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Nov 2, 2016A remarkable case of sonic reinvention.
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Nov 4, 2016He's simultaneously explored meditative electronic beat music, and on the remarkable FLOTUS (For Love Often Turns Us Still), Wagner has drenched his baritone in vocal effects and, with two collaborators, woven downtempo beat music and his effervescent lyricism into something really magical.
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Oct 28, 2016[Frontman Kurt Wagner] doesn’t write these songs so much as he unwrites them, and the effect is vividly disorienting, sometimes--as on “NIV” and “Directions To The Can”--even perversely beautiful.
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Nov 4, 2016Missing is the color and vibrancy of the Van McCoy disco original, but that’s consistent with what FLOTUS is all about. To add something meaningful to the current electronic-music canon, Wagner has fully cut the tethers to the past.
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Nov 2, 2016By pushing far outside of his comfort zone, he has imbued his sound with a fresh life that adds another compelling chapter to the chronicle of his rich career.
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Mar 9, 2017Sweeping, quietly incredible FLOTUS.
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Dec 7, 2016It's all really cohesive, and while no tracks jump out as jarringly different, each one is filled with deliberateness and prettiness.
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Q MagazineNov 15, 2016It's a nocturnal-sounding affair--with the spectrally moody title track, the bleepy poetry of Writer and the Kid A vibes of JFK. Taken together, FLOTUS is a beautiful thing. [Jan 2017, p.108]
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Nov 8, 2016FLOTUS is much more than another genre effort, where Wagner deeply alters his usual country bearings and gives it a new and unexpected orientation.
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Nov 8, 2016Lambchop’s albums often come off as minor masterpieces--not quietly stunning but aesthetically proclamatory, carrying material enough for a listener to stay with and dwell on. FLOTUS is no exception.
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Nov 7, 2016Flotus is a calm, cumulative album about lasting love, unfussily filtering ancient through modern.
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Nov 4, 2016Another career highpoint for Wagner and co.
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Nov 3, 2016It plays out like a counterpoint to the wracked alienation of Bon Iver’s recent Auto-Tune-heavy 22, A Million, filled with warmth, wistful nostalgia and soft, autumnal light.
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Nov 3, 2016FLOTUS chases a particular spark of inspiration across its hour-plus runtime, as if attempting to prolong an ephemeral moment when anything felt possible.
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Nov 3, 2016Two decades on, Lambchop are not only still able to surprise listeners, they're doing some of their best work at the same time, and FLOTUS is an unexpected triumph.
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Nov 2, 2016What should continue to draw longtime Lambchop fan in to FLOTUS is the fact that Wagner's songwriting, lyrics and arrangements remain as strong, insightful and clever as ever, making nary an eye blink at Wagner's odd journey into new musical dimensions.
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Nov 1, 2016FLOTUS is most successful when it marries the influences from hip-hop productions with the pop-rock template that has essentially underpinned most of Lambchop’s previous work.
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Oct 31, 2016A welcome reminder that Lambchop are just as vital as they’ve ever been.
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Oct 31, 2016The band already sounds comfortable with their new sound, settling into a weightless groove that make you feel as if they’ve played this way forever. It’s one of Lambchop’s greatest strengths, that even when they’re overtly experimenting, they wear it as naturally as the garish pearls that have adorned their stage attire.
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UncutOct 28, 2016FLOTUS ranks as one of Lambchop's most confounding to date, an album whose form and content are united in intimate, private purpose, but which may well turn out to be one of their best and most accessible. [Dec 2016, p.18]
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MojoOct 28, 2016FLOTUS is highly processed, highly textured--and yet for the most part, it sounds surprisingly natural and unforced. [Dec 2016, p.86]
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Oct 28, 2016A dozen records deep in their career, we find Lambchop at their most adventurous, and it sounds wonderful.
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Oct 28, 2016When it works (and that's most of the time), FLOTUS proves the wisdom of risk-taking over crowd-pleasing complacency.
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Nov 17, 2016There is something indistinct and unknowable about FLOTUS. As deftly as it is handled, the album lacks a distinct center. It feels like a stepping stone from an ever-evolving act for their next release.
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MagnetNov 16, 2016FLOTUS is unexpected, occasionally inscrutable and fascinating. [No. 137, p.57]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 15 out of 18
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Mixed: 2 out of 18
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Negative: 1 out of 18
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Jan 22, 2017
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Jan 5, 2017
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Dec 13, 2016