Wolf + Lamb take over the downtown Standard this Sunday; premiere of Nicolas Jaar’s ‘Can’t See What Is Burning There’
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You’d never mistake Brooklyn’s Marcy Hotel for the downtown L.A. Standard. Beyond a name that sounds like a landmark from a Jay-Z song, it’s difficult to imagine Andre Balazs getting a lower rate on his price for agreeing to cart out piles of trash the previous tenants had left behind.
But that’s exactly how Zev Eisenberg and Gadi Mizrahi, the DJ duo behind Wolf + Lamb, first discovered their compound more than half a decade ago. Sprucing it up like a Ghostbuster at an abandoned fire house, the pair converted the ‘Hotel’ into a living space, party mecca, studio and label office. Plus, they even built a steam room.
I’ve never been, but this Resident Advisor feature paints it as somewhere between Burning Man and a Berlin disco, populated by the flotsam and jetsam you’d find on Bedford Avenue. And in recent years, the duo have expanded from local party promoters and DJs to running one of the world’s most respected dance music imprints -- one known for minimal techno and deep house.
If the label has had a breakout star, it would be Nicolas Jaar, the precocious Chilean-born Brown University student, whose haunting ‘Space Is Only Noise’ won rave reviews earlier this year. Though Jaar’s full-length wasn’t released on Wolf + Lamb, he first came to attention via last year’s W&L-released ‘Time for Us EP.’
Reflecting their increased stature within the dance world, Wolf + Lamb were asked to contribute a DJ Kicks mix to the prestigious series that includes the likes of Carl Craig, Four Tet and Hot Chip. Teaming up with the Boston duo Soul Clap, the mix is a pure distillation of the crews’ ruthless groove, love of hip-hop and R&B, and humid house music.
In honor of the record’s release, they’re taking over the roof of the downtown Standard on Sunday from 1 to 8 p.m. Today, Pop & Hiss is premiering Jaar’s ‘Can’t See What Is Burning There,’ a hypnotic and immaculately constructed jam. House for house parties or for convalescencing poolside the next day.
-- Jeff Weiss
Download: (Pop & Hiss premiere)
MP3:Nicolas Jaar -- ‘Can’t See What Is Burning There’