Please...Don't Be Yourself

Sometime in the late '90s, industrial music broke. It fell apart. What was once either harsh metal disco or very stark electro gave way to crappy trance. A handful of industrial acts kept it interesting and experimental, but not enough, and the clubs cared more about the dance music. I bring this up because right now I'm listening to Soulwax's "Nite Versions," which is all remixes of tracks from their 2005 album "Any Minute Now."

If you're not already familiar, Soulwax is a Belgian rock band. Or, they were a rock band. Maybe they still are...the lines are blurred now. I'll admit, I've barely heard their album Any Minute Now, but I have heard something else from them. Early on, they had promise as a band, but it was nothing special. Then in 2002, they took on a major project: Too Many DJs. The two brothers who make up half of Soulwax are also known as Too Many DJs. Do you remember all that mash-up stuff that was going on in the early '00s? Too Many DJs took that idea, and blew it right the fuck up. Why? Because they actually got permission for all the samples, so it was a legal recording. Personally, I was horrified the first time I heard New Order's "The Beach" mashed up with "Sandwiches" from Detroit Grand Pubahs, but at the same time, I really liked it.

A couple years after all that fame from TMDJs, they released another record as Soulwax, 2005's Any Minute Now. Not quite rock, not quite dance, it lied somewhere in that neither territory where Fischerspooner resides. So the remix album is even more interesting. Their goal was to make the original album into something that DJs could spin at clubs. And, damn, did they do that.

Right away, "Teachers" grabs you. The idea is so simple. LCD Soundsystems did something similar with "Losing My Edge," but that was very indirect, witty, and honestly a bit pretentious. Teachers lists the band's teachers - literally. That track leads into Miserable Girl. That's where the interesting blurred lines between techno and industrial comes into play. At this point you start to hear late '90s industrial influences like 16 Volt and Penal Colony. After that is E Talking which starts with a loop of Roland 808 percussion sounds, quite retro...throughout there's a chorus of a girl saying "it's not you, it's the E talking," which is funny if you've ever taken E at a party/rave. In fact, this whole record seems to be about paying homage to their influences via classic electronic references and drums and bass guitar and samples. Accidents and Compliments is a simple early '90s style club track. Nothing special. But then comes Compute. That industrial stuff comes back in the form of Nitzer Ebb! No, it's not a cover, there are no samples of the band, it's just the style and the sounds and the drums and the vocals.

The more I listen to this, the more it becomes obvious that the band was already acknowleding their rock influences with the original versions of these tracks. And you still get some drums, guitar, bass in the remixes. But with the 'nite' versions, you get references to classic techno. Back before the lines got so blurred. Classic equipment like the Roland 606, 808, and 909 are all over the damned place on this record. The track I Love Techno even samples that stupid song from LA Style: "James Brown Is Dead!" After that, Krack is full of Kraftwerk references right down to blatantly ripped off keyboard sounds. I think my favorite is the next track NY Lipps. Remember Lipps, Inc? They did that song "Funky Town." I hate that song, but I love the electro intro at the beginning. So NY Lipps has vocals that could pass for something from Pixeltan, or maybe even earlier ESG. But all throughout there are sounds taken straight from the intro to Funky Town. And they use that guitar hook from the chorus of the song, too. But only sparingly. The last track, Another Excuse is classic '80s NYC club music.

I gotta say, Soulwax know their shit. They cover it well. Click here to check out their site. It's done really well, much like their records.