Album Review: Soulwax - Essential

Looking for something to dance to? This should be easy.

Under their Soulwax guise for a sixth studio album, the mandate is laid bare by the Belgian collective in the opening moments: One hour of new music centred around the word 'essential', to elevate the very notion of Radio 1's Essential Mix. And that's pretty much it!

Three minutes in and Essential One erupts into a fountain of electrifying acid that sounds like Benny Benassi being pulverised by Justice. From Essential Two through the whole midsection, things aren't quite as ornate, and if you're listening attentively, there is a chance you might grow weary of the varying ways that title is worked in. But the inventive framings of the word 'essential'​ feel like a gentle reminder of the concept rather than a shoehorned motif.

There are no featured artists, no big catchy choruses to steal the spotlight, no goatee-stroking stylistic diversions, just lights, lasers and lots of sweat. Come Essential Ten, the bass growls, the bells ring and it's almost like they are making an environmental statement until Essential Eleven has Siri's sexy cousin applying a thesaurus to the title and things are fun again. So quintessentially Soulwax.