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Opening its doors in 1931, it was a Georgian townhouse repurposed to fit three massive studios. A merger between The Gramophone Company and the Columbia Gramophone Company formed the Electrical and Musical Industries (EMI), giving the venue its former name of EMI Recording Studios. The first recording was made by Sir Edward Elgar, who led the London Symphony Orchestra to track his legendary piece ‘Land of Hope and Glory’.

Over the last 95 years, it’s been home to the biggest artists in world music. Studio Three has given rise to timeless records like Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’, in addition to modern staples like Florence + The Machine’s ‘Ceremonials’ and Frank Ocean’s ‘Blond’. Studio One saw use for the biggest movie scores of all time, including John Williams’ Star Wars and Harry Potter soundtracks. Lastly, Studio Two became the most famous due to its contributions to records by The Beatles, Kate Bush, Oasis and Massive Attack.

EMI became a hub for innovation, pioneering echo-chamber systems and novel recording methods with an expert team of engineers. The past century has yielded defining sonic art across popular music, film scores, and game soundtracks, as well as mastering systems designed to give their signature mixing style to music recorded elsewhere. Their website lists a fascinating account of both the past, present and prospective future of the studios.

Following a six-month refurbishment break, Studio One reopened in April last year. Today, Abbey Road Studios announced that it would be the host to a one-off event, an ‘after hours’ rave headlined by electronic act Soulwax. The Belgian duo consists of brothers David and Stephen Dewaele, who perform under various other banners and pseudonyms together.

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The event will see Soulwax enter Studio Two on Thursday the 20th of February, where they will record new music and press it to vinyl on site, before playing it for the first time at the rave from 8PM to 1AM on Friday the 21st. Abbey Road are touting a new custom-made speaker setup in honour of the event, posting on their site that “’Abbey Road After Hours’ will see the first major outing of the DEEWEE Soundsystem, a unique speaker array based on the system at New York’s legendary Paradise Garage, which the Dewaele brothers acquired for their popular DEEWEE night.”

The poster for the event advertises Soulwax, in addition to the Dewaele brothers’ other project 2manydjs, as well as “special guests to be announced soon”. Tickets can be claimed by 300 lucky people for free through a public ballot system here, with Abbey Road also offering a “Soulwax rave hotline” on 07886 072699 for a chance of securing entry. The event will also be filmed and uploaded to YouTube on the 5th of March for those who miss out.

The tour begins on January 15^th 2024 at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, Netherlands before commencing on February 3^rd at the above mentioned Manchester show.

This will be the first time Soulwax have toured in 5 years, following the release of their last album, Essential, an album that was written and recorded in just 2 weeks. It has yet to be mentioned or hinted that another album is on the way alongside the tour.

From Amsterdam to Manchester. Soulwax retake the stage. The full band in full force for the first European city tour in five years. The new year starts now.

Sign up to the Soulwax newsletter for early access tickets by 10AM UK tomorrow [Wednesday 27.09]:https://t.co/AoRPkor0Ps pic.twitter.com/9cdl9x83Gd

— SOULWAX (@soulwax) September 26, 2023

Formed in 1995, Soulwax have just been given the  ‘Outstanding Contribution To Music’ award at this year’s AIM Awards, in recognition for the influence their discography has had over their 28 year career.

Made up of Stephen Dewaele, David Dewaele, Stefaan Van Leuven, Igor Cavalera and Laima Cavalera; the Dewaele brothers also perform under the name 2manydjs outside of Soulwax and have collaborated with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.

Soulwax earned a lot of widespread recognition from their 1998 album Much Against Everyone’s Advice, as well as a variety of compilation mixes.

The band are famous for their radio sets, having hosted shows for Triple J in Australia as well as establishing Radio Soulwax, a website hosting 24-hour mixes from the band. They even have a radio station named ‘Soulwax FM’ on video game Grand Theft Auto V.

Tickets for Soulwax’s UK shows will go on sale from 10am this Thursday (September 28) – Those tickets can be found here. All other shows in Europe go on sale from 10am CET (9am BST) this Friday (September 29).

Soulwax 2024 UK/European Tour Dates:

15/01/2024 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, Netherlands

16/01 – Jan L’Aeronef – Lille, France

17/01 – Le Transbordeur – Lyon, France

19/01 – Huxley’s – Berlin, Germany

20/01 – Carlswerk Victoria – Cologne, Germany

21/01 – 013 Poppodium – Tilburg, Netherlands

23/01 – Sala La Riveria – Madrid, Spain

24/01 – Razzmatazz – Barcelona, Spain

25/01 – Le Bikini, Toulouse, France

28/01 – Elysee Montmatre – Paris, France

29/01 – AB – Brussels, Belgium

02/02 – Roundhouse – London, UK

03/02 – New Century Hall – Manchester, UK

My new single ‘Release Party’ is out now: https://t.co/hb5foFAp3b
Written in my garage during lockdown, completed at DEEWEE Studio with Dave & Steph of @soulwax working together remotely. Listen away wherever you get your music. Party tbc x pic.twitter.com/TUWkkvAsjt

— James Righton (@James__Righton) May 5, 2021

James’s ‘The Performer’ album has been released via Soulwax label Deewee in March 2020 and received 8/10 rating from Clashmusic describing it as “a retro smoke-filled lounge with an array of sumptuous grooves like ‘Edie’, candy-coated melodies such as ‘Start’ and woozy numbers like ‘Heavy Heart’, Righton paints the perfect picture of his inner thoughts as he embarks on a cinematic journey with poignant lyricism, exquisite production and charismatically seductive soundscapes reminiscent of Roxy Music”. DIY added in their three star review: “latest incarnation may be a million airmiles away from the neon glow of Klaxons, but it’s a look that suits him well – a reflection on the rightly-bizarre nature of playing pop star one moment and fathering a family the next”.  The musician’s new track is also Soulwax assisted and will feature on their label’s new compilation ‘Foundations’ that will come out on the 7th May in LP and 2CD edition. The compilation marks their 50th release.

 

 

 

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James commented on his new single that it “was written in my garage during the first lockdown. I wanted to make something using just the synths and drum machines in my studio”. He added: “Dave & Steph (@Soulwaxofficial) and I continued working together remotely on finishing the track. ⁣
I started imagining the party’s that we would have post lockdown”. You can listen and watch the video for the ‘Release Party’ single below.