The duo – made up of Eli “Elyte” Goldstein and Charles “Cnyce” Levine – met while in high school in Boston. The pair cut their teeth spinning clubs in the city’s underground dance scene and became students of legendary Boston disco DJ and record store owner Caril Mitro, who they say inspired them to deliver their brand of spacey, '90s-inspired funk to the rest of the planet.
“It's really been an amazing ride,” Goldstein says from Dublin. “All either of us has wanted to do since high school is be DJs, but we didn't really have any idea what it would be like if we actually made it.”
Now based in Miami, the pair’s new album, EFUNK, is a George Clinton- and disco-inspired interstellar trip through peace, love and understanding, with a nod to '90s soul and R & B.
“Need Your Lovin’” is a slow-building, loin-roiling house cut dripping with sultriness, thanks to the sweetly innocent vocals of Mel Blatt of '90s UK girl group All Saints. “Let It Go” features Roldy Cezaire’s silky smooth whispers over a bubbling, deep house pulse, while Franceska’s turn on the downtempo “Take It Slow” is simply Janet Jackson-esque.
“When we're in our studio in Miami we spend a lot of time hanging out and jamming with our computers, synths and even instruments,” Goldstein explains, noting that they even played horns and a kazoo on the new album. “We spent a few weeks just improvising and putting ideas down and then chose the best and put them all together.”
Released on Wolf + Lamb, the album’s title is an acronym for Everybody's Freaky Under Nature's Kingdom. Goldstein describes it as “a call to emancipate our hips from the androids of dancefloor repetition.”
Besides the new record, last year Soul Clap did a joint mix with Wolf + Lamb for !K7's DJ-Kicks respected series and were featured on BBC Radio 1’s renowned Essential Mix.
Since rocketing out of Boston’s fertile dance music underground, the pair has spent much of their time playing the world’s coolest house hotspots. Asked for their favorites, Goldstein says, “The Marcy Hotel in New York is the most magic venue in the world and our spiritual home. The Electric Pickle in Miami is our second home, a venue full of love and wild party spirit.”
He also raves about Warung in Brazil, which he calls, “an exotic jungle rave on the beach” and Mint Club in Leeds, U.K., which he describes as “hysteria.” Watergate in Berlin is another favorite “because you're pretty much guaranteed an amazing time there.”
They’ll also be doing a residency at DC10 in Ibiza this summer.
“Since we started touring three years ago, life has been a whirlwind of traveling to cool cities, playing crazy parties and meeting wonderful people,” he says. “Since it took so long for us to make it internationally, we're always super thankful to get love for the music we make and play.”
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