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RA.839 Eli Escobar

Published
Jul 3, 2022
Filesize
256 MB
Length
01:51:40

Hanging out with one of New York's most important DJs.
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"Working my ass off, to be honest," is how Eli Escobar starts our interview below. That basically sums up his vibe. The New Yorker might not have the same household name status of other DJs who have been soundtracking Manhattan clubs since the early '90s, but he certainly deserves it. Any New York resident worth their salt should have him near the top of the list of their favorite local DJs. He plays anywhere and everywhere in the city, and he can play pretty much anything he wants to, as his RA Podcast will attest. When it comes to his own music, Escobar puts out records equally informed by disco, hip-hop and house—in other words, a very New York sound. He hasn't been producing as long as he's been DJing, but his albums and EPs for labels like Classic, Night People and Razor N Tape are full of the soul, humor and talent of someone who knows dance music inside out. As Escobar says below, he doesn't really have any one type of sound. His DJing varies greatly from night to night, and he's always adding to his considerable collection, so no one set is quite the same as another. For his RA Podcast, put together painstakingly with many specially edited tracks and recorded in a hotel room in Colombia, he strikes a relatively reflective tone, but it's still eminently danceable. He moves gradually through two hours of house and disco that ranges from celebratory to muted, from minimalist to rich with live instrumentation. It's the sound of New York dance music as passed through generations, from one of its best and most beloved musical storytellers. What have you been up to recently? Working my ass off, to be honest. I've never really slowed down since I started playing out in clubs in the '90s and things are busier than ever. I throw three parties in New York and am a resident at one other, so it's non-stop here, and while I haven't been traveling overseas much since Covid, America seems to be having a moment and it's been so busy for me all over the country. And I love it. This is our music after all! What are you grateful for these days? I suppose this may sound dramatic now, but during lockdown—for a year and a half—I wasn't sure I'd still have a career when we came out of this. There was so much uncertainty and absolutely no guarantees. Not doing what I love and being involved with nightlife did serious damage to my mental health and I'm pretty sure left me quite depressed. I always knew what I did was therapeutic for me but I don't think I ever realized to what extent it was. I simply did not feel like a complete human without it. So I am still, a year in, feeling so grateful to have nightlife and my work back. How and where was the mix recorded, and can you tell us the idea behind the mix? I made this mix in my hotel room in Bogotá. I was there for the Baum festival and had so much downtime, I began editing songs and figuring out what could fit with what. I play so many different genres and styles I wasn't sure what to do here. My DJ sets are always very representative of whatever mood I'm in that night, there isn't much planning that goes into it but I figured I'd put some more thought into this. There is music that was released this spring and music that was released 20 years ago. A healthy dose of artists that have inspired me for a very long time, like Reggie Dokes, Joe Claussell, Fred P and Hieroglyphic Being, and tons of new artists like Bella Boo and DJ City that I find really exciting. I also started the mix with a song by John Selway, since he was the first person I ever saw produce electronic music and he showed me the way around an AKAI S950 way back in 1993. You've been DJing in New York for a long time, and there have been many ups and downs. How do you feel about the city's nightlife over the last few years, especially after pandemic restrictions had been lifted? Well I think there was a noticeable shift in the early '10s. The city really opened up and Downtown Manhattan was not the epicenter anymore. While more and more clubs began to open in Brooklyn and a new generation of people began clubbing in New York, what resulted was a bit of a renaissance. Something I hadn't been lucky enough to experience yet in my professional career. And it's only gotten better. There is so much exciting talent here and a multitude of diverse venues for us to all to play and party at. Since Covid restrictions have been lifted I think we've only gotten stronger. The early months—I've never seen anything like it. I would almost cry every night just feeding off the joy of the crowd and this mutual feeling of gratefulness we all shared. And it hasn't really slowed down at all! I feel so lucky to be here night now in this moment. How do you keep yourself excited about dance music—and for you, specifically, the act of DJing—after doing it for decades? It's never been something that I've had to force. I truly love what I do so much. One thing about me is I've never been the type to stick with one style for years and years. More power to those that do—it's quite impressive—but I am always thirsty for new sounds and trying on different musical identities. I never wanted to end up a middle-aged DJ playing all the same classic songs week after week for the old school crowd or whatever. It would bore me to death. I am obsessively buying and searching for new music every day and I love figuring out how to play all this new stuff with the music I love from all these years of DJing and music from the years before I was DJing and making it all fit together cohesively. And I think my crowd trusts me and expects something a little different each time and is willing to go along with me. For the longest time that was all I ever wanted. To have my own following so I could play whatever I wanted and feel confident about it. So now that I finally have that—I love DJing more than ever! What's one social or political cause you want the world to pay more attention to? You know, you are catching me at a really tough time to answer this question. Roe v Wade was overturned this past weekend and it's all I can really think about. With the inevitability of abortion being outlawed in so many US states, women will need as much help as possible to be able to afford traveling to states where they are still legal. I am including a link to the New York Abortion Access Fund, and I hope anyone reading this can make a donation! What are you up to next? I have two completely finished albums that I am planning on releasing very soon! One is entirely sample-free and is very, very different from anything I've done before. It's the one I'm most excited about. It's called Once I Was Young. The other album, The Beach Album, was made very early on in lockdown and is your basic Eli sample-heavy, disco- house-techno-hip-hop kinda thing! I love them both and I can't wait for people to hear them. What are you looking forward to in the near future? I'm literally always looking forward to my next party! Even when I've tried to take vacations or little breaks, I fail miserably at it. I'd always rather be in a club!
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