• “A revelatory moment” – Pitchfork
• “A performance for the ages” -Aquarium Drunkard

Recorded by Nick Peterson at Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC / July 24th, 2009. Mixed By Mac McCaughan / FOH Engineer: Mark Luecke. Mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless.
Written by Wagner, Beedle, Rock, House with quotes from D. Byrne

“But it was Lambchop‘s Friday night performance, beating Spoon’s headlining set to every single soul-power punch, that proclaimed the strength of Merge‘s two decades best. Lambchop has released 18 titles on Merge since 1994, most of them brilliant (see: “Moody Fucker”, for instance). But the Nashville weirdos have never gotten the popular attention they’ve long deserved. Friday night, they won the capacity crowd at the Cradle forever. Seated center stage on a piano bench, wearing his distinctive thick-rimmed black glasses beneath a tan trucker cap, Lambchop main man Kurt Wagner charmed like an eccentric uncle and charged like a woodsheddingevangelist. He cooed and clamored, singing his cynical songs in his molasses tone before reaching high for half syllables of nonsense. Wagner was a mix of ecstasy and tragedy, and the nine-piece band at his back lit the room with horns and keys, electronics, and percussion. The final spark was a cover of the Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” which bled from “Give It”, Wagner’s collaboration with British dance group X-Press 2. To my ears, it bested both originals. Wagner swayed in his seat and sang and pointed until, like all of us, he could stand it no longer. He leapt from the bench and toward the crowd, smiling.

It was a revelatory moment, suggesting that we’ve got five years from right now to reconsider Lambchop. Merge XXV is coming, but not soon enough.”-Grayson Currin, Pitchfork, July 27,2009