Jay Haze is a producer whose name is synonymous with bespoke house music. His array of tracks issued over the years speak effortlessly to the mind, body and soul. After sharing “Take A Dip” with Charlie and Eli from Soul Clap back in 2012, Haze, who has been working as a social activist in recent years, finally delivered two more stellar tracks and has resulted in The Mulatar House EP due out December 1 on Soul Clap Records.
We’re pleased to world premiere the gorgeous track produced with Signor Andreoni on the beach in Sardinia from the EP featuring the Mulatar, an exotic string instrument — there’s only 16 of them — built and played by his musical collaborator Jordi Lockruf.
Says Haze of the EP, “This EP is super special for me not only because I was able to introduce a new instrument to the world via vinyl (how cool is that?), but it was made with friends, and with the intention to put more music into electronic dance music.”
We can’t wait to hear more musical magic from Haze and his Multar.
The history of Soul Clap’s “Misty” dates back four years ago to a 48-hour recording session held at Marcy Hotel in Brooklyn with Crew Love cohorts including Wolf + Lamb’s Gadi Mizrahi, No Regular Play’s Greg Paulus, Deniz Kurtel and Lee Curtiss. When Eli and Charlie of Soul Clap met legendary house singer/songwriter/DJ legend Robert Owens at the Garden Festival in Croatia in 2011, the song had found a singer. One thing led to another and — voilà — “Misty” is finally here.
Despite the long and winding road the song has taken, “Misty” arrives right on time. Owens once again plays the lovelorn protagonist to maximum effect, recalling the lyrical themes he explored on his seminal tracks with Larry “Mr. Fingers” Heard. Owens’ trademark velvet croon is in tip-top shape and it’s tailor-made for the Clap’s expertly crafted groove.
In contrast to the original downtempo version, the Louie Vega Roots NYC Mix and Louie Vega Swirl Bass Mix both up the tempo just enough for dance floor consumption. They’re both sublime offerings and are as deep as the Atlantic Ocean. Tanner Ross’s remix featuring Greg Paulus on trumpet is stripped down, spare and is not to be missed.
Available only on vinyl, the Louie Vega Way Back Mix is dark, brooding and sexy. Vega keeps Owens’ voice front and center and lets Owens’ swagger flow (“Where you been girl/Why you playin’ me like that?”). The master retrofits the song with a walking baseline a la Bobby Konders circa 1990, allowing us all to imagine for a moment what Nu Groove Records would sound like in 2014.
Though they’ve been hard at work forging and finessing their funky grooves for years, Soul Clap’s star has been on the rise internationally for the better part of the past three years. During this time they’ve released their brilliant EFUNK: The Album, toured extensively all over the world and have continued to champion quality dance music of all styles and eras without sacrificing their artistic integrity. Despite the challenges that come with trying to make it as a mixmaster these days, Soul Clap’s Eli Goldstein and Charles Levine remain adamant about paying it forward to the slew of electronic artists based in their hometown of Boston. Having released music by various emerging local artists on Soul Clap Records, they’ve just issued the second volume of their Dancing On The Charles compilation series (read our review of the compilation) featuring a lineup of all-Boston dance-music artists. In Soul Clap’s view, nothing is more satisfying than shining the spotlight on great music — especially when it emanates from your hometown.
“We owe everything to growing up in Boston: Our mentors, our musical knowledge, our DJ style,” says Eli Goldstein, explaining the pair’s highly localized A&R philosophy. “It was a lot of work to make it here, a lot of playing weddings and cheesy clubs and retail gigs, but that’s what made us who we are and therefore we love our city. We’re some of the only electronic artists to make it from Boston so we gotta represent! There’s also an amazing community of DJs and producers here that need to be showcased and that’s what Dancing On The Charles is all about.”
“The plan is to keep Dancing On The Charles an annual thing. Boston producers keep making better and better music and we will keep the spotlight shining on them.”
Goldstein says assembling Dancing On The Charles 2 was less difficult than its predecessor. “It was much easier to A&R the comp this year, now that we had the first one to build off of,” he relates. “We have a few artists featured again like Bosq, Caserta, Roldy Cezaire… the Bon Johnson guys have a couple tracks under different aliases and Sheffield Boys, which include Chas Bronz from the last comp. Then there are long time DJs who we’ve known for years and finally have been making music we can include, like Serge Gamesbourg, D-Lux and Brendan Wesley. Also, this year we started compiling the music like six months in advance to make sure we had enough time to get it right.”
While the compendium offers a broad overview of great Beantown talent, Goldstein reports that it wasn’t possible to get a few artists this time around. “We still haven’t been able to get a Tanner Ross track on a D.O.T.C. compilation. This year, we couldn’t get DJ Kon on it either, but we hope he’s back next year.” Continue Reading →
You can take Soul Clap out of Boston, but you can’t take Boston out of Soul Clap. Although their DJ career finds them traipsing around the globe playing the best clubs and music festivals, Soul Clap’s Eli Goldstein and Charles Levine remain close to their musical roots in their hometown. On the 13-track Dancing On The Charles Vol. 2, they lovingly present their second compendium of rising Beantown talent (the comp’s title is also the moniker of the Boston area dance party they used to present) on a brilliantly curated offering rivaling any emerging talent roundup heard in recent memory.
Nightriders’ luscious nu-disco jam “Secrets” gets the party started right in all of its slinky downtempo glory, segueing into the gorgeous blue-eyed electro soul of Caserta’s “Heaven.” Founded on a bed of woozy Rhodes and a bubbling deep-house groove, The Sheffield Boys’ “The Best Coast” struts with casual swagger over a carefree rap. “East is the best coast….Boston is where we from…yeah, that’s what we run.” Juice Belushi’s “How Do You See?” takes the celebration to the next level, exploiting a bassline that will make you move your waistline. Bosq & Soul Clap get down and dirty on the percussive afro-funk gem “Higher” that would no doubt bring a smile to Fela Kuti’s face. Roldy Cezaire’s “Wish You Were My Girl” is a sweet, tender R&B ballad channeling a rawer version of Freddie Jackson. D-Lux’s “Special Source” unfurls its broken beat brilliance into a proper head nodder with the shindig closing on a disco-tastic high note with Serge Gamesbourg’s rousing “Gotta Keep Searching,” a song whose title serendipitously tips its hat to the party’s musically voracious hosts.
Check out our 9 Beantown DJs to Know feature here.
