Pitchfork

What the hell are Lambchop, anyway? They're not quite indie rock, they're not quite soul, and they're not really country. Call them an alt-country band and you're liable to be the unfortunate recipient of a fourteen-against-one all-out beating. Their influences seem to come from all over the map, resulting in an eclectic and thoroughly fucked up amalgamation of country, soul, fuzzy lo-fi, classical music, 70s AM, outright noise, and mumbled Appalachian folk.

Tools in the Dryer, Lambchop's very own odds and sods collection, comes 14 years after the band made their first rudimentary recordings as Posterchild. Of course, it doesn't really provide any more insight into what they are, exactly, but it does offer a wide-ranging glimpse of Lambchop's career trajectory-- from their lo-fi bedroom days as a trio in 1987 to the 14-piece line-up that played England's Queen Elizabeth Hall in 2000, backed by an eight-piece string section.

Sequenced in random order, and bookended by the A and B sides from their first Merge Records seven-inch, Tools in the Dryer is perhaps best reviewed by breaking it into logical categories.

Category 1: Remixes:
Tools in the Dryer contains three Lambchop remixes, conveniently lumped together as tracks 11-13. Unrest's Mark Robinson gives up an abstract, beatless mix of "The Militant" off How I Quit Smoking, and it's the best of the three, deconstructing pieces of the original and adding organ interludes and string swells to create a sparse soundscape. Zero 7's smooth funk remix of Nixon's "Up with People" removes the lead vocals from the original, leaving only the gospel-inspired backing vocals for a decent R&B throwback.

The Doppelganger remix of the band's cover of Curtis Mayfield's "Give Me Your Love" (from 1998's What Another Man Spills) is least successful, neutering the deep, throbbing bass groove that made the band's own version so ridiculously sexual, in favor of generic dance grooves. It also unfortunately thrusts frontman Kurt Wagner's annoying falsetto to the front of the mix, which can grate a bit on the nerves if you're not prepared for it.

Category 2: Demos:
Ah, demos. Is there any finer insight into a band's creative process? Two of the three demos included here are culled from 90-minute tapes that Lambchop recorded as a three-piece in 1987, in bassist Marc Trovillion's bedroom. They band recorded the tracks on primitive equipment with a microphone taped to a push broom, and named the resulting opuses things like "I'm Fucking Your Daughter." They were still called Posterchild at the time (at some point, the Poster Children's lawyer told them they'd better change their name, so after rejecting R.E.N. and Turd Goes Back, they settled on Lambchop), and the results of these sessions are about as unmarketable as anything you've heard.

The crust on "All Over the World," with its cheeky countoff and horrifyingly out-of-tune recorders, is so thick that you'd think it came off a wax cylinder. And its companion, "Style Monkeys," doesn't sound a hell of lot better. It's propelled by a crummy drum machine and features Kurt Wagner's banshee caterwauling way up in front again. The third demo is much more recent, recorded in Wagner's living room in 1992. "Each with a Bag of Fries" is actually mostly coherent, and the buzzing of the bass amp in the background is more endearing than annoying. It certainly doesn't hurt that it's not a bad song, either.

Category 3: Live tracks:
The band offers only two live recordings on Tools in the Dryer, culled from drastically different periods in their evolution. Though extremely lo-fi, the 1990 recording of the strangely Lou Reed-ish "Flowers of Memory" (performed at a now-defunct vegetarian cafe in Nashville) still exposes the song for the good composition that it is. Meanwhile, "Love TKO" is drawn from the aforementioned Queen Elizabeth Hall show on their 2000 UK tour, during which they were supporting their highly polished Nixon album. The track possesses an infectious energy that was sadly missing from Nixon itself, and it's nice to hear that the band, in their maturity, hasn't become completely wrapped up in Steely Dan studio perfectionism.

Category 4: A-sides, b-sides, and compilation tracks:
This is the largest category, and also the one that makes Tools in the Dryer worth purchasing for non-diehards. The compilation opener, "Nine," comes bursting out of the gate with harmonized scatting and a typically subdued Kurt Wagner melody. Bill Killebrew's guitar unleashes an avalanche of Pavement-inspired riffs and noise as the band combines doo-wop with slacker rock for a truly unique recording. "Cigaretiquette" emphasizes the band's soul roots, opening with a chord progression and feel that's reminiscent of, of all things, Tommy James' "Crystal Blue Persuasion."

The band's brilliant, moody take on Vic Chesnutt's "Miss Prissy" follows, sucking countrified steel guitar out of its natural element and placing it into a dark, brooding folk march. Wagner's limited vocals do their best to carry the melody as someone strums piano strings or an autoharp (it's hard to tell, really) in the background. "The Petrified Florist (alternate take)" is an appropriately icy, piano-driven dirge, which clarinetist/saxophonist Jonathan Marx claims, in his generous liner notes, is one of the most difficult recordings the band ever made. The remaining songs from this category run the gamut from brisk indie rock ("Scared Out of My Shoes") to ramshackle noise-folk ("Or Thousands of Prizes") to brooding, mumbly, music box-inflected shoegazer country ("Moody Fucker").

The Conclusion (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Avoid Smooth Segues):
Tools in the Dryer presents an excellent opportunity for fans of Lambchop to get a hold of some of the band's rarest tracks, including a few that rank among their best. And, for better or for worse, it also gives you a sneak peak at their embarrassing awkward stage, before they had the money or the backing to enter a real studio. Tack on a few throw-away remixes and two worthwhile live tracks, and you've got yourself a deal. It won't convert any new fans, but those already in the know may want to get in on this.