Kevin's Top 10 albums of the year

If Kevin's favorite albums of 2007 (via pitchfork.com) reflected a rather broad range of styles, this year's list (via stereogum) seems even more fragmented : from French electro pop outfit M83 to r'n'b oddballs Erykah Badu and Santogold, via Sinkane's jazzy afro-beat meanderings, Gang Gang Dance's unclassifiable electro-noise compositions and fire Zuave's straightforward indie rock flavor.
Perusing through both lists, you'll notice that they mention most of the bands that shared of Montreal's bill : MGMT, the Fiery Furnaces, Sinkane, fire Zuave, Gang Gang Dance all got the thumbs up from the man. Here's to hoping that 2009 will see other great live shows with more jaw-dropping performances from the opening acts.

Last night's perfomance on Letterman

Tis The Season

As the Ninjas Prove It tour drew to an end, tapers from all the over the country decided to break out the expensive gear and gave us some early Christmas/Hanoukah/whatever-rocks-your-boat presents...

--> Dallas, House of Blues - 2008/11/14.

--> Fort Lauderdale, Revolution - 2008/12/06. Disk One and Disk Two. (a somewhat different show... not in terms of setlist, but the general atmosphere and a few lyrical changes here and there...)

--> For both New York shows (The Roseland Ballroom back in October and the Williamsburg one from Dec. 16th), please visit the wonderful folks at NYC Taper.

--> Soon to come, thanks to Creative Loafing, the recording of the Ritz Ybor show. The Fiery Furnaces show was also taped that night so it should be posted at some point too. You really want to check it out!

--> Also, remember the stripped down Paris show from October 15th? I sure do...

--> The Philadelphia Halloween show was taped too.

Did We Mention We Rule The School Now?

We had no choice. If you didn't hear at the Townhall, we've added a new member, and thought we'd take a post to officially announce it. Her obsessiveness and news-gathering is rabid, she has more free time than QG or FP, and her work for Fire Zuave, intercontinental touring schedule, and general coolness left us with no doubt that well-known Townhall member I Rule The School was needed here. Sometime hopefully soon we'll update something or other around this place, but until then, a round of applause (and some glitter maybe) please for I Rule The School... if she can hear it over the intercontinental jets.

Official SL Lyrics

They've been posted here: http://www.ofmontreal.net/discography/skeletal-lamping/

Of Montreal take The Q Challenge

A selection of shots as the band try their hand at sketching a nude: the Q Challenge

2nd single off Skeletal Lamping

We now know for sure that it will be "An Eluardian Instance."
Quite an obvious choice, don't you think? It definitely is the most radio-friendly (some would say ear-friendly!) song on Skeletal Lamping... What remains to be seen is whether the little part that draws the song to its conclusion on the album will be on the single version too...

The An Eluardian Instance EP is now available for pre-order on PolyVinyl records, and amazingly enough it doesn't feature An Eluardian Instance per se, but two remixes by Jon Brion and three different versions of Gallery Piece.
The CD or 12" EP (+ download code) will ship on January 16th, but there is no talk of the real in-store release date yet...

Track Listing
1. First Time High (Reconstructionist Remix of "An Eluardian Instance")
2. First Time High (Of Chicago Acoustic Version)
3. Gallery Piece (Remix)
4. Gallery Piece (Long Version)
5. Gallery Piece (Instrumental)

On a related note, the band will be playing An Eluardian Instance on the Late Show With David Letterman on December 18th.

Florida Tour preview

Resuming our "opening bands" series, we bring you fire Zuave, who will open for of Montreal and the Fiery Furnaces starting this very Thursday in Tallahassee...



Starving Like A Pack Of Wolves (mp3)


Prison Break(mp3)


Colors of the Sun (video by Diana Lang)




Gypsies (live)


Please support the artists. fire Zuave's first album can now be purchased on PolyVinyl Records.

Paste Interviews

Not only did Paste Magazine make of Montreal their front cover feature, they also posted the full transcripts of the interviews they had with Kevin, David and Nina.
The piece of about Kevin makes all other interviews irrelevant and redundant, and it is also quite amazing to hear what David and Nina have to say about their collaboration.

Minnesota's Radio K

Of Montreal recently played in the studio of Minnesota's Radio K. They performed acoustic versions of For Our Elegant Caste and Beware Our Nubile Miscreants.

http://radiok.cce.umn.edu/multimedia/audio/ofmontreal/

Bandstand Busking W/ of Montreal

An idea as good as the Takeaway Shows (where bands play strolling through Paris), this one from London: "Bandstand Busking". From the site:

"There are loads of bandstands in parks across London, and most of them are looking fairly tattered from lack of use. When did you last see/hear one surrounded by hordes excited by the sounds? ...well we hadn't so we decided to do what we could to change that, to fill the parks once more (at least for a wee while every couple of weeks) with some talented people capable of carrying a tune or two."

Here is "An Eluardian Instance":

Head over to Bandstand Busking for videos of them playing "Id Engager" and perhaps the sweetest version of "Heimdalsgate" ever, in a park in London.

Paris Show Download

Big, big thanks to Dwarfbeat at the Townhall, for not only pointing us to both this Paris show and the BBC set on DimeADozen, but to converting this to mp3 and uploading for all of us to enjoy:

of Montreal, Paris, 2008-10-15
@ Megaupload

If you've got an account at torrent site DimeADozen, you can head over there and grab the lossless flac version of this show, which is a long one (an hour and a half, 24bit, 1.15 GB in flac, this mp3 version is just over 100MB)

Wonder if they'll do a repeat performance on the Takeaway Show.

Interview w/ Georgie Fruit

Hat tip to Illuminated on the e6townhall

The Quietus interviews Georgie Fruit (not Kevin Barnes)

BBC6 Session 10/13

of Montreal's first European date of the tour is tonight (the 15th) in Paris, and then tomorrow in London, but the band stopped off in London first to do a BBC Session for the George Lamb show on Monday the 13th. The two songs they performed simply make our awe for Skeletal Lamping that much stronger. All of Montreal albums are "growers" to some extent, but to see the musical weirdness of Skeletal Lamping fleshed out in these different live incarnations helps the appreciation grow all that much more:

of Montreal
BBC Session for the George Lamb Show
2008-10-13 London, BBC6 Studio

Intro
"Triphallus, to Punctuate!"
Interview
"Beware Our Nubile Miscreants" > Outro

Huge thanks to smiler40 at DimeADozen for sharing this!

NYC Roseland Ballroom Show 10/10 Available For Download

And from the looks and reviews of it, it was something else (including Kevin riding onstage on a white horse and an encore with Andrew from MGMT). It was the fourth stop of the tour for of Montreal, and last before a jaunt through Europe. Luckily, like he did last year, the dude at NYCTaper recorded the show.He has it on mp3 and flac, if for some reason his capacity maxes out again, Illuminated at the Townhall (big thanks!) was able to grab it and mirror the mp3 version for us: http://www.zshare.net/download/20541383bd6227d3, but huge thanks to NYCTaper for recording and sharing it with us!

http://www.nyctaper.com/?p=408 (scroll down)

If you didn't hear about the new cover they did during the encore, (with Andrew from MGMT), here's some video:





You Aint No Picasso has an mp3 of that cover (as well as the whole huge of Montreal covers archive) as well a great review and pics of the show, as do Fluxblog and Stereogum. And thanks again to NYCTaper for the audio! Here's a few highlights besides that cover - a surprise return of "Wraith..." (and even more surprisingly, it's more faithful to the album version than the rocked-up live version they played last year), as well as one of our favorites from Skeletal Lamping, "Wicked Wisdom" and a great version of "Mingusings" with a live jam at the end we hope to see repeated and even built upon by the time they return to the US:

of Montreal "Wraith Pinned To The Mist (And Other Games)" (2008-10-10 NYC)

of Montreal "Wicked Wisdom" (2008-10-10 NYC)

of Montreal "Misgusings" (2008-10-10 NYC)

Did we say thank you to nyctaper? THANK YOU!!!!

Id Engager Video

Courtesy Pitchfork and Prefix. Our 100th post!

Audio from 10/09/08 Wash. DC NPR Broadcast Available

If you missed the stream from last Thursday, first off: Woah. Of course we're a fanpage and it's our job to gush over of Montreal, but seriously - they never cease to amaze us. The sounds, arrangements, vocals, drums, everything was just so wonderful that our previous excitement level about seeing the new tour are now just through the roof. And if you missed the live stream, NPR now has it available, so head over there if you missed it. We'll post mp3s when they're available.

Live Tonight! Of Montreal, In Concert

Live Tonight: Of Montreal, In Concert
Listen Live Online At 9:30 p.m. ET
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95346520

NPR.org, October 9, 2008 - The Athens, Ga., band Of Montreal has been making some of the most wildly adventurous (if bizarre) music of the past decade. The group, led by frenetic frontman Kevin Barnes, has built a reputation on meticulously crafted, synth-driven psych-pop, with flamboyant production and gleeful sonic flourishes. Of Montreal brings this musical spectacle to Washington, D.C., for a full concert, webcast live at NPR.org tonight (Oct. 9). The performance will begin streaming online at approximately 9:30 p.m. ET.

Since forming in the mid-'90s, Of Montreal has been the most consistent and prolific of the bands in the Elephant 6 collective — the widely adored cadre of neo-psychedelic groups that included Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Control. Releasing nearly an album a year, Of Montreal has continued to produce remarkably inspired, breathlessly unpredictable songs, while other groups in the collective have disbanded, gone on lengthy hiatuses or moved on to other projects.

On the band's latest CD, Skeletal Lamping, Of Montreal plunges listeners into the freakishly surreal world of Georgie Fruit, the "transsexual alter ego" of singer Kevin Barnes. (Think David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust.) Barnes first introduced Georgie Fruit on last year's Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? On Skeletal Lamping, Barnes digs deeper into Georgie Fruit's imaginary world, with a burst of schizophrenic narratives and seductive, shape-shifting noise-pop. It's a strange but infectious sound, which Barnes says he developed by borrowing from the past.

"It's almost inevitable," Barnes tells NPR's Liane Hansen. "You have to sort of lift from other people. But as long as you do it in your own slightly original way, it's okay. So, I mean, I take from everybody, from Fela Kuti to Brian Eno, you know, from Prince to Queen. So I think it's okay, as long as you sort of blend it in an interesting way that's slightly original. I don't think that to be completely original is that important."

Skeletal Lamping is due out Oct. 21. In an attempt to reconnect listeners with something tangible and more artful, the label and Of Montreal are releasing the album in seven different formats. Instead of receiving a downloadable file only, or a flat CD, fans can get Skeletal Lamping packaged with a tote bag, T-shirt, button set, paper lantern or set of wall decals. Each of the formats will include both the unique packaging and a digital, downloadable version of the album. Band members say they hope the move helps bring listeners back to record stores.

of Montreal To Appear On New Charity Album

Oh, Pitchfork, how could we ever quit you? They're reporting on a new compilation to be found at Urban Outfitters on October 15 whose proceeds will go to charity. of Montreal will be contributing their cover of Parvati Khan/M.I.A.'s "Jimmy". Details at Pitchfork

Skeletal Lamping Delayed, Remixes Coming, One Already Here

Pitchfork is reporting yet another Id Engager release, this one a 12" on Mad Decent, as well as upcoming remixes by DJ Sega and Jon Brion. Forkcast currently has an mp3 up for the Mad Decent remix of Id Engager:

of Montreal "Id Engager" (Mad Decent remix)

And there's also news that of Montreal is pushing back the release date of Skeletal Lamping just a bit, head over to Pitchfork for more details on that and the new 12".

A Treasure Trove of New of Montreal Bootlegs @ E6live

Thank you Graham! Graham has uploaded a buttload o' boots to E6live.com, the giant archive run by our favorite E6 historian lou2ser (Chris). The links aren't navigatable form the main page right now, but go to the E6Live.com of Montreal download page for a collection of live recordings that may be virtually everything known to have been recorded live by the band (or at least in circulation amongst fans). We bow to both master completists responsible for sharing all of this goodness with the rest of the world, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Brush Brush Brush

Oh. My. Goodness. In case you missed it at the Townhall, of Montreal has delivered a little nugget of clean-toothed pop perfection for the upcoming season of Yo Gabba Gabba:

The video appears to have been taken down, but Butterscotching from the Townhall was heads up enough to grab the mp3:

of Montreal "Brush, Brush, Brush"

Thanks Butterscotching!

Sinkane

Thanks, P-noch, for starting the thread at the Townhall called "Ask Ahmed", where new of Montreal member/drummer Ahmed Gallab (AKA Sinkane) is being more than gracious with his time, answering questions about everything from his musical background to the importance of pizza to his preferred deodorant. He's also talked about the upcoming tour - not only performing with of Montreal as the newest part of the lineup, but opening for them (as Sinkane) for a few shows. And the lineup he's put together for these Sinkane shows looks awfully familiar. He wrote:

the sinkane band that will be opening for of montreal is: me: guitar/vox james husband: drums davey pierce: bass/drums the late B.P. Helium: guitar/bass evan richards: keys/baritone guitar we will be performing "Color Voice" in its entirety.



...btw, "Color Voice" is his full-length debut, came out just a few months ago, so it's been quite a year for Ahmed: not just his first LP but part ofCaribous's and of Montreal's touring bands.

Sinkane "Autobahn"

Buy "Color Voice" at Insound. Ahmed has expressed an enthusiastic willingness to hang out after the shows on the upcoming Skeletal Lamping tour, so it'd probably be good for conversation if you've bought his album ;-)

Thanks to casserole for the above pic of Ahmed at Columbus, Ohio's "Alive Bands To Watch 2008" from January of this year. Gotta say, that's pretty epic for Ahmed - going from college radio station nerd to what he's accomplished so far this year. Kudos, and we reeeeally are looking forward to hear how great your addition to the of Montreal lineup will be.

Be sure not to miss Ahmed's blog, which has lots of free great things to download (concert, albums, singles)

Fiery Furnaces To Open For of Montreal !!! Goodies Below

So who couldn't be more excited about the upcoming Skeletal Lamping tour? Us! All of us, we hope, especially those who live in or around Florida, as BP has dropped on us perhaps one of the happiest surprises so far, in the Townhall thread about Fiery Furnaces:

guess who's opening for us in florida?
but only as a two piece....

:-O The Fiery Furnaces could perhaps be the finest group to ever open for of Montreal. Strong words, we know, and strong music - not always easy to digest, from what we've heard from a couple of you. This is a band like of Montreal that often takes at least a few repeated listens to "get" the song and it's insane structure. And even more than of Montreal, Fiery Furnaces, when performing live, take their recorded songs and stretch them any which way but loose, and this two-piece lineup of brother Matthew and sister Eleanor should prove to be an interesting show.

Starting with this post, we're going to highlight the bands opening up for of Montreal on this tour, to help you "learn" them, too, and maybe appreciate a little more what you're going to see live. And for the special treat of the band including the Fiery Furnaces (oh, please do a communal jam at the end, and extend the siblings duty beyond Florida), we're going to give you a special treat, and hopefully a bit more insight into this mysterious band.

These first two tracks come from the Fiery Furnaces' debut album Gallowsbird's Bark, a much more straight-ahead affair than the rest of their catalog:

Fiery Furnaces "Inca Rag/Name Game"

Fiery Furnaces "Crystal Clear"

And here's one from their most recent release on Thrill Jockey, the ambitious double live album Remember, which takes (varying sound quality) recordings and cuts from various FF shows and lineups and mashes them into the approximation of many of the best moments of a live Fiery Furnaces show:

Fiery Furnaces "Single Again" (live)

And here's a special rare treat for you: an incredible quality soundboard/audience matrix bootleg, recorded and mastered by wolfattack (thank you whoever you are), from the Fiery Furnaces last appearance in Austin, October of last year. Here's a couple of samples, and then the entire show for you to download:

Fiery Furnaces "Ex-Guru" (2007/10/27)

Fiery Furnaces "My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found" (2007/10/27)


_________________


DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE CONCERT:
FIERY FURNACES - 2007/10/27, Austin, TX, Emo's


01 Inc a Rag/Name Game
02 Birdie Brain
03 Navy Nurse
04 Duplexes Of The Dead
05 Automatic Husband
06 Ex-Guru
07 Straight Street
08 My Egyptian Grammar
09 Evergreen
10 Black-Hearted Boy
11 Bitter Tea
12 Japanese Slippers
13 Widow City
14 Restorative Beer
15 The Garfield El / Candymakers Knife In My Handbag
16 Forty Eight Twenty Three Twenty Second Street
17 Seven Silver Curses
18 Slavin' Away
19 The Philadelphia Grand Jury
20 Clear Signal From Cairo

21 Encore
22 Blueberry Boat
23 My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found
24 Tropical Ice-Land

Insound has all of the Fiery Furnaces albums, but always check the individual labels and buy from them when it's possible and cheaper and if you want Blueberry Boat, that is the one album available direct from the band, just click "Store" on the FF site

Id Engager/Alter Eagle single

You can hear a short preview of Alter Eagle on amazon.com (thanks garyw)

Laser Light Listening Party In Seattle

of Montreal continues its string of pre-release "listening parties" for Skeletal Lamping, but the latest one takes it, to paraphrase MadTV, to a whole... nutha.... level. BP shared the press release at the Townhall:

------------------------------

PRESS RELEASE

of Montreal’s Skeletal Lamping Laser Listening Session
Friday, September 12th @ 9:15pm sharp

ALL AGES * Tickets $8
Seattle Laser Dome @ Pacific Science Center
200 2nd Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 443-2850

http://www.seattlelaserdome.com
http://www.myspace.com/seattlelaserdome

Be the first hear of Montreal's brand new masterpiece in its entirety before anyone else... set to LASERS! (ha!)

Band will not be in attendance.

Tickets on sale now here (link)

Special thanks to our sponsors:
230 Publicity, Polyvinyl Records, Easy Street, The Stranger.com, Three Imaginary Girls, and The Vera Project.

------------------------------

Off Festival Download

In case you missed it at the townhall, of Montreal's performance in Poland at the OFF Festival (8/8) is available for download, not bad quality, vocals out front, lots of energy and a "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal". Huge thanks to Sweet And Tender Hooligan for the download!

DOWNLOAD OF MONTREAL @ OFF FESTIVAL 8/8/08


Suffer For Fashion /Sink the Seine /Cato As a Pun /I Was Never Young /So Begins Our Alabee /Gronlandic Edit /An Eluardian Instance /She's a Rejector /We Were Born the Mutants Again with Leafing /Oslo in the Summertime /October is Eternal /The Past is a Grotesque Animal /Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse /The Party's Crashing Us

RIP Arlene

thanks to graham, for the photo

At yesterday's of Montreal show at the Field Day Festival, after a set-ending performance of "The Past Is A Grotesque Animal", Kevin smashed his longtime guitar Arlene to bits. Thanks to new user Jasmus for the heads up in this thread. Perhaps it's an exclamation mark on his statement in the YANP interview about never playing the pre-Satanic material again, a definitive break from the past. In that YANP interview, Matt from YANP asked Kevin about Arlene:

So I wanted to ask you about Arlene… [Kevin’s guitar has “Arlene” scratched into it]

I was living in Minneapolis. When I got out of high school, I moved around a lot trying to find people to play with and I’d heard Minneapolis had a scene. I just happened upon this used guitar shop and I got Arlene there really cheap. And it’s a great guitar.

I don’t know the story behind the etching. It was there when I got it and the guy at the store didn’t know either. I mean, imagine just some weird dude, maybe some metalhead dude just like “this is for you, babe…” No one has ever come up to me and been like “man, that was my old guitar!” but maybe one day. [Laughs]

It's even funnier now - that metalhead's old guitar an even bigger part of of Montreal (and modern music) lore. But still sad in a way, as this wasn't any old guitar, but that's what makes the smashing a more powerful statement and less a Towshend throwback tribute. RIP Arlene, you made some damn fine music.

"Id Engager" mp3

Pitchfork's got the goods

Imagine how good it will sound on vinyl - order from Polyvinyl, see post below

"Id Engager" 7"

The first Skeletal Lamping single is available now for preorder from Polyvinyl! "Id Engager" is available on colored 7" vinyl and includes a non-album B-side. It's five bucks, or for ten you can get three 7"s in each of the available colors:

Order the "Id Engager" 7" (in blue, gold, or purple vinyl) from Polyvinyl for $5


Order all three colors for $10

And like most decent vinyl purveyors, they provide a code for mp3 downloads of the songs with purchase.

More Chances To Hear Skeletal Lamping

Another Skeletal Lamping listening party is coming up, this one in Madison, Wisconsin - this Thursday, July 31, at Strictly Discs - entry is free and prizes include tickets to the upcoming of Montreal concert in Milwaukee. See Muzzle of Bees for more info.

And there's also one coming up for Athens, GA. In this thread, Dottie and tour manager Mike talk about it, Dottie says it will most likely be it the 40 Watt on September 30, Mike says the location may not be confirmed, but that they may also have some footage from

Skeletal Lamping listening party in NYC

there will be a small listening party for Skeletal Lamping
at a bar in Manhattan tomorrow night, July 23rd.

the bar is called HI-FI. its 21+.
the address is 169 Avenue A.

i don't know that exact time the album will be played.
somewhere between 10pm and 12:30am most likely.
$3 beer special.

-bp helium

YANP Interview With Kevin

Matt from You Ain't No Picasso has a new interview with Kevin up, and it looks like some really good, relevant, in-depth info:

-what was the main motivation to make such a different record (that damn commercial)
-how the negative reception of Cherry Peel kept Kevin writing about fictional characters not about his feelings for almost a decade
-why "Feminine Effects" didn't make the record and what'll eventually happen to it
-the origin of "Arlene"
-which of their covers was done because it's Alabee's favorite song

Cover & Track list for Skeletal Lamping!

01 Nonpareil of Favor
02 Wicked Wisdom
03 For Our Elegant Caste
04 Touched Something's Hollow
05 An Eluardian Instance
06 Gallery Piece
07 Women's Studies Victims
08 St.Exquisite's Confessions
09 Triphallus, to Punctuate!
10 And I've Seen a Bloody Shadow
11 Plastis Wafers
12 Death Is Not a Parallel Move
13 Beware Our Nubile Miscreants
14 Mingusings
15 Id Engager

New Fall Concert Dates

Ticketmaster has four new dates listed for of Montreal, we went ahead and added them to the tour dates section, and we'll try to keep it updated as new dates trickle in (edit: BP says the US tour dates will be announced Friday). Thanks to Spikyfred at the Townhall for the original heads up

Rothbury Festival Video

Big thanks to Townhaller user Illuminated, who captured the online streaming video of of Montreal's performance at the Rothbury Festival in Michigan on Jul4. Illuminated wrote:

"Alright, the stream of this show was crappy and out of sync but I captured it anyway (it should all be fine, I didn't play it through all the way to check though).

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HV5KFOUN

To fix the out of sync audio you have to play it in VLC and then do CTRL+K (pc) or CTRL+G (mac) until it says 300 ms.

And here's an MP3 of Tender Fax (which might belong in the Skeletal Lamping info thread but..): http://www.mediafire.com/?tge2j3wjnzf"



Kevin's (July 4) comment about "Du Og Meg": "I wrote that song when Bush was in power, and I called the United States the 'evil empire', but I think if Obama's elected everything's going to change. We're not going to be an 'evil empire' anymore, and that feels good."

The First Audio Preview Is In

Lesinrocks has a one-minute snippet of Skeletal Lamping up:

LINK

Kevin And David To Open For fire Zuave

Thanks To IRuleTheSchool for the heads up about fire Zuave, a great new band featuring one of Kevin and David's cousins. Apparently, Kevin and David are going to be doing some "skits" and who knows what else opening up for fire Zuave for their Athens show July 10, should be a blast.


fire Zuave's tour dates:

July 2 - Jupiter, FL, Rooney's Public House
July 3 - Charlottesville, VA, Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar
July 4 - Eastlake, OH + Jesse Bryson, Scorcher's
July 5 - Lakewood, OH + Jesse Bryson, Hi-Fi Concert Club
July 6 - White Lake, MI, Billy's Tip N Inn
July 8 - New York, NY, The Cutting Room
July 10 - Athens, Ga. + Kevin & David Barnes, Flicker Bar & Theater
July 11 - Jacksonville, FL, Jackrabbits
July 17 - Northwood, FL, My Coffee House
July 18 - Lake Worth, FL, Havana Hideout
July 19 - West Palm Beach, FL, Clematis 500 Block Street Party
July 20 - Lake Worth, FL, South Shores Tavern
July 23 - West Palm Beach, FL, O'Shea's
Aug 16 - West Palm Beach, FL, Hotel Biba
Aug 24 - Lake Worth, FL, South Shores Tavern

Some New Song Titles

When we heard Matthew from Fluxblog had gotten a hold of some Skeletal Lamping tracks, of course we begged for a listen, but once you let these things out, you never can be sure, so we don't blame him one iota for sticking to his guns. But just to turn the tease up to 11, he let us know he's now gotten a hold of the entire copy of Skeletal Lamping:


"Anyway, I just got the full record today and I can tell you this -- it
looks like Kevin has changed all the song titles!

For example, "Softcore" is now "For Our Elegant Caste", "Paradigm Kisses" is
"Non-Pariel Of Favor", "Exquisite Confessions" is "St. Exquisite's
Confesssions", "Jasmin's Car" is "And I've Seen A Bloody Shadow", "Play With
You" is "Id Engager", and uh, "Mingusings" is still "Mingusings".

- Matthew"

Thanks for the heads-up, Matthew!

New Band Member Confirmed

of montreal's tour manager Mike (m.t. on the E6 Townhall) has confirmed Ahmed is joining the group, and also relieves some tension by letting us know Jamey isn't going anywhere. And then he gets our hearts racing even more for Skeletal Lamping:

"Just so you know, Jamey has not left the band. He is still working on his own stuff though which is amazing. If anyones going to Calgary or Rothbury, you will see him there. As far as Ahmed, you will have to wait til the tour in the fall to see what we've been cooking up, its gonna be awesome."

Another member added

**this is unconfirmed by any current band members, we will keep you updated!**

donewaiting reports that Ahmed of Sinkane will be joining of Montreal's touring band as a drummer starting this fall.

Ahmed has had a crazy year. His band, Sinkane released their debut album. And then he joined Caribou as the drummer to rescue that tour. Details here.

Now he’s about to join Of Montreal as their drummer. Dude is on a roll.

From Ahmed:

im in columbus for one more week and then i leave to athens, georgia where i will be meeting up with of Montreal. i will be playing drums for them. we’re doing a photoshoot and then ill be going to phoenix for a month to visit my parents before i have to meet up with of Montreal again for rehearsal starting august. tour starts in october and im pretty much going to be with the band for a year or so. i dont know what the specifics are other than their next record ’skeletal lamping’ will be released this fall.

BP Confirms Release Date of Skeletal lamping

In this thread... it's October 7!

Pre-review of Some Skeletal Lamping Songs

Matthew from Fluxblog has gotten hold of a few songs from Skeletal Lamping and given his thoughts on them HERE.

skeletal lamping is done!!!

from the myspace!

i've finished the new album. i've been working on it for over a year. it's mastered and ready to go.

it won't come out till october though. i am very happy with it. i worry that some people are going to misunderstand it. there's nothing i can do about that though, now, it is done. anyways,i didn't create it to give people something to like. i created it because i was compelled to.

it is possible to view this album as one long composition, with lots of different movements, or just as a collection of pop songs. i wanted to make an album that was unpredictable and, at times,startling, yet always hummable and catchy. some of the transitions are intentionally awkward. i did this to keep the listener off guard and to dismantle people's perception of how an album is supposed to be constructed. i am so bored with art that makes sense and "works". i wanted to do somethings that didn't "work". very few things pique our interest while they are working as we expect them to, things are far more interesting when they are not working. shocking people though, just for the sake of it, is so mundane. nothing on Skeletal Lamping was intended to shock. i just feel that,in most contemporary songs, you can basically finish the artist's sentences,musically and lyrically. i wanted to make an album where that was not possible.
i wanted to make a record that could truly surprise a listener. to create something that was, in turns, enraging,joyous,discomforting,playful,lovely,unpleasant,freaky,mesmeric...something that came close to capturing the labyrinthine complexity of this human consciousness.

i spend most of my time in a state of mild confusion and pensiveness. i imagine most people do too. this record is my attempt to bring all of my puzzling,contradicting,disturbing,humorous...fantasies,ruminations and observations to the surface, so that i can better dissect and understand their reason for being in my head. hence the title, Skeletal Lamping. Lamping is the name of a rather dreadful hunting technique where, hunters go into the forest at night,
flood an area in light, then shoot,or capture,the animals as they panic and run from their hiding places.
this album is my attempt at doing this to my proverbial skeletons. i haven't yet decided if i should shoot or just capture them though.

of Montreal In New Ads

Spain's Channel Four recently ran a series of little six-second commercials to advertise their coverage of this year's Euro Cup, featuring snippets of of Montreal:

"Skeletal Lamping" Due First Week of October

Taylor from Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good caught Dark Meat joined by BP recently, and he writes: "by the way, I talked to B.P. afterwards and he said that the new Of Montreal album would be out in the first week of October and would be 'extremely schitzofrentic'". There's a BP pic at the post, with BP shredding like the 21st century guitar god that he is.

BP on Kevin's Guitar Tuning

In case you missed it, BP had a really interesting comment about Kevin's tunings at the Townhall. A new townhaller asked about the tuning for "Please Tell Me So" on Bedside Drama, and BP responded:

"yeah... for cherry peel and beside drama and maybe parts of

the bird who ate, the guitar is not tuned to a tuner. kevin liked
it about a 1/4 step down from standard tuning. kevin only relented
towards standard tuning when keys started to be added to the mix.
kevin hardly ever uses standard chords. so find the root note and
pick around it to find the chord. if it seems too insane in one place,
move it to another place on the fretboard.

try figuring out 'little viola'.

beeps"

MGMT vs. of Montreal Mash-Up

Head over to You Ain't No Picasso to check out "Faberge Future" (link)

of Montreal Picks Lykke Li

The Spanish blog/site Buffet Libre asked some of their favorite artists to submit a favorite track for their "Verbena Selected 3: The Aftershow Party" mp3 compilation, and of Montreal was among those asked. Don't know which of the gang picked Lykke Li, I'm guessing Jamey because of the Swedish connection, although she has gotten some early US attention. She was hailed as an up-and-comer last year by Stereogum and Brooklyn Vegan on the strength of the "Little Bit" EP. Her debut LP was just released here in the States on May 6, produced by Bjorn Yttling of Peter, Bjorn, and John (she also has sung back-up for them live on "Young Folks"). Here's two versions of "Little Bit", the studio and then live from SXSW this year, featuring accordian and glockenspiel (apparently she uses all live instruments in her shows)

Lykke Li "Little Bit"

Lykke Li "Little Bit" (SXSW '08)

The rest of the bands choosing songs for this comp are probably mostly familiar to you (Raveonettes, Go! Team), head over to Buffet Libre (scroll down, they don't have links for individual posts) and check out who the bands are and what they picked, and download the whole compilation (the link is also here).

Thanks to Pitchfork for the link.

You can download the rest of Lykke Li's SXSW set from the Lullabyes blog (which is loaded with a ton of other indie shows for download, too)

be a geminitactics model

from the geminitactics myspace page.

hello little darlings,

i have a new project going here on mypace: i want you guys to be my models/persons/lovedones for my different t-shirt designs! send me a picture of yourself in a geminitactics t-shirt and i will make a drawing of you and post it here on myspace in my little picturegallery named YOU WEARING GEMINITACTICS...

i would love for you to be really creative with the photos, be wild and beautiful, theatrical or sad but most of all - be YOU!

here is an example, the sweet stereo penguin wearing an of Montreal t-shirt designed by geminitactics:

i can't wait to here from you!!!!

XoXO
geminitactics
~nin~

New "Feminine Effects" Out Now

of montreal has contributed an acoustic version of "Feminine Effects" to the The Green Owl Comp: A Benefit For Energy Action. Kevin and BP recorded it during a recent session at the studio of KUT radio in Austin, TX. It is available from Fluxblog, but here's the deal: it's a BENEFIT! None of us pay enough for our music any more, so after listening to the track you like it (and you probably will), head over to Green Owl Records where you can buy the whole compilation, featuring all unreleased songs from Feist, Bloc Party, Deerhoof, and much much more, as well as a DVD with even more exclusive music videos and bonus tracks. Or at the least, you can go to Amazon and buy individual mp3 tracks.

Paste Magazine Interview

Kevin Barnes discusses Skeletal Lamping: Click

blikk fang

blikk fang (the artist formerly known as ocelot fang) has two songs hanging around the internet: purevolume. for more info, read it up at chocolate bobka.

edit: totally bogus

List Christee mp3s

List Christee, aka Kevin Barnes made an appearance at SXSW. Listen to the live mp3s here!


Kevin Barnes @ Hot Freaks! 2008 from PROJECTMILL on Vimeo.

New Location for Downloads

Hey all, due to a very crowded sidebar we decided to move our downloads section to a seperate page. You can now find them HERE. Thanks!

Do You Have Any Rare of Montreal Covers?

If you haven't seen the thread at the Townhall, Matt from You Ain't No Picasso is undertaking an ambitious project to assemble all of the covers of Montreal have performed. If you have any old recordings of any covers, even so-so quality, now's the time to dig them out! Check the Townhall thread for more info.

Of Montreal M.I.A. cover

Downloadable on Pitchfork

Video from January '03

From fp:
I got to see of Montreal's first show outside the U.S., in London 2003, just happened to move there right beforehand. I had a crappy little digital camera that recorded video and Dottie said of course I could record, would I send them a copy? And I said sure, but then I saw the footage. I had tried to calculate how shitty to make the video to make it all fit onto a memory stick, and it's an understatement to say it didn't turn out great, which is part of why I never sent it, the other being I am a total piece of shit when it comes to procrastination, but really it's not that great, so don't expect much, but it is a noteworthy show, and it's five years old this month.


http://www.vimeo.com/album/5933


(I used Vimeo only beacause BP publicly advocated it and QG has been doing the same for a while, but really, the increase in quality doesn't do this pixelated video any good.)

The setlist is:

2003-01-08 Water Rats, London

Don't Ask Me To Explain
Doing Nothing
Pancakes For One
On The Drive Home
Penelope
One of A Very Few of A Kind
Jennifer Louise
You Are An Airplane
Old People In The Cemetery
If I Falter Slightly Twice
Brown Sugar
Death Dance oFOASFY (short edit)

"Feminine Effects" Studio Version, More Video

Pitchfork is reporting on a new 2-CD 1DVD compilation called The Green Owl Comp: A Benefit for the Energy Action Coalition, which will feature of Montreal's "Feminine Effects". This song has only appeared live so far, so this version will be new to all of us. LINK

Also, if you haven't checked in at the official of Montreal blog, the band themselves were kind enough to set up their own video channel at Vimeo, check it out.