HeCTA

The group <a href="spotify:artist:2Lhs0asnFQiLuntn3s8p78">Lambchop</a> have often been praised for their eclectic and ambitious musical outlook, beginning with a funhouse view on classic country music on their first few albums and evolving into an intelligent, visionary chamber pop ensemble. But even <a href="spotify:artist:2Lhs0asnFQiLuntn3s8p78">Lambchop</a>'s biggest fans probably didn't anticipate HeCTA, a side project created by <a href="spotify:artist:2Lhs0asnFQiLuntn3s8p78">Lambchop</a> leader <a href="spotify:artist:26Fn0TaiSMe2NjNHWiWcuA">Kurt Wagner</a> and featuring his bandmates Scott Martin (whose other projects include Hobbledeions) and Ryan Norris (also a member of <a href="spotify:artist:5NZZuzzBHuFUKFoWC42T4G">Coupler</a>). HeCTA was created as a vehicle for <a href="spotify:artist:26Fn0TaiSMe2NjNHWiWcuA">Wagner</a>'s growing interest in electronic dance music, and inspired in part by his appreciation of the book Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture 1970-1979 by Tim Lawrence. HeCTA wasn't <a href="spotify:artist:26Fn0TaiSMe2NjNHWiWcuA">Wagner</a>'s first brush with electronic music; he co-wrote the song "Give It" for <a href="spotify:artist:1mlZXof4sEGLFspPzlQdFL">X-Press 2</a>, U.K. producers <a href="spotify:artist:14H7ag1wpQOsPPQJOD6Dqr">Zero 7</a> worked with <a href="spotify:artist:2Lhs0asnFQiLuntn3s8p78">Lambchop</a> on a remix of the Nixon track "Up with People," and <a href="spotify:artist:2Lhs0asnFQiLuntn3s8p78">Lambchop</a> collaborated with electronic duo <a href="spotify:artist:5vlrsgE3Bo7gSk2uBiIVKz">Hands Off Cuba</a> for an EP called CoLAB. HeCTA's debut album, 2015's The Diet, featured <a href="spotify:artist:26Fn0TaiSMe2NjNHWiWcuA">Wagner</a> on vocals, keyboards, programming, and editing; Norris on synthesizers, vocoder, guitar, bass, programming, and editing; and Martin on drums, percussion, keyboards, programming, and editing. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi