The Booty Patrol

Spin feature

2012-01-25T19:08:00.004+01:00

Spin Magazine got Kevin to talk about each song on Paralytic Stalks. You'll see that there are songs that are not about what you think they were about, and I know someone who will be thrilled to know that Dour Percentage might actually be about Jamey.
This piece is quite fascinating as it is as close as we'll ever get to the creative process. Let Kevin walk you through the album. It will definitely enhance your listening experience and for those who still have doubts, it might even help you fall in love with Paralytic Stalks.

An interview in Spanish was also posted on Chilango today, but I'm going to need a volunteer translator for this one if I'm ever to make sense of it (it doesn't seem like it's got any kind of revelation, but if there was one I might not pick up on it).
Arts & Craft in Mexico will also be hosting a listening party / online chat with Kevin on Friday. RSVP on facebook.

Yip Deceiver Get Strict video

2012-01-24T16:38:00.003+01:00

MTV Hive posted the official video for Get Strict yesterday. Most of us who have witnessed of Montreal shows last spring will be familiar with the song, so it seems like a pretty good choice for a single. Yip Deceiver's 12" is still available from Aerobic International. Check out their website for more information.

Yip Deceiver
Get More:
Yip Deceiver, MTV Hive

For fans abroad who can't watch this video due to copyright issues, you can watch it on vimeo, the password is yip.

Rough Trade In-Store Online Chat

2012-01-24T16:26:00.003+01:00

Attention London fans!
The venerable Rough Trade Store is having a Paralytic Stalks listening party and online google chat with Kevin Barnes on Saturday, February 4th. Head over there for all relevant information here.

Other news today, Pop'Stache wrote a pretty interesting essay/article about David Bowie's use of alter-egos and Kevin's as a companion piece to their positive review of Paralytic Stalks.

of Montreal's presence on the internet

2012-01-20T17:24:00.004+01:00

It's been a pretty eventful start of the year for the band, who have found themselves on the most-blogged about artists of the day for days and days in a row.
It has been pretty hard to keep up with all the information, and for lack of time, I have mostly been using twitter and facebook to share all this non-essential stuff, but I feel it is time for a recap for all of you who only ever check the blog.

Let's start with the music.
1. Kishi Bashi's 151a will be released on Joyful Noise Recordings on April 10th, but if I remember rightly, those of us who kickstarted his project should be getting it sometime in March. In the meantime, head over to Spin to download the first single off this album. Apparently you can't pre-order the record right now, but I'll keep you posted.
2. Remember a few years (months?) ago when Kevin Barnes said he'd written a song for Beyoncé? Well, Chicago-based mashup artist(s) The Hood Internet gave it a shot and mixed Beyoncé's supposedly famous song (help a sister out if you know which song it is!) with St. Exquisite's Confessions. As it turns out, it actually sounds pretty good to my ears. Give it a virtual spin!

The Hood Internet - Exquisite Party (Beyonce x Of Montreal) by hoodinternet

3. of Montreal will perform Dour Percentage on Fallon on February 8th. Don't miss it.

Now on to the written word.
1. Kevin made the list of 10 musicians who should write novels according to Flavorwire. Now of course, they're preaching to the converted here, but feel free to peruse the rest of the list and either or rejoice or lament.

2. Author Alex Gilvarry name-dropped Suffer For Fashion when asked what songs he was listening to when he wrote his debut novel, "From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant." He has quite a few kind words to say about Kevin, too. Head over to the excellent literary/music blog Largehearted Boy to read the article.

And now for all the weird stuff out there...
1. Judging by its name, Reviewer Magazine should be all about reviews... Well, their review of Paralytic Stalks is... part biography, part rambling about how much the guy loves the band, but hey, it's very positive, so who's complaining? I'm not. Read this page-long biography of sorts there.

2. But this non-review is nothing compared to Kevin Barnes's astrological chart and enneagram type(s). Yes, it is types, plural, because apparently there is a debate there to figure out if he is ENTP or ENFJ. One thing we can all agree on is that of Montreal is popular with psychology students.

Dour Percentage and European tour dates

2012-01-06T15:48:00.004+01:00

After the 7-minute epic Wintered Debts that was shared with fans back in November, of Montreal has decided to release Dour Percentage as the first single off Paralytic Stalks. Pitchfork has the goods. A more conventional song (by of Montreal standards, anyway), it should be somewhat less confusing for the people who favor Hissing Fauna and False Priest over, say, Coquelicot and Skeletal Lamping. Unfortunately, the track doesn't come with a video, and it apparently won't be released as a single either. I'll wait until the tour starts and you start sending in reports of how elaborate it is, but there seems to be interesting budget choices being made in the oM camp these days.

Pitchfork also posted the European (+ Turkey and Israel) tour dates :

04-16 Helsinki, Finland - Tavastia
04-17 Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller
04-18 Arhus, Denmark - Train
04-19 Cologne, Germany - Werkstatt
04-20 Rotterdam, Netherlands - Motel Mozaique Festival @Off_Corso
04-21 Bruxelles, Belgium - Orangerie
04-22 Manchester, England - Ritz
04-23 Leeds, England - The Irish Centre
04-25 London, England - Koko
04-26 Brighton, England - Concorde 2
04-27 Paris, France - Trianon
04-28 Nantes, France - Stereolux
04-29 Barcelona, Spain - Apolo
04-30 Madrid, Spain - Joy Eslava
05-02 Nice, France - Theatre Lino Ventura
05-03 Rome, Italy - Circolo degli artisti
05-04 Milan, Italy - Magnolia
05-07 Tel Aviv, Israel - Barby Club
05-09 Istanbul, Turkey - Babylon

Q Magazine Q&A with Kevin Barnes

2012-01-04T16:41:00.003+01:00

Here's a great interview that should keep you psyched about the new record (and the next one) and tour.

Joyful Noise 2012 flexi-disc series

2011-12-30T19:03:00.004+01:00

You may remember when, back in September, Joyful Noise announced they were re-editing of Montreal's entire back catalog on tape - and it looks like you can still buy one of the few remaining copies. This time around (well, it's been announced a while back but it had totally slipped my mind), they enrolled the band for their flexi-disc series : next year, an exclusive, brand-new track will be released on flexi-disc only. You can subscribe to the whole series (12 discs from 12 different artists) for as little as $5.75 a month if you live in the US. It is kind of what Happy Happy Birthday To Me used to do with their singles series. All the information you need to decide whether you want this or not here.
Joyful Noise is also releasing Paralytic Stalks on tape on February 7th, if you are a completist or don't want the CD or vinyl from Polyvinyl.

Electronic Musician interview

2011-12-30T10:06:00.005+01:00

For all the audio nerds and budding engineers out there (or those who are just curious), here's an in-depth feature on Paralytic Stalks from Electronic Musician. Most of it is purely technical, covering everything from the gear used to the songrwriting and production and mastering techniques, but there are also lots of hints about what to expect from the album you're all desperate to discover.
Head over to Electronic Musician for the article.
Need I say again that Paralytic Stalks is available for pre-order right now?

Photo by Patrick Heagney

Paralytic Stalks Preview

2011-12-16T07:08:00.004+01:00

No fancy video this time around, but of Montreal posted a 4-minute preview of Paralytic Stalks earlier today, comprising of eight (very different) bits of songs. While some do sound as orchestrated as advertized, there also seems to be a rawer, rockier edge to the record.

Don't forget that while Paralytic Stalks will hit the stores on February 7th, pre-ordering from Polyvinyl right now will give you a download code you can use as early as January 30st, which is when the orders will ship.

DIY magazine "in the studio" feature

2011-12-14T16:57:00.008+01:00

This Is Fake DIY's december issue has a two-page-long feature on of Montreal's next release - The big news here is for those of us who were concerned that the pre-order bundles weren't as palatable as they usually are : it looks like the long-awaited board game is on its way.
Click on the picture below to read the magazine and find out the details, on page 16-17.
Once again, tack så mycket André!

Tour Dates Announced

2011-12-12T16:26:00.006+01:00

Spin was the first to write about of Montreal's upcoming shows. I will do my best to keep you posted on support bands, because right now there's no way to tell who plays where. (EDIT : sorted an hour later, many thanks for the insider tip, Mr. Nieto)

Dec. 31 -- Athens, GA -- Go Bar / List Christee DJ set

Feb. 17 -- Athens, GA -- Georgia Theatre

Mar. 07 -- Jacksonville, FL -- Freebird Live *

Mar. 08 -- Orlando, FL -- The Plaza Live *

Mar. 09 -- Mobile, AL -- Alabama Music Box *

Mar. 10 -- New Orleans, LA -- Howlin Wolf *

Mar. 11 -- Houston, TX -- Fitzgeralds *%

Mar. 12 -- Oklahoma City, OK -- ACM @ UCO Performance Lab *

Mar. 13 -- Dallas, TX -- Tree's *

Mar. 14 -- Mc Allen, TX -- Sofie's Saloon

Mar. 15 -- Austin, TX -- Emo's East (Polyvinyl Showcase)

Mar. 18 -- El Paso, TX -- Tricky Falls *#

Mar. 19 -- Tucson, AZ -- Rialto *#

Mar. 20 -- Los Angeles, CA -- The Wiltern *#

Mar. 21 -- San Francisco, CA -- Slim's *#

Mar. 22 -- San Francisco, CA -- The Fillmore *#

Mar. 23 -- Portland, OR -- Crystal Ballroom *#

Mar. 24 -- Seattle, WA -- Showbox at the Market *#

Mar. 25 -- Boise, ID -- Treefort Music Festival

Mar. 27 -- Minneapolis, MN -- First Avenue * ≈

Mar. 28 -- Chicago, IL -- Metro * ≈

Mar. 29 -- Cleveland, OH -- Beachland Ballroom * ≈

Mar. 30 -- New York, NY -- Webster Hall ¥ !

Mar. 31 -- New York, NY -- Webster Hall * ≈

Apr. 01 -- Boston, MA -- The Paradise * ≈

Apr. 02 -- Philadelphia, PA -- Union Transfer * ≈

Apr. 03 -- Washington, DC -- 9:30 Club * ≈

Apr. 04 -- Carrboro, NC -- Cat's Cradle * ≈

Apr. 05 -- Asheville, NC -- Orange Peel * ≈

Apr. 06 -- Chattanooga, TN -- Track 29 * ≈

Apr. 07 -- Atlanta, GA -- Variety Playhouse * ≈

* w/ Kishi Bashi
# w/ Deerhoof
% w/ Cults
≈ w/ Loney Dear
! w/ Computer Magic
¥ w/ Hard Nips

Wasabi Fashion Kult interview

2011-12-11T12:09:00.004+01:00

Another new interview, this time at Wasabi Fashion Kult (I am not making this up). Though it does not stray from the Rolling Stone and Therapy of Music ones, it sure helps keep the Paralytic Stalks anticipation energy up.
Tack så mycket André for the link.

The Therapy of Music interview

2011-12-09T17:45:00.003+01:00

Check out the interview Kevin Barnes gave in anticipation of his DJ set in Miami this weekend. It confirms what was already hinted at in the Rolling Stone piece (see below) : both the sound and the visuals are about to change as Paralytic Stalks rolls in. Do not fear the future. Embrace it with loving arms.

Kevin's Top 10 of 2011

2011-12-07T20:10:00.004+01:00

Filter Magazine asked Kevin what his favorite records of 2011 were, and here's the list (with the obvious Deerhoof and Kishi Bashi EP, Lykke Li for the Scandinavian spot, more classical music than usual - but the usual was no classical music - and the one that got me frowning and shaking my head, Destroyer's Kaputt and mind you, I'm a big Dan Bejar fan.)

London Sinfonietta, Adès: In Seven Days/Nancarrow Studies Nos. 6 & 7 (SIGNUM)
John Adams, Son of Chamber Symphony/String Quartet (NONESUCH)
Deerhoof, Deerhoof Vs. Evil (POLYVINYL)
John Maus, We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves (DOMINO)
St. Vincent, Strange Mercy (4AD)
Peaking Lights, 936 (NOT NOT FUN)
Destroyer, Kaputt (MERGE)
Lykke Li, Wounded Rhymes (ATLANTIC)
Kishi Bashi, Room for Dream (AEROBIC INTERNATIONAL)
Beach Boys, The Smile Sessions (CAPITOL)

Rolling Stone interview

2011-12-05T20:32:00.004+01:00

Rolling Stone (nice to know that Matthew Perpetua is now writing for them!) has the first Paralytic Stalks-era interview up on its website!
It is pretty short but you'll learn how the record came about, and you'll also learn about Zac Cowell joining the band for the next tour - a tour that will focus less on absurdist skits and upbeat disco-y songs and more on visuals and longer, darker numbers.

EDIT : while it might still be pretty short, I just realized thanks to the Paralytic Stalks Anticipation Station that there is a second page.

Paralytic Stalks out on Feb. 7th

2011-12-05T17:24:00.009+01:00

of Montreal has just announced that Paralytic Stalks will be released on February 7th. And this is the (rather splendid) artwork. With only nine tracks, it could be one of the shortest in the band's history unless the songs are as lengthy as previously announced.*
You can read more about the album and pre-order your copy from Polyvinyl's website.

Paralytic Stalks:

01 Gelid Ascent
02 Spiteful Intervention
03 Dour Percentage
04 We Will Commit Wolf Murder
05 Malefic Dowery
06 Ye, Renew the Plaintiff
07 Wintered Debts
08 Exorcismic Breeding Knife
09 Authentic Pyrrhic Remission

* clocking in at 58:05 (run times on the pre-order page), it actually seems to be the second longest in the band's history (Coquelicot remains the longest with 69 minutes of music - including the epic Hopeless Opus!)

First track off Paralytic Stalks

2011-11-21T22:01:00.006+01:00

Many thanks to Elias for sharing this track that was sent to him earlier today :

Wintered Debts

Here's what he had to say about it : "I received this song in the mail today, along with other promotional material for the new album. No release date is confirmed, however, Thayer Sarrano appears in none of the photographs for the album and combined with her absence from recent shows, it appears she has left the band. I'm really sad to see her go, she was extremely talented, very fun to talk to, and above all, gorgeous!"
As for me, and after a dozen listens, I can only say that I am very impressed with the song, which starts off in some alt-folk vein before switching to something a lot more orchestral and yet raw and somewhat subdued - gone are the shiny arrangements, gone is the *gasp* funk... All in all, it's kind of taking your favorite parts from your favorite of Montreal songs (from the beginning, there are nods to The Gay Parade there, to the latest offerings, there are bits of Casualty of You), and glueing them all together to create something that's even better than you could have envisioned. Now of course it's going to make fist-pumping and singing along a lot harder... Tell us what you think about it!

EDIT : to all the real journalists who work for real blogs and music papers, the cover letter that was sent with the track does state that the song will be on Paralytic Stalks. Apparently it is track #7.

Halloween show recording

2011-10-31T11:40:00.004+01:00

A huge thank you to Southern Shelter and Sloan Simpson for this high quality recording of last Saturday's show at the 40 Watt. Click on the pumpkins below to download the mp3s (also available in flacs if you are a registered dime-a-dozen member).

Here's the setlist without the encores... By now you probably all know that of Montreal decided to not only perform Hissing Fauna from start to finish, but to perform No Conclusion for the first time in almost 5 years, and for the 5th time in history. Pictures courtesy of special Booty Patrol Agent Michael Gonzàlez.

Joyful Recordings boxed set commercial

2011-10-26T19:17:00.004+02:00

This is guaranteed to be the most soothing two minutes of your day. Watch Kevin (and Trophy) discover the Joyful Recordings cassette boxed set. I get some kind of late night commercial feel from it, like watching TV in your lonely hotel room when you're jetlagged and everything is blurry. Only this time there's something truly appealing about the product they're selling (though the Orange cleaner and the shogun knives are definitely more useful)

The tapes now go for $99, $10 off with the promo code "iwhipmyhairbackandforth", this week only! Now who feels like an idiot for not pre-ordering their set when they were much cheaper?

of Montreal in Berlin tomorrow, special Halloween show on October 29th.

2011-10-19T20:16:00.004+02:00

Guten Tag, meine lieben of Montreal fans,

as you might have guessed, this is our own way of saluting of Montreal's arrival in the land of sauerkraut and beer, strong economy and political righteousness, Nibelungen and der Wille zur Macht. Yes, of Montreal is playing the Gretchen in Berlin tomorrow!
But considering no-one from Germany reads this blog (wait, what, are you German? In that case, Entschuldigung!), the big news here (thanks Dottie!) is that Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? will be played from the baby gurgles to the fade-out coda on October 29th at the 40 Watt. Now I'm pretty sure we've all heard all of Hissing Fauna live, but never in such a linear manner. Should I also mention that List Christee and Harouki Zombi will be DJing/doing their thing after the show? Well I just did! So if you don't have anything planned for Halloween, grab a ticket while they last!

Signing off with a couple of videos posted by Ketil from Casiokids (don't forget their new album - which is about a thousand times better than their previous effort - Aabenbaringen over aaskammen, is out now on Polyvinyl)

In the studio (with a Donkey jaw) from Ketil XXX on Vimeo.

(once again I'm making sure that no punctuation mark feels left out)

Pure Channel interview

2011-10-05T11:19:00.002+02:00

Here's a nice little interview that took place right after of Montreal's energetic (but oh-so short) performance at the We Love Green Festival in Paris on September 10th. Kevin speaks about his whole career and the creative process, and once again, drops a few hints at what Paralytic Stalks will sound like.

Pitchfork interview

2011-09-14T17:54:00.003+02:00

You've got to admit that while the good people working at P4KHQ can't rate records for shit, they sure know how to ask questions. So here's a nice (but short by P4K's standards) interview with Kevin Barnes, his career, his future, and why he doesn't like cassettes. That's probably why Joyful Noise Recordings are hiding them inside a nice pine box (hopefully from a sustainable forest, otherwise uh-uh). Oh, and the new record now has a title. Two words. I won't say more.

of Montreal cassette box set

2011-09-12T22:00:00.006+02:00

Joyful Noise just announced this pretty spectacular deal : get all 10 albums on tape (+ instant mp3 download) for $75. Now of course, if you're reading this, you probably already own all the records, but this time you get the whole collection with original artwork and a really cool wooden box to keep your treasured tapes in. Check Joyful Noise Recordings website out for more information and order quickly - only 500 copies made!

And here are pictures from Saturday night in Paris :

and as always, check out Robert Gil's site for professional pictures of Parisian shows.

Magnet Day 2

2011-08-23T22:34:00.004+02:00

Something to warm our old European hearts in Magnet today : Kevin wrote a short but insightful comment on Bunuel's Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, and a piece about Stendhal's Le Rouge et le Noir's main character, Julien Sorel (I'm still scratching my head over this one), while Nina professed her love for Jacques Tardi's Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (which I had never heard of). Regardless, Spain 1 - France 2. Ha.

Day 3 :
And on goes the list of inspiring artists :
“Urga” And “Burnt By The Sun” By Nikita MikhalkovNikita Mikhalkov (Nina's choice) and Sufjan Stevens (Kevin's choice - and isn't it All Delighted People?")

Day 4 :
A bit of music theory with Krzysztof Penderecki, a bit of Slovenian philosophy with Slavoj Žižek, and (that one is an obvious choice) a bit of Brazilian music with Os Mutantes. This is turning Magnet into an awesome Around The World in 5 Days.

of Montreal special feature in Magnet

2011-08-22T20:49:00.008+02:00

It's been a while without any news (but hey, have you seen how I rearranged the blog in the meantime?), but this week might just put a smile back on our faces despite the impeding doom of Autumn. Head over to Magnet every day this week as the Barneses get the chance to edit their website this week. So far we're getting a a nice little interview with Kevin that doesn't reveal anything apart from the sound moving towards a "a slightly more 21st-century modern-classical direction," whatever that means, a little feature on Chaplin's Modern Times,and a longer piece about “My Struggle” by Karl Ove Knausgård, which makes me want to read it (it doesn't look like it's been translated into English yet, though), especially since I simply can't get enough of Scandinavia this summer.
Stay tuned for what's next! We're yet to hear from David.

Here are the upcoming tour dates for of Montreal and associates.
Let's hope new material is premiered. (have your cameras at the ready, people!)

08/27/11 - Tallahassee, FL Union Green at Florida State University
09/01/11 - Athens, GA Georgia Theatre
09/03/11 - Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge
09/04/11 - Chicago, IL North Coast Music Festival
09/05/11 - Louisville, KY Headliners
09/09/11 - Milan Ippodromo del Trotto Italy
09/10/11 - Paris We Love Green Festival France
10/20/11 - Berlin Gretchen Germany

DJ List Christee dates :

09-04 - Chicago, IL - North Coast After Party @ Cobra's
09-24 - Orlando, FL - Indie Fall Fest @ Firestone
10-14 - Indianapolis, IN - Broad Ripple Musicfest Afterparty @ connor’s Pub

James Husband :

09-24 - Orlando, FL - Indie Fall Fest @ Firestone
10-14 - Athens, GA - Athens POPFEST @ 40 Watt

Kishi Bashi and Thayer Sarrano :
08-25 - Georgia Theatre, Athens, GA

Yip Deceiver :

09-22 - Ybor City, FL - Crobar
09-23 - Gainesville, FL - 1982 Bar
09-24 - Orlando, FL - Indie Fall Fest @ Firestone

There is a new side project in the works involving Nina and Orenda Fink (that you should remember from Azure Ray, Now It's Overhead, Art In Manilla, or as a solo artist) that goes under the name of Harouki Zombi. While it seems unclear what it will actually look/sound like (live music? DJing? dancing? painting? a surrealistic play of sorts?), you don't want to miss their very first performance, at the Go! Bar in Athens, Ga on August 26th.

KDHX radio session streaming right now

2011-07-16T18:45:00.005+02:00

Good news! The band stopped in the KDHX studios for a live session as they were stopping in Saint Louis, Mo earlier this month. There has been a real shortage of alternate versions and live recordings ever since False Priest came out, so this comes as a nice surprise. The band performed Famine Affair, Coquet Coquette and Flunkt Sass vs. The Rute Plume. This is not an acoustic session but a full band recording (that's either a "ahhhhhh" or a "awwwwwww" - you get to choose).

Click on the player below to listen to all three songs, and head over to the KDHX website for a short but enthusiastic review of their St. Louis show that night - I know some of you were blown away by the performance, so it must have been a great one!

Of Montreal: Live at KDHX 7/4/11 by KDHX

Thanks Freek for the heads-up!

Third Fanfare for the Elephant Six

2011-07-15T17:45:00.005+02:00

The Third Fanfare for the Elephant Six was released last month. It really looks like of Montreal is gaining weight within the Townhall (funny how that works), as this time the two-disc compilation features 8 of Montreal covers out of 39 songs. Highlights include The Past is a Grotesque Animal by Zakk Zielke & (my personal favorite) Lenn9o9n. Interestingly enough, this song isn't in Paste's list (see post below), when the fact that it's been covered in the Second and Third Fanfare seems to prove that it is the fans' favorite track. Don't hesitate to send us your covers of of Montreal songs if you have any you feel like sharing with the world - I'd be happy to host a compilation to celebrate the band's 15th birthday next year. Something to ponder...

As for now, you can download the compilation for free here.

The 20 best of Montreal songs, according to Paste Magazine

2011-07-15T17:28:00.003+02:00

Now here's an interesting idea... As you may know, Paste Magazine publishes daily lists on just about every social media, and today's list focuses on our favorite band. I'm not sure about their choices, but I'd be hard pressed to come up with my own list as my favorite tracks change on a daily basis. Instead of commenting on the songs as they usually do, they decided to quote their favorite lines from the song. Head over there to see what their favorite of Montreal song is, and if you dis/agree. Feel free to come up with your own lists and share them here!

L'Age d'Or

2011-06-30T20:13:00.004+02:00

The ubiquitous Pitchfork debuted the new of Montreal video today. They couldn't help but be Pitchforkian and state that it was NSFW, when (a) unless your job consists in reviewing records or writing about pop culture, any music video is NSFW (I mean, seriously, if your boss is okay with you checking pitchfork and wasting your time watching videos, I want your job) and (b) catching a glimpse of some woman's bosom is not that outrageous in the 21st century. Anyway, if you've been following Nina on Twitter, you already knew that a video had been shot and that she was editing it, and you probably were eager to find out which song would get the special treatment. Somehow I remember being pretty sure it'd be a third single (gosh, there is no such thing as a single in the indie world these days, is there?) from False Priest and I was rooting for Godly Intersex, but as it turns out it is L'Age d'Or from thecontrollersphere. On the up side, it sure is the catchiest, most radio-friendly song on the EP, but on the down side, it probably is the least interesting one too. The video doesn't offer much in terms of narrative, but the overall atmosphere and work on the colors really fits the song and makes it worth your time. Make up your own mind :

New Project, Old Interview

2011-06-07T20:19:00.009+02:00

Don't you ever get the feeling you're the biggest procrastinator on the planet and that you're just wasting your life away staring at the ceiling? Do you ever feel like you're not being productive enough? That you're far from being totally on top of things? That you're a blogging failure? Well, if this strikes a chord, you'll be happy with this Jamey Huggins interview. I know you've all been waiting to hear more James Husband news but beware, this isn't about his next album, or tour, or anything even remotely up-to-date. Thrillermag.com managed to post a two year-and-a-half-old interview. Yes. We're talking September/October 2008 here. And as it this wasn't enough to totally discredit them, they call Skeletal Lamping "a tedious affair made up of short snippets of songs." Seriously. So why did they choose to finally post this? I've no idea, but it's always nice to read Jamey talk, even if it's Jamey from 2008. What is this guy up to right now, my guess is as good as yours.

But let's focus on the future (or is it the present?) : something's cooking and it's Viper Fragment. Kevin Barnes gave Norwegian blog Musikknyheter the scoop, he is working on a side-project in which he won't be the lead singer or frontman, but the songwriter only (or maybe there's more to it but google translate won't tell us). You would have expected this interview to focus mainly on Kevin's time in Norway, but there isn't one single question about it. Apparently the interviewer didn't know about it (see TBP's twitter page), which is a shame, but I'll take the news of a new project over nostalgic musings any day. -- SEE THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW THIS POST FOR THE INTERVIEWER'S INPUT, the guy who tweeted me apparently wasn't the interviewer, which proves that it's hard to make perfect sense in 140 characters. -- Though nostalgic isn't the word I'd use (hell, why am I using it, then?!), but you know what I mean. Or maybe you don't. It doesn't matter, just take a look at the interview in Norwegian, and google translate it into the language of your choice. Thanks Seventy72two, who made the English version available there. You can also read a review of of Montreal's performance in Bergen there.

Fell In Love With Europe

2011-05-24T20:15:00.003+02:00

So the AV Club finally posted the video of of Montreal covering the White Stripes' Fell In Love With A Girl, a choice that seems about as weird as 2008's Smells Like Teen Spirit, but then we all remembered how that one went down, right? The bad news is, the video isn't playing here (not sure whether I should blame my sluggish computer or the French government and its stupid censorship of the internet), so I can't make any of my usual oh-so charming comments.* I'm still giving you the link so you can assess the quality of the recording. It was recorded, unless I am mistaken, on the day of Montreal was in Chicago and Kevin gave this interview (which doesn't have anything to do with The White Stripes, or falling in love with a girl).

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

* I have been informed that the AV Club managed to mistake Clayton for Jamey. Shame on them.

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

Big news #2 (but, hey! that's not news!!!) is oM's return to Europe, for two dates only : on Thursday in Barcelona, Spain and on Monday in Bergen, Norway. So be cool and welcome the band back to Europe... Now all we need is a little help from Iceland's Grimsvotn (So happy it isn't "Eyjafjallajökull" this year!) to make their stay longer... then they'd have to start busking to survive, and judging by this 2008 recording, no-one would want to miss that!

Spectrum Culture interview

2011-05-11T17:17:00.002+02:00

A huge thank you to Townhaller Nerosneptune for this amazing interview. The interview to end all interviews - at least for a while. It is unclear whether he just posted the link or whether he actually interviewed Kevin, but whoever came up with these questions gets an A++ from The Booty Patrol. Check it out right now.

One interview and one email

2011-05-10T22:44:00.004+02:00

Here's another really interesting interview, the first one (as far as I'm aware) that does acknowledge the fact that False Priest was of Montreal's attempt to make it B.I.G., but that it certainly fell short of everybody's expectations. So go ahead and read what Kevin has to say about this, and how it will (or won't) influence the next album. Which is pencilled in for release early next year. I love good news!

Among other things I love : funny emails from you guys. This one, from the Leader of the Claque (ouch!), is the best I've read in a while, so it deserves a spot here :

"Hello Booty Patrol,

I’m hoping you can field a couple of Montreal-related questions.

I’ve contacted you because The Booty Patrol is the nexus for all things oM. It’s one-stop shopping and required reading for self-respecting fans.

oM’s May 2 show at Montreal’s Le National (the venue was changed from Metropolis) was cancelled without explanation. On Sunday the sounds of wailing and keening reverberated through Montreal as ticketholders received email confirmation that oM's show was axed. Last month’s oM show in Halifax was also spiked, but this week the Toronto show went ahead.

Have you heard why oM’s Montreal show was cancelled? More importantly, do you know if it will be re-scheduled?

There are a few completely unsubstantiated rumours circulating about oM’s none-night stand in Montreal:

1) The band encountered an ultra-extremist faction of The Defenders of the Accent Aigu. They accused oM of Accent Neglect and demanded the band’s name be styled as “of Montréal”. When oM refused to comply, these renegade philologists threatened to lay siege to the band’s tour bus. oM had no choice but to cancel the show;

2) oM was tapped to sing the US & Canadian anthems for the Canadiens’ home games in the second round of the playoffs. Unfortunately the Habs didn’t make it that far. oM was totally devastated -- they had learned the French version of “O Canada” by heart -- and in a fit of pique Georgie et al quit the province;

3) One of the oM Pigs knocked up a local lady unicorn after last year’s show. Some of her relatives did not approve of their interspecies love freakout and threatened to turn the offending Pig into prosciutto. Wary of being turned into sandwich meat, the Pig in question was reluctant to take to the stage on Monday. His fellow oM Pig buddies, worried they might be mistaken for the unicorn-impregnator, also refused to perform. The Pigs’ stage absence shook oM to the core. Amid a chorus of sighs and sobs, the bereft band spiked the Montreal show.

Personally I think the hammy threats of the Unicorn Uncles have been exaggerated. Everyone knows that unicorns are vegetarians.

Has the Booty Patrol or its Rear Admirals heard if any/all of these rumours are true? Any light you can shed would be most appreciated. Hopefully all’s well with the band and its horny menagerie, and oM will soon return to its namesake city. Thanks for your time and help. Have a glorious weekend!

Grateful hugs and kisses,"

Well, that made me laugh... I still don't know why the show was cancelled, but I certainly am eager to find out now.

interviews

2011-05-06T20:25:00.003+02:00

Today we have two new interviews. One comes from a trusted source, the AV Club, and the other comes from a blog (not that you are not trusted or reliable, Melissa!), one features Kevin Barnes talking about his three favorite alter egos (but it's actually more complicated than that), the other features Davey and Nick (Dobbratz, not Gould) discussing touring, Yip Deceiver plans and putting an end to the never-ending black male/black mail argument. Both are definitely worth your time, so go ahead and read Nick & Davey's interview on Modern Mystery, then head over to the AV Club to learn about Kevin's favorite popular music characters.

This calls for the reappearance of this 5-year-old picture, yeah!

Interviews / news / live videos

2011-05-04T22:33:00.005+02:00

1. Spinner interviewed David in the wake of the release of What's Weird? If you haven't already done so, you can still order the book from Polyvinyl, or just get the book from the merch stand (say hi to Dana!). The great thing when you order it is that it comes with audio files that walk you through the book, in case you get kind of lost and have no idea what you're looking at, though David's commentary could actually make matters worse, who knows? I am not sure how it works because I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive through the mail.
If you are a big fan of David's art and you're attending any of the US shows, don't forget your wallet because they are selling wonderfully crafted jewellery stands and magnets, and believe me, you don't want to miss out on those.
JUST IN : David talks to DC-based blog The New Gay : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr4CZGfkEM0&sns=em

2. You all know about it by now because it's been facebooked and polyvinyled, but for the record, here's a link to the eyeweekly interview. If you were eagerly awaiting that Blikk Fang record, you're going to be let down (but then you probably saw this coming).

3. Bummed Blikk Fang isn't happening? Need something to look forward to? What about an of Montreal / Os Mutantes collaboration? Pitchfork seems to think it is happening for real! Now of course, details are sketchy, it could just mean it's a cover we've already heard back in the days, or a reworking of that cover, or it could really be a collaboration between both bands, we won't know until we buy it. And I mean BUY IT because the money goes to a charity, and stealing from a charity is even more lame than stealing from an artist. Both will get you straight to hell, though, or so I've been told.

4. Pop renegade has a main feature / interview with Kevin up right now. I'm actually pretty sure the guy never sat down with Kevin (or even shot him an email) and they are quoting from other interviews and not citing their sources (either that or Kevin just copy/pastes answers now), but it can still jumpstart your memory, especially at the very end when the future sound of oM is discussed.

5. The good folks of the Townhall are currently uploading old bootlegs. Well, to be fair, the good folks of the Townhall are requesting old bootlegs and Freek is uploading them. The audio quality isn't always the best, but if you want to have an idea what the band sounded like in 1999, 2001 or 2004, here's your big chance. I will do my best to keep all these files safe in our super secret mediafire vault, so future generations can enjoy them in case May 21st isn't really the beginning of the end of the world.

6. The Booty Patrol is proud to present its April 2011 live playlist, featuring songs that were played during the first 5 nights of the tour, featuring thecontrollersphere songs L'Age d'Or, Holiday Call, Slave Translator & Flinkt Sass vs. The Rute Plume, one brand new song, Sails Hermaphroditic, "old" favorites like The Repudiated Immortals and Oslo In The Summertime, the two best songs from False Priest (Godly Intersex & You Do Mutilate? - which morphs into Gronlandic Edit for added pleasure), and And I've Seen A Bloody Shadow/Plastis Wafer. Another ten-track playlist will be added when I am done uploading the rest, but these were the highlights I managed to catch on tape.

New Song

2011-05-01T10:45:00.004+02:00

"Sails Hermaphroditic" was premiered on April 27th at Toad's Place. If you were expecting a showcase of what's next for the band, you are going to be let down as it does not really seem like a step in a new direction, and probably would have felt right at home on False Priest. Enjoy!

of Montreal - Sails Hermaphroditic (new song) from I Rule The School on Vimeo.

I personnally would like to thank all the cool kids who came to say hi and shake hands last week and therefore proved that I was not keeping up this page in vain (because let me tell you that there are times when I really wonder if I'm not the only one who cares anymore). It was much appreciated. Also, the Booty Patrol is calling on all good souls who will be at the upcoming shows : if you can shoot me pictures of setlists or cool pictures or video, I would definitely appreciate it.

Tour Starts Today (for real this time)

2011-04-22T23:17:00.004+02:00

As it turns out, the Madison, WI was more of a one-off show than the start of the tour, which may or may not be called the Tea Party tour. A way to recycle the McCain masks from the Ninjas Prove It tour, maybe? (tour dates to your left, you know the drill.)
As usual, the beginning of a tour calls for a pretty intense session of press-searching, but, goddammit, for the first time of my life I'm in New York and I have better things to look at than my netvibes page and my automated google searches. Well, ok, actually I couldn't help myself and I took a quick peek, here are the 3 articles that really popped up :

1) This came from Drug Policy Central. It's kind of funny because there is no link to the original article (I didn't find it, but I didn't really look), but it looks like a pretty recent interview with David. And apparently it promotes madness and drug use and a lot of things that is really bad to y'all. America is so STR8 EDGE. Ha. Who's going to believe that???

2) Record Online has an interview with Davey up. I'm sure it's good, I just haven't had the time to read it.

3) Here's a Q&A with Kevin, once again, lots of words, not enough time!

And this just found its way into my inbox - it looks like the official promo picture for the tour (I didn't find the copyright, so apologies to the photographer)

Tour kick-off and street teams

2011-04-17T18:37:00.007+02:00

For those who are looking forward to seeing the band (for the first time, the hundredth time or all the times in between) in the next few weeks, here's a review of Friday night's show in Madison, WI (hometown of The Booty Patrol's founding member Quixotic Goat). Unfortunately there are no pictures, and I couldn't even find one on flickr (where do people post their pictures these days? I've no idea!), and I don't have a setlist either, but I have it on pretty good authority that it is the same line-up as the False Priest tour. Thanks Elias for the link.

New Townhaller and NYC Street Team member Edittrix contacted me earlier this week with pictures of her amazing work. Watch out for those life-sized Kevins funking up the the streets of New York!

Did any of you come up with some cool ideas like this one? I'd love to post your pictures here, so send them in!

oM vs. DCFC

2011-04-01T21:51:00.006+02:00

OK, it's not much of an of Montreal event, but it's just too good to pass up (trust me).
On April 5th, 7p.m. EST (that's 2 a.m. GMT), a new Death Cab For Cutie video will be streaming live... and the team that is working on it in LA as we speak is comprised of Nick Gould, Eddie Whelan, and Jason Miller. If you've been following the Booty Patrol, you are somewhat familiar with Jason Miller's work (including the double live DVD that is slowly becoming the elusive unicorn of the oM world), and there is simply no excuse if you don't know who Nick Gould is. I guess I'll give you a pass for Eddie Whelan, but check his site out and learn.
I'm pretty sure there will be re-runs for those who can't make it, but tune in to You Are A Tourist to watch the video premiere, as it pretty much is the point of this live, one-take video concept.

Codes & Keys, Death Cab For Cutie's 7th album, will be released on May 31st. (and hopefully it will be better than Narrow Stairs!)

Godly Intersex (un)official video

2011-03-23T19:21:00.002+01:00

Not only is Godly Intersex one of the best song on False Priest (and when the stars align I'd go as far as say that it is the best song), it now has its own fan video - and a really cool one made by people who actually know what they're doing or are doing a great job pretending they know what they are doing.

Many thanks to SubliminalTwin for the video and for sharing it with us.

of Montreal on World Café

2011-03-11T18:04:00.004+01:00

Hear the interview Kevin recorded when they last were in Milwaukee on September 24, 2010 and three songs that were recorded live at the Pabst that night.

Take a look at the Pabst's slideshow below to turn this into an audiovisual experience!

thecontrollersphere

2011-03-04T23:20:00.005+01:00

So it is indeed going to be thecontrollersphere in just one word! But it looks like much more than just an EP - 5 tracks, 23 minutes, a shirt and a book by David! All this will be yours for $60. And that includes instant mp3 download (extra points for those who can guess what I am doing right now!) - for those of you who are still unsure, they are giving away Black Lion Massacre.

Click the image below to check out all the goodies and decide what bundle is right for you - if you just want the music, that'll cost you a mere $7 :

David also shot a video to promote his book :

and he updated his website - you can take a look at the book - some of it seems to feature previous of Montreal artwork, but most of it is brand new. It all looks rather fantastic.

EDIT : The video David posted is not a one-off promotional video, it is part of an ongoing project. He will share a video on a weekly basis, so make sure you subscribe to his channel. Thanks to Dottie for clearing this up.

Black Lion Massacre is coming...

2011-03-02T21:56:00.007+01:00

... and it wants to put your ears to the test... And make your heart race... And bring you to the very edge of sanity. Check out the video of Montreal shared with the rest of the world a few moments ago and let us know if you survived.

So now the question becomes : are these two minutes and forty-nine seconds of Metal Machine Music going to be on The Controller Sphere? Or is it just for show? Is this the studio version of the music they were playing before the fish/killing machine showed up on stage? (actually that's three questions)

No, we're not dead yet

2011-02-23T17:16:00.006+01:00

I normally wouldn't be writing about a 3-question-long interview with Davey and pretend it's worth a post, but I feel like I need to prove that this blog is still going, despite the lack of news. Well, to be honest, there was the exciting news that the band and Polyvinyl finally realized a street team couldn't hurt, but by the time I was ready to inform you, all the positions had already been filled, and it's not like whoever is reading this page isn't checking ofmontreal.net or the band's facebook page or twitter.
Head over to Ethos magazine for the interview in question - not that you will learn anything new from it (well, maybe the release date for Yip Deceiver's LP - April 12th - I'm not sure we had a set date before).

(picture by Cathie Keck)

So I guess all we have to do now is wait for The Controller Sphere to come out. My guess is that it'll coincide with the beginning of the new tour, so it should be 6 weeks away. Still, you'd expect the track listing and the artwork and whatnot to be public by now, but I may be getting impatient in my old age.

My City, My Secret

2011-02-02T22:07:00.004+01:00

I'm not sure when this thing aired in the US, but I found a video of My City, My Secret, featuring Dottie and Bryan (See the post below) It's like the shortest and coolest tour guide you've ever seen - and I'm sure you (with your keen eyes and of Montreal-obsessed mind) will recognize a few people there. And some of you (well, more like 5 of us, I guess) will recognize a 2-second-long snippet from Spenser Simrill's documentary, Family Nouveau. You can watch it here. So far I only have this link to a facebook video, and some of you with no facebook account may not be able to watch it, but I'm not sure CNN will be okay with me uploading it on youtube, and I'm already out of "get out of jail free" cards.

Dottie & BP on CNN

2011-01-24T22:27:00.003+01:00

Not quite sure what this is about or whether it will be broadcast on CNN Europe (or Asia, for that matter), but let it be said that Dottie and Bryan shot a documentary on Athens, Ga called "My city, my secret". Need I say more? (answer no, because that's all I've got anyway)

(you would have thought I'd have a picture of both in the same frame, but you would have been wrong)

Florida tour wrap-up

2011-01-16T17:36:00.005+01:00

After a snowy start that forced the band to reschedule their Mobile, Al show, the traditional Florida leg of the winter tour seemed to have gone great. (That's what you guys told me, anyway.) We could have thought they would introduce a lot of new material, what with thecontrollersphere EP coming out in a few months, and rumors that the next album is already under way, but only one new song was performed. It is tentatively titled Slave Translator. Watch the video below to hear what it sounds like... I'm not sure this is the whole song**, as people seem to remember it as a longer song, or rather a piecing together of two or three different songs, Coquelicot-style. Or Skeletal Lamping-style. It actually kind of ends like And I've Seen A Bloody Shadow, only more extreme.

------
** sk8rrjon842, who apparently was the only person in Florida with enough sense to record the new song, tells us that it is the full song minus the opening 4 seconds or so. Thanks for sharing!
------

They also added a new Prince cover to the collection - Sex Shooter. Be sure to visit Matt's collection of of Montreal covers over at You Ain't No Picasso, though it hasn't been updated in a year. You'll still find 88 covers the band has performed over the years, so if you haven't done so already, you might want to download all of this.

Two interviews surfaced during this tour too : The Broward Palm Beach New Times had the good idea to ask David about his involvement with the band and the meaning of False Priest. Creative Loafing interviewed Kevin. All the usual questions were asked, but there were also a few that were not the obvious ones, so it is still a pretty interesting read. There's also a tiny bit about what the future holds, and figuring out what's next is definitely what has us scratching our heads right now, right? Don't expect any clear answer there, Kevin is rather cryptic.

Spring 2011 tour dates announced!

2011-01-10T22:23:00.004+01:00

Spin.com got the scoop (take that, P4K!?) and announced new tour dates earlier today. Of course, if you live in the US or Canada, it's great news, but if you don't, you'll be more interested in the small but information-packed interview that goes with it. In it, Kevin reveals details on a few of the songs that will be on the Controller Sphere (or thecontrollersphere, or the controllersphere - they lost me there), and gives a few hints as to what the next album will sound like, and it's going to sound good.

As the band heads out to (hopefully) sunny Florida today, tallahassee.com posted a 4-page long interview with Davey. Check it out, and don't forget to show Yip Deceiver some love as they go on tour by the end of the month (check out the dates and the details two posts down). Yip Deceiver remixed one of Sugar & Gold's new song from their upcoming Bodyaches EP (out soon on Antenna Records) and you can listen to it and download it from Antenna Records' site right now.

picture by Kmeron - facebook.com/musicfromthepit

Watch of Montreal's New Year's Eve show on youtube!

2011-01-06T19:36:00.002+01:00

A big thank you to Mister Lettuce who taped the band's last 2010 show (and the first one of 2011 in a way) and uploaded it to youtube for the whole world to see. Enjoy!

Things to look forward to in 2011

2010-12-22T18:30:00.005+01:00

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

2010-12-12T23:08:00.005+01:00

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

2010-12-08T22:54:00.003+01:00

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 :

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

2010-12-07T19:21:00.003+01:00

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...

Famine Affair Remix contest

2010-11-24T19:06:00.004+01:00

The vote is now open, and oh my oh my, there are about one hundred contestants fighting for your attention. I have to admit I got tired after listening to about 10 of them (good thing some of you had already submitted your entries at the Townhall or shared them with me already!)
Anyway, it looks like "our own" Lucy Is A Banana got a little bit of a headstart with her classic dance-floor remix, so good luck to her!
Since a lot of good people I happen to know are entering, I'm going to shamelessly promote them and help you weed out the others (what? I don't know you? that's because you suck!) :

Here's the Booty Patrol shortlist :

Contact me with the link to your remix if you want a bit of free publicity!

New addition : Karl's Stand By Me / Famine Affair mash-up,

The vote will be closed on December 13th, so there's plenty of time to decide. Choose wisely, my friends, because I am not sure if you can vote several times.
Explore, listen and cast your ballot here!

of Montreal in Os Mutantes Land

2010-11-20T18:44:00.014+01:00

After being announced at Planeta Terra Festival last year (but that fell through, or never was on the cards to begin with), the band finally made it to Brazil. Now here's a country on the way up : Dilma Rousseff taking over Lula (wow, two socialist presidents in a row!), the World Cup in 4 years, and a festival that would make some well-established European ones blush.

If pictures are anything to go by, it looks like soundcheck went well yesterday. Click on the picture below to check out all the others (beware, they got band members' names wrong!)

(picture from the festival's website - (c) Ricardo Matsukawa)

As you can see - because you have an eye for details, I know you all do! - Dottie seems to have what used to be Thayer's Nord on her stand now, so does this mean the fantastic False Priest line-up is already dead? We will soon have the answer*, as the band's performance will be webcast live on the festival's site. And in HD! Thanks Vardamir for the heads-up! Right now all I can tell you is to head over there, and wait, because I don't see a link to a webcast or anything like that. But then I don't speak Portuguese (well, apart from a couple of insults), so that could be the problem. Well at least I can curse at the screen.

EDIT : The show will be webcast on this page.
(thanks Don for clearing this up, even though it doesn't seem to work right now)

EDIT Nov 21th : alright, so the streaming didn't work so well, but the whole show is now online! Now I can't watch it because apparently there is no Franco-Brazilian agreement on copyrights, but it may work in other countries. See what you can do with this link! And if some of you are little ripping geniuses, now would be the right time to step up and share for those of us living under cultural embargo.

-----
In case you've missed it earlier this week, you may want to take a look at Dottie's musings on food and restaurants. Dottie seems pretty food-adventurous, so now I have to wonder if she ever tried pigeons, horses, whole ortolans (bones and all), snails and frogs in France, hopefully not at the same time. (yes, I know, "ewwww, gross"...)

-----

* Thomas R. (who as fas as I know was the only one able to watch the webcast) reports that Thayer was there, and so was everyone else.

Dallas, Tx bootleg available!

2010-11-10T20:47:00.002+01:00

You have to admit that success is a weird thing. It is fair to say that of Montreal has never been that popular and succesful, and yet our taper friends have suddenly turned their backs on them. Case in point, the Ninjas Prove It tour provided us with no less than 8 recordings, but this time we've only had the NPR stream and not-quite-up-to-scratch Urbana one. So let us be thankful for Dave aka Time Was A Joke for his recording of the Dallas show. The setlist that night was quite stellar (You Do Mutilate? Plastis Wafer, Oslo In The Summertime, The Past Is A Grotesque Animal, but also every "hit" off Hissing Fauna), even though I'm sure quite a few fans must have been puzzled by the lack of covers.
Go grab the mp3s there!

Famine Affair video

2010-11-03T16:17:00.007+01:00

We were waiting for a Sex Karma video featuring Nina and a snake, but we're actually getting a Famine Affair video featuring Nina... and a lot of slow motion. A rather claustrophobic in camera scenario, the very beautifully shot and cinematographic video seems to be heavily influenced by the French new wave (but maybe that's just me, because I see French influences where they are not?) and it features an (as yet) unknown male actor* surrounded by dozens of females in what seems to be a total dystopia.

Watch it there and see what Kevin and Spin have to say about it.

* It only took the Booty Patrol a few hours to figure out that this is Josh McKay from the 2010 Flagpole Music Award Winning band Abandon The Earth Mission. I knew I could count on you people!

EDIT : Our Riotous Defects is NPR's Song of the Day!

EQ Magazine + LA Times

2010-11-02T18:15:00.003+01:00

As the full-blown False Priest tour winds to its end, of Montreal is still getting a fair amount of press. Most notable interviews/articles this week :

The LA Times : A pretty insightful interview with Kevin. Topics include previous live shows, Matt Chamberlain vs. drum machine, soul music, and talking to your daughter when she's not within ear-range (apparently).
EQ Magazine : if you are the kind of person who gets turned on by twiddling little knobs, this is the one article you want to read. I know a lot of you have asked about all the technical details, and how Kevin records and what he's been using, and this is where you will find the answers. I, for one, had trouble making it past the second paragraph but I still tried to browse the article just to see if it would put an end to the Townhall's autotune debate, but apparently not. What is the effect we're hearing on Like A Tourist? We're none the wiser.
Tammies : In this one, Davey gets to share his view of the band. As previously hinted at in the NME video from a while ago, not only is he a kick-ass bass player, a fascinating showman and a blossoming songwriter, he also is responsible for most of the props on this tour. High Five!

Famine Affair Remix contest

2010-10-25T20:11:00.004+02:00

It's all in the title : the band is giving away the stems for you to use and remix! Not only do you get the chance to hear the individual tracks that made up the song (I guess, I haven't downloaded them yet), but you could win oM's entire discography (and that's a lot of vinyl*) and make 500 bucks in the process. And for all these years you'd been wondering what to do with garage band! *wink-wink*

Head over to Polyvinyl Records to see what this is all about, download the goods and get creative.

The good (or bad) news is that the winner will be determined by popular vote, so it is both your chance to show the world what you can do, and to prove that you have the largest family/network. Why are you still reading this? You only have four weeks left.

---

* so I have been informed that it wasn't going to be a lot of vinyl, or even a lot of plastic, because it's the whole digital discography, so that makes a lot of... nothing. Don't let that put you off, DJs!

More press, videos, interviews

2010-10-23T18:53:00.003+02:00

Thanks to Byron Sweet for this new NPR link : Robert Christgau (*gasp* and if you don't, check out his resume) wrote what I believe is his first piece on of Montreal. Now of course he kind of is full of shit, but then (a) the guy is getting old and (b) it doesn't matter when you're Robert Christgau, right? You can say whatever you want and call it the Truth, who's going to confront you? Well, I sure bow to the guy, even though he must have been quite deaf if he'd never heard a bassline in oM songs before.

Check out the video interview on French website musicactu - they didn't overdub it, so it is safe for you English-speaking people. Funny how they translated "one of the bigger markets in Europe" as "the best audience in Europe" - but hey, we're French, what do we care about twisting people's words to gratify our egos?
And here's the cue to announce that great news is on the way for French fans, as The Booty Patrol (TM) is about to team up with the "French of Montreal fan club" pour votre plaisir. Not sure how it's going to work just yet, but we assure you it's going to be way cooler than a lazy-assed google translation.

The band hit the road again this week (well, it's not like they had really stopped) and soundspike was there to document their first show back in the US. Don't torture yourself with their review, but take a look at the slideshow, really nice pictures (don't they make anything embeddable anymore?) Before the show, the Riverfront Times had posted a short Q&A with Kevin, and prior to the band's upcoming Seattle show, Seattle Weekly published another Q&A, in which Kevin claims that his favorite False Priest song to play live is You Do Mutilate? - and no-one would have suspected that, right?

If you live in Portland, OR (lucky you!), and you don't have tickets for the Oct. 28th show yet, you can try and win a couple of them (and they'll be sending False Priest your way too). All you need to do is come up with a good comment to post on their site.

Signing off with The Past Is A Grotesque Animal as performed live in Brussels last week - in 4 installments because my camera exploded 3 times from sheer excitement.

Paris show at la Cigale

2010-10-14T19:09:00.006+02:00

It's been one week since of Montreal mesmerised the city of lights. The Booty Patrol was in attendance, armed with a photo pass (thanks B.P.!) and a super stable super HD camera, but everything in France has to turn into a shouting match and a power struggle (and I am always on the losing end), so I got kicked from the balcony, and the camera was taken away, but what they didn't know is that I had another one hidden away. Ha! Sometimes I'm so proud of myself... Still, the quality isn't as good as it would have been if I had used my camera from the balcony as planned, but it still is the full show - filmed by yours truly. Enjoy!
EDIT : the first video is super blurry but it gets a lot better)

Pixbear posted a great review of the show, and they took a few great pics, too. Mr. Robert Gil was there too, and his eye is as keen as ever - though he apparently didn't think much of the show. Check out the pictures from his website.

Videos from the London show, more interviews

2010-10-12T17:33:00.003+02:00

Time for a new update!

Interviews published in the last few days :

1) NPR's All Songs Considered. (thanks Jill for the link)
2) The Line Of Best Fit.
3) The Quietus.
4) The Fly has a piece written by Kevin about illegal immigration and the utter stupidity of some of the recent laws passed in the US recently. We have Plastic Umbrella to thank for the link.

Apple Picker production filmed the show in London last week (it doesn't look like the whole show, though), and even if I haven't been able to watch it yet (what with uploading my own videos from the Paris show - 9 songs into it, we're getting there - and traveling to Amsterdam (where the band kicked serious Duutch aass) and, er, working), I'm still sharing it with the world. Somehow these videos have a ridiculously low number of views, it's almost as if people liked 30-second snippets filmed with a crappy phone while whoever was holding it was dancing better than full songs, captured in HD, by professional people using a tripod. Check these videos out, or else.

Finally, check out the new tour dates :

11/12 Mexico City, Mexico @ Salon Los Angeles
11/13 Guadalajara, Mexico @ Lydo’s Show Center
11/20 Sao Paolo, Brazil @ Planeta Terra Festival
01/11 Mobile, AL @ Soul Kitchen
01/12 Tallahassee, FL @ The Moon
01/13 Orlando, FL @ Firestone
01/14 Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
01/15 Tampa, FL @ The Ritz
04/02 Halifax, Nova Scotia @ Halifax Multi Purpose Centre

2010-09-22 - Urbana, Il show available for download!

2010-10-05T20:36:00.004+02:00

This bootleg recording has been available on various platforms for a little while (the kind of place where you need an invite or something like that), but we are a sneaky bunch. Dwarfbeat used all her internet skills to download the show and re-upload it to the Booty Patrol's mediafire page for all of us to enjoy! Grab it from our download's page! And browse our other recordings! We have quite a few more (about 60) that we haven't uploaded yet, and we are looking for able bodies and internet connections to complete our catalog. If you see any broken links, or if you'd like to help, send us a mail!
The quality of the recording isn't top-notch, and the performance let quite a few people down (and that includes Kevin, as documented in this interview, and Booty Patroller Elias), but it still has its moments (and The Past Is A Grotesque Animal). If anyone could tell me what is the song they covered at the end of Oslo In The Summertime I'd be grateful, because I've never heard (of) it before.

More interviews

2010-10-01T20:36:00.006+02:00

The band hasn't touched down in Europe yet (it's only a matter of hours I believe), but British interviews are starting to flood in (well, that's more like a trickle, but I'm hopeful)

Below is the NME video interview which somehow ended up on AOL's site and not on NME's, but hey, technicality... A lot of interesting footage from the rehearsals prior to the tour, and watch out for Kevin's mom around the 2-minute mark! And doesn't it feel nice to see Kevin so genuinely happy to answer these questions? Kuddos to Spenser for that video! Now of course, it might be the closest Europe will ever get to these props, but don't let that bum you out, and get your tickets if you haven't already done so, it's going to be grand all the same. (I hope for your sake nothing has sold out yet!)

Of Montreal - NME Video Interview

Drowned In Sound did quite a good job with their interview once again. I'm not sure if I'm imagining things or what, but it definitely feels like Kevin is sharing and opening up more with foreign publications.

Back in the US, False Priest was in Time Magazine's shortlist of things to do (I bet they meant "buy", or "listen to", but who would want to "do" a false priest???) last week (and it's a really short list - 5 items, only one music-related), and here's the evidence!!! You have to wonder whether or not this will have an impact on sales... Are the kind of people who read Times Magazine likely to enjoy False Priest?
Many thanks to Mr. Barnes (senior) for bringing this to our attention, and Lisa W. who found the online link.

LimeWire (which seems to be a totally legit site now)1 posted an interview with Kevin last week too. We have Bella aka G&G to thank for this link.

Also, on October 4th, KZSC Santa Cruz will be broadcasting their "exclusive" interview from 2 to 4pm. The main problem I have with exclusive interviews is that they are no use when every journalist asks exactly the same questions. But you never know, you may learn a few things if you tune in and have a little faith in Californians.

-
1 (can't you tell I'd be lost without parentheses?)

Family Nouveau NYC premiere tomorrow (oct. 1st)

2010-09-29T21:47:00.005+02:00

New Yorkers always get the best deal. Case in point, not only do they get to see Family Nouveau, Spenser Simrill's film documenting of Montreal's January 2009 European tour (and what a tour that was), but they also get the chance to win... signed perfect push-ups!! (sounds randoM? Check out the trailer below!)

of Montreal European Tour 2009: Family Nouveau Trailer from Spenser Simrill, Jr. on Vimeo.

New Yorkers, let me tell you one thing : you don't want to miss that screening, your only chance to fight the severe oM withdrawal syndroms you've been experiencing after the two shows at Terminal 5. So get your weekly dose, buy your tickets, and RSVP to the event on facebook. You will also get the chance to see behind-the-scenes footage of the Sex Karma video, featuring Nina Twin, a river and... a snake.

of Montreal on the Current

2010-09-24T08:08:00.007+02:00

Before their 1st Ave. show in Minneapolis last night, Kevin and Janelle stopped by MPR's studios to record "Flunkt Sass vs. the Rute Plume," "Tonight" and "Enemy Gene." Kevin also got interviewed.

Listen to the stream below or check it out on MPR.org (whichever one works!)

Thanks Dwarfbeat for the link!

Check out Gaelen Harlacher's 56 pictures of of Montreal's performance at Terminal 5 in NYC on Prefix Mag.

Spinner/AOL also got to talk with Kevin, but their angle seems to be pretty weird, as they only asked about the Grateful Dead (and embedded a barely audible video of oM's cover of Shakedown Street at Langerado two years ago), and "fragmented" songwriting (which barely applies to False Priest after all). I'm guessing this is just a tasty appetizer for a longer interview, or, even better, an acoustic set like they did in 2007 and 2008. Of course I could be wrong, and AOL has just lost it.

The Booty Patrol is still waiting for real, physical magazines (you know the type, the ones which destroy entire forests) to come up with interviews. If you happen to have any, please share with us so we can include them to the archives.

7 days in the life of Kevin Barnes

2010-09-22T16:45:00.007+02:00

Just found out about this through Polyvinyl (shows how much I care about what's going on in my own country) : Kevin has been blogging for Le Grand Bazart (what is it with French magazines and their lame plays-on-words for title?) since the beginning of the tour (apparently it's a 7-day stint), and even better, they've made the original versions available for the whole world to understand.

September 13th : of Parliament
September 14th : of Death & Literature Nobel Prize winners.
September 15th : of chess & mosquito repellent.
September 16th : of sharks & merlions.
September 17th : of David & Art.
September 18 : of Hermes & MJ.
September 19th : of volley ball & goulds.

More love from France came in the guise of an in-depth five-page-long interview published in Les Inrockuptibles last week, but this time you have to reactivate your French, or try the google translation, if you are brave enough.

The new Blurt magazine has a pretty long article featuring both Janelle and Kevin, but it's nearly impossible to read on janelle's official website, so we'd all be thankful for good quality scans!

Check out the really cool slideshow of the Buffalo show :

Pictures by Ben Jay! Thanks.

Tour kick-off, new interviews

2010-09-15T17:32:00.004+02:00

of Montreal kicked off their national tour on Monday night at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC, and Spin was already there to review it. Unfortunately, they seem to have caught the band on an off night, while Janelle Monae shone like the sun (and the stars, and the violet moon), and are already predicting that the "tour that will surely end with her as a headliner." Well, I'll be damned. Admittedly, quite a few fans seemed to have been let down by the performance, too, so you can't just write it off as music critics hating on the band again. of Montreal's performances are always going to be pretty polarizing events, so be sure to listen to the NPR stream below (recorded the night after - and even though there are a few dead moments - compared to the Ninjas Prove It tour, which was basically 100 minutes non-stop - nothing there could make you think the night before deserved such a write off), experience the show for yourself, and share your comments with us.

Now for another round of interviews : Cincinnasty's City Beat just posted one that isn't particularly interesting (but I'm sharing anyway), and Detroit's Metro Times have a somewhat better one up, with Kevin reminiscing about his growing up in Michigan, and offering a pretty optimistic view of our "post-race society."

NPR live webcast, Express Night Out Interview, Cemetary Gates Session

2010-09-13T22:00:00.002+02:00

NPR webcast : We were all wondering if this would happen again this year, and the answer is "fuck yes!"
Thank you NPR!

The of Montreal show at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC tomorrow will be streaming from NPR's site. Don't forget to all tune in tomorrow!

Express Night Out :
Head over there for a fantastic song-by-song interview. It always help to have a good view of what the brain and heart that created the songs were going for, and what/who actually influenced the music and lyrics you spend your days listening to. Definitely the best interview (even though it isn't one, strictly speaking) I've read in quite some time. Way to go, Express Night Out!

P4K.tv

I was going to say "watch it here!" but P4K can't be bothered to provide embed codes that work, apparently (or maybe it's the blog - it's been acting weird all day - please bear with us). So go watch Sex Karma, Coquet Coquette and Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse on their website and get a sweet, sweet preview of what the 8-member band sounds like.

Sex Karma video

2010-09-12T14:02:00.003+02:00

Here's a little teaser of what to expect... You know it's going to be fanstastic, because Spenser Simrill manned the camera and the editing.
Apparently the video is nearing completion. Let's just hope it's not only a background video for the live show, but that it'll get an official release too.

False Priest Tour Setlist

2010-09-12T09:04:00.003+02:00

Well, maybe they won't actually play this every single night, but this is how they chose to kick off the tour last night. As announced, Athenians got Black Lion Massacre (waiting for audio or video of that one with sweaty hands and racing heart), the 13 False Priest songs, but not one from Skeletal Lamping (ouch). MJ is a Michael Jackson medley/tribute (Thriller/Wanna Be Startin' Something/PYT), Tonight has got to be the Sibylle Baier cover, and they also added Heimdalsgate and Ghetto World.

Thanks Michael (and Liz) for the setlist!

Interviews and previews

2010-09-11T14:22:00.006+02:00

As planned, this week has been full of interesting news and interviews and just about everything you've come to expect in the week leading to the official release date of an of Montreal album in 2010.

First and foremost, take a look at this great video from Rolling Stone - you'll learn quite a few things about the upcoming tour. I wonder how much of this Europe will get to see (my guess, around 10%)

Rolling Stone also published a small accompanying piece, and I've been told they gave False Priest a great review. The mainstream suddenly looks a little bit more vibrant and friendly.

Spin Magazine forgot their cameras back home, but they still posted a really good piece on Sex Karma, and allowed you to download the song too. The comment section is disturbingly empty as of now, so go ahead and praise the song because right now it's kind of depressing to see that no-one had anything to say about it. Damn.

Pitchfork came up with a new idea for interviews this fall, and it's actually a really good one. The rule of the game is to let the artist present the music they were into at ages 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 (that's where we'll stop right now in Kevin's case, but I can't wait for the Lou Reed edition). Head over to P4K right now, and see how much his tastes have changed, and whether or not you went through the same phases.

Beer Melodies posted a pretty lengthy interview with Kevin - including good, relevant questions (thought I'd mention that, because it's actually pretty rare), but I've been told that the introductory paragraphs were dreadfully challenging, so you may want to scroll down the page if you find yourself in a hurry, or if your brain has low tolerance for verbosity. (in which case, I'm not sure how you can actually stand to listen to an oM album from start to finish).

The Agit Reader has another interview with Kevin, and it's got a few revealing facts about the Controller Sphere EP that will be released next year. It looks like we're in for a few suprises and changes of pace. Exciting.

Boston-based paper The Phoenix also came up with two articles to promote both the album and the upcoming Boston show. They seem to be both centered around the same interview, and while hardcore fans may not learn anything new, they're still worth the 10 minutes it'll take you to read them. I mean, there's talk of a kaleidoscopic trenchcoat, what could possibly beat that?

And last but not least (if you live in DC), Brightest Young Things (and Gibson Guitars, and VitaminWater, and other sponsors that are too numerous for me to remember) are planning a lunch with all eight members of the band. Is this a genius move or a corny one? Try your luck, find out and report back! Apparently all you have to do is be one of the first hundred people to buy False Priest on September 14th. Details here.

Also, in almost-related news, Jamey will be touring this fall too, as the opening act for the Azure Ray long-awaited reunion tour!
Check out the dates here.

Listen to False Priest on NPR, rehearsals under way

2010-09-06T08:04:00.005+02:00

For those who haven't pre-ordered it and got it in the mail yet, False Priest is now streaming from NPR's First Listen page!

With the first leg of the False Priest tour starting in less than a week (excitement!), Dottie and Davey have been hard at work trying to get us fans up to date. Dottie shared a few pictures on the of Montreal facebook page this morning/last night (and promised more!), and I think you may be able to see them even if you don't have an account... Davey created a twitter account to keep us posted during the tour.
How lucky are we?

Total Darkness vs. Blinding Light

2010-08-28T13:52:00.002+02:00

Head over to Total Darkness vs. Blinding Light to read their Q&A with Kevin. It's definitely worth it.

The Controller Sphere to be released next year

2010-08-21T12:38:00.004+02:00

Yes, you read that right! Always one move ahead of us all, Kevin explained in an Express Night Out interview that he and Jon Brion chose to cut quite a few songs from False Priest, but that some of them will eventually be released as an EP called The Controller Sphere.

False Priest to be released on... cassette.

2010-08-19T10:07:00.010+02:00

In a typical back to the future move, Joyful Noise announced earlier today that they would release False Priest on tape. For $10, not only will you get the tape, but also a digital download code (in mp3 AND flac, for your discriminating ears), and a 12-panel booklet featuring artwork from the Barneses (David and Nina of course, but apparently Kevin, too, which is scary to those who remember that NSFW Q magazine drawing session from October 2008).
This new format will probably please every single one of you stuck with a Toyota Corolla or a VW Jetta from the 80s. Joyful Noise thinks there's about 500 of you out there, as they won't be making more. Now let's hope they don't drop the live DVD for a betamax tape.
You can pre-order the tape right now on Joyful Noise's website.

Here's a little sample of the cassette artwork :

Coquet Coquette Music Video

2010-08-18T19:10:00.005+02:00

It's been a week since of Montreal posted their e-flyer advertising the release of the Coquet Coquette music video, and here it is, on time!
While it definitely is distracting the viewer from the music, you have to admit this is a huge improvement on just about every video they've made since Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse. Join the fight!

In other news, two False Priest reviews dropped today, one from Stereogum (who don't think too highly of the album apparently, but then they weren't too keen on Skeletal Lamping either if I remember rightly), and a dithyrambic one from Obscure Sound.
Yesterday French blog My Head Is A Jukebox posted a short interview with Kevin, in which nothing new is revealed, apart from plans of writing an "album around the nylon string guitar," but only if "someone very close to [him] dies." Oh my.

Kevin solo show at Respectable Street (#2)

2010-08-10T17:18:00.007+02:00

The Booty Patrol doesn't post about every single show (otherwise I'd call this my full time job, and I would be desperately looking for interns), but there are times when you can see a little magic cloud forming over a particular date, and that's exactly what happened after Kevin's solo set was rescheduled and moved to Respectable Street. Not that a solo show as the headlining act of some local outdoor festival sounded bad, but the move to a much more intimate setting definitely helped raise our expectations. Fortunately, the Booty Patrol has full-time correspondents in Florida (though they're more like ultra mobile correspondents), and they came back with beautiful pictures (thanks Gaelen!) and videos (thanks Michael!) to share, and lots of memories to cherish (they could share them with you too, if they were not so busy with things like life and a real job).

Click on the picture to see more of these :

Here's a review of the show and videos (including the shiver-inducing 10 minutes 42 seconds of The Past Is A Grotesque Animal) :

It is rumored that the whole show was filmed by a some bald dude who goes by the name of Gingerman, and that it will be posted somewhere at some point... I'll keep you posted, of course... I mean, look at this setlist!

Also, The Booty Patrol would like to send very warm get-well wishes to one of our Florida friends and correspondent who got in a car crash last week and had to miss out on the show. Hope you make the quickest recovery in the world, Julie.

Kevin solo show at Respectable Street.

2010-07-30T12:17:00.006+02:00

So the Lake Worth It festival appearance was cancelled? Who cares anymore??
Kevin will be playing a "rare intimate show" at the famed Respectable Street club in West Palm Beach on August 8th. RSVP and all you need to know on facebook.

Also, in case you've missed the twits, Spenser Simrill Jr's documentary, Family Nouveau, will be screened in Seattle over the weekend, as part of the Northwest Film Forum, along with Major Organ. Tickets and information here. The Stranger (which is the best source of information available online, whatever the subject, hands down) has a review of it up on their blog.
Special thanks to Jeffrey for the link.

of Montreal on Fallon

2010-07-30T09:43:00.015+02:00

In case you missed it last night (or never had the chance to watch it in the first place), here's "Sex Karma" live on Jimmy Fallon (many thanks to MrSquig for the rip).

(thanks to Tom who informed me the link was down - though not from where I live...
Here's the re-up, but the groovy outro is missing and I've no idea why, in the meantime, you can download the whole video and mp3s of the two songs they performed.)

The band (now an 8-piece apparently, not counting Solange), also recorded Coquet Coquette on the set.

Still want more? Head over to the Burlington Free Press website for an interview with Kevin. For those of us who are a little bit worried about False Priest getting hijacked by Jon Brion, the good news is that apparently not that much was done in LA, apart from adding real drums and "improving" the sound, though I'm not quite sure how anything could sound better than Skeletal Lamping to human ears.

Two new interviews

2010-07-22T14:18:00.004+02:00

1) Kevin on Land of Nod Experiment :

Not a lot to go on in this interview, but it's got to be the first one in about a month, so it's worth its own post. Or maybe not... but still, people of Michigan, rejoice, because the band will be debuting four new songs (not sure if that's four totally new songs or if it includes those that have been around for about a year and a half now) this weekend, and you'll also be introduced to new band members (still not quite the 10-piece band that was announced, but we're getting there).
Kevin also confirms that False Priest will be less fragmented and a return to a more traditional pop/rock song format, which will probably please a lot of people but kind of bums me out.

Check out the whole interview at mlive.com.

2) Davey @ Evolved Weirdness.
A nice little chat with Davey that must have occured right after their last show in New Orleans (was that early June?) - mainly about of Montreal's live performances.
Find out where Davey gets his cool stage outfits there.

3) And don't forget of Montreal will be on Fallon with Solange playing a track from False Priest on July 29th. Set your VCRs.

Grab your avatars here!!!!

2010-07-20T18:51:00.005+02:00

Here is the first batch of avatars for you kids to promote False Priest on your blog or on forums (or in whatever fantasy world you live in...)
A simple right click-save image should do the trick, but let us know if something goes wrong.

new ones :

A huge huge thank you, well done, clap-clap, pat-on-the-back, wink-wink to Don for making this happen.

False Priest Trailer

2010-07-15T00:07:00.010+02:00

(it's late and I'm tired, so I'm not going to say how amazing this all sounds - oh fuck I just did, and I'm not going to elaborate on the title of this piece either... but one day... )

48 hours later...

Thanks to newcomer Bossanova for his lightning-quick video-sharing skills, and letting us know that the trailer features samples of "Our Riotous Defects", "Hydra Fancies," "Godly Intersex", "Like a Tourist" and "Enemy Gene." (he must have heard it through the grapevine or something). September 3rd cannot come soon enough.

"Depraved Valet" and Stereogum interview

2010-07-12T19:28:00.002+02:00

Stereogum just posted an interview with Kevin and a new track from Chuck Lightning's compilation album, "We Bumped Our Heads Against The Clouds" - available with this month's issue of The Believer.
"Depraved Valet" was written by Roman GianArthur and features Kevin on vocals. It is a pretty slow and soulful number, quite in the same vein as "Hydra Fancies." It probably wouldn't feel out of place on False Priest.
Head over there to download the track and check out what Kevin has to say about the Wondaland Arts Society and working with Jon Brion.

2nd Fanfare for Elephant 6

2010-07-08T13:58:00.005+02:00

The beautifully creative people of the Townhall have released their 2nd cover compilation last month, entitled Second Fanfare for Elephant 6. It features quite a few of Montreal covers, including "You've Got A Gift" by everyone's favorite, Akyllic Love, a spot-on cover of "The Past Is A Grotesque Animal" by Freemdom (whoever that is), a string-laden "Psychotic Feeling" by Lenn9on9 (possibly my favorite of the lot - it really adds something to the original version), "Requiem For OMM2" by Zakk Zielke, and finally a lo-fi rendering of "Lysergic Bliss" by AceAzzameen and Office Party.
Many thanks to Abel for keeping the elephant 6 spirit alive online, and to everyone who participated.

You can download the 40 tracks free there, or stream it there.

Tour Dates Announced, new track available

2010-07-07T15:50:00.004+02:00

As promised, the band posted the official dates for their upcoming tour today.

Here's the recap :

of Montreal with Janelle Monáe:

09-13 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club

09-14 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club

09-15 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory

09-16 Boston, MA - House of Blues

09-17 New York, NY - Terminal 5

09-18 New York, NY - Terminal 5

09-19 Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom

09-21 Covington, KY - Madison Theatre

09-22 Urbana, IL - Canopy Club

09-23 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue

09-24 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre

09-26 Nashville, TN - Cannery Ballroom

10-21 St. Louis, MO - Pageant

10-22 Omaha, NE - Sokol Auditorium

10-23 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall

10-24 Denver, CO - The Ogden Theater

10-25 Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex

10-27 Seattle, WA - The Paramount

10-28 Portland, OR - Roseland

10-30 Los Angeles, CA - Palladium

11-01 Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theatre

11-02 Dallas, TX - The Granada Theatre

11-03 Austin, TX - East Side Drive In

11-04 Houston, TX - Numbers

11-05 Oxford, MS - The Lyric

of Montreal in Europe, support unknown :

10-03 Dublin, Ireland - Tripod

10-04 Glasgow, England - QMU

10-05 Manchester, England - Academy 2

10-06 London, England - Koko

10-07 Paris, France - Cigale

10-08 Tourcoing, France - Grand Mix

10-09 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg Max

10-10 Berlin, Germany - Admiralspalast (Studio)

10-12 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser

10-13 Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller

10-14 Copenhagen, Denmark - Amager Bio

10-15 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique / Orangerie

of Montreal, support unknown :

10-31 Tucson, AZ - The Rialto

11-06 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse

11-07 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse

The Believer magazine also has a CD available with this month's issue, and it features a version of "Hydra Fancies" (probably a raw mix) and another track on which Kevin collaborated (on what level, no clue). The CD was curated by Janelle Monae's side-kick Chuck Lightning. Time to check out your favorite newsstand.
I've been hearing great things about this track - and contrary to Coquet Coquette everybody seems to love it, but I personally have only listened to it once (because I'm weak), but I'm trying (hard, very hard) not to listen to any bits and save the surprise for when I get my CD and put it on from start to finish. I'd be happy to skip the heat wave and fast forward to September 3rd. It just can't come soon enough.

The band also took part in an official photo shoot yesterday, and this is how the whole oM family wants to look like going into the False Priest media madness. They want to look, well, white. Pure and innocent in a totally creepy way. Or maybe they want to look dead. What do you think?

picture by Patrick Heagney.

You can also get two different remixes of Coquet Coquette in digital format, on emusic if you're smart enough to have an account, otherwise I'm sure it's on iTunes, if you like to get ripped off, and use a site that also rips off the artists. But hey, I hear Steve Jobs needs the money to invent phones you can't phone with. Not that I'm complaining, when I die I want to be cremated with my iPhone so I keep on updating this blog from the other side. But, back to the topic at hand, the artwork is amazing. What a shame they don't plan on releasing this as a 7 or 12"

EDIT (July 13th): Yip Deceiver, one of the mysterious artists who got to remix Coquet Coquette turns out to be Davey's new musical endeavor. Check him/them out!

False Priest

2010-06-25T21:28:00.010+02:00

A couple of days after the first artwork leak in the history of recorded music, Pitchfork was the first media outlet to announce the details we'd all been waiting for.

They do not offer much in terms of things we didn't already know (because that's who we are, people who figure things out before they even happen), but they have the official track list (I'm quite disappointed to notice that the longest title only has 5 words, none of which are in a foreign language, or refer to some obscure mythological creature, or just plain made up) and the release date : September 14th in the US, and 13th in Europe (what they don't know is that stores are closed in France on Mondays, so it's still going to be the 14th for some of us, but whatever...)

01 I Feel Ya' Strutter
02 Our Riotous Defects [ft. Janelle Monáe]
03 Coquet Coquette
04 Godly Intersex
05 Enemy Gene [ft. Janelle Monáe]
06 Hydra Fancies
07 Like a Tourist
08 Sex Karma [ft. Solange Knowles]
09 Girl Named Hello
10 Famine Affair
11 Casualty of You
12 Around the Way
13 You Do Mutilate?

The real treat, though, is that you can download the first single, Coquet Coquette, right now. If you have been following this blog and the band over the past year, this song will sound very familiar to you as it has been road-tested and performed several times acoustically since April 2009. If you haven't already done so, you can download various live version of this very song here. One thing is for sure, the production style is everything Kevin and Jon Brion had wished for ("That was the goal: To make something that had that low end but also was my thing, an of Montreal record." - P4K interview), but whether or not the fans will like it remains to be seen. As a matter of fact, some are already complaining. (because that's who we are, the kind of people who argue about production within 5 minutes of a song being released)

But enough of this, I see you standing there with your wallet wondering, can I get a False Priest bathrobe? Can I get a False Priest doormat? Can I get a set of 4 False Priest hubcaps? Well, not quite, but even if the collection is less elaborate than the Skeletal Lamping one (which is 20% off on PV right now, just so you know), we are still getting a decent amount of merchandising to choose from (each include mp3 downloads): obviously, CD and vinyl (black or red), amazing-looking shirt, and for a mere $40 a CD package deal that includes

1 CD
1 20-page-long booklet full of David's & Nina's drawings
1 t-Shirt
8 buttons
4 stickers
2 magnets
1 2 posters
1 Skeletal Lamping CD
1 Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? CD
1 Icons, Abstract Thee CDEP.

I kid you not. If you're not getting this, you're either out of your mind or a victim of the recession (quite possibly both - in which case, find some old guitar, learn 3 chords, and go busking and don't stop until you get 40 bucks). The LP package deal is just $10 more expensive.
Of course you're going to tell me that you already have Hissing Fauna & Skeletal Lamping, and I'm going to answer that your little brother, your distant cousin, your neighbor who keeps on blasting Nickleback just to piss you off, or the cute girl that always smiles at you at the bus stop probably don't. Think about it.

Check out the full collection and all the options available to you here.

old songs, new songs

2010-06-17T18:29:00.007+02:00

With only 13 days left to start their False Priest pre-order campaign, Polyvinyl still managed to catch us off guard with a special The Past Is A Grotesque Animal release. The song has been remastered, and the b-side features the version you could hear in Spike Jonze's movie I'm Here. The good thing is that the artwork looks amazing, and the bad news is that it's already sold out. How did that happen, I've no idea, but apparently I was the only one who wasn't excited about the unexpected release of a three-year-old song, no matter how fantastically epic the song is. Congratulations to all 500 of you who got it straight away, when the rest of us will have to wait for it to show up on ebay.
Talking about three-year-old songs, oM fan and director Daniel Arthur contacted me with his pretty cool video for "We Were Born The Mutants Again With Leafling." Watch it here, and make sure you watch the whole thing because there's an amazing twist towards the end.

of Montreal - We Were Born The Mutants Again With Leafling from Daniel Arthur on Vimeo.

In recent news, and in case you're still not used to The Booty Patrol's amazing facebook and twitter features, you may have missed out on a few pictures, articles and interviews... First, there was You Ain't No Picasso's photo coverage of the False Priest recording sessions in Los Angeles. It actually looks like Jon and Kevin weren't doing much apart from sitting around drinking coffee and playing bass, but I'm sure that's what you do when you're just waiting for the magic to happen. Keep up the hard work, guys.
Secondly, Spin posted a great interview with Kevin last week. It is actually much better than the one Pitchfork posted today, but both give you a rather clear indication of what False Priest will sound like, and what the touring plans are, and a lot of other information that I found exciting when I first read them but can't quite remember what they were now. Uh-oh.
Thirdly, a few dates have been added for the summer. The whole band is playing two festivals and a venue, and Kevin is headlining the Lake Worth It Festival on August 7th. And when I say Kevin is headlining, I mean him, on his own, as a solo act. This hasn't happened in quite some time (SXSW '08?), so it should pretty interesting to see how he pulls it off, and whether his twitvid covers are not-so-secret rehearsals.

That's all for now, folks. Here's to wishing The Booty Patrol's next post is some legit False Priest information and a little less rambling.

~~~~ EDIT (later that day) ~~~~

According to Pitchfork, Major Organ and the Adding Machine, a movie featuring just about everyone who has had anything to do with the Elephant 6 collective, will be released on Orange Twins on September 14th. Almost ten years after it was shot. Here's a little teaser.

And the winner was...

2010-06-02T17:33:00.003+02:00

Remember a few weeks ago when Matt Picasso announced this crazy contest of sorts? Well, it turns out that the winner of the two free tickets was our very own Riding Joe from NYC, but there was also the record-shopping experience with Bryan, and even though Matt couldn't make it due to illness (I hope you get better soon and that you've seen the last of this awful disease, Matt), he still posted a very interesting follow-up on his blog yesterday. Read all about Bryan's (surprising?) choices here, and find out new records to love (and if you claim you've already heard them all, I simply won't believe one word of it).

The very very last leg of the Skeletal Lamping tour is coming to an end this very night in Carrboro, NC, but fear not, Polyvinyl has already announced that False Priest will be available for pre-order sometime this month, which means that there will be lots and lots to report over the summer : artwork, track list, first single and its crazy video... Oh! Anticipation!

Take a look at hughshows' fantastic slideshow from the Pittsburgh show last week.

Nina's Website is now up & running

2010-05-28T19:29:00.006+02:00

She has a blog, a tweeter account, a facebook account, a myspace account, an Etsy store, a good ol' mailbox (I assume), but there obviously was something missing : a real website!
You can now visit geminitactics.com and learn a lot more about Nina's projects.
And as if that wasn't cool enough, you'll also learn that when of Montreal starts touring in support of False Priest, you won't be going to a show, you won't be going to two shows (Janelle + oM), but you'll be going to two shows + "The False Priest touring exhibition." Lucky you, America!
There are also a few works of art that I'd never seen before, and I can't help but wonder if some of them are False Priest-related. I wish they would at least leak the artwork. Or the tracklist. Just a little something... The Booty Patrol is getting fidgety.

New song performed last night.

2010-05-24T17:29:00.007+02:00

Once again the sound quality doesn't really do the band justice (or at least I hope so, if they sound like this they have a huge problem), but you can tell this new song - tentatively titled "Famine Affair" - has quite a classic late 70s rock feel to it, with some really nice guitar work from BP.
Thanks to André at the Townhall for his youtubing skills, and whoever taped it in the first place.

I'm reposting the two interviews I twittered about yesterday : a really short one with Kevin via Tulsa World, and one in which Bryan discusses False Priest and band politics (for lack of a better phrase) at Kentucky.com. Please ignore the journalist's comments - he obviously hadn't done his homework prior to writing the article.
On Read The Hook, Kevin gives us a few clues as to what False Priest is going to sound like : a less fragmented record you'll want to listen to on a high-end hi-fi system as opposed to your crappy laptop speakers.
Also, Spin was in New Orleans to review the band's first show : less theatrical elements, more good old rock'n'roll. Good call on likening the new oM sound to Suede, it all wasn't just happening in my head, then.

BETTER SOUNDING VERSION OF FAMINE AFFAIR :

Upcoming Tour, New Drummer

2010-05-20T18:56:00.011+02:00

In an interview with Quickdfw, Bryan revealed that the lineup had changed since their last tour. Their last show at Columbia University had been quite conspicuously drumless and Jameyless, and now it turns out that Clayton Rychlik has taken over drumming duties. To be perfectly honest I had never heard of him, and a quick google search revealed that he's a member of Tallahassee's experimental jazz band the Arch Trio, and that he also used to be in a band called Langtry.
Beeps gave a couple of other interviews, with the Columbia Tribune and Vox Magazine, talking about the upcoming tour, False Priest, and his Wings cover band.

Also, and in case you've missed Kevin's gazillion tweets about it, Janelle Monae's The ArchAndroid came out earlier this week, and it features a collaboration with oM called Make The Bus, which (in my opinion) sounds just like a simplified version of something that could have ended up on Skeletal Lamping. Anyway, it's got a chorus that is sure to invade each of your neuron. The album is getting great reviews from basically every paper/magazine/blog (scoring an amazing 93 points on metacritic) and for once The Booty Patrol agrees with critics, but if you're still not convinced it's worth buying, you can stream the whole album on Janelle's myspace.

Rock'n'Roll couple of the year

2010-05-16T18:22:00.008+02:00

Everybody at the Booty Patrol (on the Booty Patrol? with the Booty Patrol?) agrees on one thing : Nick & Dottie are "epic cute" (Tim), and "super-mega cuteness" (Kimberly), and everybody fondly reminisces about the winks and the smiles, a few lucky ones witnessed the proposal at the Hollywood Bowl last year (Chloe and Rob), and we even have a die-hard Pecan Sandies fan (that would be Elias), but when it came to celebrating the union in true Booty Patrol style, well, we all kind of stalled. And when you stall, what do you do? You put together a slideshow! Well, I can't vouch for you, but I sure can make a silly slideshow. So here you go, enjoy the ballad of Nick & Dottie in 2 minutes and 18 seconds.

Win tickets to the Lexington, Ky show and a shopping adventure!

2010-05-10T16:09:00.004+02:00

Not only is the wonderful Matt Jordan the Man Who Archives Every Cover Ever Played By oM (and The Man Who Single-handedly Brought oM Back To Lexington), but he also came up with a rather fantastic idea for a competition : comment on his blog for a chance to win two, no FOUR tickets to the show and a $50 voucher to shop for CDs before the show. With a little guidance from BP and whoever else can wake up early enough and feels like it on that one day. How wonderful is that? It does make up for the fact that nothing ever happens in the Bluegrass State, right?

Click here for everything else you need to know, and good luck!

New Song

2010-04-29T15:38:00.009+02:00

When The Booty Patrol's special reporter in NYC sent me her report from of Montreal's Columbia University show last weekend, she did mention (among other things I'm sitting on right now) that she thought they had played a couple of new songs... How new? Coquet Coquet new, or really never heard of? Well, very very new apparently, as Matt (aka ThatKid, aka You Ain't No Picasso) just posted a video of an as-yet-unheard song, that he decided to call "Ghetto World" (his title, not Kevin's). Check it out (if only those Ivy Leaguers could have kept quiet for two fucking minutes - is that too much to ask?)!

If you are not following our Twitter or Facebook page, you may have missed out on yet another great Picasso move, since it's his picture which illustrates Rolling Stones article about "indie turning into hi-fi" or whatever (they obviously have never heard of, say, The Happy Mondays' "Yes Please!", which was, at the time it was released, indie rock's most expensive record - so expensive it led to the demise of Factory Records - but I'm getting sidetracked). Thanks Kenneth for the scan!

In other random news, it has been confirmed that the band is making a guest appearance on Janelle Monae's upcoming album (The Archandroid, out May 18th - but you can pre-order it right now). Thanks to Elias at the Townhall for sharing.

Band of Ballers 2010

2010-04-23T11:41:00.006+02:00

of Montreal will make a very special appearance in Atlanta on May 1st. As you may know (but most likely not), Converse has been hosting a special streetball tournament for musicians for a couple of years, and of Montreal is one of the many bands/DJs/crews on the list this year.

As you can see in the video below, they mean business. I'm quite concerned that no-one on the team is over 6ft, but I'm sure the costumes (or lack of - uh, Jamey?) and the glitter makeup will give them that special edge (though I wouldn't put it past the Black Lips to puke on their opponents, and who can top that)

Here is the official poster for this special event :

The rules seem simple enough : 3 on 3 (who's going to sit it out, uh?), Bracket style, Half-court, play to 10 and win by 2. Do they have a chance at this? Well it is time for them to prove that all the sports talk and the push-ups were not just for show.
If you can't afford a ticket, the Smoking Session is giving away 5, so head over there to enter the competition and show TeoM (that would be Team of Montreal) some love on May 1st.

Time for Kevin to deliver his "jumpshot with sparkly nails" and "freak their minds."

A preview of the upcoming Florida dates

2010-04-02T18:32:00.003+02:00

Hear what Jamey has to say about the upcoming Florida tour, and Spenser Simrill's documentary, Family Nouveau," which will be shown at the Tallahasse Film Festival on April 5th. I also have it on (very) good authority that fire Zuave will open for oM again in Orlando on April 10th.

And in case you are not following what's happening on twitter via the twitter box (on your left), there has been a few good articles lately : the first one was Booty Patroller Joann J.'s musings on the band, and the second good find was a review of Jon Brion's March 26th show, during which he and Kevin covered the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" and John Lennon's "Mother".

oM in the new Spike Jonze movie

2010-03-27T21:51:00.005+01:00

Many thanks to Lickthestars who sent me this piece of news last week : the new Spike Jonze movie features The Past Is A Grotesque Animal. Rumor has it that it is a new version of the song, but I haven't been able to verify this myself due to internet issues. Still, you can watch it online for free, though it only streams once every two hours so it's kind of like going to the movies, you need to schedule it. Something I haven't been able to do.

In other news I've been sitting on, Brandon (aka RedBaron) has interviewed B.P. recently. You can read the interview here, and while you're at it, you should check out Brandon's own band. This kid's got talent and he seems to be growing more and more confident with the songwriting and recording.

Of course we are all holding our breaths for False Priest, which is being completed in Los Angeles right now. There has been a lot of talking about creating banners to post on our social networks and blogs, or maybe even getting a street team together - so if you have any idea how to help promote the record, now is your chance to be heard.

Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast

2010-03-10T17:58:00.003+01:00

Stereogum has already posted a video of the song!

According to BP, neither this song nor Brush Brush Brush were actually written by Kevin, but he did record the versions we get to hear on the show. And in case you're wondering who is hiding inside the costumes :
Kevin = Banana
BP = Rice
Davey = Apple(sauce)
Michael = Toast
Dottie, David and Dan = Germs
Jamey = Sick Boy

"Entrevista con of Montreal"

2010-02-24T16:44:00.003+01:00

Would you believe me if I told you I had been waiting for this to show up since October 2008? No?! Well you'd be wrong, because I totally did, and good things only come to those who wait, right? Below is an interview of Mr. Kevin Barnes (shot on October 16th, 2008 if I remember rightly) with Spanish blog indienauta. I'm sure it's a great blog but it's kind of in Spanish and its only achievement is to remind me that those 8 years "learning" the language were a total waste of time and government money. Anyways, the interview is in English with Spanish subtitles, and I'm not sure it was worth tracking over the internet for a year and a half, but hey, I did it, so I might as well share... After all no-one gets to see Kevin drink from a can of coke in slow motion every day (did they really have to do that when they could have asked questions about Pamplona bulls?)

Entrevista con Of Montreal from Indienauta.com on Vimeo.