadi and Zev from Wolf + Lamb brought us into their Brooklyn family and my time spent partying, hanging out and making music at their Marcy Hotel space in the late ‘00s was unforgettable.
Tim Lawrence “Hold On to Your Dreams”
Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-92. Kind of cliche I guess, but no one embodies the creative spirit of New York more for me than Arthur Russell. I love all of Lawrence’s books but I think this is my favorite.
