The Wolfgang Press

Few English bands signed to the iconic 4AD roster enjoyed a career as long—or as weirdly varied—as that of The Wolfgang Press. From 1983 to 1996 the band released nearly a dozen albums and EPs on the label, a body of work that nicely follows the band’s evolution from shadowy post-punkers to makers of dub-friendly dance music.  After the release of the doomy The Burden of Mules in 1983, each subsequent Wolfgang Press release gradually moved into more dance-friendly territory. Big Sex dared to conjoin soul music with industrial influences, while 1991’s Queer shook off the trappings of rock music and planted the band squarely on the dance floor. Before disbanding for good in 1996, the band had transformed so completely into a kind of skewed funk-dance act that they were almost unrecognizable as the same band who had recorded noisy, gothy EPs in the early '80s with Cocteau Twins’ Robin Guthrie producing. This stylistic range and lack of gauzy ethereality may be one reason why they never broke beyond a fervent cult following like some of their 4AD labelmates managed to, but The Wolfgang Press are, for many, one of the most fascinating bands to emerge from that beloved label.