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Left to right: Eli Goldstein, Sergio Santos and Charles Levine |
With Sun Season upon us, sounds get a little brighter, parties a little sweatier, and asses a little looser. To capitalize, promotion and production team SOULCLAP is throwing a dance party. Not unusual — until we tell you it takes place on the Charles River. “It’s at the [American Legion] Marsh Post Gerrys Landing,” explained Eli Goldstein (a/k/a E-HEAVY) when we visited the Allston-based Soulclap headquarters, packed to the rafters with dusty records and production equipment. “Initially, in 2004, we were trying to do a fund-raiser for John Kerry, and we found this place [near the Eliot Bridge in Cambridge], and we finally figured out how to use it.” The event features seven DJs in all, an outdoor patio for summertime groovin’, and a taco truck courtesy of José’s Mexican Restaurant.
Goldstein: “We’re gonna have KC HALLETT do the sunset session, which seems kind of appropriate. Then RANDY DESHAIES is playing, then the BALD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (a/k/a TANNER ROSS and MATT DIAMOND), and then SOULCLAP (E-Heavy and CHAZ SHABAZ) and SERGIO SANTOS will split the last two hours. We had five hours, and we’re really about working with as many people as possible.”
The two main guys at Soulclap (actually, the only two guys at Soulclap) have also recently launched an informative and exciting blog at Soulclap.us which features high-quality mp3s, podcast mixes, and event info. “The most important thing is we have a place to share these old records,” says Goldstein. “To have a way to get the tunes shared. Plus we have to rip them anyway,” he says with a laugh.
We caught Goldstein prepping the newest posts, which were in part inspired by the recent Phoenix interview with Armand Van Helden. Upcoming to the blog are more podcasts, plus “interviews with classic, old-school dudes,” says Goldstein, name-checking K-Alexi and Hollis P. Monroe. The duo know their stuff and plan the blog around the parties they book, one the most recent featuring dark-techno luminary CARL CRAIG. “There’s only so long that each sub-movement lasts,” Goldstein says. “Minimal had its two or three years of prominence, and that slides right into techno. And all those New York dudes — Boris from Crobar, Junior Vazquez, even Danny Tenaglia’s playing so much techno now. Those dudes who played that tribal, dark New York sound now just play dark techno. The electronic sound is really what it’s all about — as electronic, as mental, as synthesized as possible.” Expect a ton of it to drop this Saturday on the Charles River.
“I think most things in life move in cycles,” e-mails ERIC MCLAUGHLIN (a/k/a DJ ERIC DARK), a resident DJ at the newly-revived Wednesdays at the Phoenix Landing. “It’s techno’s turn, again.” For a long time, techno resided at Central Square’s coolest Irish pub in the form of Redlight Productions’ Wednesdays. It’s back. “I moved to Boston and checked out Redlight’s night that first week and was an avid fan for years to come,” McLaughlin says. “For me, Wednesday nights fueled my desire to perform.”
