Much Against Everyone's Advice
Soulwax
PIAS

Amid the desert of bands that, for all their respective merits, seemed comfortable with their constituencies forever being able to fit into tiny venues, at least one group at last year's Camdemonium served notice of their plans to eat the world. And that particular oasis? This lot. Chances are you heard Soulwax's Dandy-Warhols-do-the-Smashing-Pumpkins-in-a-club single 'Too Many DJs' at the tail-end of last year, and while it'll have given you the beginnings of an idea about this album, it's barely half the story. Much of Much Against Everyone's Advice would be perfectly at home with both metalheads and those coming home from Metalheadz, such is the conviction of both its classic rawk pedigree (for which you can mostly thank guitarist David Dewaele) and its thoroughly wilful sense of timing. But Soulwax also share a pop sensibility with touring partners The Wannadies, particularly evident on the title track. Often, the lyrics are even more bizarre than the tracks themselves, but you can put this down to their Belgian origins (if so, opener 'Conversation Intercom' is a nifty apology) or, more likely, all-round absurdity. Either way, this is an album of more definitelys than maybes.

8/10

Iain Moffat reviewed on 19.apr.00