Soulwax are probably one of the most interesting, confusing and enjoyable bands about these days. So many acts seem intent on remaining in their pigeon-hole or "inventing" their own one that they will never leave, something that Soulwax could never be accused of. Although the band was formed in the mid 90s (by brothers Stephen and David Dewaele, Stefaan Van Leuven and Piet Dierickx) they weren't really taken much notice of until 2000 when, after a change of drummers and adding a keyboardist, they released the
Much Against Everyone's Advice single from their 1999 album of the same name. It was an instantly catchy piece of indie pop that got heavy rotation on channels like MTV2 and stood out from the rest of the post-Britpop rubbish thanks to its edgier guitars and beats that swung between electro, pounding rock and flowery 60s tinged pop, often within a few seconds. They followed this up with some highly acclaimed festival appearances and the brilliant
Too Many DJs single.
2 years later saw the appearance of the Dewaele brothers alter-egos,
2 Many DJs, and the mix album
As Heard On Radio Soulwax Pt. 2. The album became an immediate pre and post club classic due to the catchy, inspired mashups and remixes which make up its 61 minute running time. The album was actually a recording of a radio show that the brothers did on Belgium's Studio Brussel station and following the release the brothers were soon in demand as DJs as much as they were for shows with the band. So they did both, organising Radio Soulwax tours and often playing festivals as both Soulwax and 2 Many DJs. In 2004 Soulwax released
Any Minute Now and not surprisingly it was a dancier, more electro affair than
Much Against Everyone's Advice had been. It still retained the melodies, crunching guitars, darkness, inventiveness and catchy tunes of its predecessor but its musical and lyrical influences were obviously those of touring, DJing and all the hedonistic pleasures that the band had experienced as a result of their increasing popularity. Whereas 2 Many DJs may not have been to the liking of every Soulwax fan, and vice versa,
Any Minute Now mixed genres together so perfectly that rather than alienating either audience it resulted in a release which both could easily love.
Following this even more popular album, accompanied by even greater acclaim and higher billing for their festival appearances, Soulwax wasted no time in releasing
Nite Versions which is a remix/rework of
Any Minute Now and also features a cover of
Daft Punk's
Teachers from the
Homework album. This release also coincided with the bands most successful tour which saw the band take to the stage in both 2 Many DJs and Soulwax guises and performing
Nite Versions in its entirety. So that brings us bang up to date and the release of their latest remix project, the incredibly long titled
Most of the remixes we've made for other people over the years except for the one for Einsturzende Neubaten because we lost it and a few we didn't think sounded good enough or just didn't fit in length wise, but including some that are hard to find because either people forgot about them or simply because they haven't been released yet, a few we really love, one we think is just ok, some we did for free, some we did for money, some for ourselves without permission and some for friends as swaps but never on time and always at our studio in Ghent.
The album is sold as a Soulwax release but is in fact a warped kind of split with their alter-egos. Disc 1 is 77 minutes containing 14 remixes that the group have done over the years, if you hadn't figured that out from the title, and a lot are quite similar in style to the
Nite Versions mixes of
Any Minute Now. There are some truly great remixes on here and some that might not grab you on first listen, if they ever grab you at all. I suppose that is the one problem this album might have, if you don't know or like the song to begin with then you might not find a 7 minute remix of it too appealing. Or you may find that you really like the 7 minute remixes of a track that you didn't know or like to begin with, its a fine line. You can tell that 2 Many DJs is always a consideration when Soulwax are putting their remixes together, many of them contain DJ friendly long lead ins and lead outs. Having said that there are some tracks that stand out very well and will find themselves on your playlist for quite some time to come. I found
LCD Soundsystem's
Daft Punk Is Playing At My House to be an overly long, monotonous and slightly dull track when it was released but the remix on here is far more satisfying as Soulwax have thrown in plenty of Daft Punk samples throughout and generally forced the track to go on the journey that the original was lacking. Fans of Skins will all remember how the show's adverts shot Beth Ditto and Co. to overnight success and then resulted in a lot of disappointed clubbers who suddenly discovered that the
Gossip track they'd just shelled out for wasn't the dirty synth monster they had been wanting. Well that dirty synth monster is here sounding like it would fit in perfectly on
Nite Versions, in fact it is called the Soulwax Nite Version.
Klaxons'
Gravity's Rainbow gets a full electro makeover that makes it sound like a 90s rave remix of an 80s power ballad, almost as if
Josh Wink had worked on a
Boston track, and it has plenty of head bopping moments that will make you wish you were in a club/field somewhere surrounded by several thousand people that are most definitely not on their nut. The remix of
Dare by
Gorillaz is not as satisfying unfortunately, i think its the one i'm least likely to play again.
Kylie Minogue's
Can't Get You Out Of My Head is a different matter though, It actually sounds like old Soulwax creating the blueprint for their current sound. Lots of nice crunching fuzzy guitars all over the place, a real drum kit and a different sound to the rest of the album which takes the song to an altogether darker place than it has probably ever been. Basically this album is full of remixes that will no doubt please a lot of Soulwax fans for one reason or another and may annoy lots of Soulwax fans for the same reasons.
That is where Disc 2 saves the day and makes Disc 1 something that you're more likely to revisit. 13 of the tracks from Disc 1 are here along with 6 others but it is only 53 minutes long. There are no long lead ins or lead outs, no 7 minute tracks, no dull moments and nothing that even seems like it could be remotely described as filler. And here is the reason, Disc 2 is a 2 Many DJs mix. As with all other 2 Many DJs mixes the tracks seem like they were made to be put together in this way by the Dewaele brothers, the main difference is that this time they pretty much were. Instead of the usual mashups the brothers are mashing up their own remixes, with the exception of
Tiga's
Move My Body, and it sounds great. It almost makes Disc 1 seem like a challenge, like they're saying to the listener "ok, you've pretty much got all the tracks on a seperate cd so why don't you see if you can learn to mix too?". The mix is done with the usual perfection that you'd expect from this pair so there really isn't anything more that you can say about it. When i first listened to this album i thought that most of the mixes were ok, it wasn't until i listened to Disc 2 that i started to really enjoy it. Then i gave Disc 1 a second chance and found myself enjoying the tracks a whole lot more than i had first time round. It is more of a curio than a fully constructed album and i can see it really appealing to DJs more than the casual listener. That doesn't mean it isn't perfect for putting on at a good party, it really is music that demands you turn the volume up should you ever try to put it on in the background. So either slip tracks from Disc 1 into your current playlist of dance tunes or cue up disc 2 alongside
As Heard On Radio Soulwax Pt. 2 and some of the 2 Many DJs bootlegs. Either way you'll always find something worth listening to if you buy this.
The
Radio Soulwax Halloween Fancy Dress Party featuring
DJ Midnight Mike,
Inflagranti,
Nite Versions and
2 Many DJs is on at the Carling Academy on Wednesday 31st October. Tickets are available from
ticketweb.
2 Many DJs also take part in the
Oxjam Finale at Box on the same night.
Article originally published at http://smallpbigandas.blogspot.com 
