Sunday afternoon I went to Grimey's for the for the Lambchop in-store and brunch... free music and quiche and mimosas... hurray! It was fantastic. And tasty. And hot. But most of all it was crowded. Grimey's isnt that big of a place, and I went from one end of the store to the other and halfway back again before I found the friend I was meeting. I think half of Nashville was there, and then some.
The band played about five tracks from their new CD Damaged, and though they were short a couple members, they did a great job. The new album is supposed to be a lot more personal, although honestly the new stuff doesnt seem that much different from their previous work to me. I have to admit though, as much as I tend to be into lyrics, I've never really paid that much attention to Kurt Wagner's prose. For me, Lambchop is all about the atmosphere created by Kurt's half-spoken vocals and finger-picked guitar, and the waves of sound created by his normally large parcel of bandmates (this was the first time I've seen Lambchop with fewer than 8 people onstage). City Slang, their UK label, has set up a website for Damaged where you listen to a couple of tracks, watch videos of Kurt talking about the making of the record, and generally find out anything you'd want to know about the album. Or you can check out the leadoff track courtesy of Merge...
Lambchop - "Paperback Bible" (mp3)
After the crowd cleared out I had a chance to go through the used bins for the first time in forever, and ended up coming home with...
The Bloodthirsty Lovers - The Delicate Seam (2004)
Sometimes music can be a small world. I really dug Those Bastard Souls 1999 album Debt & Departure, and when I saw The Bloodthirsty Lovers open up for Guided By Voices in 2002, I had no idea they were another project from former Grifters and Those Bastard Souls frontman Dave Shouse. It was one of the rare times that I was so impressed by an opening act that I bought their CD on the way out the door. Their self titled debut was originally a self released CDR, though it was picked up by French Kiss in 2003. This second album has a bit more of a band feel, with more emphasis on the guitar than the synths. You can stream the album in its entirety here. You can also grab this unreleased track from their website...
The Bloodthirsty Lovers - "Second Coming" (mp3)
Departure Lounge - Too Late To Die Young (2002)
I became familiar with Departure Lounge through their work on Robyn Hitchcock's 1996 album Moss Elixir. The promo for their 2000 US debut Out Of There came across my desk when I worked at Virgin, and it quickly became regular listening when my mood called for mellow quasi-psychedelic pop. When I moved back here in 2001, they were just starting a bi-weekly residency at East Nashville's Slow Bar, where they would try out new songs, play offbeat covers, and invite up special guests from various local bands. It was always a great time, and it was one of the things that convinced me that moving back to Nashville was the right decision. My first impression of this CD is that its not quite as good as their first one; they seemed to have concentrated more on the production than the songs. But it gave me a nice sense of deja vu hearing songs that were a kind of soundtrack to re-establishing Nashville as my home base.
Broadcast - Extended Play (2000)
Broadcast's Extended Play Two was another promo I scored at Virgin that became regular listening at home. I thought they were the perfect blend of My Bloody Valentine and Stereolab, and I always meant to pick up something else by them. I only took me six years, but I finally did.
post title by Radiohead
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