Soulwax are a Belgian electronic band and DJ/production collective from Ghent, who formed in 1995. Centred around brothers David and Stephen Dewaele, other current members include Igor and Laima Cavalera, and Stefaan Van Leuven. The group first rose to prominence following the release of their album Much Against Everyone's Advice, and have released five studio albums to date. Outside of Soulwax, the Dewaeles also perform DJ sets under the moniker 2manydjs (first known as The Fucking Dewaele Brothers/The Flying Dewaele Brothers[1]).

Soulwax
Performing as 2manydjs in 2007
Performing as 2manydjs in 2007
Background information
Also known as
  • 2manydjs
  • Fucking Dewaele Brothers
  • Flying Dewaele Brothers
  • Samantha Fu
  • Kawazaki
OriginGhent, Belgium
Genres
Years active1995–present
Labels
Members
  • Stephen Dewaele
  • David Dewaele
  • Stefaan Van Leuven
  • Igor Cavalera
  • Laima Cavalera
Past members
Websitesoulwax.com

The group are also known for their project Radio Soulwax. Their 2002 compilation, As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2, was named the best popular music album of 2002 by The New York Times.[2] The brothers have also hosted a show on Belgian television, titled Alter8.

History

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Career

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The 2004 album Any Minute Now spawned three singles in "E Talking", "NY Excuse" and the title track. The "E Talking" music video was controversial and restricted to post-watershed broadcast on music television channels. Filmed on location in London's Fabric nightclub, everyone in the video is depicted as being on a different drug, listed from A through Z (including popular drug nicknames).[3]

The group produced a number of official and unofficial remixes, including "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" and "Get Innocuous!" by LCD Soundsystem, "Robot Rock" by Daft Punk and "Dare" by Gorillaz. They are friends of artists Tiga, LCD Soundsystem and WhoMadeWho. The album Nite Versions (2005) is a collection of remixes of tracks from the album Any Minute Now.

In January 2006, Soulwax released their second remix album. Titled This Is Radio Soulwax, it was covermounted into the February 2006 issue of Mixmag. Their third remix album, Part of NYE Never Dies, was also covermounted into Mixmag in late 2008.

In summer 2006, Soulwax completed a "Nite Version remix" of Gossip's "Standing in the Way of Control" as well as their "Ravelight Dub" and "Ravelight Vocal Mix" of Robbie Williams' "Lovelight". The summer 2006 tour was filmed by director Saam Farahmand, and resulted in the documentary "Part of the Weekend Never Dies".

In August 2006, Soulwax were working on tracks for the new album from Tiga. In late 2006, it was announced in Belgian magazine HUMO that David and Stephen Dewaele had formed a band with Shane Doran and his brother-in-law Fergadelic, called Die Verboten.

In 2007, Soulwax produced remixes of "Gravity's Rainbow" by Klaxons and "Phantom Pt. II" by Justice.

Soulwax, under the guise of 2manydjs, headlined their own "Radio Soulwax" tent at the Rock Ness Festival held on 9 June 2007. The following day at the festival, they played a Soulwax Nite Versions show in the "Clash Arena."[4] Later that month, they took part in the Wild in the Country event at Knebworth Park on 30 June 2007.[5] In December 2007, they held Radio Soulwax-mas, a massive Christmas party in Flanders Expo, with guests such as Tiga, Erol Alkan, Boys Noize, Justice, Riton, Mixhell, Daniele Baldelli, Hong Kong Dong, Das Pop, Goose, and Milk Inc.[6]

Soulwax produced the debut album by fellow Belgians Das Pop, fronted by Soulwax drummer Bent Van Looy, scheduled for 2009 release in the UK.[7]

In December 2009, Soulwax produced the song "We Love Animals" for Crookers with Mixhell. In addition, Soulwax produced the song "Talk to Me" by Peaches.[8]

In 2016, Soulwax returned with a new live show entitled "Soulwax Transient Program For Drums And Machinery". The new line up consisted of three drummers (Victoria Smith, Blake Davies and Igor Cavalera) as well as Igor's wife Laima Leyton, (also of Mixhell) on synths and backing vocals.[9] This live show was the basis for their album From Deewee, released March 24.[10]

As Heard on Radio Soulwax

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The only official compilation As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2, was released in 2002 and is composed of 45 tracks the Dewaele brothers were able to clear the rights from. They originally requested rights for 187 tracks and got clearances for 114 of them. 62 were refused and 11 remained untraceable.[11]

All the unofficial releases (As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 1 and 3 through 11) are in fact a compilation of the Radio Soulwax shows[12] 2manydjs did for various radio stations including Studio Brussel (Belgium), Radio 1 (UK), KISS 100 (UK) and Eins live (Germany).[13]

VIVID Sydney 2011

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As part of the Vivid Live Festival in Sydney, David and Stephen Dewaele behind 2manydjs and electro-rock outfit Soulwax presented a one-off series of radio shows on 'Triple J' Australian national radio station. The series was broadcast nationally 6 PM nightly from 31 May 2011 to 3 June 2011.[14]

Other work

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The 2001 track "Theme from Discothèque" is by David and Stephen Dewaele from Soulwax, under the name Samantha Fu.[1] They produced this track for a Ghent-based dancegroup called Kung Fu.

On February 2, 2009, Soulwax made a guest appearance on BBC Radio 1, playing 420 song introductions in a period of 60 minutes.[15]

David and Stephen produced Bolis Pupul's debut album Letter to Yu, and recorded it at their studio, Deewee Studios, in Ghent.[16]

Film

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In 2004, Soulwax compiled the soundtrack for the Belgian movie Steve + Sky. Soulwax contributed three instrumental tracks on this compilation under the name "Kawazaki".

Soulwax's remix of the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" is the credit song of, and featured in the movie 21.[17]

Director Saam Farahmand has filmed Soulwax on their international dates (2005–2007), capturing all the excitement, chaos and humour of the world tour. Soulwax filmed 120 shows with one camera in Europe, Japan, U.S., Latin America and Australia. This resulted in two films entitled "Part of the Weekend Never Dies"; a live music film and a documentary which includes 2manydjs, Soulwax Nite Versions and features James Murphy, Nancy Whang, Erol Alkan, Tiga, Justice, Busy P, The Naked Guy, So-Me, Peaches, Kitsuné, Klaxons and many more in behind the scenes footage, interviews, etc. As of April 2008, Soulwax's clubbing film/documentary Radio Soulwax is finished. They performed a sold-out gig at the London Royal Festival Hall, during which they did a première of the film.[18] It came out on DVD September 2008.

Soulwax composed the soundtrack for the 2016 film Belgica by Felix Van Groeningen, crediting every song on the soundtrack to a different fictional band.[19]

Radio Soulwax

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In 2011, Soulwax established a website called Radio Soulwax, in which a continuous mix played all day, featuring 24 hour-long mixes with visuals similar to those used in the 2manydjs live sets, and included music from many different decades.[20] These "RSWX hours" have since been made available on Vimeo.[21]

Soulwax - Machine was conceived and directed by Saam Farahmand, who was inspired to create an interpretation of the ethos behind the project. The result is a film featuring model Marilyn Rose that encapsulates the audio-visual obsession of Radio Soulwax, according to Soulwax themselves.[22] The film was previsualised, edited, and post-produced by Andrew Daffy's The House of Curves in London.[23]

Soulwax FM

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Soulwax contributed to the soundtrack of Grand Theft Auto V. They hosted and supplied the playlist to the in-game radio station "Soulwax FM".[24]

Awards and nominations

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Year Awards Work Category Result
1998 Zamu Music Awards[25] Much Against Everyone's Advice Album cover Won
1999 Zamu Music Awards[26] Soulwax Live-act Won
TMF Awards[27] Soulwax Best Belgian Rock Won
2 Many DJ's Best Belgian Video Won
2000 TMF Awards[28] Soulwax Best Belgian Rock Won
Much Against Everyone's Advice Best Belgian Video Won
2002 Zamu Music Awards[29] 2 Many DJ's Dance Won
TMF Awards 2 Many DJ's Best Belgian DJ Won
2004 Joseph Plateau Awards[30] Steve + Sky Best Belgian Composer Won
TMF Awards[31] 2 Many DJ's Best Belgian DJ Won
2005 MTV Europe Music Awards[32] Soulwax Best Belgian Act Nominated
MVPA Awards[33] "E Talking" Best International Video Nominated
2007 Rober Awards Music Poll[34] Most of the Remixes Best Various Artists Compilation Won
PLUG Awards[35] Nite Versions DJ Album of the Year Nominated
DJ Awards[36] 2 Many DJ's Breakthrough Nominated
2009 International Dance Music Awards[37] Soulwax Best Dance Artist (Group) Nominated
2011 BT Digital Music Awards[38] Radio Soulwax iOS Best Music App Nominated
Radio Soulwax Best Radio Show or Podcast Nominated
DJ Awards[39] 2ManyDJ's Best Eclectic House DJ Won
2012 UK Music Video Awards[40] Radio Soulwax - "Machine" Best Music AD Nominated
2017 Best Art Vinyl[41] From Deewee Best Art Vinyl Nominated
Music Industry Awards[42] Best Album Won
Best Artwork Nominated
Soulwax Best Live Act Nominated
Best Dance Act Nominated
2018 UK Music Video Awards[43] "Is It Always Binary" Best Live Video Nominated
2020 Grammy Awards[44] Marie Davidson - "Work It" (Soulwax Remix) Best Remixed Recording Nominated

Discography

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Adapted from Discogs.[45]

Albums

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Studio albums
Remix albums
Compilation albums
Soundtrack albums
Unofficial albums
  • Most of the Other Remixes...

An album with remixes that were not included in Most of the Remixes.

Singles

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Year Song UK Singles Chart[46] Album
1995 "2nd Handsome Blues" (10" vinyl EP) -
1996 "Kill Your Darlings" Leave the Story Untold
"Great Continental Suicide Note"
"Caramel"
1998 "My Cruel Joke..." Much Against Everyone's Advice
"Conversation Intercom" 65
"Much Against Everyone's Advice" 56
1999 "Too Many DJ's" 40
"When Logics Die" 56
"Saturday" -
2001 "Conversation Intercom" (re-mix) 50
2004 "Any Minute Now" 34 Any Minute Now
2005 "E Talking" 27
"NY Excuse" 35
2016 "Transient Program For Drums And Machinery" From Deewee
2017 "Do You Want To Get Into Trouble?"

Production for other artists

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Discography as 2manydjs

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Official compilations
Unofficial compilations

These unofficial compilations are bootleg recordings of radio shows that 2manydjs did for Studio Brussel.

  • 12 albums - As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 0 to As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 11
  • Hang All DJs (all volumes)

A bootleg recording of their Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1 in 2005 was released under the title 50,000,000 Soulwax Fans Can't Be Wrong.[47]

Record collection

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As sons of radio and TV host Zaki, the Dewaele Brothers grew up among vinyl records and started collecting them themselves.[48][49][50] On 26 March 2014, students of the PXL university digitalized 5.000 of the more than 40.000 vinyl records owned by the Dewaele Brothers. As a gift back, the brothers played a set at a student afterparty.[51][52]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Soulwax : la musique ne s'arrête jamais !". www.proximus.be (in French). 2019-01-21. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  2. ^ Strauss, Neil (2002-12-29). "MUSIC: THE YEAR IN REVIEW -- THE CRITICS/THE 10 BEST ALBUMS; Somber Anthems, Loose-Limbed Funk". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  3. ^ Bernard, Evan (2014). Soulwax E Talking. Retrieved 2020-01-10 – via Vimeo.
  4. ^ Moloney, Lara; Whiting, Neil (May 2005). "Rockness Line-ups, 9 & 10 June". The Skinny (20): 42 – via Issuu.
  5. ^ "More names added to Wild in the Country". Resident Advisor. 2007-04-10. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  6. ^ Vanden Broeck, Joris (23 December 2007). "Radio Soulwax-mas :: 22 december 2007, Flanders Expo | enola.be". enola.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  7. ^ Lester, Paul (11 June 2008). "No 331: Das Pop". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2015-04-03. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  8. ^ "Peaches, 'I Feel Cream' (XL)". Archived from the original on 2010-02-02. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
  9. ^ "soulwax.info". kevinenjoyce.com. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  10. ^ "Soulwax Announce New Album FROM DEEWEE - Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. 9 February 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  11. ^ "Soulwax : 2 Many DJ – As Heard On Radio Soulwax Pt 2". NME. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
  12. ^ "2 many DJ's website - Albums - Compilations". Archived from the original on 2008-01-09.
  13. ^ "2manydjs - Info, Biography, Discography, tracklistings, Bootlegs, downloads". djmixes.net. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  14. ^ "Triple J to host the Soulwax Brothers at Vivid | radioinfo". radioinfo.com.au. 2011-06-01. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  15. ^ "2 Many DJ's aka Soulwax: Filling In for Rob Da Bank on BBC Radio 1 on 02/02/09". hipsterwave.com. 5 February 2009. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  16. ^ Pearis, Bill (November 29, 2023). "Charlotte Adigéry collaborator Bolis Pupul announces new solo album, shares "Completely Half"". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  17. ^ "You Can't Always Get What You Want (Soulwax Remix)- As Featured in the Columbia Pictures Motion Picture 21". ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  18. ^ "Review: Radio Soulwax Presents..." Londonist. 2008-04-25. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  19. ^ Lynskey, Dorian (2016-03-31). "Interview: Why Soulwax are writing music for imaginary bands". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  20. ^ Elise (2011-07-23). "Radio Soulwax débarque sur le net! - Des Filles à Retordre..." fillesaretordre.canalblog.com (in French). Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  21. ^ "Radio Soulwax". Vimeo. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  22. ^ "Lusty Electro Vids". TrendHunter.com. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  23. ^ Wilson, David (2011-10-30). "Saam Farahmand: Soulwax: Machine Trailer NSFW". Motionographer. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  24. ^ Roberts, Randall (2013-08-23). "Grand Theft Auto V music tracklist, stations revealed". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  25. ^ "ZAMU - Vereniging voor ZAngers en MUzikanten: ZAMU-awards 1998". zamu.be. 2011-08-23. Archived from the original on 2011-08-23. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  26. ^ "Soulwax wint Zamu Awards en verleidt Brits publiek". Het Belang van Limburg (in Flemish). 2000-03-08. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  27. ^ "Koen Wauters grote winnaar op TMF Awards". Gazet van Antwerpen (in Flemish). 1999-10-22. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  28. ^ "Soulwax en Milk Inc kapen TMF-awards weg". Het Belang van Limburg (in Flemish). 2000-10-30. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  29. ^ "ZAMU - Vereniging voor ZAngers en MUzikanten: ZAMU-awards 2002". 2011-08-23. Archived from the original on 2011-08-23. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  30. ^ "'Steve + Sky' remporte la récompense du meilleur film belge aux Prix Joseph Plateau 2004". Cinenews.be (in French). 2005-05-07. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  31. ^ "TMF Awards 2004 Winners". DanceVibes. 2004-10-02. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  32. ^ "Coldplay en Gorillaz genomineerd voor vijf MTV Awards". Trouw (in Dutch). 2005-09-27. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  33. ^ Gottlieb, Steven (March 18, 2005). "NEWS: MVPA Award Nominees Announced (Updated)". VideoStatic.
  34. ^ "ROBER AWARDS 2008: And the Rober goes to…(II) | Rober Awards". RoberAwards.com. 2008-02-25. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  35. ^ "Fresh Air: Plug Awards". ineedfreshair-h2o.blogspot.com. 2007-02-28. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  36. ^ "2007: 10th Edition (Time)". DJ Awards. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  37. ^ "31st Annual International Dance Music Awards - Winter Music Conference 2017 - WMC 2017". December 21, 2016. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  38. ^ Copsey, Robert (2011-08-31). "BT Digital Music Awards 2011: Nominees in full". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  39. ^ "2011: 14th Edition (Fire)". DJ Awards. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  40. ^ "UK Music Video Awards nominations announced | Complete Music Update". Complete Music Update. 2012-10-09. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  41. ^ "Best Art Vinyl Awards 2018 | ArtVinyl". Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  42. ^ "Nominaties van de MIA's 2017 bekend | VRT.be".
  43. ^ "UK Music Video Awards 2018: all the nominations! | News | Promonews". Promonewstv. 2018-09-27. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  44. ^ Williams, Harrisson (2019-11-20). "The Chemical Brothers, Soulwax, Bonobo nominated for 62nd Grammy Awards". Mixmag. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  45. ^ "Soulwax". Discogs. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
  46. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 516. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  47. ^ Patrick (2005-03-01). "50,000,000 Soulwax Fans Can't Be Wrong gullbuy music review". www.gullbuy.com. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  48. ^ "Kunstenpunt | Muziek | Soulwax". muziekcentrum.kunsten.be. Retrieved 2024-05-10.
  49. ^ De platencollectie van Soulwax is groter dan die van u. Retrieved 2024-05-10 – via www.youtube.com.
  50. ^ https://www.demorgen.be/nieuws/de-platencollectie-van-soulwax-is-groter-dan-die-van-u~b6f966e7/?referrer=https://www.google.com/ [bare URL]
  51. ^ "PXL-studenten inventariseren 5000 vinyls in ruil voor exclusieve Soulwax-afterparty". www.pxl.be. Retrieved 2024-05-10.
  52. ^ "Studenten digitaliseren 5.000 platen van Soulwax". Het Nieuwsblad (in Flemish). 2014-03-26. Retrieved 2024-05-10.
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