Things to look forward to in 2011

Hasn't December been incredibly low on excitement this year? No announcements, no touring, no new videos, not even one lousy interview or year-end list*** to post, it's like everybody has gone mute. Everybody but Davey and Nick (Dobbratz, not Gould), that is. Yesterday they announced that Yip Deceiver will release their first EP on February 8th through Aerobics International. Check their page regularly for pre-order or order info, because right now there's absolutely nothing about the Yip Deceiver EP.

Yip Deceiver will also embark on a pretty big US tour next year, supporting one of the most exciting bands that has ever opened for of Montreal, Sugar & Gold (though it looks like their line-up has been significantly cut down) :

01/22 - Athens, GA - Caledonia Lounge
01/25 - Birmingham, AL - The Bottletree
01/26 - Memphis, TN - The Hi Tone
01/27 - Hot Springs, AR - Maxines
01/28 - Norman, OK - Opolis
01/29 - Dallas, TX - Jack Daniels Saloon
01/30 - Austin, TX - The Mohawk
02/01 - Tucson, AZ - Club Congress
02/03 - Los Angeles, CA - The Bootleg Theatre
02/04 - Monterey, CA - Carbone's
02/05 - San Francisco, CA - 3 Kinds Of Stupid @ The Rickshaw Stop
02/07 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
02/08 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret
02/09 - Seattle, WA - The Vera Project
02/12 - Sacramento, CA - Blue Lamp
02/13 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
03/01 - Asheville, NC - Broadway's
03/02 - Charlottesville, VA - Tea Bazarre
03/03 - Brooklyn, NY - Knitting Factory
03/04 - Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place
03/05 - Cincinnati, OH - MOTR Pub
03/06 - Chicago, IL - Schubas
03/07 - Rock Island, IL - Daytrotter (session)
03/08 - Madison, WI - TBA
03/09 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club
03/10 - Omaha, NE - TBA
03/11 - Kansas City, MO - Crosstown Station
03/12 - Denton, TX - NX35 Conferette Festival
03/15 - Houston, TX - Fitzgerald Downstairs
03/16-19 - Austin, TX - SXSW
03/21 - Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder
03/22 - Orlando, FL - Backbooth
03/23 - Tampa, FL - Orpheum
03/24 - Miami, FL - TBA
03/25 - Jacksonville, FL - Lomax Lodge
03/26 - Atlanta, GA - TBA

While Davey takes his side project on the road, Mr. Poole will be busy with the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise tour (dates below). Who knows how this will turn out, but so far it's fair to say that it sounds like a lot of fun, with fourteen e6 vets playing e6 standards, plus games, plus films, plus surprises. Some of these shows are already sold out apparently, so grab your tickets while you can. I hear they'd make a great last-minute Christmas gift.

02-24 Roswell, GA - WhirlyBall Atlanta
02-25 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder (Florida State University)
02-26 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
02-28 Austin, TX - Emo's Inside
03-01 Dallas, TX - The LOFT at the Palladium
03-03 Phoenix, AZ - The Duce
03-04 Los Angeles, CA - The Satellite
03-05 San Francisco, CA - The Independent
03-08 Portland, OR - Backspace at the Someday Lounge
03-09 Seattle, WA - The Vera Project
03-11 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
03-12 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
03-14 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater
03-15 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
03-16 Kalamazoo, MI - The Strutt
03-17 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop
03-18 Toronto, Ontario - Horseshoe Tavern
03-19 Buffalo, NY - Big Orbit's Soundlab
03-20 Easthampton, MA - Flywheel
03-22 Brooklyn, NY - Knitting Factory
03-23 New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
03-24 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
03-25 Charlottesville, VA - The Southern Cafe and Music Hall
03-26 Raleigh, NC - Kings Royal Barcade

*** Well I'll be damned, 30 minutes later, Kevin posted his top 10 list. I guess he figured that since no-one would ask him, he'd go ahead and facebook his choices himself. That's the spirit!

Janelle Monae "The ArchAndroid"
Ariel Pink "Before Today"
Big Boi "Sir Lucious Left Foot:the son of Chico Dusty"
...Sufjan Stevens "the age of adz"
Twin Shadow "Forget"
Flying Lotus "Cosmogramma"
MGMT "Congratulations"
Tame Impala "Innerspeaker"
Caribou "Swim"
How To Dress Well "Love Remains"

of Montreal in upcoming documentary

There is no word to express how bad I feel for posting this 6 months after I was contacted by the PR lady (yeah, that was back in June and it got buried under the ton of fan mail you guys send me - or something), but there's actually a cool little documentary called 40 nights of rock'n'roll that features of Montreal. It was shot in April when the band played the Granada Theater in Dallas, Tx.
You can watch the whole trailer on their website, or get a sneak preview of the oM part below.

The whole idea, from what I gather, came from Paste Magazine editor Steve LaBate (you know, this guy is responsible for the best of Montreal interview(s) ever*) and some guy I'm not familiar with (Scott Sloan) who decided to hit the road and see 40 shows in 40 days in 40 different cities. Hopefully it'll come out as entertaining to watch as it was to shoot.


* in case you forgot :

• Kevin interviewed (originally posted on November 13th, 2008 :
• part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4 / part 5 / part 6 / part 7
• David interviewed (originally posted on November 21st, 2008)
• Nina interviewed (originally posted on November 24th, 2008)

And also, the first interview that got us excited about Skeletal Lamping :

Video Interviews

Thanks to Stephen G. for directing me to this pretty cool interview and footage from the Mexican experience... Nothing that's being said is really new, but there's a real effort to make the editing less drab than it usually is, so it's still definitely worth 5 minutes of your time.

Of Montreal from Julio Pineda on Vimeo.

Plastic Umbrella also shared this interview of BP that was apparently shot on the same day (or the day before? or the day after?), so you may want to take a look at it too (because you're on a roll now, aren't you?)



I also wanted to share a blog post from some dude from Portugal who travelled all the way to Oslo to see the band play there in October. Isn't it time for of Montreal to stop shunning southern Europe? There are good people down there who are getting desperate down there!

And remember, there are only 4 days left to vote for your favorite Famine Affair remix! The good people of the Townhall really really need your help, especially Lucy who is now 1000 votes behind the guy who couldn't be bothered to master it properly!

Here's the Booty Patrol shortlist :

• Jackson Albracht (The Cartographers)
  
• Diana aka Wappytea
  
• David & Zakk
  
• Elias & the Errors
  
• Lucy & Ivar
  
Karl's Stand By Me / Famine Affair mash-up

So go vote! What are you waiting for? You don't even have to get out of the house!


EDIT (dec 9th) : The band has (somehow) noticed that something was going wrong with the "democratic process" so they decided to pick the winner themselves. Thank you of Montreal for taking this thing seriously and preventing it from turning into of Montreal remixes : the Haiti of the music world. The winner will be announced on December 13th. Good luck to everyone (but not to those who cheated).

Another acoustic version of Enemy Gene

I'm pretty sure you all remember when Kevin posted this piano version of what was going to become track 5 on False Priest...



Now here comes this great acoustic guitar version from Manchester Scenewipe :

Of Montreal from MCR Scenewipe on Vimeo.

Thanks Plastic Umbrella for the link

And since we're open to discussion and debate here (well, only if you agree with me, that is, democracy is overrated), what do you think of Athens Music Express's article on this one song? Was it marred by over-production? Or did it just become something so different you can't compare? And more importantly, how can one version of the song sound more "sincere" than the other? Does this even mean something? Aren't songs just good or not, incapable of being either sincere or deceitful? So many questions, so few answers...