Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Lambchop - FLOTUS (Merge, 2016)

Lambchop
FLOTUS
Merge
2016

Rating: 7.5 big box deals out of 10

If you've ever wondered what would happen if Lambchop recorded a record where nearly all of the vocals were sung through tweaked-out autotune, have I got a treat for you...  Honestly, it works a lot better than you might expect.  Then again, when it comes to Kurt Wagner & company, it's best not to have any set expectations because they're surely gonna fuck with them in their own subtle way.  Even by Lambchop standards this is a very mellow album, more piano-led electronic lounge music than the off-kilter orchestral country in which the band typically traffics.  "FLOTUS" begins with the twelve minute long "In Care of 8675309" that sounds like the best song Bon Iver didn't write; ends with the eighteen minute long "The Hustle" that could have just as easily been on Wagner's electronic side project Hecta; and inbetween, tracks generally meander between different combinations of electronic beats, piano/keyboards, and (mostly) distorted vocals.  It sounds different from other Lambchop records, but right at home at the same time. 

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