Few duos have left as deep or enduring a mark on house and funk culture as Charles Levine and Eli Goldstein, aka Soul Clap, whose influence spans decades of dancefloors, labels, and community-driven projects.
Fresh off the release of ‘Drowning In Your Love’ on Freerange Records, the pair check in to reflect on their journey – from the early days of crate-digging and all-night gigs to the evolving realities of the modern electronic landscape. We catch up with Charlie and Eli to talk creativity, longevity, lessons learned, and what’s next for Soul Clap as they move into a new chapter.
WWD: Where are you at this moment and how are you spending the day?
At the moment Charlie is back spending time in Boston, endlessly cranking on music production as always, hitting hot yoga classes and filling in from time to time as a sub playing Tennis with his mom and some other seniors! Meanwhile Eli is raising a family in upstate New York, getting his hands in the dirt and working on music with Nature.
WWD: Soul Clap has been around since the millennium. When you guys started out, did you have a plan? What were your goals musically?
Soul Clap was founded in 2001 on Eli’s front porch in Cambridge, Massachusetts! Can you believe how time has flown by? When we started we most definitely had a plan, in fact we had multiple plans playing out simultaneously. On the most basic level we were dedicated to working as DJs full time by any means necessary. We would take all gigs from weddings, bar mitzvahs, high school dances, corporate events, playing in shopping malls, in the window of the Puma store on Boston’s famous Newbury Street, little dive bar gigs, museum gigs, literally you had to take it all and play all music styles to survive.
In our eyes, variety (a high level of range and influence) is the hallmark of a great DJ. This is partially because our mentors like DJ Caril Mitro from Vinyl Connection record store and disco edit master DJ Kon taught us these core ideologies. Caril used to say to us “House Wears Many Hats boys!”, she really shaped our outlook on things. But yes musically we were very aligned and a lot of that was due to the fact that Soul Clap was really the merging of two record collections. We found we were often buying the same stuff, vinyl was still really the main format back then and we figured if we could pool our resources we could have so much more content in our repertoire. From there we figured the next step was getting the heck out of Boston and figuring out how to play nationally and abroad, but to do this we understood becoming music producers was key, so we pretty much locked ourselves in a studio until we eventually landed on a sound that worked.
We had a lot of help along the way from some of the other musicians surrounding us, Tanner Ross, Adam Collins, the Airdrop Records boys Paulo Reachi and Henry Glucroft, but it was when we linked with the Wolf + Lamb guys in Williamsburg Brooklyn at the infamous Marcy Hotel where they and Lee Curtiss, Seth Troxler, Shaun Reeves and Ryan Crosson introduced us to Ableton LIVE that things really moved into high gear. They embraced the edits we were making that ironically had been developed as music to play our retail and corporate gigs as tools for dancefloor magic at the Marcy Hotel and at their Soul Shower residency at CDV in Berlin and the rest is history as they say…
WWD: You must have gone on to achieve a whole host of those goals. Did you stick to the plan?
Yes! We stuck to the plan, we said to each other, we’re going to stay in Boston until we put Boston on the map in the dance music history books. Then in around 2009 we got that multiple page spread in Mixmag with a photo shoot at our local barber shop Tweed Barbers in Back Bay with our barber Youssef (who we still go to today!). It was an incredible pinch yourself kind of moment. So much has happened since those days and in some ways the plans fall apart and then assemble in new surprising ways and it goes on and on like this. It’s complicated to be a duo, in a way we’ve been working on this thing really since 1997 when we first met! Once we were younger and had big dreams and then adulthood and real life things happen, relationships, families, break ups, challenges, but we’re in a great place right now and it feels like the great orbit which is the story of Soul Clap has realigned us in new ways for 2026!
WWD: What advice would you give a young Eli & Charlie twenty years ago?
It’s easy to get comfortable with success when it’s happening in real time. There was a moment with Crew Love where it felt like we were unstoppable as a collective but then that moment sort of came and went. It felt like things really fell apart around the time of Navid Izadi’s tragic plane crash. I think the message might be, enjoy the moment, be grateful when the magic is happening and try to stay as present as possible.
WWD: You must have seen a lot of changes in the scene over the last two decades. What parts of what you do remain the same, and what aspects are unrecognizable?
The scene has REALLY changed, part of that is the natural order of time cycles, but it’s clear that as the global dance music scene has grown and become so profitable, we have some of the spirit of community and freedom. So many grassroots venues have closed as bigger corporate festivals have become the focus. It’s harder than ever to make a living releasing music, while simultaneously the competition for DJ gigs is more fierce than it’s ever been. With all that said there is still amazing boundary pushing that bubbles up in the underground of DIY spaces and community oriented scenes. Hopefully in the coming years as people yearn for a deeper and more meaningful experience it will support a healthier scene.
WWD: Who do you think is making great music at the moment?
Great music is everywhere! Just off the top, we’re so proud of our brother Greg Paulus, he just released an incredible album on Slacker 85 in collaboration with his jazz group with Jason Linder and more. The whole modern boogie movement that took off in 2025 led by Cosmic Romance and Star Creature Universal Vibration is so smooth and dope. The new Slick Rick album is outta this world dope. System Olympia’s music is on repeat. Nico Leon is pushing boundaries. Ambient Nature music is having a moment with artists like Modern Biology helping us connect. Tom Trago’s back at it again with a new electro album. The Makez boys are making some fantastic stuff. Felix Da Housecat keeps on delivering amazing cutting edge stuff. Anything connected to Paranoid London is insane, Hercules & Love Affair is at it again. Amazing to see Louie Vega endlessly pushing along with his solo stuff and his Elements Of Life band.
WWD: What is the most recent record you purchased?
Charlie: I just bought a copy of Bundino Siggalucci – By The Way I Like Your Pants (DJ Kons edit of Bunny Sigler – By The Way You Dance)
Eli: Stella & The Longos – Amour Propre
WWD: Where do you find the most inspiration when it comes to discovering new music?
Going to record shops is always the best way to find new music! Also, listening to everything when we’re out in the world, going to live music shows, Bandcamp, supporting our favorite DJs, spending time with friends, collaborating with other musicians, keeping your ears and heart open and once and a while SHIT the algorithm delivers!
WWD: What drives you to create music?
Sometimes the creative process is deeply personal, sometimes musical ideas arise through experimentation or some sort of creative exercise. Sometimes it’s more like diving into an instrument or musical equipment (hardware or software) and seeing what it’s capable of. Sometimes there are melodies or lyrics that just come into the mind, could be literally singing in the shower or maybe some musical idea that keeps you up at night or right when you wake. The most important commonality here is that no matter what, keep working on music and the creativity will continue to flow! When you STOP working on your creative goals the artistic mind starts spinning wildly out of control like a dam about to burst, so gotta keep on keepin on!
WWD: What is the perfect setting for Soul Clap to create something new? What elements are essential for this process?
The best setting for new Soul Clap is both of us in the same physical space, spending time together, enjoying life and messing around with the same childlike enthusiasm that brought us together in the first place! OH…and cooking up some good food + plenty of studio snacks!
WWD: Talk to us about the new EP and the initial idea. When did you first approach this concept and what was your original intention?
On this EP, the ideas recreate sounds heard in our past in an attempt to contextualize influences and make them contemporary or add a twist of our personalities. Drowning In Your Love feels most akin to the days of labels like Twisted or Tribal America and stands as an ode to that energy, brought even closer by Shaun J Wrights outstanding vocal songwriting and performance. Then on EFUNK Anthem we really dig into our upbringing as American kids listening to hip-hop, funk and jazz. Both of these songs came from older projects, EFUNK anthem had been kicking around for ages and Drowning In Your Love comes from a project started at Charlie’s old apartment in Brooklyn. The identities here may have slightly changed but the intention seems to have remained the same.
WWD: What was most important for you to convey through these tracks?
In terms of mood, ‘Drowning In Your Love’ switches back and forth between a heavier tension and this other B section that’s sorta groovy down n dirty sexy. EFUNK anthem is just something to dance to and feel cool about! Both of these songs do feel largely East Coast in their energies.
WWD: Do you feel that you were able to accomplish all of your intentions?
In Life? LOL…can anyone really accomplish all of their intentions? We can say that we’re proud of these songs and very honored to be on Freerange, especially on this anniversary year.
WWD: What was the most challenging part of bringing the release together?
There were some challenges in the mixing, really getting it locked in, but thank you Tom Ruijg you did a killer job! Then on EFUNK anthem the identity went thru a ton of iterations, sometimes that can happen and this is probably why there are two versions, there is an original demo that had a great vibe but sounds nothing like these released versions! Funny we should probably share that at some point… But if the demo was 1.0 then the stripped mix was sort of 2.0 and the funk mix was like a total departure, but it sure is a lot of fun.
WWD: What has been one of your favorite moments from the past year?
Charlie: 2025 for me was a challenging year, but making music really helped me keep my head on straight, I had an amazing birthday in Tokyo with my dear friends Mio and Naoki and their daughter Joy, spent a lot of time in Amsterdam with my brother Tom Trago working on our Compassa project that has been so fulfilling and this past year I moved out of Miami and have been reconnecting with my Boston roots, which has felt like a real homecoming!
WWD: What does 2026 hold for Soul Clap?
Lots of wonderful projects are in the works for 2026, we are aiming to finish a new Soul Clap album, not too much we can share about that at this time but putting it out there that what’s we’re excited about. Then there will be some additional singles we are working on to be released. Our labels Soul Clap Records / EFUNK records are churning away with some exciting releases from a number of super talented artists like The Illustrious Blacks, Tedd Patterson, FSQ, Papa Lu, Tom Trago, JMT from Detroit and Charlie’s solo Charles Levine stuff just to name a few. Then on House Of EFUNK event series, we are in FULL swing. We’re headed out this weekend to Chicago for a takeover of Smart Bar / Metro with Us, Louie Vega, Ron Trent, Hercules & Love Affair. And for Detroit this year, wooooweeee, we’re back again at TV Lounge for two days of inspirational insanity. WE BUSY!
WWD: The best kind of busy! Thanks so much for the chat, guys 🙂
Thanks a lot!
‘Drowning In Your Love’ is available here.