Lambchop’s FLOTUS reviewed

Kurt Wagner reprogrammes the mighty Lambchop… “Take it on the chin!”

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DO THE HUSTLE (AND OTHER DANCES)!

Four more of Kurt Wagner’s excursions into electronica

LAMBCHOP

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Up With People (Zero 7 Remix)

CITY SLANG 2000

The rousing highlight of Nixon briefly threatened to turn Lambchop into a mainstream band, at least in Europe. Zero 7, flourishing at the time as a kind of UK analogue to Air, provided a suitably millennial remix, reconfiguring the original’s raw soul with tasteful chill-out symphonics.

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MORCHEEBA

What New York Couples Fight About

SIRE 2002

Not dance music or electronica, exactly, but Wagner’s short period of pop recognition resulted in a hook-up with Morcheeba, coffee-table trip-hop artisans non pareil. Sadly, Wagner and one of the Charango album’s other guests – Slick Rick! – don’t cross paths among the spy movie harpsichords and shuffle beats.

 

X-PRESS 2

Give It (Featuring Kurt Wagner)

SKINT 2005

The crew of veteran acid house DJs dabbled with crossover in the early 2000s, enlisting the likes of David Byrne and the Polyphonic Spree’s Tim DeLaughter as vocalists. For Wagner’s turn, they created a gospel-tinged rave-up pitched somewhere between “Up With People” and Primal Scream’s “Come Together”. Wagner snarls impressively throughout.

 

HeCTA

The Diet

CITY SLANG/MERGE 2015

The clear precursor of FLOTUS, as Wagner teams up with latterday Lambchop members Ryan Norris and Scott Martin for a straight-up electronica album. Very much a work in progress; Wagner’s voice sits awkwardly above the beats, never quite achieving the integrated harmonies of FLOTUS.

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