Pitchfork

Lambchop claim to be a fusion of country+soul music, but unlike fusions of country+rock, rock+jazz and jazz+hip-hop, Lambchop actually does something innovative. Fusions are usually more like combining the sounds of other bands than other styles but these kids got a bag of their own.

Meshing sad guitar and keyboard twang with anything from vibraphones to horn sections, Lambchop have invented a whole new genre, whatever that may be. Yeah, there are elements of country and elements of soul, but it's more like a handshake than a fusion.

These guys roll through eight songs in over thirty-three minutes of emotional rollercoaster, all with their hands in the air like they just don't care. "My Face Your Ass" is comprised of a real tear- in- my- beer sort of melody while vocalist/key songwriter Kurt Wagner repeatedly whimpers, "I'll show your punk rock ass." "Your Fucking Sunny Day," on the other hand, sounds like the Bosstones came to play: popped-up, ska-swiped brass and Cure- esque guitar-pickin' lead the way for lyrics like "It's so simple/ And so stupid/ Yet so steady/ Are you ready?/ Are you ready?" "Gloria Leonard" brings the guys back down to that dive on the corner in some small town in Iowa, where Wagner confeses his troubles to the bartender while his guitar gently weeps. The disharmonic noise that lies under "Gloria Leonard" oozes its way into the title track, which is more a spooky noisescape than a musical work.

Lambchop are all over the map and if calling their album Thriller makes it the best-selling record of all time, then more power to 'em. I'll be down in Lonesome Town.