News 'Punching the Clown' was recorded at Bon Iver frontman's April Base studio (photo: Ingo Petramer) Three decades in, Lambchop is still finding new ways to sound like no one else, including itself. The long-running Nashville collective led by Kurt Wagner will return Aug. 21 with Punching the Clown (Merge), its 17th album and latest left turn in a catalog that’s veered from alt-country murmur to glitchy soul and minimalist abstraction. Produced by Ryan Olson (Poliça, Gayngs) and co-written with Lambchop member Andrew Broder, Punching the Clown was recorded in three days at April Base, the Wisconsin studio owned by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. Vernon also contributes banjo, while a six-part choir threads throughout the album. First single “Weakened” is a deceptively slight track that doubles as the album’s only use of percussion (castanets, no less). Wagner’s official comment on the song?…