Deewee, a label from the Soulwax brothers (surprisingly good)

Label created and led by David & Stephen Dewaele (2 Many DJ's & Soulwax). Each music release is either recorded or/and mixed at Studio Deewee in Belgium.

I hadn't really paid attention to anything Soulwax had been doing this side of the decade since I assumed it was all 2ManyDJs bosh and Nite Versions retreads, but their label has quietly and consistently become one of my favourites in recent years.

Phillipi & Rodrigo - Gueto De Gent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxzSjLYiCyw

slow-mo analogue African house

Laila - The Other Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5bnrjiOqmU

gothic disco that conjures Nite Jewel and Siouxsie

Emmanuelle - Italove
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzJidH2hcFo

almost-cheesy Italo sung in Portugese

Klanken - Vilf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rApo2nXjFrU

industrial techno done ravey

Charlotte Adigery - Senegal Seduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKISwVQh7oA

a glacial synth ballad from what I think is the label's best release

over three years they're released nearly twenty singles and EPs and I'm consistently pleased by how good they've all been.

Lovely stuff. I had no clue what the Soulwax lads had been up to recently apart from that Charlotte Gainsbourg remix from last year which was ace

holy fucking hell is the new Soulwax album good, I was expecting to be surprised but this is brilliant. The closest comparison I can think of is Factory Floor on DFA but this is less industrial and much more rave, lots of percolating acid synths and deep bass, and the drums sound abrasive and clatteringly loud in a way a lot of current dance music could do with. This is a huge improvement on the album they released last year, which met the same silence this probably will.

although to be fair the intro to the first track of this might be the least promising thing ever recorded

particularly the first and last track but loving this ep soooo much

Charlotte Adigéry - Zandoli

https://charlotteadigry.bandcamp.com/

https://youtu.be/7y-PxhtjGBM

Looking forward to this Phillipi & Rodrigo album

this will be the best compilation of 2021.

Yep that looks reliably amazing.

I can't stand either of those Extra Credit tracks they just released on the label and am already dreading hearing them out, which will be A LOT. The vocals and lyrics on both are awful and the longer one has this horrible (to my ears) double-hit on the bassline. If ye cannae sing and your lyrics are this bad then don't do lyrics or sing. There's a way to hit banal lyrics that can work and there's a way to make a bad singer sound good with context but these miss on both. "Drive me tonight/ make it all right/ Drive me tonight/ Into the light" is just so cringey to me. It's so self-consciously epic in production and delivery but with this weedy vocal.

I'm sure everything else on it will be to my taste though lol.