Of Montreal

Riiiight. Busy weekend this weekend.

I saw Iggy Pop last year(?) and the crowd was insane.. hoping the OM crowd will be a bit smaller, but I think the Flaming Lips are playing later so maybe not.. at least I'm tall. :P

If you're not at work you should go to this show (not of Montreal but seeing as we're talking about NxNE shit) it's happening right now

I can't go I have a cold and am also at work

http://justshows.com/toronto/2012/06/15/nxne-nxnexperiment-ii/1671/

Just got off work but have a hair appointment on Queen west in 15 minutes. :(
Feel better!

I realize this is such an obvious statement that it was incorporated into the Hipster Olympics sketch that came out years ago, however:

They jumped the shark after the Outback Steakhouse commercial. It's one thing to license your music to advertise a steakhouse; it's quite another to take one of your popular songs, add a digeridoo and change the lyrics to be about steak.

Everything was downhill from there. Hissing Fauna was totally overdone and self-indulgent. I gave the next album one listen, and all I remember about it was that it sucked and that he got Janelle Monae to awkwardly sing the word 'nigger' on one of the track. And that it was canned and underproduced -- like Kevin Barnes' band is slowly quitting and now it's just him and his laptop singing along to the sound of his own multitracked voice.

Satanic Panic in the Attic deserves more love on this thread, though. Sunlandic Twins was their breakthrough, but the previous album is just one pop gem after another, from start to finish -- and there are a lot of tracks on that album.

Also their debut album is very good.

The show was insane. So many weirdly becostumed dancers, crowd surfing and Kevin Barnes eyeliner. High energy. Much of the crowd just standing, waiting for the Flaming Lips but I felt like I floated out of there. Dance party in my front room now.

"it's like we weren't made for this world..but I wouldn't wanna meet someone who was"

And free! And I was back home exactly two hours after I'd left. Perfect dose of badass music!

Really like the two new acoustic songs in this. (Don't know the story behind "Feminine Effects," the first song on it. It's on the outtakes/rarities album that came out last year.)

http://www.npr.org/event/music/169709211/of-montreal-tiny-desk-concert

"Feminine Effects" has been floating around for years - the version I have is Barnes solo on piano. First came out circa Hissing Fauna iirc.

What do people think of Daughter of Cloud, the out-takes album? For me I think it's okay but OM's last album has so totally ruined that band for me, I find it hard to even go back to things I used to love by the band.

Don't know, but I had that Sunlandic-era tour EP with "Psychotic Feeling" and "Noir Blues to Tinnitus" on it. Those tracks are something.

Liking Daughter of Cloud more than Paralytic Stalks.

gave up on this dude after whatever the one after "skeletal lamping" was (skeletal lamping ruled tho)

agreed.

could be a thread: "releases that ruined bands you previously loved"

How has it managed to ruin them for you? They have a pretty massive amount of albums out, I'm not sure why the latest one has managed to tarnish them that much. I think the album is OK, personally, but completely understand why it has gone down less well with some...

As I've said elsewhere, the last OM was my album of 2012 and the best thing I've heard OM do. So, let's put it down to the vast scope of subjectivity and allow them their scorn.

Daughter of Cloud is ok. Nothing on it feels particularly essential. I've changed my mind on Paralytic Stalks though, it took me a while but I think it's great now.

False Priest ("the one after "skeletal lamping"") is actually my favorite of Montreal album

xpost there's a link to a review i wrote about that album upthread. it's a curate's egg. for me the whole thing kind of shattered a lot of the illusions he'd built up for me around HFAYTD and SL. like watching a really good movie that ends in such a frustrating and terrible way that it kills all sympathy for the director and actors.

Just so enamored with "Imbecile Rages" from that NPR video I linked to above. Realized today that that snatch of Dylan melody in there comes from "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." (Couldn't place it at first.)

New album in fall:

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/crossfade/2013/04/of_montreal_kevin_barnes_interview_lousy_with_sylvianbriar.php

deserves new thread!

Another one? The guy doesn't stop. Somehow I wish he'd settle back and take a bit more time over his stuff. He's ultra talented but it feels like he's burning through material at a rate of knots when really he could make another hissing-fauna masterpiece.

so this has leaked. anyone heard it yet? i was a full-fledged up through sunlandic twins, enjoyed a lot of hissing fauna, didn't like skeletal lamping much at all, and thought false priest was awful. does this one continue the trajectory?

...or will i have to listen to it myself and form my own opinion?!

*shivers*

first impression: best since 'hissing fauna'. there are honest to goodness songs instead of overstuffed psych-disco collages

that would be a start

HF and SL are classics in my book

here is the thread for the new album: of Montreal - Lousy with Sylvianbria

that's weird, i even did a search for Sylvianbria and didn't find anything. i must have spelled it incorrectly.

Thoughts on the new single?

http://pitchfork.com/news/65869-of-montreal-announce-new-album-innocence-reaches-share-new-song-its-different-for-girls-listen/

To my ears it's one of the catchier, more coherent songs he's done in a while (not that I've been paying very close attention). Lyrically, sounds like he's still, um, working through some stuff…

Not a Joe Jackson cover? For shame!

Real talk though, I've been caning Aureate Gloom for the last few days. It's fucking amazing and maybe one of the best albums of recent years. Let's give this a listen with high hopes then. .

yo this is a cool new sonic tack from kevin <3

haven't quite parsed the layers in the lyrics yet. will assign the case to tt

video is fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_WDugKPnlk

haven't listened to anything by them post-false priest but this seems promising.

new album, this guy is a machine.

this sounds better to me than the material on the previous album, looking forward to seeing it live

I'm a big fan so I have time for every recent album he's made. But I'm hoping the single is an indication he's heading back to more fun and catchy material. Too much anger and misery over the last few albums

Innocence Reaches is now available for streaming on NPR First Listen

hmm

so is this going to be shit or not?

I'm a massive fan and I think this is kind of middling. It has some great moments (Chaos Arpeggiating in particular stands out for me), but overall it's a bit 'light'. It doesn't have the seething anger of the previous album, nor is it as obnoxiously fun as something like Skeletal Lamping. A couple of the tracks sound like reworkings of old material too. I'm still going to listen to it A LOT.

Paralytic Stalks was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

In a good way, right? Well, this is considerably less psychedelic and sprawling than that. Two of the tracks have trap beats...

I think Kevin is at his best when full monster.

nah, i pretty much hated that album. and yeah i loved skeletal lamping. just got sick of his passive aggressive whining really.

That's fair enough. There's a *bit* less of that here, especially as compared with Aureate Gloom.

I thought AG was really cool, and it only got better with repeated listens

It really grew on me too and overall is probably my 3rd favourite. It's a vicious album with some amazing crescendos.

Now youre going too far...

dl AG might be worth a listen, its really in the same vein as the amazing run from Satanic Panic to Skeketal Lamping

the mediocre pitchfork review has arrived

It's a mediocre album tbf

Aureate Gloom might well be their BEST album though, it's completely wonderful

so good. where r u ilm. is kevin yesterday's news already

― imago, Friday, 19 March 2021 13:18 (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh no, someone who torched their popularity ten years ago surely can't be making some of the most cutting-edge pop now, they must be really old and bad or something

listen to the new album you fools

Okay fine I will

getting a White Is Relic twinned with a less obnoxious I Feel Safe With You, Trash vibe. No bangers. Good album

https://media.brooklynvegan.com/xxrzsfjkyw/uploads/2026/04/02/of-montreal-aethermead.jpg

1. Already Dreaming
2. Wanting on Air
3. Listen to Music and Cry
4. My Zhe Zhe
5. Take the Form
6. When 02:32
7. Hack it Up
8. Lacan in the Family
9. Having a Moment
10. From the Font of You
11. To Nothing’s Reward
12. Now We Cringe at the Thought
13. Dismissal Mosaics

of Montreal have announced aethermead, their 20th studio album, which will be out June 5, 2026 via Polyvinyl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trVKLS4GafY

"Already Dreaming" is super nice. Out today.

Sound like a lost Icons, Abstract Thee track

First impression of the album is that it's a real reclaiming of...his style? Or at least A style he created?

Even going back past Sunlandic/Hissing Fauna. Stylistically, “My Zhe Zhe” and the chorus of “Take the Form” are more early stuff. Really cool to hear him doing this and it sounds great.