gullbuy music review

Hang All DJ's Volume 2 - Soulwax

title

Hang All DJ's Volume 2 - Soulwax

label

Head Traxx Inc

format
various artists CD

Hang All DJ's Volume 2 CD coverThe second volume of the 'hang all dj's' series is more of a well chosen mixed compilation than a collection of bootlegs/mashups. Soulwax have chosen very few tracks from curent artists (Dexter, Kiki, Spiller, Agent Sumo, Copyright, Standards, Angie Martinez, Monsoon), and instead pulled some choice tracks from the disco era, plus the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.

Their craft is in the weave that they use to pull it all together. The attention to detail and the odd items used in transitions are what make Soulwax unique among artists putting together left-field compilations. Stuff is not added just for the sake of it. Every element seems to have its place in the finished product, and the feel is never cluttered.

Here is the track listing with some brief comments I have placed. If you can find this comp (or ANY in the series), my advice is to buy it. I still think that Soulwax is the best thing going.

  1. Intro
  2. Spiller Cry Baby (Original version). Cristiano Spiller makes 2 appearances as Spiller on this record, both with Cry Baby. The Royskopp version of the song is on track 34.
  3. Freez AEIOU. This disco track has been sticking in my head for weeks. One of the things I love best about Soulwax is how they can make me love songs I thought I hated (Billy Jean falls into this category later on the disc)
  4. Agent Sumo Ain't Got Time. Steven Halliday and Martin Cole's song is combined with many tidbits including the same line The Divine Comedy copped from Michael Caine in Alfie: "My name is.." I hear The Avalanches in there as well.
  5. Señor Coconut The Robots. Uwe Schmidt's Kraftwerk cover of a few years ago
  6. Sonic Youth Kool Thing. In 1994 Sonic Youth pulled Chuck D of Public Enemy into the studio to serve as the foil for Kim Gordon's lyrics. The song seemed played out to me, but Soulwax have made me love it again by placing it right here.
  7. Jackson 5 Ain't No Sunshine (Say Remix). Sounding as sweet as anything you would like to taste.
  8. Copyright Concepts. This house song provides the stream that Soulwax throw logs from many other songs into.
  9. The Clash The Guns of Brixton. It was rare to hear Paul Siminon's rough vocals in The Clash.
  10. S.O.S. Band Just Be Good To Me. Disco from 1980
  11. Dexter Mr. Blunt. This electro instrumental makes a brief appearance as the intro to the GFR brutal jam.
  12. Grand Funk Railroad Nothing Is The Same From the Detroit band's 1970 LP 'Closer To Home.' Nothing Is The Same is a fuzz drenched instrumental that really made me smile when I first heard it on 'Hang All Dj's 2.'
  13. The Rolling Stones Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing In The Shadows. Everyone knows this song
  14. The Prodigy Poison
  15. Dj Links is a collection of shout outs from several different dj's.
  16. Madonna Music (Funked Up Mix). A laptop dissection of the track that leaves the vocals but goes crazy with the music.
  17. Chakka Khan I Feel You (Soulwax Remix). Like everything else on this comp. 1:46 of Soulwax's magic on the formaer vocalist of Rufus is too little for me. Some nice disco action.
  18. Standards Here We Go. I know nothing about this artist. It has a disco funk beat and female vocals.
  19. B52's Red Leather. I had pretty much forgotten about this song. It was a single that Kitty-Yo artists Peaches and Gonzales collaborated on. Red Leather came out in 2000. It fits fine into Soulwax's tapestry, and Peaches voice sounds exactly like Kate Pierson of the B-52s and Gonzales sounds exactly like Fred Schnieder. The song has nothing to do with B-52s! The fade-in from the Standards track is seamless.
  20. Michael Jackson Billy Jean (Demo Version). This is the song I sihear in my head most from this record, along with the Freez track. The beginning of this demo version has Michael giving sound directions to the engineer.
  21. 2 Live Crew Live. The Crew are captured introducing a live track with all sorts of foul language. Soulwax blend this into other elements to make a wild buildup which explodes into the Chemical Brothers track.
  22. Chemical Brothers Come With Us. I don't know this song to say what has been affected, but it sounds like there is plenty of new stuff going on here.
  23. Angie Martinez Dem Thangz. From The Neptunes What's Going On fame, she gives a tough rap.
  24. The Human League Being Boiled is preceded by excerpts from the Apollo 11 astronauts. The Avalanches are mixed in as well.
  25. James Brown Hot Pants. The Human League continue to sing behind the Hot Pants music.
  26. OMD Enola Gaye. One of the signature riffs from this song is used by Soulwax to make something new
  27. B52's Private Idaho is played pretty much intact for a minute.
  28. Devo Girl U Want is similarly played straight for a minute.
  29. Monsoon Ever So Lonely. Monsson is one of the alias' of an artist I like a lot, Håkan Lidbo.
  30. P. Diddy, Black Bob, & Mark Curry Bad Boy For Life. I would never have thought I would like this, but here it is, and I do. "We ain't going nowhere" is sung defiantly by these three.
  31. Inner City Good Life (Soulwax Remix). Pretty nifty version of a 1988 female vocal urban song.
  32. Killing Joke S.O.36. Harsh distorted guitar and bells like a train on this short instrumental interlude.
  33. Coda Honky Tonk Woman. A disco-fied version of this rock/soul classic.
  34. Spiller Cry Baby (Royskopp Remix). Soulwax change this track by quite a measure by placing a curse vocal perfectly over the smooth song in the beginning of the track.
  35. Bertrand Burgalat Au Cyclades Electronique (Tommy Hools Remix). 2 Parisians - Bertrand of Tricatel Records, and Tommy of sharp dancefloor reputation.
  36. Air Don't Be Light (The Hacker Remix). Miss Kittin's cohort gives Air an electro edge that serves as a perfect intro for the 80s sound of Dead Or Alive
  37. Dead Or Alive U Spin Me Right Round. Pete Burns Liverpool band Dead Or Alive have enjoyed lots of attention these days from many corners. I just heard this song in a DJ set at Weekiwachi's Buchaneer Bay swimming area last week in Florida.
  38. Cerrone Super Nature. A minute of this female vocal electronic disco track.
  39. Adam and The Ants Stand And Deliver. It is odd that no one has shown any interest in Adam and The Ants as the 80s get rechurned. More power to Soulwax.
  40. Chemical Brothers Under The Influence. Electronic melody and beats for playing with.
  41. Manuel Mind & Valantine Tomasi Strange Sounds. Male vocal electronic disco with a Mount Sims feel.
  42. Robert Palmer Best Of Both Worlds. Pulled out of the past by the Sneaking In Sally Through The Alley white soul mover.
  43. Anti E.P. If I Gave You A Party. A comical sounding vocal in the same vein as Angie Reed, with a nice discofied beat.
  44. Kiki Hot!. Off of a Bpitch Control 12inch.
  45. Elliott Smith Los Angeles. A mellow song that is unlike anything else on the comp. I'm sure its place as the penultimate cute has special significance to the Soulwax brothers.
  46. Glen Miller Moonlight Serenade. The disc closes out with this song that always reminds me of the party of ghosts the Jack Nicolson drinks at in The Shining.

---Carl, July 15, 2003