After a stint abroad our 80 Labels series comes back to Britain, just as the spectre of Christmas has begun stalking the general public. Not without good reason, we’ve returned home to talk shop with one of the guys behind one of the UK house music success stories of recent years.
As a honcho in charge of Wolf Music, Matt Neale is no stranger to promising young artists. With an oeuvre containing cuts from the likes of PBR Streetgang, Medlar, Greymatter and Waze & Odyssey the imprint’s catalogue reads like a who’s who of names with particularly promising futures ahead of them. Keen to deduce whether this consistency is down to good luck, great taste or both, we sat the man in question down to ask about all that makes up the label. You’ll find his responses below.
Matt Neale (left) – Wolf Music – UK
Describe your imprint’s output.
We release music that draws inspiration from the full spectrum of the underground house scene. That means house, disco, soul, techno and anything in between that we like.
What would you say makes it different?
It is unique in that the output is the collective tastes of all those involved, steered by me and Stu, the label owners. That mixture of tastes and influences is unique to WOLF and makes us what we are. Nobody else has that same mix, so I guess therein lies our difference.
What is it that makes you keep looking for new talent to expose?
A love of music and a passion for sharing it with other people. You always need fresh talent if you want to stay relevant, it’s what keeps labels going. It is also important that those in a position to help new talent get heard do so.
What’s the label’s pinnacle achievement so far?
Reaching 20 EPs was something we were particularly proud of. 20 doesn’t sound like much perhaps, but as we put out 4 tracks per release and each track is a very considered process that represents a lot of music and work. Also releasing Medlar’s album, Sleep. That was our first album release and we saw it come together from day one to release date. It’s exactly what we hoped it would be and the final product blew us away.
If people were going to hear one release from your camp, what would you prefer it to be?
The latest one.