Bienvenue and welcome to our latest round of newcomers - showing up us grizzly old-timers for the lazy scum we are. So galvanised into action by Nicolas's spiky French house (though sadly not by tommywhy's - missed the expiry date by minutes), here are two sweet cuts from Lambchop's 2002 album Aw C'mon. A friend lent this to me last week and yesterday I got around to listening to it. I can't remember the last time I was grabbed so instantly by an album - the lush but not overwrought production, the laid-back control exercised over the sound, despite the fact that the band comprises about 20 people, all topped off by Kurt Wagner's gruff though tender vocals.
Two tracks in particular stand out.
Each Time I Bring It Up It Seems To Bring You Down is a perfect example of what I'm waffling on about above - I'm particularly feeling the strings on this one. Then there's
I Hate Candy. Again the strings are killer, but what really gets me on this is the unexpected musical progression of the song - just when you think it's going to descend into easy-listening alt.country wallpaper, there comes that weird, sinister chord structure, building itself up over and over until - another weird modulation that comes out of nowhere. Genius. Anyway, enough crap from me.
Tom N
