Soul Clap - Edits

  • Share
  • Wolf + Lamb were psyched enough about these edits from Boston party-hounds Soul Clap that they founded a sub-label just to get them out. A sensible move: Soul Clap's reworkings of two lost soul classics neatly complement the spare but expressive deep house vibe that the Brooklyn crew have been steadily developing. It's as if, armed with a primary aesthetic conceit, Wolf + Lamb are open to experimenting with its transformation across a plateau of possibilities. It's a smooth, shadowy, and yes, deep sound, like a velvet cavern—which wouldn't be an inaccurate way to describe the Marcy Hotel, Wolf+Lamb's DIY Brooklyn headquarters. I'll refrain from trainspotting the two soul jams here in order to leave some of the mystery up to you: suffice to say they're neither completely obscure finds nor Top 40 Motown classics that your mom loves. Both have been sliced up to plumb the murky fathoms of hypnotic dance music, landing not far from super-trippy edit classics like Todd Terje's cut of Chic's "I Want Your Love," or Cole Medina's stunning rework of "Love You Inside Out" by the Bee Gees. A-side "Conscious" is a butter-smooth '70s lover-man joint that has largely been left intact, looped and beefed up with a kick and hat. It's the sort of minor tweak that might irk those who insist on originality in all forms of art, but complaining that an edit isn't original is like criticizing a DJ for playing songs other people recorded. At its best an edit can function like a mini-DJ set, exploring peaks and valleys, differences and repetitions, all within the confines of a single track. In that sense "edit" can be just another name for "mix," which only adds to the terminological confusion you've perhaps faced if you've ever sat down and tried to figure out exactly what the difference is between a mix, a remix, an edit, a dub, a club version and so on. There's more noticeable manipulation on the B, where a lovely '80s cut gets tailspun into a gorgeous whirlpool of floating echo and dubbed-out sunshine. Here Soul Clap adeptly pull off the sort of seductive build-and-release that more often than not can maximize a dance vocal's sensual pleasure, allowing it to roam half-formed in the background for a spell before allowing it only on occasion to appear in the fullness of its splendor. Throw this over crisp, machinic beats and call it intimate club: hard enough for the floor, smooth enough for the back room.
  • Tracklist
      A Conscious B Love Light
RA