Soulwax - Part of The Weekend Never Dies

The documentary is a fascinating look at the people behind Soulwax, Nite Verisons, 2 Many Djs or any of their other names they go bye. The documentary follows their new concept of touring called “Radio Soulwax” which, sees them play as Soulwax and DJ under their 2 Many Djs name as well as other people join in for the fun. It was also great to hear interview with all the other acts they had as well because you never get to hear much from these artists. James Murphy, Tiga, and Nancy Whang provide a lot of interview that really showcase the personalities of these guys. Tiga’s few clips were great because the guy seemed so revved up and excited it was wonderful. But, I think what he said about Soulwax was dead on “they were godfathers.”

The footage from the live shows were so amazing. The angry and the power in the live sets can really be seen. After one of the shows there is a great clip of a guy licking a young ladies leg which was just a hilarious. After awhile, it was hard to imagine how hard this must have been for Soulwax. They were performing live and DJ’ing each night after awhile that has go to take a toll on you. You can see at times during the film that they just looked very tired and broken down. Another, great little tidbit was the story behind the brilliant track “NY Excuse.” I had no idea after all this time that James Murphy worked on the track.

“Part Of The Weekend Never Dies” is a great look at some of the pioneers of this new moment. Soulwax were a big part of it but it also seems that everyone is friend and they are all close. If you don’t already have “Any Minute Now” seriously go out and grab a copy along with this as this some life altering stuff right here.

By John Siwicki

Justice - A Cross The Universe

An electronic/dance act performing live is always a tricky thing. Now, once you get that format down it is hard to really capture the moment on the record. It is a little different from a rock band as a lot of a seeing a dance act perform is a lot of the atmosphere and the situation. One of the best live albums I have ever heard was Underworld’s “Everything, Everything.” As anyone who has heard their debut album the band have the songs that will be able to get the people going crazy. “DANCE” “DVNO” and “Tthhee pparrty” in any setting will also get people fired up.

I have never seen Justice live so I can’t really compare the two experiences. It seems that the band live just use it as a live DJ set which, is still cool and nearly impossible to perform these songs live. There were a few songs that come over really well. “Stress” was the first one that really got my attention. The track is a bit frantic but you can hear the crowd during most of the song in the background and that makes you feel like you were in the mix there. Then we had the “We Are Your Friends (Reprise)” which, had a few chants of the “we are your friends” line by the crow before Justice throw down some nice and hard beats.

The live album is a solid effort. I found myself getting very much into this mix. The encore by the band was a great touch. “NY Excuse” is one the new classics that is very underrated in my eyes. I just have a feeling it does not do the band justice(that was unintentional) as you know being their at the gig could not be replicated. It is still better than nothing.

By John Siwicki

Smashing Pumpkins – If All Goes Wrong

If All Goes Wrong documents The Smashing Pumpkins reunion tour last summer. The documentary shows the process of the band rehearsing and performing for a serious of residences on the coasts of the US. The documents also focus on Billy and his process of writing songs and debuting them during the residencies. Now, just so we get it out of the air I would say I am a fan of the band. I am not a die-hard but I do enjoy Billy’s work from time to time. Also, it was cool to see why they got back together and the how they selected the new members to join them.

I just thought that Billy was being a bit unfair when he was talking about people wanting to her some popular songs doing the gigs. I know that it must be annoying to have to play these songs over and over again but you have to treat the fans to a big song time to time. The whole process he had of writing new songs and debuting them like the next night. It was very interesting to see Billy working on a tune in his hotel room and then the next day throwing the song on stage. The documentary shows you what a complicated person Billy Corgan is and how his process works.

The second disc is a concert from one of their nights in San Fransisco. I recognized two songs on this disc before watching it. I had said previous I was not a die-hard fan but I knew a few things about the pumpkins. I have never seen the pumpkins live so I was looking forward to giving this disc a good watch.The setlist for the gig is 15 songs. Would it be to much to ask for another single other than “Heavy Metal Machine”?

“It All Goes Wrong” is perhaps better served for the purists and die-hards out there as a causal fan like myself I was hoping to hear more of the popular songs than of all the new stuff. But, with saying that it was still a compelling watch.

By John Siwicki