Soulico’s Israeli DJs: “Remember, ehhhhh…Dancing Makes You Smarter”

With their new album Exotic on the Speaker, Soulico, a Tel Aviv-based DJ collective, does for antiquated Israeli artists what Kanye did for 70s soul. Using the production methods of traditional hip-hop these Israeli DJs use Middle Eastern vinyl sampled with cameos from Del tha Funkee Homosapien and Wu-Tang’s Ghostface Killah.

Soulico’srecent U.S. tour took them to cities across the country, with DJ Sabbo hoping to appeal to a broader audience: "We’re not just aimed at the Jewish crowd. I want to believe that we’re appealing to a much bigger audience." And while attendence on tour was a little dismal, their optimism remains high. DJ Rob claims, "If we had enough of a crowd in the audience, I think we really rocked it."

Their aspirations seem to be working. Even though half of Soulico’s music is in Hebrew, at their Mercury Lounge show in New York City, even the listless hipsters were grooving as DJ Rob egged them on: "Yes, yes, remember, ehhhhhh . . . dancing makes you smarter." The group is emphatic about keeping their political ideologies off the table. "We don’t have a musical agenda. We just try to bring our own interpretation of the Middle-Eastern music, not its politics’ says DJ Shimmy Sonic. "We don’t have aspirations to change the world."

Regardless of how likely that is in any case, they do a pretty good job of "rocking the party."

Put Em Up feat Lyrics Born & Axum – Soulico

Related Posts:

Heeb at SXSW (A Break for a Lesson in Taxidermy)