Discovering new music-WolfWolf

How many of us settle with the stuff we listen to, happy in our own little bubble don’t really think about what’s new, different, in your face, or just challenge our own perception of what music should sound like.

Who knew that through exploring the wonders of the internet, you’d find an exciting, vibrant underground music scene growing, allowing individuals/groups to challenge genres, re-imagine styles and most importantly find an audience.

When this band appeared in my inbox with a brief note from RPM Online’s head honcho, saying this one’s for you Brooks, my first thought was, it must be right out there, or maybe a standing Prog joke?

But ultimately absolutely nothing of the like that usually crosses the RPM doorstep, and boy was I right!!! But conversely I love it!!!!!

So welcome to the strange world of WolfWolf

And first up? Wolf Wolf- ‘Cryptid Zoo’ released in 2017, and boy was the world not prepared for it!!

This is absolutely nuts from the off even the press pack is off the scale for weird I mean check it out,

“They’ve left the protective gloom of the deep forest and are slinking around the towns, devouring hippies, hipsters and bass amplifers – and anyone unable to endure their howls is one-two-three-four pounded to pieces by Mr. Wolf, the stand-up drummer. Those able to withstand them are bombarded with trash by gitarrero Mr. Wolf. Anyone left standing after the onslaught is one of those real rock’n’roll creatures that WolfWolf yowl about in their latest album: socio-, psycho- and other -paths, yetis, aliens and swamp monsters. Only those able to survive the WolfWolf assault belong in the Cryptid Zoo”

I have to be honest listening I’m getting drawn more and more towards the Legendary Shack Shakers, and vocally there’s very much the Colonel’s style of delivery over what I would say is a mutated bluegrass skeleton, mutated as in intertwined with scuzzed up delta-blues . Now if you like the Shack Shakers, the Cramps and maybe from Europe, The Country Dark, then you will absolutely love this baby, as I’m smiling my way through the opening tracks number five up catches my attention with just the right amount of Urban Voodoo machine carny “Linzer Waltzer” is the title to look out for. I have to be honest from this point I’m hooked. Next up “Roswell” definitely heads towards Devo territory but going along a very strange path to get there, via the Cramps.

For “Tuzenak” I guarantee you will be taken by surprise, this raises the weirdness bar to an impossible level , what the fuck it is? I have no clue!! There have been way too many psychedelics consumed.

But before we head back towards the alternate reality of normality that this LP pushes, I just need to screw my reviewing head back on straight and stop dribbling. “The hunter from Hell” moves it right back into the Shack Shakers vibe, but pushing even their dark boundaries. The Cajun stomp that introduces “Leave This town”, actually turns into the easiest to pin down and potentially the most recognizable genre contained within this LP.

The cunning plan would have been to push this as a single, and then laugh when you imagine people realizing that it’s nothing like the rest of the album.

Finishing both me off and the LP, “Creepy things” comes on like the bastard son of The Cramps and the Fuzztones, that’s been listening to many alternative tentacles releases while consuming huge amounts of DMT!!

Go on you know you want to, peer into the strange distorted reality of WolfWolf, it’ll defiantly alter your perception of what music should sound like, be afraid, but be adventurous and willing to experiment.

But never one to bottle it I dived in further finding a brand new release from

WolfWolf- Metamorphosis

Not quite sure where this one would take me, I think whisky is called for “just to settle the nerves. Turns out that’s a very good choice as the drawn out blues of “Lucifer” introduces the lp in a very different way, who’d have thought it, this is a very different animal, maybe a band settling on a style or maybe just exploring a very different musical heritage. There’s almost a punk rock vibe to “Klaus” before some very strange things start to happen and we dip into Shamen territory all-be -it briefly.

There’s a picked acoustic blues entry to “The Gin Diary” and I’m sure that guitar run came straight out of the Doors –people are strange!!! As I’m taking stock and just drifting through the next couple of tracks I’m drawn back to the Legendary Shack Shakers before again I’m thrown into an industrial Ministry style Land of Rape and Honey track “Birdman”.  Next up “Dark night” again is that track that will lull people into a false sense of security.  “Crushed the Devil” scratches the Urban Voodoo Machine itch, before Fat Fly takes it off into another plain, the techno drum beat, holding the track together before we start to enter Young Gods territory with a blues twist. Boy was I not prepared for the jazz saxophone that opens “She’s a threat” there’s a hint of Tom Wait’s to this baby, but its buried deep!!!

Finishing up with the Alt-country vibe of “time to say goodbye” and your left with the thought on first listen of I’ve never heard anything like it before and probably will hear nothing like it again, it’s nuts, all over the place, but stands on it’s own because of it.

WolfWolf  are not for the faint hearted, definitely not for your average Massive Wagons fan, but if your willing to challenge your boundaries and hear something totally different this band are 100% for you.

Buy ‘Metamorphosis’ Here

Author: Nev Brooks