Lambchop

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?

Now only if Paul Burch would make another album.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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?

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)

Please disregard and choose one of these two corrections:
9th (or 8th, if you count Aw/No as one album)
8th (or 9th, if you count Aw/No as two albums)

:-)

I havent given the rest of their stuff a shot yet, but I do hope it's like this album. It's got this awesome sort of quiet and subdued intensity, like the sax (the sax!) in New Cobweb Summer that comes in at about 3:30...I nominate this for best use of a sax in a pop/rock song ever! and the layering - the "na na na" female voices in Track 4...

overall, a really compelling album. It's sleepy sort of, like Low can be, but i think much more lush and intricate.

finally, to quote ryan, "is there anything else out there that sounds like Is a Woman?"

anyone?

So shy tonight I'm told you were, I'm in the thick of it, i've been a dick with it, you're just not used to it

And I'm alright. Well, as you were. There's no use for this: It's not a theater kiss, 's more like a railroad piss.

My confidence is returning; I'm relating and remarking in an improved fashion, so much that I decide to stop on my way home. So much that I decide to stop for donuts on the drive home.

Last night I saw the sun rise over sleepy Barcelona, riding on a bus with the road crew from Embrace.

Oh yeah, I'll show your punk rock ass.

fell sadder for the sad old bone
it's not far, really babe, it's just not that far

I shoulda stood in bed with Loretta Lynn in my head.

While we're on the subject:

"the clerk smiled as she saw the same nut pick up a personal size grocery basket and head down aisle two. she smiled because periodically this guy would return with a basket full of glade lock and hold room freshener and deodorizer. it's a deodorizer that works on the same principle as a bug bomb. simply push down on the button and it fills the room with a scented fog. the man would buy only about five or six cans at a time. he'd been coming in for about five weeks now. sometimes he would come in twice a week. he seemed like a normal guy. he was kind of balding in his mid thirties wearing a black leather jacket. and he was always so damn dusty something soft about his features. it looked like it was makeup but it was just dust. he paid with a twenty and said thank you and left.

when the man returned home he took the glade from the worthless little plastic sack. he placed one on the rug, one on the end table, one on the window sill, one under the TV, and one on the air conditioner. this might seem unusual except for the fact that his entire apartment was just filled with them. every room on every surface. he figured he had about sixty of them in all--each one's nozzle poised at the ready. he sighed and opened a beer. he started to push down the lock and hold buttons on the canisters, slowly filling the room, working his way from the dining room into the den. each room filling with a multiscented fog: desert bloom, evergreen, misty rose, fresh lemon, regular and unscented, pot porrouri, wild oak, petulia, ocean mist, musk, hazel wood, irish nights, sandal wood, rain forest, country kitchen, natural prevention?, orange blossom, indian summer, and holiday candle. calmly he sat on the couch, spilt his beer, and closed his eyes."

If he buys 5 or 6 at a time for 5 weeks, and only sometimes twice a week, then he can't have bought as many as 60.

(taking pedantry to new levels)

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/9/9f/180px-Sharilewis&lambchop.jpg

sorry

I don't recall either woman or lamb being that weird looking.

My favourite Lambchop moment?

Spell hard water with three letters.

Ya ready?

I C E !

They're announcing a european tour in the autumn, called "Ohio tour" - leading to speculation that the next album is going to be called Ohio. Anyone know anything more at the moment?

Really babe, it's just not that far.

And I guess it's right
To love the girls who fight
Off our manly acts of desperation

I need to listen to these guys again. I remember liking them when I was 17

Is there a reason they only play Europe

man, is a woman is a stunner.

but its been years and I've still never checked out anything else! doesn't sound like the rest of the catalog is much like this one at all too. bummer.

There's nothing quite like Is A Woman, no, but Nixon is as good, if not better, in its way (orchestral country-soul), and there are big chunks of Damaged and Wa C'Mon / No You C'Mon that are as good.

What Another Man Spills, How I Quit Smoking and Thriller being the other ones I have, and all of them being good, too, btw.

I lent my copy of Nixon out ages ago. I need it back.

yeah, I have a feeling I'm going to get real deep into this back catalog, eventually. I think I've just been a little intimidated and almost a little afraid of disappointment. and thanks for the recommendations.

as for is a woman... I just read up a bit and this record was mostly panned when it came out? seriously? crazy.

i like what another man spills & how I quit smoking and especially Jack's Tulips, but Nixon is what I think of when i think of Lambchop.

I thought Is A Woman got pretty decent reviews? http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/lambchop/isawoman?q=lambchop

the publications which gave an unfavourable review: q, pitchfork, trouser press, rolling stone, spin. quite interesting.

much as I love the 'Chop, I will always hold it against them that "Up With People" was not a cover version of that 80's Super Bowl halftime staple...

yeah, I thought it was panned going by some posts I read in this thread and the pitchfork and rolling stones reviews linked in the wikipedia. just glanced through the metacritic link. guess "mixed" would have been more apt.

anyway, not having heard nixon, I may not be the best to say... but to me it seems apparent that is a woman has some really obvious positive qualities going for it that I find it hard to believe people would just write-off. most of these have already been mentioned - the sheer uniqueness of it, the arrangements (the PIANO!), the subtle use of electronics or whatever else is going on in the periphery. its beautiful.

Music writers are fucking idiots, is the problem here.

So apparently they have a new one, Ohio, should I care? Aw/No didn't really grab me - this could be down to my problem with sticking with any band for more than five or six albums.

I love it. Two great Ohio-based albums out on the same day: the Lambchop and the new one from the Pretenders. Wonder if Sufjan Sevens will add one soon as well.

what's it like? more like 'nixon' than 'is a woman' - louder, poppier?

i love it. its more like 'nixon' but stripped down more.

i'd say it is more like "is a woman". pretty calm and serene. a nice surprise.

Listening to this radio broadcast from Germany from a recent show plus interview stuff with Kurt is good stuff, just to hear him get asked about politics, the initial beginnings of his answer heard clearly in his low-spoken way (fiercely pro-Obama, of course -- and apparently very surprised at how Ohio went for him), and then an enthusiastic German speaker providing the translation in a completely different, peppy 'hey yeah!' approach.

Did'nt think I needed another Lambchop album in my life but "Ohio" is just lovely...perfect for a Sunny London dusk in Jan

To conclude this interview
Many facts and fictions you construe
The dog gives you the paw
You pat his head and you wipe his jaw
He's the only one who knew
(about) my blue wave

devastating.

best band. psyched that they're playing my neck of the woods this spring. pretty incredible live act. that mergefest et they released digitally is astonishing. there's also some tour-only CD they sold w/ the most stunning version of "you masculine you."

I've listened to this a fair amount since January, and while the tracks can err on the somnolent side they're often pretty and well observed. I've never gotten used to his voice either.

Nothing else has ever sounded like D. Scott Parsley.

Google tells me D. Scott Parsley is a Nashville law firm.

Man, his voice has so much personality. Definitely needs to work for you for the songs to come across, but I couldn't imagine someone else singing his songs. The odd phrasing and occasional struggle to pull it all off are an inherent part of the charm for me.

tyler - I didn't know they'd announced any US dates? I seem to only find European ones.

I hope to hell they play here.

Going to see them at the Barbican next month, kinda psyched.

There's something a bit sad about the new album though - his voice doesn't hold up very well (he's had health problems of course) and there are long instrumental stretches where he doesn't feature at all.

never mind - on the Merge site not their own. Playing Dallas at a tba venue!

I found Damaged very difficult to listen to, laregly because of how his voice sounded. He didn't sound well.

new album here: http://www.npr.org/2012/02/12/146594316/first-listen-lambchop-mr-m
i saw them a few years back in boston and couldn't believe how *edgy* they were -- almost scary intensity from Wagner, which you rarely get on record. he stayed seated, as per usual, but barely.

Is A Woman is a decade old. Fucking hell.

Lambchop US tour:
Apr 13 Asheville, NC The Grey Eagle
Apr 14 Durham, NC Motorco
Apr 15 Arlington, VA IOTA
Apr 16 Annapolis, MD Ram’s Head
Apr 17 Boston, MA Paradise
Apr 18 Philadelphia, PA World Café Live
Apr 19 New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge
Apr 20 Brooklyn, NY The Bell House
Apr 21 Pittsburgh, PA Club Café
Apr 22 Cleveland, OH The Beachland Ballroom
Apr 23 Ann Arbor, MI The Ark
Apr 24 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
Apr 25 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon
Apr 26 Minneapolis, MN The Dakota
Apr 27 Omaha, NE The Slowdown
Apr 28 Boulder, CO The Fox Theatre
May 01 Seattle, WA The Tractor Tavern
May 02 Portland, OR Doug Fir
May 04 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
May 05 Santa Monica, CA McCabe’s
May 06 Tucson, AZ Club Congress
May 08 Dallas, TX TBA
May 09 Austin, TX The Cactus
May 11 Birmingham, AL Secret Stages
May 12 Nashville TN TBA

highly recommend seeing em if you're in the US -- not often they play these places.

Lambchop is great live these days, though as noted the songs are really intensely played now. Wagner gets really into it. Way different than when I first saw them at the Merge 15 anniversary show, but really great. I am assuming the William Tyler is still in the band, as well as Tony Crow, and those two are worth going for alone.

yeah hoping william tyler does an opening set, or something. his solo record is killer.

Gotta get that record, been meaning to check it out for a while. Live clips of him on that tour are great.

Might try to make the Nashville "triumphant homecoming" show. I saw them at the Belcourt in, uh 2004 I think, at the end of a tour -- really good. If they were tired from the road, they didn't show it that night.

"Ohio" brought me back to this band again. such a great record, hope to see them play in Dublin soon.

I think there are three masterpieces - How I Quit Smoking, Nixon, Is A Woman but all the others have at least one amazing song on them.

OH (Ohio) is on par with those earlier peaks. I haven't listened to the new one except for two tracks (I'm waiting for the disc) but those were quite promising as well.

Nixon only gets 3 stars at Allmusic, which seems rather strange.

don't think i've heard a bad lambchop album yet -- i love Damaged (as well as the Collab EP that preceded it).

this sounds pretty good but i don't think can ever love any lambchop album as much as the lambchop/vic chesnutt collabo album "the salesman and bernadette"

I like Mr. M quite a bit. The instrumental passages are interesting. I know a lot of the guys in the band--Ryan Norris and William Tyler, and Mark Nevers. Caroline recorded an entire album's worth of material at Beech House a couple of months ago with Tyler and Tony Crow, and Chris Scruggs, and I just interviewed Kurt and Nevers for a Nashville Scene piece on the new record, comes out tomorrow.

nice!
fave lambchop song might be gettysburg address from decline of country & western II -- just a brutal, brutal song. tough to listen to if you're feeling anything close to depressed, but really a marvelous tune.

that's definitely a killer tune.

Just listening to William Tyler on spotify, just wow. Such a rich, dense melodic tone. Bet he kills it live.

There are no bad Lambchop albums, just degrees of how good they are.

Added Lambchop bonus: my wife likes them as much as I do, so going to see them is a full family event. There aren't many bands we can agree on like that, so somehow it makes the shows that much better.

William Tyler has made a new record with Mark Nevers at Beech House. The stuff he played on Caroline Peyton's record is amazing and in the pocket. The last time I saw him, he was playing with Kurt Wagner and Cortney Tidwell--the KORT material--and they did a version of Fariport Convention's version of the Merry-Go-Round's "Time Will Show the Wiser." Playing some good guitar. For me, some of Lambchop's stuff is just theoretical and not especially compelling or, to my ears, completely realized, and it is not country music or even countrypolitan. Really just kinda standard folk-rock with some production touches added, not very rhythmically acute or swinging. Just a plank for Kurt to walk on with his little songs. But good for what it is, and there are great cuts on just about every record, the new one being perhaps their best ever, really good stuff all around.

yes! so glad to hear about us tour dates. i love this band so much

"For me, some of Lambchop's stuff is just theoretical and not especially compelling or, to my ears, completely realized, and it is not country music or even countrypolitan. Really just kinda standard folk-rock with some production touches added, not very rhythmically acute or swinging. Just a plank for Kurt to walk on with his little songs."

Not sure Kurt has ever called his music country or countrypolitan, not that that really matters. It is very much, to me, about whomever Kurt plays with providing Kurt a platform for his songs, which wrangle a whole lot of emotion and compelling sentiments out of the equation. If it doesn't work for you sometimes I get it, but I am not sure why you call his songs "little" or theoretical as opposed to, for example, most other country stuff.

Well, Kurt told me last week that he set out to reference countrypolitan music. By which I think he means the strings and the "extraneous" stuff that country used back then. It seems "little" to me compared to actual country--George Jones and Tammy Wynette made big art. Country music is about singing, and Kurt is not a great singer, or even really a singer at all except in the sense he hits some tones more or less accurately. No projection or technique. I'm not opposed to the theoretical--that includes a lot of stuff, from Eno to Miles Davis--and just mean that Lambchop doesn't delve very deeply into music itself and what you can do with harmony, rhythm and so forth. It's all surface. the instrumental passages on the new one are cool, but again, they don't go very deep. I respect what they do and think they have gotten better over the years. But no, I don't regard it as anything but indie rock, and I don't get any real emotional or structural kick out of it. I really like Nixon and the Aw,C'mon records. As usual with me, the English are the big offenders in parsing music like Lambchop--if a lot of those critics and listeners knew anything about country music they would not even put Lambchop into that category. they did the same with Caitlin Rose, who again, is not making country music at all. It's pleasant and ambitious in its way. The new record's "Gone Tomorrow" is a very fine piece of work whose words--about Vic Chesnutt and a European tour LC and VC endured--seem to me to be pretty clear and even emotional.

Fair enough, and you certainly have your reasons, thanks for the response.

I guess "little" means not as universal? I can buy that, Kurt's writing from a very specific place, but the musical arguments just don't wash with me. Most country arrangements, to my ears, delve no deeper than most other singer-based songwriting, but I don't really want to argue that one out. Lambchop plays with a number of things, to my ears quite successfully. I am no honk for harmony or rhythmic complexity coming from a songwriter-based project, it's usually about the personality and feel and then, when up to snuff, the lyrics.

And let's leave the British music press out of this, their crimes are legion.

hee, well, i appreciate the british press' enthusiasm for lambchop -- they seem to be treated with a respect/importance that they don't get in the states. but the writing about lambchop is usually pretty off-base, if overwhelmingly positive.

Oh, their love for Lambchop is great! Probably a big reason why they tour at all, for which I am thankful.

ok i like mr. m a lot. so well-produced.

ah, yeah, this sounds really nice.
god, i hope that arcade fire continues to be a huge band, so that merge can just keep giving lambchop a good-sized recording budget.

fantastic video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMFi2OaXiI8

ha ha

i heart kurt wagner

that is great. can't wait to see lambchop in a couple months. it's been too long.

been listening to the new one a LOT this week -- so good. think it's going to be my #1 album this year.

Yeah, it is a good time in my life for another Lambchop record. Going to actually get this on vinyl when I can, and try to catch them in D.C., though Iota is not where I would like to see them ideally.

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.

they're playing the perfect place in colorado -- best-sounding room in the state.

Man, wish I had a place within 2 hours I could get behind. They are a band that deserves a good room/sound.

Yeah for sure. I saw them on the Is A Woman tour in a very short-lived bar in Cambridge and the crowd was louder than the (9-piece!) band.

True confession. I've never heard Lambchop before. Is this a good record to start with?

Lambchop is such a consistently great band that they've been in the "best album since ... x" cycle since their second album.

I'd say this is as good a place to start as anywhere?

lol just looked up my decade-old review of that cambridge show i mentioned. i guess they were just a seven-piece. god, i was less than a year out of college. so younggggg. http://www.junkmedia.org/index.php?i=150

"kind of" from the new one killing me --
"speak now, love, of your return
it's not how much you make, but how much you earn"

i'd start with the soulful nixon and then maybe the sparse "is a woman" which is their best i think. what i heard of the new one was underwhelming. the last couple of albums sound a little bit samey and were not very innovative. i really loved their concerts about 15 years ago. last time i fell asleep in a church. somehow they remind me a bit of the tindersticks. but the tindersticks have reinvented themselves with their new album which is phantastic but lambchop just don't seem to develop any further.

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).

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

yo ithappens, what pub is your article for?

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.

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.

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

ah, thanks!

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.

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.

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

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.

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

this band cant make a bad album imo

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.

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

You're the best!

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

ohh sweet. would like to hear that!

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/

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"

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

still love Mr M-- did it not make the 2012 77 albums poll?

I don't think it did. I just got that album last month, really enjoying it. Damaged, Ohio and Mr M is a pretty great run of albums. Shame that the double album spoils an almost perfect run since Nixon.

its wonderful indian summer music

The reissue of Nixon comes out this week, and is well worth picking up. For any vinyl collectors, I think it's the first time it's out as an LP in the States. Bonus radio session from 1998 is great, and the record has more low end than the cd ever did, even when played at low volume. It's aged so well, and Merge using it to kick off their 25th anniversary reissue program is an honor it truly deserves.

Interested in picking that up. I was kind of put off by the artwork though, kind of wish it didn't have that silver border around the painting. It doesn't look quite right.

It looks pretty great in person. It's a nice way to easily separate the reissue from the original.

Think I'll still get it anyway as it's by far my favourite Chop. Wonder what other albums Merge will put out in this reissue program. Fingers crossed for something by The Clientele. Nixon is a good start though.

Superchunk's Indoor Living was recently announced as the February reissue.

So excited for this, my wife got it for me for Christmas and I think it was supposed to ship (or be available) Jan. 28. Glad to hear that it sounds even better too, look forward to cranking "Up With People" at serious volume.

i just started listening to this band and i can tell this is going to be one of those where i plow through their entire catalog in the next 2 months

lucky you

best thing i did this year was get into lambchop

new 18-minute-long single: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf9wz5esgAo

new album "FLOTUS" out nov. 4 - sounds like it's going to absorb some of the electronic sounds of the HeCTA side project

sounds goooood

kaputt of the year

not sure how i feel about the single, esp. the electronic elements, but it might work better as the last song on an album

that's really nice, love the way the drums start skittering to life around the 14-minute (!) mark

incidentally Mr. M is probably my favorite Lambchop album (that or Is a Woman)

Mr. M is amazing, such a warm album.

this last song meanders a lot but the rest of the record (which mostly, basically sounds the same) is beautiful and less aimless

aoty then

Like this!

So I liked Mr. M well enough, but I never return to it, and the new song is just mystifying to me. Such rinky-dink stuff. The percussion really grates on me, and this song just goes nowhere and not fast. Vague, quasi-music. I'll listen again, and maybe the album will reveal all. Dunno. Maybe they need an editor.

Less alt country, more Coupler: an exciting development. New song is great, too.

Wow, this new single is brilliant. I liked Mr M but this is something really special. Hope the rest of the album is similar.

Very surprising, but loving this. Who knew Lambchop would go Alva Noto on us?

Fantastic.

What do I need to know about Coupler?

That's what I'd like to know!

I have been doing my research and Flotus appears to be Michelle Obama's Twitter handle. Perhaps this didn't need stating.

You don't say. But good on you, Miss Marple :)

Coupler is longtime Lambchopper Ryan Norris' solo project. Three albums, all fantastic.

I sort of think of Coupler's music as "unsentimental kosmische," if that makes sense.

This track is flippin' amazing

http://i.imgur.com/j58iHJU.png

burn

This could have been such a great song. Without that dumb fucking drum machine!

i hate real drums

you guys should move into an apartment together

http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/67/6722/1VUA100Z/posters/the-odd-couple-jack-lemmon-walter-matthau-1968.jpg

Based on this, apparently:

https://soundcloud.com/thirdmanrecords/coupler-invention-4-silenzio-sadak-in-search-of-the-waters-of-oblivion-blue-room-sessions

Hadn't realised there were so many Lambchop tour CDs.

Any particularly good?

Two of the dudes in Coupler work at Grimey's in Nashville. The main guy Ryan has been playing with Lambchop for a while. America In The Coming Age of Electronics is nice record if you like getting lost in analog synth landscapes. Vinyl sounds good, too.

"unsentimental kosmische" is awesome. Well done.

whole album is pretty great. obviously some new sonic wrinkles, but still very much a Lambchop record.

So, has anybody pre-ordered the wine box version of the album?

http://cityslang.frocksteady.com/shop/music/flotus-box.html

Last night's drunkenly compiled "Best of ..."

The Old Fat Robin
The Man Who Loved Beer
We Never Argue
N.O
The Saturday Option
Caterpillar
The Militant
Scamper
All Smiles and Mariachi
The Old Gold Shoe
The Distance from Her to There
Up With People
Your Fucking Sunny Day
Give Me Your Love (Love Song)
I've Been Lonely for So Long
Crawl Away.

no "Daily Growl" = no way

Gotta have You Masculine You. (You and your masculine you, forever benched, sitting by the dirty window')

If I'd compiled it tonight, "Garf" would have been on there.

"Daily Growl" just missed out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQTYc9Uf9WE

Amazed that the Flotus wine box is still available.

Need it to sell out (to remove temptation).

A friend sent me his Lambchop Top 20 (slightly over a CD-R):

The Daily Growl
Interrupted
Cigarettiquette
All Smiles And Mariachi
Something's Going On
Soaky In The Pooper
The Man Who Loved Beer
I'm A Stranger Here
Up With People
The Old Gold Shoe
Nashville Parent
You Masculine You
Uti
The New Cobweb Summer
Is A Woman
Let's Go Bowling
Moody Fucker
Your Life As A Sequel (fast version)
The Old Matchbook Trick
Life's Little Tragedy

The Old Gold Shoe

Popular choice. Prob in my bottom 3 from Nixon.

Went through their catalogue the other day. Nixon is quality almost end to end (The Butcher Boy the only real disappointment), a real apotheosis of everything they'd done up till that point. Then you get to Is A Woman and it's like wtf what alternate universe did this come from? It is just implausibly mature (the occasional lyric about shitting on a hillside notwithstanding), it gives me this weird feeling that everything else they'd done till then, any other music I've ever listened to in fact, is trivial and worthless. And then they just shrug and go back to business as usual. Lilting tunes, flippant lyrics, gently chugging down a quiet backwater. I've tried, but nothing since Is A Woman has gripped me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsYY6xdJ8Bk

well, that's certainly not business as usual.

I don't think anything tops The Hustle but am really enjoying this album an awful lot. The opener is another one of those "Was that song really on for 12 minutes?" numbers.

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/27/499145153/first-listen-lambchop-flotus

unusually aesthetically similar to the new Bon Iver so far

i like it

Aside: I’ve been listening to a lot of college radio and I’ve really enjoyed a weekly pop punk and emo morning show. A few weeks ago, the host of the show played Up With People and said they just discovered Lamchop and LOVE them. I thought this was pretty cool considering the host is probably 20 and Lambchop always felt like a band that would be difficult to get into outside their time.

Oops. They played You Masculine You, not Up With People.

new album a bit of a letdown after that amazing first track

Persist with it, Wimmels. It's definitely a "grower".

I must admit, I'd like it more if it wasn't Lambchop (who I kind of think as a musical accompaniment to alcohol).

Really not sure what to make of this album. I loved the single and there are some lovely moments throughout. It just felt like hard work going through it all in one go.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/27/lambchops-kurt-wagner-i-wanted-to-make-a-record-my-wife-would-like

lol great URL

On first listen, I like the album but "The Hustle" seems to tower over it. I wonder if it won't wind up feeling like a transitional work on the way to greater work that marries these new ingredients to Wagner's strengths a little more consistently.

Some of this is great - "In Care of ...", "JFK", "The Writer", "The Hustle". Much of the rest seems frustratingly out of reach to me ...

I didn't listen to any of the preview songs as I like to absorb their albums as a whole. So I was surprised by all the vocal processing and I can't get past it. Drives me absolutely nuts. I think there are good songs here but I don't know if I'll find a way into them. I like all the other glitchy electronic touches and beats - kind of reminds me of The Notwist at points - but the vocal effects turn me off as much here as they do everywhere else.

Kurt put a CD together for the latest Uncut. Lots of good stuff but damn the final Tom House track just near made me buckle at the knees.

Binging hard on Lambchop the last week or two. I don't know why, but I find them immensely binge-able. I worked through all their albums about a decade ago and couldn't stop myself from listening to almost everything on repeat. I burned myself out pretty well, which seems like it should be easy, but I'm really enjoying myself right now. FLOTUS is holding up well on repeat listens, and I'm really enjoying the Aw C'mon/No, You C'mon duo right now.

i love this record so far but i get it feeling inaccessible. i guess i also miss being sort of able to understand kurt wagner lol

"relatives #2" is prob my favorite song that is not the opener, the way it evolves from this cut-up collagist thing into a brief relaxed disco jam

I've listened to the new album twice today and it's so, so good.

Much as I love the new album, I'd also be quite pleased if they released an un-processed vocal/"typical" Lambchop version. I realise this is kind of harsh/conservative.

My copy arrived today, have listened twice (though was in the kitchen for most of one of those times) and really like it so far. Relaxed and unhurried. 'The Hustle' is wonderful.

Kurt did a solo in-store tonight; he has this clever little box which does the auto tune stuff in real time as he sings; I wasn't expecting that, for whatever reason (I don't pay much attention to music tech), and he was really, really good.

The more I listen to the new LP the more I like it.

I'm really enjoying it, too. It feels the most thematically and sonically 'complete' since Is A Woman. (It's also just dawned on me that that title isn't a rhetorical question.)

Live session here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0812zyr

Think it started at 2:09.

I'm on a bit of a roll tonight. Haven't paid much attention to new musical releases in the past couple of months. Listening to this album now. I'm at "Howe" at the moment, hoping it gets a little better, melody-wise. The first song was classic. The rest is just OK so far.

I'm totally down that this may be a grower.

But previous Lambchop albums didn't need that pre-designation for me.

Slightly annoyed in not understanding Wagner's lyrics. Musical arrangements haven't been that interesting to sustain me, so far.

http://www.spin.com/2017/01/new-music-lambchop-when-you-were-mine-prince-cover/
very loose prince cover

i listened to the new album in the car on the german autobahn when the night fell. really great songs even the voice treatment didn't turn me off. the whole thing is very relaxed and quite rhythmic.

i saw them live a couple of weeks ago and had no idea that the drummer was dude from wye oak. the show, like the album, was pretty but fairly dull.

I heard a rumor that I'm sad
Or at least that I feel bad
Whoever said that doesn't know
I'm pretty sure that I don't know

(From the other thread) There's a new version of "The Hustle"???

on spotify anyway

what the fuck is this? everyone please go back to the lambchop thread that i bumped.

untrue thread

He can't sing any better on the other thread though

thread of truth

I feel some guilt for hoping ... that someone stamps on his gadget.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6KXGuLQ9yw&feature=youtu.be

damaged is the best lambchop album

Didn't work. Maybe just search for "LAMBCHOP LIVE @ OCB PAPER SESSIONS! [FULL SESSION]".

new one This (is what I wanted to tell you) out 03/22. First single keeps going down the electro country R&B rabbit hole.

delighted that they're pushing further in this direction, new song is lovely

Sigh. Bye, Lambchop. This direction sucks.

the two genders

yayyy

i wanted another record in the flotus mold with slighter tighter songs and.. seems like that's happening

slightly* lol

also this is like as gorgeous and slow-blooming as any classic lambchop song, it just has vocoder and synthetic percussion and weird keyboard-present embellishments so it feels like a watery dream instead of a gradual ache

preset* doing great today

the vocoder feels a little better-integrated here, also

put me on the "i don't like this version of lambchop" list. saw them live on the flotus tour and it was pretty boring. i don't mind the sonic experimentation but the songs don't seem to be there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8NxdNERUGc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPERKl54QBY

oh i LOVE this one

dig this

the section from about 4:25 onwards is especially lovely

I'll never get past the electronic vocal bullshit. It's a shame; the band sounds great.

absolutely. why do acts i love use f*cking autotunes. though on the low album it somehow worked.

you're both nerds

Makes them sound like Dntel in 2002

I find it suits the timbre of the music just fine; it's made their move toward easy liquidity more pronounced. Plus, I trust Wagner, which makes it easier to go with it.

the vocal processing suits the watery texture of the music well

the whole album (it's out there) is very pretty, feels like floating in a lake

It seems a bit passé, no?

(the track that was posted)

i love this weird underwater soft rock album

this is very different.... but very good?

To stick with the water metaphors, it washed over me and left behind virtually no jetsam whatsoever.

Can't stand the vocals, it's like someone has peed in my glass of water.

it's perfect background music but still there's the occasional standout moment like the sublime solo in "the new isn't so you anymore"

oh my god y’all it’s just a vocoder

^^ amen.

It's spring and there's a weak sun out and this just flows over me in such a beautiful and tender way. He's set out on this path some years ago and seems to want to make his music "smaller", smoother, and it's just the best direction he could take.

damn this album is beautiful

one of the reasons i struggled (and still struggle) with flotus was bc wagner's lyrical voice was largely absent or broken into unintelligible fragments. but on this record it's back baby!!!!

all the songs are just these weird collapsing waves of instrumental and vocal hooks

i think this is already one of my absolute favorite lambchop records

Yeah, it's great. It demonstrates huge strides in them embracing this style that the last album only suggested ("The Hustle" aside)

"the lasting last of you" is just... what even is that

The harmonica solo on the opener is my fave moment of anything so far this year

i love that solo so much

this album is maybe the closest in texture to the donkey kong country soundtrack out of anything i've ever heard

oh my god y’all it’s just a vocoder

― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Friday, 22 March 2019 13:09 (three days ago) Bookmark

there's no just here.

thinking about the vocal processing on this album an obvious future collaborator would be b.j. burton and from there i'm dreaming of something that pushes this album's direction even further and ends up in like... sophisti-pop meets loveless territory

something that bridges the gap between "to here knows when" (via double negative etc.) and "aquatic ambience"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5rAjOjTGtc

like push the weird underwater sophisti-pop thing further, add in a lot more echoey woodwinds and a bit of distortion here and there

one of the reasons i struggled (and still struggle) with flotus was bc wagner's lyrical voice was largely absent or broken into unintelligible fragments.

Yeah I feel this to a certain extent. I like FLOTUS as an experimental/transitional record in their discography, but there’s also a reason that my favorite tracks on it are “The Hustle” and “In Care Of…” - at the end of the day his words are the main draw for me. A 2nd FLOTUS would have been kind of a letdown for me, glad to hear that this has more focus on lyrics.

the opener on this is like a warm bath to me

I'm quite literally in a warm bath listening to this and somehow my shitty phone speaker is helping this make sense: when I think back to what I've always loved about Lambchop, it's really Wagner and his voice and words that mean the most - the warp and weft of the incredible bands he amasses are like an extraordinary bonus; it's this that's coming through loud and clear third time around. I'll happily grow old with him.

"the lasting last of you" is just... what even is that

― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Sunday, March 24, 2019 12:22 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's nearly overwhelmingly gorgeous, is what it is.

most of the tracks on FLOTUS just feel like experimental sketches exploring the possibility of the new sound palette they'd developed but with little in the way of traditional songs. "The Hustle" is a triumph of course, and the rest of the album has its moments but it doesn't really do much for me as an album.

the new album takes the sound palette established on FLOTUS but has much stronger and more traditional songwriting - despite the sound the songs really don't feel very far removed from say Is A Woman - and the result is a triumph

Looking forward to listening to this and revisiting earlier works for context. Hitting Silver Platters today for this and These New Puritans, then a sandwich from Paseo. That's a good afternoon!

I'd say that FLOTUS gets by on the strength of In Care of 8675309 and The Hustle and the rest of the in between sketches.

Just picked this up today and LOL'd at the quote on the hype sticker: "Picture yourself on a boat on a river, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies... This is not that." - Kurt Wagner

Just got back home in Houston after traveling in Japan for a week. I had loaded lots of new music on the Nano, but the only thing i listened to the entire trip was This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You) on repeat. It was perfect for airports and wandering unfamiliar streets. Dozing on the plane and waking up to it. The album just gets better and unfolds itself the more it plays.

I enjoyed FLOTUS a lot, but I agree that this beats it easily.

god i LOVE this album, warm bath otm

still quite possibly my aoty

a great choice

it is fighting with copeland and cate le bon for me rn and it may win

it's amazing that this thing is so smooth and beautifully-formed yet doesn't achieve that by traditional means at all. the songs are constructed as if they were overlapping waves, arriving from and flowing out into every direction at once

cw: i'm bringing up rym but i find it hilarious that they hate this record bc i think it sounds like... properly "new" music? never heard anything like this before, and it's carried off so successfully, with such a sure hand

the spin review really nailed it https://www.spin.com/2019/03/lambchop-this-is-what-i-wanted-to-tell-you-review/

Sheesh Brad, you weren't kidding. It's a fabulous review. It gets right what all the others seemingly don't understand. It highlights why Wagner's turn to auto-tune isn't just a gimmick but is taking his music to a whole new level:

"Rather than cloaking or recasting the Nashville songwriter’s singing, the vocoder-style effect enhances and highlights its various aspects, like the sun hitting the same objects in a living room at different times of day."

This is a metaphor so beautiful and true I wish I'd written it.

yeah it's really funny how much rym hates it seemingly just for "wtf why does he have autotune on his voice" when its one of the most interesting and best uses of it as an effect i've ever heard, works so wonderfully with the music. helps that the songs are so wonderful too.

what if you just dgaf about the creative deployment of the effect and just plain hate the sound of autotune? Like the way people hate slap bass and banjos? Because that would describe me and also why I find this album unlistenable (I loved FLOTUS)

Then peace be with you, friend

otm, hating the sound of an instrument or an effect is a very personal reaction that has little to do with whether the music works or not, thankfully there are so many lambchop records that do not use autotune

well FLOTUS had the same effect everywhere too so idk but i love the way it sounds a lot more on this album

FLOTUS also uses autotune on most of the songs, doesn't it?

yes

and i'd also agree it sounds even better on the new one

LOL, I thought you all *were* talking about FLOTUS and that FLOTUS *was* the new album! I guess I'm too far out of the Lambchop loop, sorry Lambchop.

So loving FLOTUS and not being able to tolerate the sound of autotune seem like tough things to reconcile?

(NB I haven't heard the new one yet and am very excited to do so because I too loved FLOTUS but I thought the autotune on that was amazing and surprising.)

i mean i'm just guessing at paul's position (which i find unreasonably dismissive but i was trying to be nice) but it might help that flotus is a bunch of vocodered scribbles and fragments bound by two enormous songs, whereas this (is what i wanted to tell you) is a collection of songs where the vocoder is conveying clear lyrics and melodies that, by nature of the effect, end up oblique and wandering

again, not sure where the problem is

also that "in care of" is an old school lambchop song that happens to have kurt singing through a vocoder and almost nothing on this qualifies as an old school lambchop song

I liked FLOTUS in spite of the autotune (and tbf when I think of FLOTUS I mostly just think "The Hustle"), but when I heard the new album it occurred to me that FLOTUS was not just an anomaly and that "oh, I see, this is what Kurt does now" and it just grated on me. But I still love this band and will continue rooting for them, I just can't deal with that sound

True that The Hustle kind of towers over FLOTUS. I dig the new record, but I can def relate to the feeling of a band you like taking a left turn on a new album and liking it while simultaneously feeling "if this is their new thing I might be out"

yes, that's exactly otm

Autotune isn't a vocoder. A vocoder preserves certain aspects of the voice and applies them to a different carrier, so the mechanical carrier (e.g. a synth) sounds more human. Autotune flattens out those uniquely human aspects and makes the human sound mechanical.

i mean they're not completely dissimilar and if you like both that's fine, but there's good reason not to conflate the two.

yeah i'm aware of that, i read how to wreck a nice beach xp

kurt's use of the technology feels way more vocodery to me than the wide range of possibilities suggested by the word "autotune"

and it's still an instance of something human being exported to something mechanical

Autotune flattens out those uniquely human aspects and makes the human sound mechanical.

feel free to correct me if this definition is scientifically accurate but i wouldn't say autotune flattens uniquely human aspects of the voice at all, it exposes a lot of instabilities in the voice that performance can cover up

but I can def relate to the feeling of a band you like taking a left turn on a new album and liking it while simultaneously feeling "if this is their new thing I might be out"

― One Eye Open, Wednesday, June 12, 2019 10:50 AM (thirty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sun Kil Moon - Benji

xp clearly we're in ear of the beholder territory here, i don't hear it like that but I'm not going to try to talk you out of it if you do!

Just listened to the album for the first time lol, I am very happy for you people who can appreciate the autotune because that excepted, some of the songs are obviously so good; but I just can't get over it. When the last (non-autotuned) song came on I almost wept.

just did a double feature of In A Silent Way followed by This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You) and man, do those two records sound good together. Especially with all the ghostly muted trumpet floating in & out of the mix on the Lambchop, a perfect pairing.

kind of love this remix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2-6PrVDQKc

So they released a 13-minute cover of Wilco's Reservations. First listen and it's kinda just there but will try a couple more times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grKBBCdlOCc

wasn't sure of the new covers LP... but god i've not listened to This (Is What I Wanted to Tell You) enough in the last year. I think I overplayed it in 2019 so needed a break. it's so great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzNWfgRFjhY

new album Showtunes out May 21

the concept this time is he composed demo piano tracks with a midi editor instead of writing with a guitar, and it also features James McNew of Yo La Tengo as a band member (https://www.lambchop.net/ press release is here)

"chef's kiss" is pretty nice, a similar-ish feeling to the last album but he's shifted around which bits of the sound feel more and less organic. some people will be delighted he dropped the vocal processing but personally i could have listened to a whole career of albums with it

This (is what I wanted to tell you) was so good that it will be difficult to beat though

really lovely and interesting

That's hit home. His voice is beautiful at this pitch. Not wishing age on him but I think Wagner's voice will be extraordinary in later life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP8SGpb0PTc

fuck yeah!!!!!

sounds like the lambchop discography collapsing on itself

my goodness

those horns!

oh wow

sounds like the lambchop discography collapsing on itself

lol & otm. yeah their progression is very much like "i've been burning and re-ripping CDR copies of the same lambchop album for 20 years, and i think the drive is starting to fail." in the best way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQIFEjqnqCQ

another gorgeous new one

pretty good album, though not quite as perfectly to my tastes as the last one

did no one else care about this album at all?

https://toneglow.substack.com/p/tune-glue-011-kurt-wagner-lambchop

great interview with wagner here

Not sure it's as good as the last, and feels like it will take some time to settle in - but i've really enjoyed first few listens

That’s a terrific interview.

the new album is pleasant & interesting but not the masterpiece the last one was yeah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ7BBAipvzw

another new album already, the bible out 30 september

single is pretty cool, glad to have more of the warped sophisti-pop vibes of the last few albums

INTO THIS.

sounds like it could be in a michael mann movie. love that he's leaning into this sound.

a few more listens later and i adore this

i missed Ohio the first time around but turns out its one of their best whoops

It’s my favorite. Saw them in San Francisco touring that one; it was beautiful.

new album is wild wow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXGTmlAfhHE

this one's especially cool

very nice

greatest band of all time

this is an incredibly stupid thing to say but "little black boxes" reminds me of last train to paris

Well, this is _unexpected_. 'Little Black Boxes' currently making me think of Hall & Oates, The1975 and Little Simz.

OK, 'Every Child Begins the World Again' just broke me. It's been a rough week.

"little black boxes" reminds me of last train to paris

lol i totally get this

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-page-of-madness-with-live-musical-accompaniment-by-coupler-tickets-609503049027?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

May 5, 2023: Coupler is accompanying the silent film A Page of Madness (1926). Anyone here going?