Wolf + Lamb – Love Someone | Album Review

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 | Album Review

These days Wolf and Lamb is synonymous with good quality, forward thinking music as well as a bloody good night out. The boys from Brooklyn can do no wrong at the moment as the reputation of their label, music, parties and names have spread far around the globe. The label in particular has served as a launching pad for spectacular up and coming talent such as Seth Troxler, Shaun Reeves, Soul Clap and Nicholas Jaar, whilst their countless DJ appearances across Europe and in their hometown New York have firmly cemented their places in clubber’s memories. So for Gadi Mizrahi and Zev Einsenberg, it seems like the perfect time to release their debut artist album which is an accumulation of material produced whilst on the road from the last year of touring.

During that last year of touring they must have had a  lot of fun as this album is a blink and you’ll miss it seven tracks long, not to mention one of those tracks being a Dyed Sondorom remix! But as the saying goes, its quality not quantity that matters. Across the short space of seven tracks we get glimpses of the Wolf and Lamb eclecticism we’ve all come to love. In the opening moments we see their willingness to experiment outside of house’s conformities. The opening track ‘Just For Now’ combines abstract ambience in to hypnotic house grooves, whilst their remix of Mock and Toof’s ‘Shoeshine Boogie’ fuses the mechanical ticks of old skool electro hip hop with acid riffs and sweeping melodic synths. Later in the album we’re subjected to further experimentation with ‘Monster Love’ which plays around with some of the abstract themes of Jazz. Its use of tumbling percussion, smoky double bass basslines and muted trumpet motifs all phase in and out of time with a loose rhythm making for some interesting listening.

But no Wolf and Lamb album wouldn’t be complete without some homage to straight up house music. Title track ‘Love Someone’ sides with the bouncey happy side of house. Its whirring strings and horn riffs loop round and round to create a bright, warm cage rattler of a track. Whilst in contrast there’s the restrained bounce of Dyed Sondorom’s remix of ‘Want Your Money’ or the hypnotic driving bass of ‘I Know You’re Leaving’ which covers the subtler and deeper strings of the Wolf and Lamb house bow.  With these tracks they really show they can make quality house music that sounds great in a club or at home. They’re danceable yet have the quirky depth which gives it that edge over other house productions.

Even though we see different sides of Wolf and Lamb on this album, it just seems seven tracks is a bit short to fully explore what they are about. What is on the album is good, from the experimental sounds to the bread and butter house music. However I still think they’ve missed other avenues that they would normally explore. What’s more, Wolf and Lamb is very much a community driven thing, bringing together a family of artists and on this album we see little of that community. It would have been good to get more collaborations with some of the artists that help made Wolf and Lamb what it is today or even with some of the fresh talent they’ve met whilst on the road this last year. A good effort in general, but maybe a little rushed so they could strike whilst the W+L brand is hot.

Buy Wolf + Lamb – Love Someone from Play.com (CD) or Amazon (CD)

TRACKLISTING:
01. Just For now
02. Mock & Toof – Shoeshine Boogie (Wolf + Lamb Remix)
03. Love Someone
04. Want Your Money (Dyed Soundorom Wants Your Love remix)
05. I Know You’re Leaving
06. Monster Love
07. Want Your Money

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