Feature: Jos & Eli [Interview + Premiere]

Hi Guys, thanks for joining us here today, how are you doing and what are you up to today?
First of all, we are really grateful and happy for this interview, we’ve had a really long, but great day in our studio.

How did you discover electronic music and can you pinpoint a moment where you thought 'this is what I want to do'?
Electronic music is not something new to us, throughout our childhood we grew up as musicians, it started to inspire us and inspired we received also around brought us to start to try to produce electronic music.

Starting with the obvious, tell us how you guys met and formed a partnership. And were you both releasing solo previous to meeting?
It is a nice story - Yossi worked as an assistant for a friend of mine, DJing at weddings, and at the time I had built a name for myself as a Trance DJ.

At one wedding party, I was invited down to play where Yossi was assisting. We were put in touch, and Yossi showed me some of his tracks he’d started to produce. Yossi was only 14 at the time, but when I heard what he was producing, I was in shock with how good it was for someone his age!

We promised to ourselves to work together in the future, but at the time, Yossi was still in the school and even had to complete his year with the army, as it is an obligation with the Israeli state. Once Yossi completed his conscription, we got straight in the studio.

What is the dynamic in the studio? Are there different roles in the production process and do you always work out of the same studio together?
We have a really great dynamic between us, working in harmony and we never seem to question each other.
You could say that Yossi is the pilot and I am the navigator.

What happens when you get writers block or creativity seems lacking, how do you get past it?
It happens to us quite a bit I guess - I can testify about whole projects that we abandoned that we felt were not complete with them or just felt that we did not take them to the place needed - we usually require each other to be optimistic - we think music comes out good only if your heart is quiet Or at least the thought - that there is a barrier we simply cut a section to the segment and return to it the day after - or simply doing something new.

What’s a typical day in the life of Jos & Eli like when you’re not travelling for a gig? Do either of you follow a strict daily regimen? And how much time would you say is set aside for production work?
A typical day for us would be in the studio. When we’re not producing, we always regularly meeting up with each other. Our lives do get stuck in the same routine, we share hobbies, love football, have girlfriends that happen to be best friends!

Who are the most influential people in your life, not just as an artist, but on an individual level as well?
I can say that our lives were truly affected by our families. Yossi’s father was a bass guitarist, singer and even a DJ.

For me, it would have to by my grandfather, he was an incredible musician and left a great legacy.

There is a lot of good music coming out of Israel, a country which is perhaps best known for progressive house, techno and trance, you guys sit somewhere a bit outside of everything. How would you classify the music you make?
Yes, it’s true, Isreal has an incredible electronic music scene so we have been influenced by so many artists. We don’t technically categorise our music as one genre, we want the listener to experience it as their own.

I think in general, the boundaries of genres are no longer clear, with who makes what and how. I think the rules have changed and we’re really enjoying it, as long as we're whole and dancing, we don’t care what people call our music. The main thing is that we want our music to constantly change like the way life always changes.

What do you want it to convey to the listener?
That there are artists here who give everything about their production, to pass on good feelings, to have fun on the other side - when techno took over almost like mainstream - we would like to stand out from our work - it's fun to get compliments on social networks that people recognize our sound without reading the track name.

How has living on Israel’s Mediterranean coast impacted the music you make? It must be quite inspirational but perhaps uncertain at times given where you are situated?
I could tell you about the days and nights that we would music under the sirens and missiles fired on Israel from Palestine. We live on the southern side of the country, which is obviously close to the Palestinian border, we do not like to talk about politics, but sometimes it is necessary.

Israel is small country, but our people are incredibly strong, so our influence comes from the country’s general strength, the life here is completely normally after all. Here in Israel there is still a lot of parties and people who enjoy life, so that's why we thank god for being here.

Who is coming up fast in in the Israeli scene?
We have heard from close and distant friends that we are part of a rapid rise in the scene here, which we are so grateful for, but there are also a load of leading artists from Israel in the world, artists such as Red Exes - Guy Mansur - Guy Gerber - who are already leading the scene across the world.

So you guys have a new EP out this week on Edu Imbernon’s label Eklektisch imprint, tell us a bit about the inspiration behind the tracks and how they end up on the label.
First of all, we love Edu Imbernon - we've wanted to work with him for years. This EP has a lot to say about ourselves - one explosive and rhythmic track like Broken, and the second, more melodic and relaxed in its complexity - this is where I believe it shows our potential.

So we are very happy that the tracks went out together - because it symbolizes something - they are really Jos & Eli. From the moment we sent them to the label, we knew that Edu would love them- and to our delight it was as we thought.

Walk us through the production process on ‘Instrumental Odyssey’, it’s quite a mystical creation and you’ve shown remarkable restraint to keep it on the right side of cool.
Like all our sessions in the studio, I would say that the pursuit of the perfect loop never ends. In our work we focus first on what we think is suitable for us as creators and why our audience will be connected - we thought about the opening Track or set for our show - the entrance with the Guitar sound actually was opening of show which we had in our studio - we really got into this great opening - I remember magical moments that every  Sint or Pad that we added complimented him - there is a days when Lop himself dictates your work and the mood in the studio - Instrumental was one of them.

The remixer on the track is Finnbassen, not an artist who takes many remix projects, how did you all arrive at the  Norwegian as the best choice to remake the piece?
I would like to note that this is one of the most exciting things that its happened to us in our career - we were really excited to hear that he agreed to remix our track. I’ve got to say, the label did an amazing job and to make the connection between us.

He’s the kind of artist who has influenced so much as a creator of melodies, they’ve always fascinated us. Not even that long ago, he sent us a message telling us how thankful he was for one of the most exciting creations he has received in his life. We felt like we were dreaming. Beyond being a great artist - he's a great man!

So you've already racked up an impressive discography, Diynamic, Einmusika, Noir and now Eklektisch, how have your career's changed since getting signed to such esteemed imprints?
As in any field that every marketing engine is pushing you, the impact accordingly - it is a great privilege to work with such labels and we would not change anything. We are always looking forward and hope to work again with these labels, we would love our music to reach as many people as possible.

What track that is currently in your discography most typifies what Jos & Eli are and perhaps what the future holds?
It's hard to point out one track, any track we create we think it has our seal, but for the future I'm excited for the releases which are not signed yet - we have some amazing things coming for you soon.

What producers are most inspiring for you at the moment?
Difficult question - but quite a few - artists are taking the scene forward - and those who started it - they will always be a reference to the world and to us - we will have to note a lot of names.

What bad habits do you guys have which you’d like to change?
We would like to smoke less in the studio, sometimes the excitement and tension of producing causes us to heavily smoke! I would like to slow down from the haste - you always think you are in a hurry with segments.

Let’s end with what’s next, tell us what’s in the works for the remainder of 2018?
Much in the way, we hinted at previous questions about the tracks that have not yet been released - about some cool shows on the way, the dream of an album has already started to materialise. On a local scene, our small town is beginning to grow, we are throwing parties, collaborating with artists, always learning and doing what we love.

Thank you for the wonderful interview, health and happiness for everyone.