Description:	LP with CD version on Little Red Rabbit
	Format:	LP (vinyl)
	Genre(s):	Indie Rock
	Label:	Little Red Rabbit
	Price:	£12.49
	Availability:	Dispatched within 2-5 days (on average).

4
...according to our Brian on 12 November 2009.

Originally a Leicester based angular post-hardcore style outfit, after 15 years Lazarus Clamp have morphed into a most delicious proposition. Coming in somewhere between earthy folk-rock & a loose, fluid British take on Dischord-y post-rock, new album ‘Against Entitlement’ finds them in blistering form. I like this album loads because of the way it ambles, snakes, flows - the free drums tumble & dance, guitars lazily entwine & chatter, a violin sings jauntily at various junctures & then the vocalist tops it all with his voice - simultaneously rich, ordinary and heartfelt! They've got a nice deep, full production on this album which highlights what a down-to-earth but tight set of musicians they are. I hear allsorts of influences from Tortoise to bluegrass, Alt-country & regional folk music to the more freeform realms of American underground rock but with this record I suspect they're asking you to not search for lazy, desperate comparisons & just take them on their own merits for this is one of the richest, most satisfying & honest albums i've heard in many, many weeks. Deluxe vinyl with bonus CD, don't hesitate on this one!

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Sound clips for Against Entitlement by Lazarus Clamp: on vinyl at Norman Records UK. LP (vinyl), Little Red Rabbit, LRR014, £12.49.

What their label says...

Lazarus Clamp have been making music under this name for 15 years. ‘Against entitlement’ is their 5th long-player, and their first for Little Red Rabbit (previous recordings were issued on Amberley, Words and Works Rejected, Bearos, and Sorted). They have been described in a Drowned in Sound review as one of the “undiscovered, roughcut gems of British independent music.” They have played at SXSW, and at Summer Sundae, and with Giant Sand, Chris Brokaw, David Grubbs, Songs:Ohia, Laura Cantrell, Herman Dune, Bob Tilton, Ligament, Thee More Shallows, A Minor Forest, Last Harbour, and The New Year.The feel of the music is intimate, dynamic, and full of counter-intuitive little surprises. The influences of North American post-punk bands (e.g. fIREHOSE, Silkworm, Sonic Youth) tangle with folk sensibilities from both sides of the Atlantic (e.g. Waterson Carthy, Carter family) and a low-key commitment to articulate songwriting (e.g. Go-Betweens, Mountain Goats). What you’ll notice, however, is that they have a certain Englishness that sets them apart from the American bands to which they are most easily compared, and which at times might bring to mind a more angular and introspective take on The Mekons, or a less puppyish Broken Family Band.This record, right from the exuberant complexity of opener ’Stone beats this’, rewards multiple listens. The more you dig below the surface, the more you'll find a peculiarly English oddity - in the curious way the bass and drums interact in ‘Etymologist's lament’; in the sideways, awkward guitar solo that tries to escape from ‘Canon’; and in the elusive narratives which bind the songs to that halfstrident, half-joke, of a title. ‘Against entitlement’ is a record with a slow fuse, which makes a virtue of restraint - insectile, intertwining guitars rarely play chords, but instead dance around each other, needling and breaking out into beautiful off-beatpatterns. These tensions accumulate until they are finally released via the metronomic crunch of the oppressive I am the police.

Tracklisting:

Stone beats this
Etymologist's lament
Spon
Hard work of simple things
Been black-eyed
Canon
Night of the steep learning curve
Puppies
I am the police