popwreckoning

It’s no secret that Of Montreal loves Janelle Monáe. Anyone who caught the band at Lollapalooza or other random shows the past two years can attest to that. The band frequently invited the songstress to join them on stage for guest vocals. And with her spunky personality mixed with her classic croon, she’s the perfect compliment to the funky indie rockers.

Of Montreal is officially taking Janelle out on a fall tour with them as they promote their newest release False Priest. The tour kicks off in Washington, D.C. with a two night stand at the 9:30 Club September 13 and 14.

False Priest is the 10th studio album from Of Montreal. It will be released in conjunction with the start of the tour: September 13 in the UK/Europe and September 14 in North America. You can pre-order the album and get a free download of the first single, “Coquet Coquette,” here. Janelle does guest perform on the album. The band has also released a “Coquet Coquette” EP featuring remixes by Starf*cker and Yip Deceiver.
Track Listing:
I Feel Ya’ Strutter
Our Riotous Defects (feat. Janelle Monáe)
Coquet Coquette
Godly Intersex
Enemy Gene (feat. Janelle Monáe)
Hydra Fancies
Like A Tourist
Sex Karma (feat. Solange Knowles)
Girl Named Hello
Famine Affair
Casualty of You
Around the Way
You Do Mutilate?

Tour Dates:
9/13 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club w/ Janelle Monáe
9/14 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club w/ Janelle Monáe
9/15 – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory w/ Janelle Monáe
9/16 – Boston, MA – House of Blues w/ Janelle Monáe
9/17 – New York, NY – Terminal 5 w/ Janelle Monáe
9/18 – New York, NY – Terminal 5 w/ Janelle Monáe
9/19 – Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom w/ Janelle Monáe
9/21 – Covington, KY – Madison Theatre w/ Janelle Monáe
9/22 – Urbana, IL – Canopy Club w/ Janelle Monáe
9/23 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue w/ Janelle Monáe
9/24 – Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theatre w/ Janelle Monáe
9/26 – Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom w/ Janelle Monáe
10/3 – Dublin, IE – Tripod
10/4 -Glasgow, UK – QMU
10/5 – Manchester, UK – Academt 2
10/6 – London, UK – Koko
10/7 – Paris, FR – Cigale
10/8 – Lille, FR – Grand Mix
10/9 – Amsterdam, NL – Melkweg Max
10/10 – Berlin, DE – Admiralspalast (Studio)
10/12 – Stockholm, SE – Debaser
10/13 – Oslo, NO – Rockefeller
10/14 – Copenhagen, DK – Amager Bio
10/15 – Brussels, BE – Botanique / Orangerie
10/21 – St. Louis, MO – Pageant w/ Janelle Monáe
10/22 – Omaha, NE – Sokol Auditorium w/ Janelle Monáe
10/23 – Lawrence, KS – Liberty Hall w/ Janelle Monáe
10/24 – Denver, CO – The Ogden Theater w/ Janelle Monáe
10/25 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex w/ Janelle Monáe
10/27 – Seattle, WA – The Paramount w/ Janelle Monáe
10/28 – Portland, OR – Roseland w/ Janelle Monáe
10/29 – San Francisco, CA – The Warfield w/ Guests TBA
10/30 – Los Angeles, CA – Palladium w/ Janelle Monáe
10/31 – Tucson, AZ – The Rialto w/ Guests TBA
11/1 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theatre w/ Janelle Monáe
11/2 – Dallas, TX – The Granada Theatre w/ Janelle Monáe
11/3 – Austin, TX – East Side Drive In w/ Janelle Monáe
11/4 – Houston, TX – Numbers w/ Janelle Monáe
11/5 – Oxford, MS – The Lyric w/ Janelle Monáe
11/6 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse w/ Guests TBA
11/7 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse w/ Guests TBA

For a Halloween show, I can’t think of two better bands to see than New York’s Gang Gang Dance and Georgia’s Of Montreal. A friend said to me, “Everyday is Halloween for Kevin Barnes” so it only seemed appropriate to check out the indie dance rockers on what could only be called their holy day.

The show kicked off with a very avant garde set from Gang Gang Dance. The band, of course, dressed up for the occasion, as did most of the crowd, and front woman Liz Bougatsos made the perfect Axl Rose, down to the headband and dreads. Her brilliance didn’t stop at her costume, oh no. The band killed a trancey, dancey set with echoing melodies, Afro and Caribbean beats, distorted vocals and lots of reverb.

The set was both fully orchestrated and an all out jam session. Certain points of the evening saw the band just go crazy on their instruments, creating nothing short of a clusterfuck of noise that the audience didn’t really know what to do with. It took only a short time before the crowd got over the sound’s initial awkwardness and got lost in the dope beats and heavy melodies. If you’re into exploring new musical landscapes, Gang Gang Dance is definitely a band you shouldn’t miss.

The main event came in the form of an extravagantly elaborate stage show put on by Of Montreal. Of every single concert I’ve seen in 2008, I’m pretty sure I can declare Of Montreal the most fun band ever. If their electronic pop and dance beats don’t you get moving (the entirety of the Electric Factory was, in fact, moving) their antics on stage will definitely win you over. Each member of the band wore a Superman costume (homegirl Dottie Alexander owned her Superwoman threads!) and front man Barnes was carried out onto stage by golden Buddhas who later danced around the stage and supported Barnes on their backs as he laid down across them.

The visual goodies didn’t stop there. Giant screens behind the stage offered some trippy scenes of the band in infrared and solarized while a cowboy poker game turned into a bar fight, ninjas taunted a pig (guy in pig mask, no animals were harmed!) before Batman stepped in to kick some ninja butt, Barnes came out dressed as the Pope with a sexy nun at his feet before he stripped down to almost nothing. Of Montreal brought an amazing show full of wonderful theatrics to the Electric Factory for a fantastic Halloween.

Gang Gang Dance: website | myspace
Of Montreal: website | myspace

Everyone can relax. Kevin Barnes has gotten over the break-up and is doing much better this time around. After the high drama and catharsis of last year’s epically dark Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, Barnes and the rest of Of Montreal have dusted themselves off and returned to the celebratory psych-pop days of old with the anything but Skeletal Lamping. Contrary to its qualifier, Lamping is huge, busting at the seams with ideas, style shifts, and sexed-up enthusiasm. Barnes would appear to have reached the epiphany that the best way to get over somebody is to get under somebody else.

Make that multiple somebodies if his lyrics are any indication. His fauna does much more than hiss this time around as he waxes poetic about doing softcore (“For Our Elegant Caste”) and taking it both ways while doing so, taking ass against the kitchen sink (“Women’s Studies Victims”) and making you come 200 times a day (“Gallery Piece”), among other deliciously depraved acts.

In addition to his renewed randiness, Barnes conveys newfound resolve, while still betraying sincere vulnerability. Look no further for an example of this than the R&B-tinged “St. Exquisite’s Confession,” a contemplative Prince-pastiche where he simultaneously asserts that he’s “so sick of sucking the dick of this cruel, cruel city” while admitting that he’s “forgotten what it takes to please a woman” and that he “thought it was all over, but it all still hurts the same.” He then promises that “that’s all going to change,” and it does when the track crescendos into skittering beats, synths and vocoders that bring his tale of recovery and self-discovery full circle.

Indeed, Barnes’s lyrics alone are enough to make this album a triumph in their frankness, but it’s the frequently shape-shifting music behind them that makes it truly memorable. No retro musical touchstone is left unturned, be it R&B, funk, disco or ‘80s electro. The changes from style to style—often occurring within one song—can be jarring. The schizophrenic opener “Nonpareil of Favor” goes through no fewer than four stylistic transformations during its nearly six minute length, but not one of them feels forced or superfluous. Meanwhile, the climactic mini-opus “Plastis Wafers” successfully manages to incorporate all of the above, alternately shuffling, strutting and percolating while wanting to “know what it feels like inside you.”

Not every song displays multiple personalities. “An Elaurdian Instance” and single/closer “Id Engager” (download) offer radio-ready accessibility without sacrificing any of Lamping’s sense of exhilaration. The former is one of the finer examples of blissed out guitar pop this year and the latter is a glammed-up barnstormer that matches anything from the Scissor Sisters‘ debut.

As Barnes proclaims in that number, all he and Of Montreal want to do right now is play with you. That sexy playfulness was sorely missed on the equally good but emotionally harrowing Destroyer, but It’s refreshing not only to see that the gang is up to its old tricks again, but that it has improved them by honing and mixing in some of their newer ones. Just like any good lover should.

Tracklisting:
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 (download)

Of Montreal: website | myspace | download “Id Engager”

Written by: Rob Huff