New releases: Of Montreal & Beats Antique

Of Montreal and I more or less amicably parted ways a few albums back. I feel like they've gotten a lot less dynamic and interesting as the music's become more overwhelmingly electronic and the lyrics more introspective and overtly perversely sexual. But Kevin Barnes is undoubtedly a bit of a genius, and I can't help but appreciate his songwriting and bouncy, overloaded, off-the-wall style. The band is served very well this time (as anyone would be) by some studio assistance from Jon Brion. Sonically, those overloaded elements are arranged more successfully so that they don't hinder the overall experience of the song. I find the album's highlights to be the tracks featuring Janelle Monáe ("Our Riotous Defects" and "Enemy Gene") and Solange Knowles ("Sex Karma"). The closing track, "You Do Mutilate?", is also fairly epic and gloriously weird, but I recommend getting there via the rest of the album. I'm offering "Like a Tourist", a crunchy number that features some of the discofied Of Montreal basslines and guitar riffs I've always loved.

Of Montreal - Like a Tourist [mp3] (Polyvinyl)

They've also embarked on what is likely to be a pretty interesting tour with Ms. Monáe, whose performance will apparently be integrated with that of the band. I'm considering checking out the show in NYC on Saturday night.

Sept 14 / Washington, DC / 9:30 Club
Sept 15 / Philadelphia, PA / Electric Factory
Sept 16 / Boston, MA / House of Blues
Sept 17 / New York, NY / Terminal 5
Sept 18 / New York, NY / Terminal 5
Sept 19 / Buffalo, NY / Town Ballroom
Sept 20 / Royal Oak, MI / Royal Oak Music Theatre
Sept 21 / Covington, KY / Madison Theater
Sept 22 / Urbana, IL / Pygmalion Music Festival @ Canopy Club
Sept 23 / Minneapolis, MN / First Avenue
Sept 24 / Milwaukee, WI / Pabst Theater

Beats Antique definitely knows how to strike a harmonic balance between acoustic instruments and electronics, and I think their new album is their best yet. It's not a bold new direction by any means, but more cohesive, energetic and fun. Like the Of Montreal record, it makes good and sparing use of featured artists: "Rising Tide" featuring Lynx is, to a certain extent, a bona fide traditional pop song, and a very good one at that; and "There Ya Go" features some sweet harmonica work from none other than John Popper. Nominal album closer "Merry Go Round" also has a straighter hip-hop vibe than usual, which is a welcome development. But I've chosen to include "Daze" below, which is a more traditional, instrumental and completely solid Beats Antique track.

Beats Antique - Daze [mp3] (CD Baby)

A couple of sidenotes:

(1) This Sunday I watched the MTV Video Music Awards live, in its entirety, for the first time in many years. I was painfully regretting that decision until the last five minutes, when Aziz Ansari introduced Kanye West's performance of "Runaway". It might have been the contrast with the endless, soulless spectacle that preceded it, but I just think this is the greatest thing ever. Let's have a toast for the douchebags.

(2) Puppet Playlist is "a bi-monthly evening of puppetry and music by some of New York's most interesting puppeteers and singer-songwriters." I've never witnessed this before, but if you're in the area, this week seems like a good time to check it out, since they're taking on Stop Making Sense by the Talking Heads. There are three performances, two tomorrow (Wednesday) evening and one on Thursday evening, followed by a bit of an afterparty at a bar around the corner.

Puppet Playlist #8: Talking Heads
The Tank
354 W 45th St, btwn 8th & 9th Ave
$7 advance / $8 at the door

Wed, Sept 15 @ 7:30pm & 9:30pm
Thu, Sept 16 @ 7:30pm

Theme Thursday - Ennui

This week has been crazy, so I have been the complete opposite of bored, but I happened to have two songs in a row about boredom play at random on my playlist so I thought I would make that the theme for today.

First let me start out by saying that I first learned the word "ennui" from one of my favorite books, The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey. It is a "children's" alphabet book with a twist (I have a bit of a dark sense of humor...). Each page contains a different gruesome death. For example: "A is for Amy who fell down the stairs. B is for Basil assaulted by bears." Each page also has a lovely illustration. And the page that fits the theme of the day: "N is for Neville who died on ennui."

Boring [mp3] - The Pierces - "Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge" (iTunes). This is a great, funny song that I think epitomizes the lives of certain celebrities/socialites/trust fund children today. I also feel like it epitomizes the attitude most hipsters today try to project. I've posted about The Pierces before (and I've posted the music video for this song) and I'm going to keep posting about them because I love them that much. "Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge" is seriously one of the best albums of 2007.

Speaking of hipster attitude... Predictably Sulking Sara [mp3] - Of Montreal - "Aldhils Arboretum" (iTunes). Love it. And I also love how in the Hipster Olympics, Of Montreal is one of the bands that the hipsters "discovered but have since sold out by becoming popular" and so they throw the record away.

It's Getting Boring by the Sea [mp3] - Blood Red Shoes - "Coming Back" (iTunes unavailable). This is a good dance song so I think I've posted it before, as well. But oh well.

Ok, that's all for today. Tata dahlings.

Blame Canada

So, I was reading an article about the band Arcade Fire (awesome band by the way) in an old issue of Entertainment Weekly (I'm at work and there's is nothing to do here) and it said that they are from Montreal. Is it just me, or have other people been hearing that a lot lately too? It seems like everyone who's anyone in indie music right now came from Montreal - or if not Montreal, Canada in general. Spin apparently called it the "next big scene" in February (boy were they right, and apparently I'm a little behind the times).

A little over a week ago, I went to a concert as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn series and all three bands - Malajube, Sam Roberts Band, and The Stills - were from Montreal. It was a Canadian-themed night, so you would think they would've tried to get a little more geographical diversity, but nope. I liked Malajube and The Stills a lot, and all of three bands seemed like really cool people and were pretty solid rock bands. Sam Roberts band was ok. A little... folky for my tastes? No, I don't know. I liked them, I just didn't love them. The Stills were pretty good. I'd seen them last year at Siren Fest too. This show was a little lower energy, but I think that was largely the audience's fault. And I even really liked Malajube despite my lack of French. I know there are tons of other French Montreal bands that I don't know about, but I am still learning when it comes to music in foreign languages (one of my favorite things about listening to music is singing along after all, so it took me a while to embrace foreign music) so bear with me.

Wolf Parade, another Montreal band, formed when given the opportunity to open for Arcade Fire. And while Stars - one of my favorite bands - is not originally from Montreal (they are originally from Toronto), they relocated to Montreal after spending some time in New York City (and I always hear them being referred to as "from Montreal"). I also saw them perform last year at Siren Fest and they were spectacular. Amy Milian, the female singer-guitarist of Stars, has one of the most unique and beautiful voices I've ever heard. The song "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" from the album "Set Yourself on Fire" is positively hauntingly beautiful, and is my favorite song by them. I definitely relate. Coincidentally, Amy Milian and fellow Stars' singer Torquil Campbell also perform with another awesome Canadian band, Broken Social Scene, formed in Toronto. And that brings me to yet another Broken Social Scene performer, Leslie Feist, who's solo career (simply as Feist) has blossomed beautifully.

Though born in New York, Rufus Wainwright (and presumably his sister Martha Wainwright, also a musician) spent most of his childhood in Montreal and began his rise to fame there before moving back to New York. Speaking of sibling musicians, twin performers Tegan and Sara were born in Calgary and Sara currently resides in Montreal.

Montreal is even inspiring American band names. Of Montreal is not from Montreal but from Athens, Georgia - another semi-recent "it" place for the indie scene. Apparently the band was named by founder Kevin Barnes after a "failed romance" with a woman from Montreal (according to Wikipedia).

Ok, so I'm sure there are tons more awesome bands from Montreal and/or Canada that I didn't highlight here, but please don't attack me for it. However, do feel free to tell me about them as I am always looking for new, good music to listen to. And since this is only my second post, I should tell you that I try to post songs by the artists I talk about so you can hear samplings of them. So here ya go. Enjoy:

I've seen Stars' new single "The Night Starts Here" floating around on the internet quite a bit. It's lovely and gives me high hopes for their new album In Our Bedroom After the War, due to hit shelves September 25th. And my favorite from their album Set Yourself on Fire, "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" .

And we'll finish today with my faves from Feist, "My Moon My Man" from the album The Reminder. Also from that album "Sea Lion Woman" and "When I was a Young Girl" (which I can't find except for live versions that I can't listen to on this computer at work and since I don't know if the recording quality is any good I am not going to link to them). Well that is all for now. Tata dahlings.

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