Lambchop

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I like 'em. What I've heard of the new album sounds a bit *too* mellow tho'. Although the title track sounds like a reggaefied Bob Dylan.

― Michael Bourke, Sunday, 17 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I like them too. Though Wagner's voice can be slightly irritating when he tries to be Ray Charles. Nixon was phantastic. Live they are great as well. Almost an orchestra: I think there are at least twelve band members, many classical instruments. The kind of soul music I like (I usually dislike soul). Very calm and warm. Does Wagner sing a lot of falsetto on the new album?

― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 18 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I've been listening to the new album for the last week or so - it's certainly not as accessible as Nixon, and a lot of it is very stripped down indeed - just piano, a bit of acoustic guitar and the odd bit of percussion or distant brass, which I reckon accounts for the middling reviews it's been getting, but it's the subtelties of the record that really get me. Wisely he's dumped the falsetto altogether, which is great as I never liked it, although there is an extremely ill-advised reggae lilt to the last track. Other than that it's almost entirely gorgeous...

― Matt DC, Monday, 18 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Apart from a couple of decent horn-led trax from 'What a Man Spills', everything else I've heard has been grim.

― Dr. C, Monday, 18 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Saw them live at last year's All Tomorrows Parties. They were pretty soporific.

― MarkH, Monday, 18 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

it's certainly not as accessible as Nixon, and a lot of it is very stripped down indeed - just piano, a bit of acoustic guitar and the odd bit of percussion or distant brass,
That sounds phantastic. Almost like a Howe Gelb album. Btw not all reviews have been negative. Nude as the News gives the album 9/10.

― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 18 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

This new record needs to grow on me a bit but the few spins it has gotten so far proved favourable.

― Arien, Monday, 18 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Sod the music on the new album, let's get straight to the point.

Is there a lyric sheet included with Is A Woman? If so, can the argument between Tim Hopkins & I as to whether the protagonist of My Blue Wave is having an affair with her dog be settled yet?

― David, Monday, 18 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I miss the falsetto, but the new albums is top notch. Great for completely different reasons that Nixon was. Like Matt said, it's very subtle.

Now only if Paul Burch would make another album.

― Jeff, Monday, 18 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

only just heard nixon recently .i fucking HATE that falsetto. what is with that? therefore i cannot listen to. thank god there is none of that on 'how i quit smoking' whhich is great esp. 'the man who loved beer', obv.

― ambrose, Monday, 18 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Lambchop is useful music to fall asleep to at night. I'm a complete insomniac, and one spin of "Nixon" and I was off to never-never-land. This is not to say they're bad; they just wake that inner narcoleptic in me, for some reason. The same could be said for Low, and the more fuzzy, wimpy bits of Yo La Tengo..

So Lambchop's coming to Boston, but I'm a bit afraid of seeing them in that I'll likely fall over and go to sleep in the middle of the show.

― geeta, Monday, 18 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I think the new LP is marvellous. Mooro: there is a lyric sheet and I'm sticking to my guns on this one. my interpretation remains available, although the lyric is pretty oblique. So there.

― Tim, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

I bought Nixon a little while ago & I love it -- really dig the falsetto, fwiw -- and I'm wondering which Lambchop to look for next. It's like late-period Mercury Rev but good.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 13 August 2003 20:25 (9 years ago) Permalink

Nixon is fantastic. I was late to the Lambchop party as well so the only other record I have is What Another Man Spills. I don't think it's quite as good (or memorable) as Nixon, but definitely worth picking up.

― Will (will), Wednesday, 13 August 2003 20:54 (9 years ago) Permalink

It took me a real long time to get into Nixon.. I did start to dig it when playing it during roadtrips. How does 'Is a Woman' compare?

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Thursday, 14 August 2003 07:38 (9 years ago) Permalink

Is a Woman is a beautiful album, my fave of last year. it's structured almost like ambient electronic music in terms of the use of layers and dynamics, but performed with yer common or garden country isntruments. It's like a very beautiful and subdued ambient jazz Americana type thing, with some truly exceptional piano. I'd definitely recommend it.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Thursday, 14 August 2003 07:41 (9 years ago) Permalink

I still listen to Is A Woman about once a week... usually late and night, and I reckon it's my favourite of theirs by a mile.

Nick is OTM above... I love the way there's all this stuff going on JUST inside your field of hearing, but it feels so much more affecting out there on the periphery. The way 'Bugs' feels like its building up and up without ever really getting any faster or louder is marvellous.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 14 August 2003 08:44 (9 years ago) Permalink

haven't listened to it for a while. up till yankee hotel foxtrot came out (beaten by the montgolfier brothers at the end of the year) it was my fave last year. yankee hotel foxtrot didn't "age" well. the eclecticism was too strong, i guess. the lambchop album is indeed very beautiful in its minimalism and calmness. not as exuberantly warm and radiating as nixon (and their phantastic live tour at the time) but even more atmospheric and ripe. i have to give it a spin tonight to see if i still like it as much as last year.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Thursday, 14 August 2003 08:57 (9 years ago) Permalink

Thriller is still my favourite... there's some noise tracks yoou'll never wanna hear again, but 'your fuckin' sunny day' is one of my favourite songs EVER, and stuff like 'superstar in france' and 'hey where's your girl' are really cute...

― stevie (stevie), Thursday, 14 August 2003 09:21 (9 years ago) Permalink

I dig Nixon best-ly which I realise is tedious and predictable, but I like how not-amazingly-consistent Lambchop are, I don't dislike any of the albums but the ones I really love (How I Quit Smoking, Nixon) strike me as massively colossally superior to the others and there's seemingly no predictable gradual-curve-towards-genius that you sometimes get with long-running bands. All the others have skyscraping moments of wonderness that matches the best albums (Your Fucking Sunny Day, New Cobweb Summer, Soaky Pooper one, um, the really great ones from What Another Man Spills that I can't remember the names of) but I think I basically just like them when they're at their most pop.

The Man Who Loved Beer is all time favourite ever, probably. How I Quit Smoking is insanely underrated.

― Alex in Rotherham (Alex in Doncaster), Thursday, 14 August 2003 10:06 (9 years ago) Permalink

I'm gonna have to buy How I Quit Smoking now, aren't I? Alex in Rotherham, yer a git. ;o)

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Thursday, 14 August 2003 11:14 (9 years ago) Permalink

Well spotted! You do have to buy it but you won't mind really because it's wonderful.

― Alex in Rotherham (Alex in Doncaster), Thursday, 14 August 2003 12:48 (9 years ago) Permalink

That's alright then.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Thursday, 14 August 2003 12:51 (9 years ago) Permalink

hank is the best lambchop release. but i can't remember the title of that song with the line 'there's lots of nice apartments around here', but it is a beautiful record. 'how i quit smoking' was fab too but not as fab. i've had slackened interest since the falsetto appeared, i don't mind it much but the rest of the songs seemed aimless and less affecting. they made a dump song great though, quite an accomplishment.

― keith (keithmcl), Friday, 15 August 2003 01:55 (9 years ago) Permalink

now i even like the last song which is turning into a variation of "no woman no cry" on "is a woman". an awesome understated impressionist album full of space.last night it was a phantastic listen after the heat wave in germany (38 degrees celsius) of the last couple of weeks has eventually faded away.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 15 August 2003 07:33 (9 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

Those of you who have heard it - talk about Aw C'mon/No You C'mon here please.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 14:37 (9 years ago) Permalink

Heard some live stuff on the radio. Best thing was David Kilgour from The Clean

― Sasha (sgh), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 14:58 (9 years ago) Permalink

*Who was playing wif 'em.

― Sasha (sgh), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 14:59 (9 years ago) Permalink

Cmon/Noyoucmon is supergreat, sez I. I was mightily underwhelmed by the slightness of Is A Woman and thus hugely heartened by Kurt's return to widescreen lounge/jazz/soul/country spleandour. Can't recommend it enough.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 15:15 (9 years ago) Permalink

Most positive thing they've done in ages / ever. I am NOT going to mention Sp**k*rb*xxx/The* L*v& B*l*w in my Stylus review. They're great.

― Llahtuos Kcin (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 15:22 (9 years ago) Permalink

lol I think I mentioned Guns'n'Roses in my feature!

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 15:26 (9 years ago) Permalink

Heh. It's good but as much as I enjoy the band a lot -- got everything by 'em, etc. -- this didn't feel much like anything new and in some respects felt a bit...not underwhelming, but ultimately a bit draggy. It's hard going all at once because you long for some sort of break or change, and I think the first time that happened was on that one rock-out tune deep in the second disc!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 15:28 (9 years ago) Permalink

But the instrumentals! They're the heart of the record!

And haven't you got everything everyone's done?

― Llahtuos Kcin (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 15:37 (9 years ago) Permalink

I think I agree with Ned here... I mean, it's very nice and all but in a bit of a predictable way, and I think it lacks the melodic richness of the last couple. Also, what's going on with Kurt Wagner's singing voice - did he make a conscious decision not to hold any note for more than a fraction of a second?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 15:40 (9 years ago) Permalink

And haven't you got everything everyone's done?

Oh for all of Muslimgauze's work.

I sorta wish the falsetto had come out more, frankly.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 16:28 (9 years ago) Permalink

True.

― Llahtuos Kcin (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 16:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

I liked the Chester E.P., too, the record that Josh Rouse sang the tunes for.

― christoff (christoff), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 19:06 (9 years ago) Permalink

I really want to hear these.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 19:08 (9 years ago) Permalink

My Kurt Wagner interview here, if anyone's interested.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 30 January 2004 14:53 (9 years ago) Permalink

Heh, not bad! :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 30 January 2004 15:43 (9 years ago) Permalink

I got "Nixon" but only played it a few times. Two problems I ha with this album:

1. Either he can't sing or he doesn't feel too much like trying
2. I found his that-almost-means-something lyrics intensely annoying

Musically it was quite good - might drag it out again.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 30 January 2004 17:27 (9 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

is there anything else out there that sounds like Is a Woman?

― ryan (ryan), Saturday, 16 April 2005 23:25 (8 years ago) Permalink

I've met them, around in Nashville at various times, and they're nice people. But I don't get it, just seems half-baked to me. Parts of "Nixon" I kind of admire, in a way, but that singing...I've tried to get with it, many of my friends love them and keep urging me to see the light. So maybe one day I will.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Sunday, 17 April 2005 01:16 (8 years ago) Permalink

I have avoided Lambchop until now even though I've liked the odd track I've heard (mainly from Nixon)- my anti-Americana bias has refused to allow me to get involved.

So last week I saw Aw C'Mon/No You C'Mon for £5 and decided to take the plunge. It's good - I haven't had time to fully get to know it but there are some crackers on No You C'Mon - 'There's Still Time', 'Nothing Adventurous' 'The Producers'.

So I saw 'Is A Woman' for a fiver too. Hmm - looked a bit *sepia* for my taste but what the heck, I bought it.

What a record!! I am loving this album so much. To these crash-bang-wallop trained ears it took a couple of listens to recalibrate and then...wow! Some truly lovely melodies/chord changes and superb layering. I see what people say about the lyrics and they're not wrong...yet they work. I like the fragmented, in-and-out of sleep feel. It's *evocative*, I think. (Did I really say that?)

And I'm surprised to find out who some of the admirers are - Matt DC says some great stuff upthread! Also Tim Hopkins!

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 21 April 2005 09:37 (8 years ago) Permalink

dr.c otm. i have the impression that our tastes are quite similar in the end. or maybe converging? is a woman is so perfect in its meditative simplicity. that album is so totally outside of our hectic times. it has a healing effect on me. whenever i put it on it soothes me, calms me down and puts a grin on my face. like a good joint.

aw cmon... is great too but i haven't listened to it a lot. the instrumentals are gorgeously melodic and instantly gratifying. but i think i would have preferred it to be condensed to just one disc.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Thursday, 21 April 2005 16:10 (8 years ago) Permalink

god I hate Nixon! Blah! why does everyone like that record?

Is A Woman is extraordinary. I kind of think you don't really need anything else by them.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 21 April 2005 16:12 (8 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

So, anyone hears X-Press 2 & Kurt Wagner's "Give It" tune?

Unsurprisingly, it's like a cross bewtween "Lazy" and "Up With People", with piano to the fore and a neat video that seems to take its stylistic cues from, uh, "Money For Nothing".

Your thoughts, ILM?

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 07:59 (7 years ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

Damaged, their 9th (or 8th, if you count Aw/No as two albums), is out on August 22nd via Merge.

Source: subtitle of their forum here.

Gushing preview & more info here.

No confirmed tracklist yet, AFAIK, but these 10 tracks are out there somewhere:

01. Paperback Bible (7:48)
02. Prepared (6:03)
03. The Rise And Fall Of The Letter P (3:36)
04. A Day Without Glasses (4:11)
05. Beers Before The Barbican (4:51)
06. I Would Have Waited Here All Day (4:02)
07. Crackers (4:11)
08. Fear (5:00)
09. Short (3:48)
10. The Decline Of Country And Western Civilization (4:36)

― StanM (StanM), Monday, 15 May 2006 16:47 (7 years ago) Permalink

I loved everything up to Nixon but hated the last 3 (2?). WANT MORE / DO NOT WANT...?

― The Jazz Guide to Penguins on Compact Disc (Rock Hardy), Monday, 15 May 2006 16:55 (7 years ago) Permalink

I disagree (respectfully, of course.) The last couple Lambchop releases have been great. I can see why the more reserved tone might turn off some of the band's earlier fans, but Wagner remains one of the best lyricists out there and the band sounds great to me. The CoLab EP last year with Hands Off Cuba was cool too—I'm glad that they've been made a permanent addition to the band. Looking forward to Damaged!

― Tyler W (tylerw), Monday, 15 May 2006 17:04 (7 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 95 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Hmm. I would say their last two (this one and OH(Ohio)) are on par with Nixon and Is A Woman, or maybe even better (ask me when I've had ten years with 'em).

― EZ Snappin, Friday, 24 February 2012 18:43 (1 year ago) Permalink

LP has four bonus tracks. Anyone heard 'em? I'm a vinyl guy but this whole "LP costs more than double what the CD costs" shit is getting on my nerves

― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Friday, 24 February 2012 19:51 (1 year ago) Permalink

hmm yeah would like to hear the bonus traxxxx.
interview here: http://www.avclub.com/articles/kurt-wagner,69809/
interesting that merge wouldn't put out that KORT record, that is a nice one.

― tylerw, Friday, 24 February 2012 22:15 (1 year ago) Permalink

OH (Ohio) is on par with those earlier peaks.

It really is! I totally overlooked it at the time but have been listening over the last couple of days and it's magnificent. Such a great spring record. I like it a lot more than Mr M actually.

― Homosexual Satan Wasp (Matt DC), Sunday, 26 February 2012 12:26 (1 year ago) Permalink

xpost Spent a 8/9 hrrs with Kurt last month for a piece. He accepts his own fault in them getting labelled country, though then the misguided ran with the label ...

From the transcript (excuse the typos):
I never really felt part of the altcountry thing to begin with - it was definitely something that was foisted upon us by virtue of being from Nashville, virtue of a cynical early press release we made. We were just fuckin’ kidding. we figured they would listen to the music. The someone wrote” “This great country band from Nashville”. And we were haha - you didn’t listen to the song, did you, you just wrote it. You just read the thing and you wrote it. Of course I did also love what the Mekons were doing - another sort of artist collective thing. That made total sense, and the fact that they were fond of that typw of music was a bonus We focuseed on that because we’re from here - it’s aprt of what we grew up with, so why shouldn’t we look at that as part of what we do? It made sense to me maybe just take it from a conceptual point of view and not really use it literally - don’t cover Hank Williams or anything but look at what Hank Williams song were, and how they were produced, and the sounds. The fact we were working in studios where all this stuff was created - we felt a little bit subversive about that too: sneak in on the weekend and work with the engineers who were just sick of working in the mainstream world and thrilled to do anything that wasn’t. And then the fact we were all having fun and didn’t give a shit anyway made it more fun for people who were stuck doing this as a profession and weren’t working with music they liked. They loved being engineers, they loved capturing sound and making sound beautiful, unfirtunately they were capturing sounds they weren’t that thrilled about. It made sense to us to use the infrastructure that was here, but use it to our own ends.

Absurd tag to begin with?
It was the bin you got thrown in. It does sound kind of American - there you go. Certainly the Americana idea grew out of that, whether that was more accurate … I still think of Americana myself persnally as these kitschy things you colelct - old political buttons, Coke signs, things like that, but I udnerstand the intent of that description. It’s about American music or American sound. `it’s not German. It’s not British. It’s an American thing.’ That was a little more descriptive.

― Viva Brother Beyond (ithappens), Sunday, 26 February 2012 19:40 (1 year ago) Permalink

Aww WTF, Iota doesn't pre-sell tickets! SO I gotta drive up to D.C. on a Sunday and hope to get in? Ughh, might have to plan a trip to Nashville or New York instead.

― grandavis, Friday, F

I think you'll be able to get in to small Iota ok, if you get there even an hour early. Or you can buy a ticket online for their show the next night, April 16, at Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis, MD.

― curmudgeon, Monday, 27 February 2012 16:09 (1 year ago) Permalink

Thanks, Iota may work out after all, just wish I didn't have to risk it at all. Annapolis is just a little too far, as I wouldn't be staying there. Is Rams Head Tavern a good venue though? If it was for some reason exceptional I would consider it. Otherwise NYC and Nashville have the bonus of being places I go regularly already to see family and friends, so I could tie in other shit with the show. Regardless, gotta find a way to see Lambchop one way or another!

― grandavis, Monday, 27 February 2012 18:11 (1 year ago) Permalink

yo ithappens, what pub is your article for?

― tylerw, Monday, 27 February 2012 18:14 (1 year ago) Permalink

x-post. Have never been yet to Rams Head Tavern. Sometimes its admission prices are higher than the DC area dates for the same performer. It's just an hour or so from Iota.

― curmudgeon, Monday, 27 February 2012 18:49 (1 year ago) Permalink

I used to go to Ram's Head in the late 90s. Back then, it was a sit down at tables and listen quietly kind of place. Absolutely my favorite venue to be able to hear an artist and not the audience.

I have no idea if it is still like that or not.

― EZ Snappin, Monday, 27 February 2012 19:03 (1 year ago) Permalink

xpost to tylerw - Was in the Guardian a couple of weeks ago.

― Viva Brother Beyond (ithappens), Monday, 27 February 2012 19:13 (1 year ago) Permalink

ah, thanks!

― tylerw, Monday, 27 February 2012 19:14 (1 year ago) Permalink

Hey, thanks folks. Will see if I can find out any more info on Ram's Head as it exists now, but it's an hour farther away from where I live, so 3 hours each way instead of about 2. Tough for a Monday night.

― grandavis, Monday, 27 February 2012 19:31 (1 year ago) Permalink

Also, tour dates are posted in several places. Has there been an update beyong "TBA" for the show in Nashville? I always thought it would be cool to see them there.

― grandavis, Monday, 27 February 2012 19:33 (1 year ago) Permalink

I'm afraid I may have to head out of town when Lambchop comes here, which would totally suck.

― EZ Snappin, Monday, 27 February 2012 19:48 (1 year ago) Permalink

They were pretty great last night, although I gather this was a more stripped-down Lambchop, only about six members on stage, plus Cortney Tidwell on backing vocals or just cooing over the top. Set was mostly the new album, plus My Blue Wave, The Man Who Loved Beer, and a couple of others. My Blue Wave was amazing.

Also Kurt Wagner was just hanging out in the pub round the corner beforehand, we had a quick chat at the bar. He was mostly ordering all the most lol-British food on the menu.

― Homosexual Satan Wasp (Matt DC), Friday, 2 March 2012 09:40 (1 year ago) Permalink

Lovely show last night, I thought. Very clever using cooing Cortney to take the part of the strings on the new songs.

― Viva Brother Beyond (ithappens), Friday, 2 March 2012 17:28 (1 year ago) Permalink

this band cant make a bad album imo

― ⚓ (gr8080), Friday, 2 March 2012 21:29 (1 year ago) Permalink

Pretty gutted to miss them this time around, especially with Cortney T, but I couldn't swing a Barbican ticket in these austere times. Just contented myself with playing Aw C'mon a couple of times today.

― Michael Jones, Friday, 2 March 2012 21:38 (1 year ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

listened to mr. m again last night while making dinner, so good. not a song i want skip on there.

― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:16 (1 year ago) Permalink

i read somewhere that mr.m is (about) vic chesnutt and kurt and him were friends. is that true? there are not so many self-composed tribute albums for other musicians, i can't think of one right now. the closest which comes to mind is giant sand's chore of enchantment where howe gelb tried to cope with the early death of his friend rainer ptacek, the great steel guitar player. probably giant sand's best album btw. i got a little bored by lamchop the last couple of years, i probably wrote about it on this thread. is this worth checking out? is it warm?

― alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:31 (1 year ago) Permalink

they weren't just friends, they did a (fantastic) album together!

― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:40 (1 year ago) Permalink

can't believe this thread hasn't been revived in six weeks

― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:41 (1 year ago) Permalink

too busy listening to this album over and over. becoming convinced it's their best.
seeing them next week!

― tylerw, Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:43 (1 year ago) Permalink

Tyler - want to get me a copy of Democracy? I'm going to miss their Dallas stop.

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:18 (1 year ago) Permalink

is that a tour CD? sure, I can get you one...

― tylerw, Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:25 (1 year ago) Permalink

You're the best!

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:26 (1 year ago) Permalink

FYI: Democracy is the demos for this latest album. Word is they're pretty amazing.

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:42 (1 year ago) Permalink

ohh sweet. would like to hear that!

― tylerw, Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:42 (1 year ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

This record has eclipsed all my other listening this year. I think it's really something special and possibly their best, which is saying something. I played it and wrote about it (badly) for a recent Devon Record Club meeting: http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/lambchop-mr-m-round-31-robs-choice/

― Rob Mitchell, Thursday, 5 July 2012 20:57 (10 months ago) Permalink

good article but i think you misquoted this line: “Took the Christmas lights off the front porch / What felt like February 31st” - i don't hear the words "what felt like" at all, it's just "took the christmas lights off the front porch / february 31st"

― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 5 July 2012 21:20 (10 months ago) Permalink

he copped to writing badly about it, lay off man.

― ♆ (gr8080), Friday, 6 July 2012 00:14 (10 months ago) Permalink

Kurt asked me to clap on some lambchop song when they were recording at the beech house. I begged off claiming lack of rhythm and hung out with a cat on the porch swing instead. Good decision IMO. Most of the lambchop dudes are really decent dudes, def including Kurt, but his instant dislike of David Berman when they met made me a little sketchy about listening to lambchop for a long time.

― Cussing like a bunch of Bukowskis (sunny successor), Friday, 6 July 2012 03:07 (10 months ago) Permalink

huh -- dislike, personally? obviously the rest of l-chop is down w/ berman, since they play on a bunch of the latter day jews records.

― tylerw, Friday, 6 July 2012 03:58 (10 months ago) Permalink

Hey congratulations. I took the 'Christmas' lyric from the sleeve notes but sure, Kurt doesn't sing it that way. The extra couple of words help though, I think. And thanks ♆ (gr8080) for playing my 'get out of jail' for me.

― Rob Mitchell, Friday, 6 July 2012 11:39 (10 months ago) Permalink

Yes there comes a booming sound
It used to come from underground
Now it emenates
From a kind of welfare state
Of the soul
Yeah baby of the soul

― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 6 July 2012 13:28 (10 months ago) Permalink

From all accounts that I have heard Berman is a pretty difficult guy. Shouldn't really reflect badly on Kurt I don't think. Not saying Berman is a bad guy, but still, who cares? You should listen to Lambchop!

― grandavis, Friday, 6 July 2012 16:04 (10 months ago) Permalink

DCB is super polite and sweet actually. I just don't listen to Lambchop because I just don't like listening to Lambchop very much.

― Cussing like a bunch of Bukowskis (sunny successor), Friday, 6 July 2012 18:27 (10 months ago) Permalink

I think my accounts stem from episodes that are at this point pretty far in the guys past, so really it is not fair of me to bring them up. If you don't like Lambchop that's fine, but was a pretty weird way to bring it up. IMO no need to pick sides, like Berman's and Kurt's songwriting a lot.

― grandavis, Friday, 6 July 2012 18:37 (10 months ago) Permalink

sunny you should have taken him up on the offer, i know of a dude who has a gold record hanging in his house because he got a performer credit for doing handclaps on a jimmy eat world song

― ♆ (gr8080), Friday, 6 July 2012 20:05 (10 months ago) Permalink

i want these guys to fight on pay per view at a time that's convenient for me.

― Misc. Carnivora (Matt P), Friday, 6 July 2012 20:55 (10 months ago) Permalink

I saw this Lambchop show a couple months ago. This is me writing the article. The show convinced me that you could subtract everyone except Tony Crow and Kurt, and it would still be Lambchop, not that Tyler, Schneider and Martin don't add something. Kurt's songs are just so fragile, so almost-not-there, watercolor.

― Edd Hurt, Monday, 9 July 2012 05:07 (10 months ago) Permalink

I'll add that I've met David Berman. Went to his house a few years ago. He could not have been nicer to me, a regular kinda guy. Musically, Silver Jews have had their moments, mostly on their last couple records--Lookout Mountain is my favorite by a big margin--but Berman is a pretty fine writer, in my opinion.

― Edd Hurt, Monday, 9 July 2012 05:09 (10 months ago) Permalink

And while I'm on here, there's a Beech House/Mark Nevers box in the works. Stuff Nevers did with his bands Marky & the Unexplained Stains, the Dowsers, Meateaters and CYOD, in the late '80s and into the '90s. Good shit, some of it featuring the Lambchop folks. I'm happy to say I wrote the liner notes for it, and that Daniel Blumberg is putting the thing together, out sometime this fall, looks like.

― Edd Hurt, Monday, 9 July 2012 05:11 (10 months ago) Permalink

Edd, I think my idea of Berman dates back from a long time ago, when things were maybe not so hot for him. Not really fair to judge, shouldn't have brought it up at all. I love his music, or at least everything before the last record, which I do not like much (kinda toothless compared to most of the others). Still, will always have an undying love for Berman and Kurt. I just love the way they see the world through song.

― grandavis, Monday, 9 July 2012 13:29 (10 months ago) Permalink

I interviewed Berman in 2006, at the time of Tanglewood Numbers, and found him just a regular kinda guy, like I say. When he did the next record, he had developed some animus toward the paper for whom I write, Nashville Scene, and therefore wouldn't deign to let any of us talk to him. But I wrote a review of Lookout anyway and relied on Mark Nevers for a couple quotes. I regard Berman as a poet who happens to make records--musically, I find it all a bit underwhelming at times, altho I do think his last couple records are way better than the earlier stuff. But I'm that way, I don't have much patience for amateurism or its cheerleaders. I also think Lambchop has gotten better over the years, and the only complaint I have about some of their music is that it just doesn't go deep enough--I'd fancy it all up a bit more. But that's not always true, and I also realize that the rather uninflected nature of their music is intentional. The rhythm section dynamics on Mr. M are just nonexistent, but that's also, I think, intentional. I like bands who play on the beat; Lambchop just floats, and that's OK too. I know just about all those guys at least a little--I'm pretty good friends with Ryan Norris and Luke Schneider, and with Mark Nevers (plug: my sweetie, Caroline Peyton, made a record with Nevers earlier this year featuring William Tyler and Chris Scruggs, which is pretty amazing and yet to be released), and I think a whole lot of Kurt, who is, like, the exact same age as I, we're maybe a month apart.

― Edd Hurt, Monday, 9 July 2012 20:33 (10 months ago) Permalink

THE Caroline Peyton? Like, of Mock Up fame? If so...well done! That record rules.

Berman is a sweetheart and so is Kurt. I've been in the enviable position of hanging out with them together, actually, and if there was any bad blood, it wasn't palpable.

― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Monday, 9 July 2012 20:38 (10 months ago) Permalink

Yep, the Caroline Peyton. She's trying to figure out how to release it. It's her first solo record ever, really. It's quite excellent. I tried at one point to nudge her into getting Lambchop in toto to back her, but that's not exactly where her head is at, altho she likes Lambchop. She's known William and his parents since forever, since Caroline's mother's side of the family are from Mississippi, as are the Tylers. (Dan's wife, Adele, shares Alex Chilton's birthdate and knew Alex quite well, which I just recently found out.) funny world, ain't it.

― Edd Hurt, Wednesday, 11 July 2012 01:03 (10 months ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

was just looking at what has come out so far in 2012 and mr. m might still be my album of the year

― congratulations (n/a), Friday, 28 September 2012 21:50 (7 months ago) Permalink

yeah was just listening to this yesterday. holding up, totally great from start to finish.

― tylerw, Friday, 28 September 2012 21:56 (7 months ago) Permalink

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