Lamb

Search: "Cotton Wool" (original mix and Fili Brazilia remix), "Lusty", "Softly", "Little Things", "B-Line", "God Bless", "Zero", "Fella", "Ear Parcel", "Alien".

"B-Line" possibly has one of the best videos of the 90s too.

From memory the second album is also good; although I don't think it produces as many perfect moments as the first album, it goes in more directions, stretches further. My sister stole my copy though, and I was happy enough with one Lamb album I guess.

The first single from the new album certainly fits your description, so I haven't bothered checking them out again.

thats it. the newer stuff is dull dull dull

They don't sound anything like Portishead. I still haven't enjoyed the half-dozen tracks I know though. "Gorecki"'s intensity is surely genuine but also seems dreadfully heavy-handed.

If you can do so without crossing over into insipid acid jazz territory, it does.

Also their sound was very orchid-like, very much like a greenhouse, which I think is quite unusual and worth treasuring.

'Gabriel' and 'Sweet' are both excellent singles, and there's at least three or four other half decent tracks.

They DO NOT sound like Portishead in the slightest. If anything, they remind me slightly of Mulu.

That is all...

This is a very lovely statement, Tim, but I'll be damned if I can figure out what you mean by it.

I don't know if I'm explaining myself well here.

*cries*

Ned comes pretty damn close to what I mean.Some things I think can be heard particularly on the first three tracks + "Merge" and "Gold" on debut:

The beats are really *jungle* - whipping back and forth, fiddly- diddly things that are nonetheless both strong and integral groovewise. One of the problems with a lot of the over-intelligent jungle circa 95-96 is that they became too light'n'wispy to carry the groove. On something like "God Bless" the beats are like a shudder, a reflexive spasm, but the groove is utterly commanding, slyly stalking things. There's a balance between lazy grace and danger that says African savanna to me.

I'm always impressed by just how good the breakbeat manipulation on this album is. Especially on "God Bless" and "Gold" (my favourite tracks obv.) there's something very flowing about the rhythms that I can't put my finger on. Something about the interplay between the live bass and the breakbeats is... not natural sounding, but suggestive of natural forces. There's a paradox there that I don't know I can disentangle.

Also, the sounds on this album are *flushed* with heat: shimmering flutes, warm live bass, bright sparkly synth squiggles (bright, but if there is light here it's not clean white light. Greens, yellows, reds maybe). And Louise's slow, almost drawled vocals counters the fast pace of the music perfectly - she's like the sound of shoots growing, buds opening etc.

which are worth tracking down?

the Kruder and Dorfmeister remix of 'Trans Fatty Acid'

the Global Communication remix of 'Gorecki'

the Dillinja remix of 808 State ft Louise Rhodes 'Azura'

Also, the Lamb versions of "X-Fatty Acid" and "Gorecki" totally pwn the remixes.

"Gabriel" is a track I should have nominated for that '00s poll. The whole What Sound album is one that pwns for the most part, and the title track would become a standard in several musical genres if done correctly.

Hello..

We're sending you this note because you've subscribed to a LAMB database sometime in the past..

EXCITING NEWS!!

The band have recently announced a series of summer festival performances in the UK and Europe this summer 2009.

Current dates are:

May 24th - Istanbul Chill Out Festival, Turkey

June 20th - Sofia Park Live Festival, Bulgaria

June 26th - Glastonbury Festival, UK (Jazz Stage)

June 27th - Jazz:Re:Found Festival, Italy

July 3rd - Sopron Volt Festival, Hungary

July 12th - Cactus Festival, Belgium

July 16th - Marés Vivas Festival, Portugal

July 18th - Pohoda Festival, Slovakia

July 31st - Raw Rhythm Festival, Amsterdam

August 7th - Big Chill Festival, UK (Castle Stage)

August 15th - Feest In Het Park, Belgium

August 23rd - Beautiful Days Festival, UK

August 28th - Scene Festival, Hungary

September 4th - Electric Picnic, Ireland

And, performing under the pseudonym Baby Sheep, the band have also announced an intimate live show at the Concorde2 in Brighton on May 22. The show (their first, and possibly only, club show for 4 years) is a warm up show for the festival performances. As well as playing new arrangements of classic songs including Gorecki, Gabriel, Lusty & Trans Fatty Acid the show will incorporate experimental new projections and lights. The band have ensured ticket prices are low to give everyone value for money, so if you'd like to experience their full new show in an intimate environment, be quick and get your tickets from the links below...

Ticket Web

We Got Tickets

See Tickets

Both Lou and Andy are nearing completion on their new solo albums... Further information on both can be found on:-

www.andybarlow.net/

www.lourhodes.com/

www.myspace.com/lourhodes

And - finally - we're preparing to release a live LAMB album and DVD containing footage from the band's 2004 show at the Paradiso Club in Amsterdam, together with exclusive interviews with Andy & Lou.. The album and DVD will be available from September 2009... More information will be posted at:

Lamb's Official Facebook

Lamb's Official MySpace

Thank you for your time.....

Lamb love...

Was thinking about them the other day. That first album is still tops.

Christ, I had totally forgotten this band ever existed! I think I still have their first album lying around somewhere, but I haven't listened to it in years. From what I remember the singer was quite good, but the beats were a rather bland appropriation of the drum & bass of that era. The Kruder & Dorfmeister remix of "Trans Fatty Acid" that appeared on K & D Sessions was better than anything on the actual album.

I think Nicolette managed to pull off the same trick (trip hoppy vocals with harsher/faster beats than in trip hop) much better on Let No One Live Rent-Free in Your Head, which came out around the same time. Maybe that's because she was working with better producers, like 4 Hero and Plaid?

I don't know that I would ever use the word "bland" to describe "Cotton Wool".

I just looked up the CD and it's playing in my stereo right now, this actually sounds better than what I remembered. It's still not as good as the Nicolette album, and the K & D remix of "Trans Fatty Acid" is still better than the original, but the album sounds better than what I remembered. Maybe I was too young to get it back in the 90s?

The singer sounds kinda like Björk, doesn't she? I remember when I first played that K & D remix to a friend, she asked me if it was a new Björk song.

I think the production on the first two records are pretty good. Agree that the vocals are kind of breathy approximation of Bjork meets Beth Gibbons, but I don't really have a problem with that.

Alex, that description of the vocals nails it; I was trying to figure out a way of articulating how the Björk comparison didn't quite work and it's because of the Beth Gibbons component.

I never actually heard the Nicolette album so I'm not going to comment on that; I do think the first two Lamb albums before Lou went into breathy unsupported la-la land are really, really fantastic. (The other two are just okay for me, dawg.)

Also, Lamb live in concert is one of my favorite shows of all time, particularly the version of "Ear Parcel" they did.

Nicolette's 'Dove Song' is what i would've liked Lamb to aim more for altho they came close enough at times. still like 'Ear Parcel' and 'God Bless' ('Gorecki' less so since it was used in Torchwood ha).

I really, really love the awkward stutter-stompy stuff they did, like "Lusty" and "Cotton Wool".

:-D

DanTM

Still, kinda resent it when bands return to the stage after making such a dramatic point of a departure from it.

Was in attendance for what was supposed to be Lamb's final Glastonbury set in the Avalon tent and got quite choked up i did.

Leee, the fifth and sixth albums are fantastic, much better than the fourth IMO

I think this one is really good.

1 > 2 > 6 > 5 > 3 > 4

And honestly, I'm not so sure about 2 > 6.

1 remains unbeatable, perhaps the finest reaction to D&B from any pop artist.

3 > 2 > 6 >5 > 1 >>>>>> 4

I never cared for the debut except for the singles.

Those singles are half the album and also fucking incredible

Also the meter nerd in me almost had an never ending orgasm the first time I heard "Lusty"

Which, surprisingly, isn't even a single.

I didn't hear it until after Fear of Fours and it seemed so tentative in comparison. Still does.

I can't agree with that, especially after seeing them tour that first album and how hard those songs hit live.

Totally fair. I'm sure I'd feel similar if I heard the record and saw them at the time. But my experience changes how those songs work or don't work for me. Plus I never cared for dnb so even a pop version isn't my cup of tea.

The debut is the everlasting hotness. "Lusty," "Gorecki," "Zero," "Merge," etc. etc.

Leee, the fifth and sixth albums are fantastic, much better than the fourth IMO

Yeah I need to get back on them, I just think I had a hard time accepting that they went so AOR/folk-pop in the middle of their discography (ok that probably doesn't describe What Sound?).

Always kind of suspected that my writing these off as trip hop also rans may have been wide of the mark and this album strongly suggests that it was. amazing album.

never got into the debut - not even Gorecki ever really did it for me - but this single is good. WIll ahve to check out the album

Heard the single and thought it was excellent.

Poised to splash big pounds on the vinyl - I should make the jump?

I would say yes. I haven't only because there's currently no space in my place for a record player.

Just listened to the new album, quite nice indeed.

just listened to the global communication mix of gorecki three times in a row. gonna play it again now.

Criminally underrated as fuck, particularly Fear of Fours.

lou rhodes is a genuinely great singer

Oh, absolutely... and Barlow should be more recognised for his production work than he is, too!

This group is brilliant top to bottom

I think they are to trip hop what Curve was to shoegaze, positioned as third wave wannabes or alsorans to such a degree that a lot of people either missed out or refused to recognize how great they were.

Yeah, I guess there's more than a grain of truth in that, but at the same time I think that "trip hop" is a bit of an ill-fitting description for them. I'll concede that there's some traits, but I dunno... there's something about their music which often feels quite apart from that.

Oh, I agree, just as Curve never aimed for the shimmering, dreamy beauty that is a hallmark of so much shoegaze and yet were categorized as such all the same. They were a lot more aggressive and rhythmically interesting, same with Lamb.

Lamb was dubbed trip-hop only due to their setup of keyb/programmer guy + female vocalist. Laika was similarly unfairly pigeonholed. I always thought of both in the context of other post-rock (in S. Reynold's original definition) bands like Disco Inferno, Bark Psychosis, Insides, Long Fin Killie/Bows (hell the Too Pure catalog). All those great 90s bands that were responding to the exhaustion of guitar rock and tentatively exploring outside the box while the weeklies were lauding regressive Britpop.

I dunno - for me Lamb is definitely trip-hop and there's nothing wrong with that. Their last album slayed and I realy need to find more time to spend with it.

tuomas and blueski are correct in their judgment that the K&D mix of "Trans Fatty Acid" owns like few remixes in history and everyone in the universe needs to listen to it. that song's been a part of my life for a decade and a half now; in this time, the same friend who turned me on to this mix was also responsible for my appreciation for Wong Kar-Wai. also he later allegedly faked his own death in order to drop off the internet more or less entirely, although since he may have been caught fakin' he might have needed to try harder.

my point is: the K&D Mix is really really good

K&D mix has none of the soured, paranoid stank of the original, so I'll hold with the original.

I really, really love the awkward stutter-stompy stuff they did, like "Lusty" and "Cotton Wool".

― admiral tub-a-lub (HI DERE), Monday, May 11, 2009 6:47 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^ this, This, THIS!

The "awkward stutter-stompy" stuff and their use of meters other than 4/4 is a big part of the appeal of Lamb for me, although I love their more floatier, more "beautiful" tracks too. But man, those awkward beats.

Come to think of it, Lamb and Laika were both equally predisposed toward odd time signatures. "Fear of Fours" indeed.

'Lusty' is 101% fucking amazing.

I love how Fear of Fours tried to actually avoid having a track 4 by using 7 seconds of the outro of 'B Line' (track 3) to make up track 4 on the CD, so the next song proper starts on track 5.

Heh that's pretty good.

The middle part of 'Cotton Wool' where Lou sings in harmony with herself, before the thundering fucked-up beats kick back in = wonderful.

A claim to fame, I helped with the sound effects on the B-Line video years back and got to hang out with them for a day, they were lovely people.

Really!? Nice one!

I think I only saw two Lamb videos on TV back in the '90s, 'B-Line' was one of 'em and 'Cotton Wool' was the other, both once each. 'B-Line' was definitely the better of the two!

I just went to look it up on Youtube and it's not there, which suprised me, but then I found a fairly scuzzy version on Vimeo

Yeah, I just did the same!

My SFX in pop videos hall of fame.

Lamb - B Line
Deus - Instant St
The Bluetones - Autophilia (for which I managed to sneak my mates band coming from a car stereo at the beginning iirc)
Gorillaz - Dere

"5" is so good.

suddenly had an urge to play In Binary and this album still rules

"Doves and Ravens" is a thing of beauty!

I COULD WRAAAAP YOU UUUUUP IN COOOOTOON WOOOOOOOOL!

*amazing stuttery fucked up beats*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Mb5ya7wOE

fuck yes

Ended up on yet another Lamb kick yesterday after reading that Barlow apparently did some work on the new U2 LP?

like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdu1sdFOtiE

Hmm, I dunno. Might grow on me. Crusty video is a bit distracting. I do love that Lamb, after disappearing for some time, returned ever engaged and ambitious.

So Barlow did produce several tracks on the most recent U2 (the only one I've never heard)? Are they any good?