The Wolfgang Press - Funky Little Demons

The Wolfgang Press, the longest-signed band on 4AD Records, has been recording since 1983. On Funky Little Demons, the threesome (Michael Allen, Mark Cox, and Andrew Gray) scales back on the brooding, dark-carnival ambiance of their earlier records, and expands into a more melodic and easy-flowing presence. As a result, Funky Little Demons has a rhythm and flow that carries it past the usual ambient-trance swirl.

Somewhere between singer Allen's gruff, deadpan baritone and the music's taut, textured abrasions, the Wolfgang Press have created their own signature sound. While the band has previously been noted for its moody tendencies, Funky Little Demons escapes them. In fact, cuts like "Derrick the Confessor" and "New Glass" have a distinctly approachable, pop-oriented sound.

While shifting from an intense avant-funk to a more accessible, syncopated soul sound, the band has also become more relaxed and open. The band admits that a turning point was De La Soul's iconoclastic classic, Three Feet High and Rising. As Allen reflects, "It seemed such a joyous record. There was a freshness and ease about the way it was made that inspired us to look at ourselves and reassess our working process. It wasn't so much a change in sound as in approach, a getting back to the enjoyment of making music."

My primary knock with ambient dance music is that the vocals are usually indecipherable. Cast as "dream vocals," the words are buried and layered, and can't be discerned at any volume. This defeats the whole purpose of songwriting; why waste time writing lyrics that are so deeply obscured that no one can understand them?

Fortunately, Funky Little Demons doesn't fall into this trap. While the disc has a techno, ambient feel (with overtones of electronic dance material), the lyrics are understandable (and even printed in the liner notes).

Funky Little Demons works as an album, not a collection of singles. While it's hard to pinpoint individual tracks that stand out, the overall feel is moody, moving, and danceable. As the dance music threatens to fracture into further camps (such as ambient, jungle, breakbeat, and worldbeat), the Wolfgang Press is helping to restore a much-needed sense of coherency. Find Funky Little Demons and get out of your techno dancing shoes.

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