Wolf + Lamb are New York based DJ duo Zev Eisenberg and Gadi Mizrahi, who have been together for almost a decade. Priding themselves on engaging with music from all over the world, they started their record label Wolf + Lamb Music in 2005.
It was also in 2005 that they also began the famous Marcy Hotel parties, describing the philosophy behind them as “a special place where we share our passion with discriminating music lovers from around the world. Though it seems like chaos to the untrained eye, everything about our space is carefully calibrated; the music, staff, artists, the sound, and you, our guests…” The Marcy Hotel itself acts as not only their party venue of choice, but their studio too; perhaps more surprising is that it is actually a five-star hotel!
Love or hate the concept, the parties were no doubt an exciting addition to the New York underground dance scene. When they first began the entrance fee set out not to make money, but to cover overheads and to filter out anyone not ‘in the know’. The message to their guests is as follows, “…while most of our guests are part of the wonderful New York dance community, some are there simply because it’s a good party that’s open real late with cheap drinks; we’re pretty sure they don’t know or care who Damian Lazaraus or Jamie Jones are. For those people, there are plenty of other incredible parties to go to, but with the limited space at the Marcy, they are taking up precious space that we’d rather have for more of you…” It’s controversial dialogue which presumably does just enough to intimidate those who aren’t considering it for the ‘right’ reasons…
Last month played host to a huge warehouse party in Brooklyn (reviewed here), which showcased label DJs No Regular Play, Soul Clap, Nicholas Jaar and Gadi Mizrahi himself, accompanied by a backdrop of performance art. Wolf + Lamb are also set to take on the Miami Winter Music Conference next week with a party at Electric Pickle in downtown Miami on the Friday, which is being hyped as the ‘most versatile Winter Music Conference party this year’.
Wolf + Lamb as a label have a fair few strings to their bow; initially starting out as a digital label in 2005, and in the spirit doing things against the grain, they have since moved into vinyl distribution (in 2008) to satisfy a diversifying, and somewhat retrospective, music market. The boys also keep it light-hearted with a further label Wolf + Lamb Black which pulls together a collection of edits and bootlegs including fresh takes on greats like Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson.
There are a number of tracks available via the Wolf + Lamb Music site which give you a taste of the eclectic medley of artists they select, as well as huge history of Wolf + Lamb podcasts. Below are my favourites of the free downloads up for grabs (most notable being Gadi Mizrahi’s remix of Seth Troxler’s Love Never Sleeps), as well as Nicholas Jaar’s incredibly different interpretation of Billy Jean (probably not one for die-hard MJ fans)…
Seth Troxler - Love Never Sleeps (Gadi Mizrahi remix)
Gadi Mizrahi – I’ll Hold Your Hand (Bodycode Remix)
Nicolas Jaar – Billie Jean (Nico Rework)
… and two stunning new tracks which prompted me to look more closely at Wolf + Lamb in the first place: Gadi Mizrahi - I Can Never Get Enough (Spectral Sound) [buy] and the BPM defying Nicholas Jaar – A Time for Us (Wolf + Lamb) [buy].
For a sneaky look inside the Marcy Hotel parties check out this video by RebelRave featured on the Wolf + Lamb website.
