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Seriously excited about these guys, the stuff they're putting out is so fucking good. Interviewed them for our site, thought you might be interested:
Zev Eisenberg and Gadi Mizrahi are the eponymous Wolf+Lamb causing such a stir on the deep house scene of late. Their extended family of like-minded producers are making some of the most thoughtful and well crafted music around at the moment, and their parties at their house come studio come music venue The Marcy Hotel are fast becoming the stuff of legend. We caught up with Zev (Wolf) to discuss the fluidity of the current dance music scene, partying on both sides of the Atlantic and transferring that 'sunset feeling' to dark clubs around the globe...
So 2009’s been a pretty busy year for you…any particular highlights?
This year's been all about travelling and spreading the gospel for us...it started with our second summer in Berlin, magical nights at Ryan [Crosson], Shaun [Reeves] & Seth's [Troxler] Soulshower at Der Visioneer, getting signed with Geist, our first night in Watergate, but without a doubt, the highlight has been our reception in the UK, namely our residency at Kubicle and the Lo*kee party and now Fabric – refreshing enough to sit on a plane for an afternoon.
You’ve recently spent time in NYC, Berlin and London. Is there a discernable difference in the way people in the different cities like to party and the reception you get when playing?
Well we're both from New York and have been playing there for years, mostly at our parties and the Marcy Hotel, our venue – so there's still no comparison to playing New York vs. any other city. It's our home, our friends, we play whatever, whenever. London is coming in a very close second, we feel more at home every time, and damn you Brits can fu&*$n party.. sheeeeite.. Germany, on the right night can be magic…on the wrong night a room full of people waiting for something to happen.
You attributed your shift from minimal techno to deeper house sounds in part to your experiences at Burning Man Festival…how has the new style gone down in the clubs and bars which are clearly a million miles away from dancing in the desert?
Actually quite well, the Burning Man energy is probably just pure joy and some good drugs. Pick the right party/club/crowd and we've had no problem continuing where we left off at sunrise half a world away. I guess the feeling is universal (to borrow a cliché from a hundred feel-good house tracks).
You once used a quote from iDJ that said "Sorry, a bit too deep for me" as a promotional tool. So as far as you’re concerned, the deeper the better?
We would be hesitant to adopt any motto about the direction of our music, and certainly try to avoid passing judgement on the global dance scene – mostly because it's always changing, something we are quite comfortable with. This week it's disco-infused french style deep house with a twist of 80's, next week it's California breakbeat inspired hip-hop with a splash of soul. We thought it was a funny comment to hear from people that write about music, and hey, any publicity is better than no publicity (or something like that) so we published it!
While a lot of electronic music these days is all about super-slick, tight production, much of the tracks on Wolf+Lamb have a looser, more organic feel about them. Is this an intentional A&R direction?
Yes, it is intentional. As all of us as producers get better at producing, we tend to tighten up the timing, EQ-ing and general looseness of the sounds – for some reason it loses a little bit of it's underground feel. Moodyman's been making music for a long time but hasn't lost the grittiness. Our artists know it's what we like and take it into account when producing for us.
Why do you think people have embraced The Marcy so much as a place to party? Are people just sick of going to clubs?
Imagine the Marcy as your friend’s house party – but with a top of the line sound system and no set closing time. Partying at the Marcy is about being part of a family, you meet people, make friends, and get to hear music that won't be 'in' for another 10 months. It's also been a labour of love, from us building it to all the staff running it.
But surely there are some decent clubs left in the world…?
Yeah, if a club somehow retains its soul and still feels like an underground venue we're down – and there are plenty of those: Electric Pickle in Miami, the Waterfloor at Watergate in Berlin, upstairs at T-Bar in London. It's just when the clubs got obtrusive security roughing you up on the way in, $12 bottles of water, watered down drinks and a bad attitude it really takes away from the fun of it all.
You put out vinyl despite the digital direction in which the industry is heading. Is this still necessary and how long do you realistically think you can continue to do so?
Somehow it outlasted a lot of other mediums and it's certainly still necessary these days. We'll continue doing so until it doesn't make sense anymore, which may yet be a while.
In addition to the main Wolf+Lamb label, you also have a black label...
Soul Clap made the first two edits from that label and where were too close to the original to consider samples, so following in the great tradition of white labels, we decided to open W+L black strictly for putting out edits.
Presumably none of the edits that feature are official remixes, so how do you get away with selling them?
We're selling so few, it barely covers the cost of production. It's hard to imagine anyone's legal department getting their panties in a bunch over a few dollars.
You’ve described your relationship with the artists on your label as ‘like a family’. What is it about Wolf+Lamb that creates this kind of atmosphere?
I think it's just that the relationship extends beyond someone sending us some tracks by email and us publishing it. We all spend time together, party together. No Regular Play runs the bar at the Marcy. We work with together and encourage each other’s musical careers. Families have a certain amount of drama too, and we've got some of that to round out the analogy.
Which artists or labels should we be keeping our eye on at the moment?
Greg Paulus, part of No Regular Play, Maayan Nidam's got some exciting new stuff coming out. Nico's [Jaar] upcoming 'A Time for Us EP' is certainly a step in a new direction for us and we're very excited about that too! Shaun Reeves + Guti's 'Hold me Tight' is going to be coming out in the spring, keep an ear out for that too.
What advice would you give to people who wanted to follow in your footsteps of setting up both credible labels and successful parties?
Do it. Get a partner. Do whatever you feel is right and deal with the consequences later. Just make sure you're not doing it for money because you won't make any and it'll probably suck.
What can we expect from you in 2010?
We're planning on this being the year of showcases. Our artists have incredible live shows and Djing skills to match, we're taking the show on the road in the US and overseas to give people a full night's experience of the label's sound. We've also got a round of podcasts in the works for next year, so things are going to get weird for sure!
Anything else you’d like to tell us…?
Yeah actually, we were featured in RebelRave; Damian Lazarus and David Terranova came all the way from your side of the pond to party with us at the Marcy and made an awesome video about it. We also have a special 2 hour podcast up on our site where we run through the upcoming music with some backstory on the artists. Worth checking both of them out if you want to get up to speed. Check our website: www.wolflambmusic.com
So 2009’s been a pretty busy year for you…any particular highlights?
This year's been all about travelling and spreading the gospel for us...it started with our second summer in Berlin, magical nights at Ryan [Crosson], Shaun [Reeves] & Seth's [Troxler] Soulshower at Der Visioneer, getting signed with Geist, our first night in Watergate, but without a doubt, the highlight has been our reception in the UK, namely our residency at Kubicle and the Lo*kee party and now Fabric – refreshing enough to sit on a plane for an afternoon.
You’ve recently spent time in NYC, Berlin and London. Is there a discernable difference in the way people in the different cities like to party and the reception you get when playing?
Well we're both from New York and have been playing there for years, mostly at our parties and the Marcy Hotel, our venue – so there's still no comparison to playing New York vs. any other city. It's our home, our friends, we play whatever, whenever. London is coming in a very close second, we feel more at home every time, and damn you Brits can fu&*$n party.. sheeeeite.. Germany, on the right night can be magic…on the wrong night a room full of people waiting for something to happen.
You attributed your shift from minimal techno to deeper house sounds in part to your experiences at Burning Man Festival…how has the new style gone down in the clubs and bars which are clearly a million miles away from dancing in the desert?
Actually quite well, the Burning Man energy is probably just pure joy and some good drugs. Pick the right party/club/crowd and we've had no problem continuing where we left off at sunrise half a world away. I guess the feeling is universal (to borrow a cliché from a hundred feel-good house tracks).
You once used a quote from iDJ that said "Sorry, a bit too deep for me" as a promotional tool. So as far as you’re concerned, the deeper the better?
We would be hesitant to adopt any motto about the direction of our music, and certainly try to avoid passing judgement on the global dance scene – mostly because it's always changing, something we are quite comfortable with. This week it's disco-infused french style deep house with a twist of 80's, next week it's California breakbeat inspired hip-hop with a splash of soul. We thought it was a funny comment to hear from people that write about music, and hey, any publicity is better than no publicity (or something like that) so we published it!
While a lot of electronic music these days is all about super-slick, tight production, much of the tracks on Wolf+Lamb have a looser, more organic feel about them. Is this an intentional A&R direction?
Yes, it is intentional. As all of us as producers get better at producing, we tend to tighten up the timing, EQ-ing and general looseness of the sounds – for some reason it loses a little bit of it's underground feel. Moodyman's been making music for a long time but hasn't lost the grittiness. Our artists know it's what we like and take it into account when producing for us.
Why do you think people have embraced The Marcy so much as a place to party? Are people just sick of going to clubs?
Imagine the Marcy as your friend’s house party – but with a top of the line sound system and no set closing time. Partying at the Marcy is about being part of a family, you meet people, make friends, and get to hear music that won't be 'in' for another 10 months. It's also been a labour of love, from us building it to all the staff running it.
But surely there are some decent clubs left in the world…?
Yeah, if a club somehow retains its soul and still feels like an underground venue we're down – and there are plenty of those: Electric Pickle in Miami, the Waterfloor at Watergate in Berlin, upstairs at T-Bar in London. It's just when the clubs got obtrusive security roughing you up on the way in, $12 bottles of water, watered down drinks and a bad attitude it really takes away from the fun of it all.
You put out vinyl despite the digital direction in which the industry is heading. Is this still necessary and how long do you realistically think you can continue to do so?
Somehow it outlasted a lot of other mediums and it's certainly still necessary these days. We'll continue doing so until it doesn't make sense anymore, which may yet be a while.
In addition to the main Wolf+Lamb label, you also have a black label...
Soul Clap made the first two edits from that label and where were too close to the original to consider samples, so following in the great tradition of white labels, we decided to open W+L black strictly for putting out edits.
Presumably none of the edits that feature are official remixes, so how do you get away with selling them?
We're selling so few, it barely covers the cost of production. It's hard to imagine anyone's legal department getting their panties in a bunch over a few dollars.
You’ve described your relationship with the artists on your label as ‘like a family’. What is it about Wolf+Lamb that creates this kind of atmosphere?
I think it's just that the relationship extends beyond someone sending us some tracks by email and us publishing it. We all spend time together, party together. No Regular Play runs the bar at the Marcy. We work with together and encourage each other’s musical careers. Families have a certain amount of drama too, and we've got some of that to round out the analogy.
Which artists or labels should we be keeping our eye on at the moment?
Greg Paulus, part of No Regular Play, Maayan Nidam's got some exciting new stuff coming out. Nico's [Jaar] upcoming 'A Time for Us EP' is certainly a step in a new direction for us and we're very excited about that too! Shaun Reeves + Guti's 'Hold me Tight' is going to be coming out in the spring, keep an ear out for that too.
What advice would you give to people who wanted to follow in your footsteps of setting up both credible labels and successful parties?
Do it. Get a partner. Do whatever you feel is right and deal with the consequences later. Just make sure you're not doing it for money because you won't make any and it'll probably suck.
What can we expect from you in 2010?
We're planning on this being the year of showcases. Our artists have incredible live shows and Djing skills to match, we're taking the show on the road in the US and overseas to give people a full night's experience of the label's sound. We've also got a round of podcasts in the works for next year, so things are going to get weird for sure!
Anything else you’d like to tell us…?
Yeah actually, we were featured in RebelRave; Damian Lazarus and David Terranova came all the way from your side of the pond to party with us at the Marcy and made an awesome video about it. We also have a special 2 hour podcast up on our site where we run through the upcoming music with some backstory on the artists. Worth checking both of them out if you want to get up to speed. Check our website: www.wolflambmusic.com
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