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.