Tag Archive: Lambchop


LANGUID LIVE LAMBCHOP

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June 22, 2013

LAMBCHOP Live at Teatro Masini, Faenza – 21st June 2013

On the night Lambchop played Faenza, the town’s annual deranged chariot races (“La folle corsa delle bighe”) were taking place in streets nearby.

From footage of previous years’ derangement these look like something out of a Monty Python sketch in which home-made chariots, with occupants dressed in makeshift medieval robes, are pulled by two men to race one another around a short circuit.
I think Kurt Wagner could write a pretty decent song about such orchestrated madness but you could count on the fact that it would be no straight narrative of events. His is another kind of strangeness. Continue reading →

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WELCOMING MR M

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February 24, 2012

The record that made Lambchop nearly famous was Nixon in 2000 – a sophisticated mix of Americana, soul and country rock.

But it was the more subdued follow-up, Is A Woman, two years later that I still rate as the Nashville band’s finest moment.

This was not treated with the same enthusiasm as its predecessor so, for example, we got a lukewarm Pitchfork review (although the critic did concede that it may actually be a ‘grower’ and that his piece might come back to haunt him).

Is A Woman was the type of quiet, reflective album that forces the listener to sit down and pay attention and these are not records that you write about with a deadline to keep.

I’ve been waiting 10 years for Kurt Wagner and his band to make an album with a similar degree of somber beauty and grace. Their releases in the interim haven’t been bad but somehow failed to reach the same heights. Until now, that is.

It is early days yet, since it only came out a couple of days ago, but it strikes me that Mr. M  has the same melancholy artistry as Is A Woman – beautiful string arrangements, lilting piano refrains and Kurt Wagner’s gruff, half-whispered vocals weaving a magical spell. Continue reading →

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The death of St Thomas

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September 14, 2007

st+thomas-colorVery sad and shocked to learn of the death of Thomas Hansen a self canonised Norwegian ex-postman and would be cowboy who performed as St Thomas.

He was found dead in his Oslo apartment on September 10th aged just 31.

I once saw him play in 2002 at a small club in Bologna supporting Lambchop who were touring to promote their album ‘Is A Woman’. Thomas’ command of English was, like his guitar playing ablity, less than perfect but this didn’t stop him from chatting away and cracking jokes in between his sad but charming songs (most of the audience knew even less English but that didn’t trouble him!).

On the strength of his performance I bought his album I’m Coming Home where he sounds like Neil Young’s long lost Norwegian brother. The opening track – Cool Song – remains a big favourite with bizarre couplets like “I could never give you in – have you ever seen my chin”.

I’ll remember him fondly for his humour and honesty. A sad loss.

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