The Wolfgang Press - Standing Up Straight

The Wolfgang Press (Michael Allen, Mark Cox and Andrew Gray) were one of 4AD’s most enduring bands, spending the entirety of their career (more than twelve years) with the influential British indie label set up by Ivo Watts Russell back in 1980. Even before they formed the Wolfgang Press in 1983, Cox and Allen had released material on the label; first as Rema Rema (with future Ant-person Marco Pirroni), and then with Mass. (Prior to joining the Wolfgang Press, Gray had also been involved with 4AD, releasing three singles on the label with In Camera.)

The story of the Wolfgang Press is a familiar one. They were a talented alternative band with a distinctive, multifaceted vision: over the course of five studio albums, their sound encompassed everything from dark, somewhat difficult noise to orchestrally enhanced art-angst to idiosyncratic electronic funk-soul hybrids that were well received on the alternative dancefloor. The group garnered critical acclaim, flirted with mainstream success and soldiered on until the mid-‘90s, only to end up as a footnote in alt. rock history, coming up in the context of questions like “Whatever happened to that 4AD band the Wolfgang Press?”

By the time of 1986’s Standing Up Straight, the Wolfgang Press had started to explore more expansive, orchestral and industrial textures. While "Hammer the Halo" and "Rotten Fodder" in particular stand out as two of the group's most aggressive efforts, the intensity level remains high throughout. “I Am the Crime”, an austere, melancholic number that has much in common with the kind of doomy, dark melodic sound that the 4AD label is perhaps best known for. Indeed, songs like this would reinforce the reductive, erroneous categorisation of the Wolfgang Press as a Goth band. On “I Am the Crime”, Allen’s deep vocals put listeners in mind of Nick Cave, while Elizabeth Fraser makes an appearance, albeit in a more recognisable vocal mode.

A challenging and even punishing album, but a rewarding one as well.

The Wolfgang Press - Sweatbox 12''

Released in 1985 on 4AD, The Wolfgang Press' Sweatbox 12'' EP (BAD506) is a four-track, post-punk mini-album, often noted for its mature, moody, and hip-hop influenced sound. Featuring tracks like "Heart of Stone" and "I'm Coming Home," it showcases the band's development in reconstructing pop conventions with a dark, atmospheric, and often rhythmic edge. The EP represents a maturation in sound, described as a "funk workout" with a "spacious, hypnotic, and ominous" feel. It is a prime example of their 1980s 4AD collaboration. The 12" includes the title track "Sweatbox," along with "Muted," "Heart of Stone," and "I'm Coming Home (Mama)". It sits between their earlier work and later albums, with reviewers noting it as a vital, "dark and uncompromising" release that showcases the band's unique,, often misunderstood, musical path. 

The tide came in for "Scarecrow", revealing a new, potent Wolfgang Press. But the tide went out for "Water", an EP that sounded underdeveloped by comparison. Well, the sea has returned. "Sweatbox" kicks off with the interlocking rhythmic interplay of "Heart of Stone", Allen ranting on all cylinders:

a thousand heads they talk in rhyme

their useless words commit no crime

a case of mindless intuition

a case of finding inner vision

I drop a bomb; you drive a car

and when we crack, we crack so hard

the nurses come to hear our stories

these flowers talk

our flowers talk

Once again the Wolfgang Press incorporate numerous references to musical influences, like a shimmering mirage of the past. "I'm Coming Home (Mama)" sounds much like "Cut The Tree" with some deadpan hilarious lyrics. The acoustic guitar on this and the previous song provide some much-needed textural variety. Meanwhile, trumpet returns from "Ecstacy". I'd say the band is adept at including just enough change and forward momentum, just enough repetition and retrograde churning. Though far from disco, "Sweatbox" aims for the dance floor, the mix not doing the song any favours. "Muted" is a take on Joy Division, with circular drums and sawing violin.

The Wolfgang Press - Water 12''

The Wolfgang Press Water 12'' (4AD, 1984/1985) is a highly regarded, 4-track EP showcasing the band’s signature early-80s blend of dark post-punk, industrial, and atmospheric noise. Known for its sophisticated, sometimes "brash" sound, the EP features "My Way" and is praised for its deep, 45RPM vinyl pressing that captures the band's peculiar, inventive, and moody, bass-heavy style. The EP represents the band's earlier, darker, and more industrial sound, characterized by brooding atmospheres, heavy bass, and distinctive, sometimes aggressive, sonic textures. The EP is noted for its "weirdness and noise," particularly on the track "My Way," which highlights their idiosyncratic approach to, and deconstruction of, conventional music structures. It sits between their early work and more refined later albums, often described as an essential "mini-album" for fans of 4AD's niche, moody, 80s output. It is frequently lauded as an essential, moody piece of 4AD history. 

Here's a quartet of Wolfgang songs on a second extended Pressing. Discordant vocals yearn over a clatter of drums and bass ostinato. Yes, you're going to tremble, the lyrics invite. But what does the subtitle mean? "My Way" inverts Sinatra into some sort of noir catechism:

just rattle my bones

and watch me crack

in my way I did it your way

my bones don't tell no lies

The only way to listen is to let the atmospheres sweep you under. Wolfgang Press seem especially adept at this. Fryer/Guthrie apply techniques that unite this disk with others in the 4AD catalogue. (The reverb processing on instrumental "The Deep Briny" being an echo of similar on Cocteau Twins' "Head Over Heels"). Though that track is minor, "Fire-eater" is an important revision of gospel tropes ("take me to the river") that reveal important Wolfgang Press influences. But here the constituent parts are reconfigured into a deep, dark pool of gothic sensibility.

The Wolfgang Press - Scarecrow 12''

If The Burden of Mules is dark and cacophonous, an angry, intense slab of post-punk gloom best left to its own (de)vices, Scarecrow makes the most of the band's better attributes with spotless production by Cocteau Twin Robin Guthrie. Allen's almost-spoken, heavily accented vocals sputter through a mix of up-front bass, rhythm guitar, synthesizers and creative percussion. Some dreary moments remain, but a send-up of Otis Redding's "Respect" reflects the lightened mood.

The Wolfgang Press - The Burden Of Mules

Enigmatic, moody, and challenging, The Wolfgang Press were one of the most mercurial talents of the post-punk era, restlessly moving from gothic noise to dark balladry to eccentric funk; paradoxically, the group was also the 4AD label's longest tenured artist; even their stylish album packages were all the product of the same designer, Alberto Ricci.

Formed in London in 1983, the Wolfgang Press comprised vocalist Michael Allen, guitarist Andrew Gray, and keyboardist Mark Cox. Allen and Cox first teamed in the group Rema Rema, which also featured Adam & the Ants alum Marco Perroni; after reuniting in the short-lived quartet Mass, the duo recruited Gray, and as the Wolfgang Press issued their cacophonous, gloomy debut LP, The Burden of Mules, an angry, intense slab of post-punk gloom that is best left to its own (de)vices.