In this week’s edition of Behind the Headphones, we spoke to Israeli duo Jos & Eli about their early influences, finding inspiration, and their most memorable parties. 

Originally from the city of Ashdod, a port city to the south of Tel Aviv, Jos & Eli have come from families of musicians and have been working together since the late 2000’s. Mainstays in the Israeli scene, Jos & Eli have played all over their home country and around the world in places such as Miami, Ibiza and Berlin.

Known for their moody, deep and melodic tracks, the duo have had their sound featured on labels such as Diynamic Music, Watergate Records and Einmuzika Recordings to name a few.

Interview: Callum Martinez


Hey, thanks for the speaking with us. How did you two meet, and when did you decide to collaborate on music together?

We met back in 2008 before Jos was drafted into the army. We started out in the Trance scene as a matter of fact, and at first we didn’t produce music but just DJ’d. When Jos was released from his service we started making some deep house, and from there we kind of bounced around some different vibes until we got to where we are today musically.

What where some of your earliest influences growing up?

Our main influences definitely came from old school electronic, mainly Psy Trance which has always been very popular in Israel. So artists like Astrix and Infected Mushroom (who we did a remix for recently, let that be our secret), to Tiesto, Armin and Maceo Plex.

What do you do when you need inspiration?

We love music. We get probably anywhere from 100-150 promos a week. We love sitting in the studio and just listening to the different music people are making nowadays. It’s actually amazing to hear some of the stuff that’s out there and not “mainstream”. We as a rule of thumb will always play good music, doesn’t matter how big or small the artist is who made it. We obviously also listen to our current fav artists some of whom we can call friends even such as Yotto, Marino Canal, Stephan Jolk, Innellea Artbat etc.

What’s your favourite party memory?

That would have to be playing the Renaissance event at ZAMNA this past April. We originally weren’t scheduled to play and came to support our friends Artbat who headlined the event, when towards the end the booker for the venue came up to us (we played several events through Tulum in the days prior) and said that Stephan Leger had to leave early and they needed someone to close the amazing pool stage. Obviously we said yes and the vibes on that stage were unreal, still gives us chills. To play a Tulum sunrise in such a special setting to thousands of people who didn’t know where we came from was special.

If you could meet yourselves as 10-year-olds, what advice would you give them?

Don’t rush into anything. Making and releasing good music at the right time takes patience. Take the time to review, try things out, experiment, not everything that shines is gold.

What are 3 records that define Jos & Eli?

Mr. President, Mayhem, Exaltation

If you could work with any artist past or present, who would it be?

Maceo Plex, because of the impact he had on us growing up in the music scene, I am sure it will happen one day soon.

What’s next for Jos & Eli?

We have an EP on Yotto’s label coming after the remix we recently did for him on there got incredible support, we have a track on Fur Coat’s oddity, and several other remixes and original releases we really wish we could talk about but sadly can’t for the time being.

You can purchase Jos & Eli – SOS EP. Remixed by Framewerk here.

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