2 many DJs: Brothers Stephen and David Dewaele
Related: bastard pop - Belgian music "In London, we play with Trevor Jackson or Arthur Baker, in Berlin with Peaches, in New York with the DFA people." --David Dewaele, March 2003, Deng magazine.
Soulwax, 2 Many DJs
As heard on radio Soulwax (2002) - Various Artists [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Soulwax, headed by David and Stephen Dewaele, is an alternative rock band hailing from Belgium. Though the Dewaele Brothers have created several major albums under this moniker, including Much Against Everyone's Advice (2001) and Any Minute Now (2005), the two are perhaps best-known for their influential contributions to the bastard pop genre under the name 2 Many DJ's. The latest Soulwax album, Any Minute Now, has spawned a fairly popular single, "E Talking". --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soulwax [Apr 2005]
2 many DJs Part 3
It turns out we have been amongst the lucky few to get our hands on the 3 part 2 Many DJs series of compilations for the price we've been getting them because copies have been selling at ebay for $50 plus each.
Part 3 might well be the most exciting edition yet - it definitely is the most rocking mix so far, thanks in part to bands like Van Halen, Led Zeppelin and Motley Crue - but also thanks to the driving beats that work the whole thing into a frenzy.
While I'm not going to go so far as to say it is the best mix, I think it's the one that sends the 2 Many DJs compilations into the nether regions: it sounds like a late night mix, not one of those mellow chill out affairs either, this set is pumped up - high octane stuff.
It's got music for the head banger in us and for the dancefloor; it's got something for the loungeheads and it's even got something for those who like song links between the songs. And as a breath of fresh air it's got very little of what have become the bootleg staples. So while it may be rough around some of it's edges - some of the mixes come off as jarring - I think this mix is a pleasant surprise for the series in that it doesn't feel like it's gotten old - it sounds in fact remarkably fresh.
1-2. The first track called Protest Speech is a choice sample from the major motion picture called Network from 1976 (link to full sample text), a rant by Howard Beale (played by Peter Finch) about the dire state of things which still rings true today. This merges into the over the top antics of Van Halen Eruption (with special interlude from a short sample "Wow....sound editing just keeps getting easier and easier" making a self-referential statement on Soulwax's technique) and who wasn't awed by these pyrotechnics - in fact who doesn't remember when they first heard Van Halen's antics?
3-6. Daft Punk Superheroes follows taking things into dance floor mode, seamlessly merging into the Queen Of Japan Kiss cover I Was Made For Loving You with some emotional 80s styled vocalization - and an addicting sound. Mis-labeled on the disc as New Order's Crystal (Lee Coombes Mix) next up it's actually New Order 586 at hyperspeed mixed to good effect with the Viscious Pink song 8.15 To Nowhere.
7. Another Vicious Pink song follows - an odd mix into a cover of Great Balls Of Fire to break up things a bit and it works well - definitely spurring my curiosity about this band.
8. Things get quickly back into a rocking mode with Led Zeppelin Misty Mountain Hop for some squealing vocals and whiny chorus vocals.
9-10. The first and one of the few electro songs merges somewhat with the Zeppelin tune in a phasered out mode with the scorcher La Rock by Vitalic and their irresistible beat. This fuzzes out into Prince Lets Go Crazy (the intro) which then gets manipulated with stops and starts.
11. Things take a twist into a half minute of Inner City Big Fun (the Soulwax Re-Edit) before merging into the already classic duet between Louis Austin and Peaches on their tantalizing Grab My Shaft.
13. Next up is the Mustapha Dance version of The Clash Rock The Casbah which definitely gives me a twinge this week due to the passing of Joe Strummer.
14-17. A set break with a sample from a speech from Radio Queens which goes right into Jeans Team Klein Melodien for some more electro with German vocals. This is one of the longer tracks in this mix at almost 3 minutes, mixing into Los Ninos Del Parque by Liaisons Dangereuses for a half a minute and then into the drum pattern from The Beatles Strawberries Fields (Demo Take 7 Edit) for the definite high point in this mix.
18. Things start to get into a prog madness with Corporation Of One The Real Life vs. Simple Minds Theme From Great Cities thus ending one of the best segments in this mix.
19-20. Kagami's Tokyo Disco Music keeps the pace fast and furious mixing into more mayhem in Midfield General's Coat Noize - this is the get down and boogie on the dancefloor section of the mix.
21. My least favorite section of the mix is this 2 Live Crew Live! bit (and watch for the profanity).
22. Luckily the previous track is short enough and The Chemical Brothers Come With Us is long enough (almost 3 minutes) - with some incredible beats coming in and out of the mix.
23-31. Up next is the songs linked by a theme (mentioned earlier in the review) - the theme being Boys and Girls. Songs in this section include Androgeny (Felix da Housecat Remix) by Garbage, Blur's Girls & Boys, Prince's Girls & Boys, The Chemical Brothers' Hey Boy Hey Girl, Sabrina's Boys Boys Boys Motley Crue's Girls Girls Girls, The Waitresses I Know What Guys Like, The Moments' Girls and Modjo's Lady (Hear Me Tonight). This definitely makes for a great mix and is another highlight.
32-33. Evolution Control Committee's Rebel Without A Pause - Herb Albert vs. Public Enemy is a classic and mixes well with Tito Puente's cover of Its Not Unusual - both great mixes.
34-38. Things get funky with Naughty By Nature's O.P.P. - an almost Jackson 5 feel to it (sounding like they sampled them) merging into thirty seconds of Full Force's Alice I Want You Just For Me straight into Missy Elliot's One Minute Man. Missy then mixes seamlessly into New Edition's Instrumental mix of Candy Girl which is used under Le Club's Un Fait Divers Et Rien De Plus (profanity mixed throughout these tracks).
39-40. Dr. John's Right Place Wrong Time is a nice change of pace for some New Orleans styled funk. This merges quite well into Lazy Tr 707's Groove Time.
41-46. Next up is some French rap with The Croisants' song called Andy Warhol for some really cool rhythm sounds and keyboards - 80 style. This mixes seamlessly into The Warhols Sun Comes Up and briefly into the guitar riff from Lemon Jelly's Mamma I'm Sure.. which intros well into Shake What Ya Mama Gave Ya by Sticks In The Hood. This climaxes in the uncredited Black Crowe's cover of Hard to Handle with added record scratches. the end of this is another got to be heard rhythm breakdown mix - well worth the searching and another highlight to the disc. This mixes right into Mantronix's King Of The Beats vs. House Of Pain's Jump Around in this manner in a completely rocking mode. Things end on a more laidback funk work-out for half a minute of Well Its Still All Good Y'All by Steinski & The Mass Media. Yet another fitting conclusion to 2 Many DJs Part 3 and what has turned out to be a tremendous series of mix discs. The mixes are flying a mile a minute and then some and Soulwax keeps up the crate digging and the momentum.
2many DJs part 1: Story of the Compilation
the un-authorised, un-official story
"i'm sick of it, please, no more phonecalls..i can't afford myself doing so much work for such little output!" - anonymous record-company spokeswoman.
it's been almost three years in the making, it took one record company employee more than six months of hard labour, 865 e-mails, 160 faxes and hundreds of phone calls to contact over 45 major and independent record-companies.
a total amount of 187 different tracks were involved from which 114 got approved, 62 refused and 11 were un-trackable. it caused massive headaches and sweaty palms to employees of 'clearance centres' and record companies all over the world.
but it's finally here. it's about 62 minutes long and there's 45 (or is that 46?) tracks on it. it took seven long days and nights to cut, edit, mix and re-edit it all together and it fucking rocks!
ladies and gentlemen, two - many - deejays!
to be honest, nobody ever thought it was going to happen.
it was clear from the beginning that some of the tracks they (stephen and david) wanted to use were very hard to get. some record-company executives probably thought this was going to be easy money involving minimal costs and a big output. but it turned out otherwise. most people are probably expecting a record that's fit to be played in clubs, trendy bars or edgy urban clothes-shops. those people are going to be disappointed. and if you're expecting a typical 'rockband-who-are-into-dance-music' routine, you might as well start looking for your stub.
this is not - i repeat, not - your average 'jump-the-bandwagon-and-make-some-money-on-the-way'-compilation.
if you ask me there's a certain grandmaster flash-approach to the whole album. 'cause what the grand master did was nothing more than take all his favourite bits from his favourite records and put them together to create something new and special. the same thing is happening here. only, flash did it with a crew passing him his records and stephen and david did it on a mac g3.
so beware, if you just go by the looks of the tracklist, you are bound to expect something completely different than what you eventually will hear. you've been warned.
but it doesn't run all too smoothly if you try to do something different. you have to prepare yourself for the long and winding road that runs through the jungle that is known as 'the record industry'
in these post-modern times of illegal mp3's and white label bootlegs it is all too easy to think you can get away with anything. you can't.
never forget that everyone wants a piece of the cake. and watch out if they don't want to be in the dough at all.
if you want to include somebody's music on a release of your own you've got to get permission from the owner of the 'master tapes', which usually is the artist's record company.
depending on the contract the artist has with the company, they've got to ask his/her permission as well. this process is known as 'licensing' or, in record-company talk, 'clearing' the copyrights.
'no problemo,' i hear the amateur-deejay inside you think. 'who wouldn't like to be included in my supa-dupa deejay-mix that definitely is going to be a big success 'cause all my mates say it's great?'
well, some bands or singers aren't too keen on 'lending out' their songs for other people's use. and that philosophy is not always coming from a corner you might expect.
a certain very well known hip-hop trio from new york, for instance, who once encountered some copyright-lawsuits of their own, will never, ever license one of their tracks for any compilation.
mostly this has to do with maintaining the 'exclusivity' of their tracks or in other words they're saying: 'if you want to hear my songs, buy the frickin' album'
to give you an even better peek at the international world of record-company bonanza, there's the 'track-by-track' commentary that includes footnotes from both stephen and david themselves and some anonymous record-company 'officials'
"I want a final 'read and approved' on this text and your not going to be a hard case about that!" - anonymous management person --http://www.2manydjs.org
CDs
- 2 many DJs (2002) - Various Artists [Amazon US]
Stephen & David Dewaele from Soulwax have created a new way of old-style DJ-ing, which is definitely influenced by great names like DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel. Their cutting technique just works in a major fashion, just listen to the intro by Emerson, Lake & Palmer Vs. Basement Jaxx. Others thrown into this past & present eclectic mix include Velvet Underground, Salt 'n Pepa, The Stooges, 10cc, Royksopp, The Breeders and... you get the idea. 45 tracks in 60 minutes!
1. Cant Get You Out Of My Head (Soulwax Elektronic Remix) - Kyl 2. Wheres Your Head At (Head A Pella) - Basement Jaxx 3. Fuck The Pain Away - Peaches 4. Im Waiting For The Man - Velvet Underground 5. J Aime Regarder Les Mecs - Polyester 6. Dance To The Music - Sly And The Family Stone 7. Oh Sheila - Ready For The World 8. I Wanna Be Your Dog - Dakar And Grinser 9. Disko Kings - Ural 13 Diktators 10. The O Medley - Bobby Orlando 11. Silverscreen Shower Scenes - Felix Da Housecat 12. No Fun - The Stooges 13. Push It - Salt N Pepa 14. Joe Le Taxi - Hanayo With Jurgen Paape 15. Crush On You - The Jets 16. Funkacise - Funkacise Gang 17. Motocross Madness - Soul Grabber 18. French Kiss - Lil Louis And The World 19. Serious Trouble - Zongamin 20. Androgyny Thee Glitz Mix By Felix Da Housecat - Garbage 21. Disc Jockeys Delight Vol 2 - Frank Delour 22. Kaw Liga (Prairie Mix) - The Residents 23. Shake Your Body - Carlos Morgan 24. Into The Stars (Firebirds Remix) - Alapawezen 25. Concepts - Interstelllar 26. 99 Luftballoons - Nena 27. Independent Women Part 1 - Destinys Child 28. Dreadlock Holiday - 10cc 29. 9 To 5 - Dolly Parton 30. Eple - Royksopp 31. Death Disco - Arbeid Adelt 32. Keine Melodien Feat MJ Lan - Jeans Team 33. I Wish - Skee Lo 34. My Gigolo - Maurice Fulton Presents Stress 35. Cannonball - The Breeders 36. Human Fly - The Cramps 37. Danger High Voltage - The Wildbunch 38. Dont Bring Me Down - Op 1 Bastards 39. Hand To Phone - Adult 40. La Rock 01 - Vitalic 41. I Was Made For Loving You - Queen Of Japan 42. The Beach - New Order 43. Sandwiches - Detroit Grand Pubahs 44. I Sit On Acid - Lords Of Acid 45. Start Button - Streamer Feat Private Thoughts In Public Places - 2 Many DJ's! Pt. 3 [IMPORT] - mixed by 2 Many DJ's [Amazon US]
1. Protest Speech 2. Eruption - Van Halen 3. Superheroes - Daft Punk 4. I Was Mad For Loving You - Queen Of Japan 5. Crystal (Lee Coombes Mix) - New Order 6. 8 15 To Nowhere - Vicious Pink 7. Great Balls Of Fire - Vicious Pink 8. Misty Mountain Hop - Led Zeppelin 9. La Rock - Vitalic 10. Lets Go Crazy - Prince 11. Big Fun (Soulwax Re Edit) - Inner City 12. Grab My Shaft - Louis Austin (Feat Peaches) 13. Rock The Casbah (Mustapha Dance) - The Clash 14. Radio Queens Speeach 15. Klein Melodien - Jeans Team 16. Los Ninos Del Parque - Liaisons Dangereuses 17. Strawberries Fields (Demo Take 7 Edit) - The Beatles 18. The Real Life - Corporation Of One Vs Theme From Great Citie 19. Tokyo Disco Music - Kagami 20. Coat Noize - Midfield 21. Live - 2 Live Crew 22. Come With Us - The Chemical Brothers 23. Androgeny (Felix Da Housecat Remix) - Garbage 24. Girls And Boys - Blur 25. Girls And Boys - Prince 26. Hey Boy Hey Girl - The Chemical Brothers 27. Boys Boys Boys - Sabrina 28. Girls Girls Girls - Motley Crue 29. I Know What Guys Like - The Waitress 30. Girls - The Moments 31. Lady (Hear Me Tonight) - Modjo 32. Rebel Without A Pause (Herb Albert Vs Public Enemy) - Evolut 33. Its Not Unusual - Tito Puente 34. OPP - Naughty By Nature 35. Alice I Want You Just For Me - Full Force 36. One Minute Man - Missy Elliot 37. Candy Girl (Instrumental) - New Edition 38. Un Fait Divers Et Rien De Plus - Le Club 39. Right Place Wrong Time - Dr John 40. Groove Time (Instrumental) - Lazy Tr 707 S 41. Andy Warhol - The Croisants 42. Sun Comes Up - Warhols 43. Mama Im Sure - Lemon Jelly 44. Shake What Ya Mama Gave Ya - Sticks In The Hood 45. King Of The Beats - Mantronix Vs Jump Around - House Of Pain 46. Well Its Still All Good Y All - Steinski And The Mass Media - 2 Many DJ's! Pt. 4 [IMPORT] - V/A [Amazon US]
1. Intro 2. Deus - Everybodys Weird 3. Beastie Boys - Intergalactic 4. I.N.X.S. - Mediate 5. Run Dmc - Peter Piper 6. Ardeid Adelt - Death To Disco 7. Soulwax - Saturday 8. E.L.O. - Dont Bring Me Down 9. Steve Miller Band - Serenade From The Stars 10. Rod Stewart - Hot Legs 11. Flying Lizards - Purple Haze 12. Kolk - Uma 13. Stereo Total - Joe Le Taxi 14. Dejay Punk Rock - My Beatbox 15. Basement Jaxx - Same Old Show 16. Donna Summer - I Feel Love 17. Moloko - Bring It Back 18. Jamiroquai - Supersonic 19. Chemical Brothers - Out Of Control 20. Pharaoh Monch - Simon Says 21. Jerky Boys - My Name Is 22. Moby - Bodyrock 23. Simon Harris - Bass 24. Marrs - Pump Up The Volume 25. Bomb The Bass - Beat Dis 26. Pual Hardcastle - 19 27. Public Enemy - Bring The Noise 28. Weatherman - Poison 29. Dj Spinna - Rock 30. Dj Hell - Suicide Machine 31. LRD - Jaques Your Body 32. Freq Nasty - Boominbackatcha 33. Dust Brothers - Shake Your Rump 34. Alex Gopher - Party People 35. Beck - Sexxlaws 36. Them - I Can Only Give You Everything 37. Blackstreet - No Diggity 38. Brad - 20th Century 39. Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance 40. Roy Keating - Jesus Christ Superstar 41. Cassius - La Mouche 42. Farley Jackmaster Funk - Love Cant Turn Around 43. Zita Swoon - Disco 44. Brian Auger & Julie Driscoll - Indian Ropeman 45. Das Pop - Electronica For Lovers 46. Outro - Many DJ's! Pt. 5 [IMPORT] - V/A [Amazon US]
1. Intro 2. Eric B & Rakim - Paid In Full 3. Original Concept - Pump The Bass 4. The Beastie Boys - Turn Up The Bass 5. Max Berlin - Elle Et Moi 6. Mc Solar - Le Nouveau Western 7. Air - Kelly Watch The Stars 8. Roy Keating - Proud Mary 9. The Kinks - You Really Got Me 10. The Rolling Stones - Satisfaction 11. Fatboy Slim - Satisfaction Skank 12. Blur - Girls & Boys 13. Jaydee - Plastic Dreams 14. NIN - Closer 15. Beck - Get Real Paid 16. Kraftwerk - Numbers / Tour De France 17. Adamski Feat Seal - Killer 18. Basement Jaxx - Fly Life 19. Super Discount - Prix Choc 20. Q-Tip - Vivrant Thing 21. Dennis Edwards - Dont Look Any Further 22. TLC - Unpritty 23. Junkie XI - Check Your Basic Groove 24. New Order - Confusion 25. Super 2000 Vs Daft Punk Around The World 26. Ols Skool Flava - Refried Salsa 27. Beck - Salt In The Wound 28. The Beatles - Taxman 29. Lenny Kravitz - Light Skin Girl From London 30. Foremost Poets - Moonraker 31. Dj Weight Roblem - Disco Horse 32. Your Mc - Bust A Move 33. Groove Armada - I See You Baby 34. Dirty Funker - Future 35. Darkar & Grinser - I Wanna Be Your Dog 36. Nick Kershaw - Dancing Girls 37. Michael Moog - That Sound 38. Art Of Noise - Close To The Edit 39. Sensilia Streetyour Amazon recommendations
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