Justice is amazing. I’ve experienced them live at Treasure Island 2008 and fell in love with them all over again. Going into it I even said to myself that they were a little over rated, but in the space of 15 mintues they changed my mind forever.

Which is why I am so disappointed by their documentary release A Cross the Universe released about a month after Soulwax’s release of Part of the Weekend Never Dies. Justice’s first and only album Cross was an amazing sensation of cross genre indie electro rock music that struck a chord most notably in 2007 and 2008 with a new generation of teens and twenties in Europe and America. But it’s still their only album and it’s 2009. What have they been doing with their time?

A Cross the Universe describes only too well that they haven’t been doing anything with their time. Yes they’ve toured, but at no point does it describe a commitment to music, to creating something new, to really being dedicated to their fans. I had the distinct feeling that Justice was about enjoying their fame. And that’s it. Unfortunate as that is, I still can’t say they are not amazing to see because they just are, but at some point playing three year old songs will get old and they’ll either disappear or hopefully come up with something new and better. But more and more I’m starting to doubt it.

Justice’s A Cross the Universe should be viewed not as a documentary about a band but as a simple tour video. At no point will you learn anything about the members, or their influences, or why they make music, or what they plan to do, or anything. The video only documents their tour and that’s it.

In the opposite spectrum of musical dedication is Soulwax. Besides being my favourite band, they are the true pioneers of cross genre indie electro rock. Since the release of their Any Minute Now album in 2004, Soulwax has toured constantly and still managed to release another full album Nite Versions in 2005, which is Soulwax fully reworking songs from their original album plus a few more. And in 2007 they released the album collection Most of the remixes we’ve made for other people over the years except for the one for Einstürzende Neubauten because we lost it and a few we didn’t think sounded good enough or just didn’t fit in length-wise, but including some that are hard to find because either people forgot about them or simply because they haven’t been released yet, a few we really love, one we think is just ok, some we did for free, some we did for money, some for ourselves without permission and some for friends as swaps but never on time and always at our studio in Ghent. by 2 Many Djs, the electronic duo at the core of Soulwax. The full remixes collection includes some 33 songs. And it doesn’t stop there, the documentary chronicles their 120 stop tour of the world from 2005 to 2007 all filmed with one camera.

From Part of the Weekend Never Dies we learn who is Soulwax, what they’re about, why they make music, who their influences are and more importantly who they have influenced, that they are so dedicated to making music and pleasing their fans that they continue to make music while touring and at each show they perform twice, once as Soulwax and once as 2 Many Djs. My respect for Soulwax is only matched by my love of their music and I hope they continue to grow in fame and fortune in the future. Needless to say that the documentary is a brilliant look into the cross indie electro rock genre and everyone should see it, not just fans of the genre but everyone who is a fan of music.