The mission statement of So Very is a clear cut and achievable goal:

So Very began in 2018 in Nashville with the intent to bring something danceable to the city.

With that context in mind, it’s hard not to listen to their latest offering, the single “Vern’s Taproot“, with the dancefloor in mind. It’s got the pulsing beats and immersive keyboard swirls you need to lose your mind in a sweaty frenzy but it’s far from a phoned-in dance track as the unique vocal style gives it a somewhat twisted vibe.

It’s only one track but it’s easy to see this going the route of WOTT favorites Meth Dad and resulting in a full album of danceable fun with an undertone of the nefarious.

As of late, the output of Makeup and Vanity Set has been staggering. Starting in May (only four months ago at the time of this publishing), he has released two EP’s inspired by Blade Runner (PRIS and Run), a remix EP he curated from fan submissions, the soundtrack to podcast Atlanta Monster, the soundtrack to the ongoing podcast Up and Vanished, a collaborative album with Jasmin Kaset called You Drive, another EP called Shadow Circuit and, now, another EP entitled Holy Mountain.

The craziest part about the insane deluge of music is that it isn’t all rote reworkings of the same basic ideas. Yes, it is electronic music and, yes, he tends to work within an aural space that is somewhat dark and brooding but each of the above releases has its own identity. That’s not an easy task to fulfill when you’re putting out a somewhat significant release every month.

Holy Mountain in particular is a great example of this diversity in that it is transcendental immersion into modular synth loops and ambient soundscapes. This is not the general foreboding vibe you expect from Makeup and Vanity Set. In fact, some of these songs even sound downright optimistic! Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch but it is a great deal of variety from his norm and I can’t wait to hear what the next thing is.

The band has always explored long form expressions and included plenty of moments of quiet amongst their loud. Magick Songs nods to “Black Cherry Pie” from the aforementioned Wasted on the Dream, “Health and Strength” from 2011’s We Are the Champions and maybe even as far back as “Pleasure Center” from 2009’s Heavy Days. However, even with that experience in mind, it’s an altogether unique album of songs due to the instrumentation and style of pacing they implement. It’s also an aural journey that descends into darkness as the album takes a turn towards the ominous once “The Mother” and “Magick Man” kick in.

On the whole, this is the JEFF the Brotherhood I personally prefer. They’ve got a knack for writing fuzzy pop songs that are impossible to deny but when they let themselves create more conceptually challenging albums I’m smitten. Fingers crossed that every new album from them from now until eternity goes somewhere new.

Recently, Lambchop (AKA Kurt Wagner AKA an impressive cast of rotating musicians) posted a massive amount of their catalog over on Bandcamp that encompasses almost everything they’ve ever released. If you’re a Wikipedia hound, you’ll note that it’s not absolutely everything but it’s a damn impressive amount.

I’m not sure how long all this has been on Spotify or any other streaming service but it serves as a nice reminder to familiarize yourself with the Lambchop catalog if it’s a journey you’ve never partaken.

It’s unclear why Lambchop took on the moniker “Nashville’s most fucked-up country band” when they started out in the early 90’s because from the first notes of the first song of the first release, there’s clearly nothing country about it. Sure, there’s a mild twang to Wagner’s voice and there’s flourishes of mandolin and steel guitar but all those elements could easily describe an R.E.M. song from the same era. Whatever inspired the moniker may remain a mystery in 2018 but it’s an amusing (and memorable) title to claim nonetheless.

Encapsulating an entire body of work spanning a quarter century is not a task that I’d be foolish enough to embark on but I’d be remiss not to recommend a light sampling of tracks from each album, as the sound tends to shift and evolve quite impressively through the years. Compare “Begin” with “Garf” with “The Gusher” with “Nine” with “The Hustle” (tracks I picked at random) and try to imagine another band that covers as much stylistic ground while still feeling definitively like themselves.

These shifts in style and sound are likely due to the hive mind of contributions from a cast of musicians too massive to try and cherry pick the notables. All that is to say, it’s time we all spent some time with Lambchop.