Ghent, BE · electro-rock · dance

Soulwax

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The Dewaele brothers' three-drummer live machine — Belgium's mightiest dance-rock export, precision-engineered for maximum movement, every set an engineering marvel.

Soulwax formed in Ghent in 1993 around brothers David and Stephen Dewaele, initially as a guitar band. Their debut EP, 2nd Handsome Blues, appeared in 1995, followed by the album Leave the Story Untold in 1996. They continued in that vein through Much Against Everyone's Advice, sharpening a heavier, more electronic edge with each release.

The 2004 album Any Minute Now produced three singles, "E Talking," "NY Excuse" and the title track. The video for "E Talking," filmed in London's Fabric nightclub and showing each character on a different drug, proved controversial enough to be restricted to post-watershed broadcast. By this point the Dewaeles were also working under the name 2manydjs, whose mash-up mixes shaped early-2000s club culture.

The brothers reworked their own material into the club-facing Nite Versions, while producing remixes for Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem and Gorillaz, among others. They built friendships with artists including Tiga, LCD Soundsystem and WhoMadeWho, and briefly ran a side project called Die Verboten.

Under the name Radio Soulwax, they issued mix compilations including As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2, named the best popular music album of 2002 by The New York Times, followed by This Is Radio Soulwax and Part of NYE Never Dies. A 2006 tour was documented in the film Part of the Weekend Never Dies, and the brothers later hosted a Belgian television show, Alter8.

The live show eventually became built around multiple drummers playing in unison, giving performances a mechanical, percussive drive. Soulwax also run the Deewee label and studio in Ghent, and have produced records for other acts, including Das Pop, Crookers and Peaches.

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