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Words: Aliza Feder | Photos: Ed Oliver

The University of Wisconsin-Madison opened the latest incarnation of its Union South with the fittingly ever-evolving (but not actually Canadian) artsy/soulful/poppish indie rock group, of Montreal.

The brand-spanking-new Varsity Hall’s acoustics proved fitting for Of Montreal’s intricate musical arrangements. The performance opened with “Slave Translator,” a tasty preview of the soon to drop EP, “The Controller Sphere.” The show then bounded through some favorites from the band’s latest album, False Priest, and saved some perennial favorites such as “St. Exquisite’s Confessions” and “Labyrinthian Pomp” to keep everyone spastic and rapturous, ending with the obligatory and much beloved “For Our Elegant Caste.” The people of Madison were also treated to a lovely interlude of drummer Jamey Huggins singing an old jazz tune.

The performance flaunted a delightful mix of grotesque and cerebral performance art with unabashed fun. Human/rooster creatures in spandex bodysuits boldly presented themselves for audience groping. Most memorably, David Barnes, brother of the band’s front man and major part of of Montreal’s aesthetic concept, embodied the pent rage of “She’s a Rejector” by thrashing his way out of a straight jacket with blood spewing from his mouth.

In essence, an appalling good show transpired.

Buy: Of Montreal – False Priest
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MP3: Of Montreal – “Coquette Coquette”

By Jon Stone | @jwstone

Pygmalion Day 1

“This is an interaction!” announced the man in the top hat and tux at the opening of Champaign-Urbana’s Pygmalion festival. “Get your tweeting and your facebooking out of the way because you will be needing your hands free for this interaction!” The PA system boomed and the crowd screamed and with that as a cue, two gigantic projections of Janelle Monae‘s head appeared on screen and told us the story — the legend — of the ArchAndroid. At the end of this Oz-like encounter, One commandment was levied on the crowd: “you will dance or die.”

And we did. And it was good.

Pygmalion kicked off last night at Canopy Club and when I say kicked off, I mean kicked off. Janelle Monae was incredible. Her record ArchAndroid is groundbreaking, but her performance of the material is truly outstanding. The key word there, I think, is performance. There is no shoegazing here, no moments in between songs with awkward banter. From start to finish (and not unlike a theatre performance), Monae and her band perform. It’s refreshing and the music is great, so it is also fantastically fun. Part of that fun had to do with the visual projections that accompanied the performance. During “Cold War” images of Muhammad Ali in the ring were projected: punches thrown and paint splattering to the beat which then modulated into a lightsaber fight. Boxing and lightsabers? Yes! I also loved the tune “Locked Down” which manages to mix Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson in a single bundle, and of course “Tightrope” moved the crowd from thrilled into ecstatic. A mid-set cover of the old standard (By Charlie Chaplin, which seems appropriate) “Smile” was also an appropriate and palate cleansing number.

The only moment of her set that sagged for me was her duet with of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes. His presence on stage seemd a bit forced and opportunistic and, frankly, his voice is so outstripped my Monae, that it ends up kind of difficult to listen to.

Which is part of the reason I left before of Montreal’s set. Watching a band get upstaged is always a little awkward.

My last word here is this: if you have the opportunity to see Janelle Monae, take it. Her show is worth the price of admission and then some.
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From there, I made the short journey over to the Highdive in Champaign to see Built to Spill’s set (because as an avid indie-rock fan, I can’t live too long without my shoegazing and awkward stage banter).

It was my first time seeing Built to Spill who had, until a year or so ago, flown beneath my radar. And, to tell you the truth, for me their records, while good, leave something to be desired dynamically. They are the kind of band that has me pining after a live performance where I know things like volume and messiness and noise translate so much better and feel so much more authentic.

Built to Spill didn’t disappoint in this regard. When the band opened with 1999′s “The Plan,” I immediately had that “Now I get it” moment and it carried throughout the evening. Their sound strikes me as a distillation of everything I loved about “alternative” rock in the 90s (dichotomous heavy/soft guitars, chunky solos, etc.) with what eventually became the “best” of indie-pop in the 2000s (messiness, complex simplicity [if that makes sense], etc.). I left feeling bad that it’s taken me ten years to see them–they seem like a crucial touchstone between the old(ish) and the new.

It’s impossible to listen to Built to Spill and not hear their influence on other successful acts. I was especially struck by how much Doug Martsch’s vocal style is Ben Gibbard-esque. Maybe Death Cab was the original Owl City. Ruminate on that one for a moment. Boise and Seattle are only a day’s car ride away. (Actually, I think that those kind of influences are of the more friendly, apprenticeship variety. Don’t they call that the “Northwest Sound” or something?)

Here were a few of the standouts from the night on Built to Spill’s setlist: “Randy Described Eternity,” “Liar,” “Twin Falls” (not just a Ben Folds Five song!), “Time Trap” (maybe my favorite of the night), “Distopian Dream Girl”

And they also covered the Grateful Dead’s “Ripple.” I had to look that one up, Ryan.

I look forward to seeing them again soon.

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Tonight I’m looking forward to our local string band, the Mean Lids and, of course, Those Darlins. The later evening will be full of more great bands as well. More tomorrow!

By Alex Schaaf

It’s not easy being an of Montreal fan. For the beginner, there are several hurdles to clear before you can claim yourself a devoted follower. First, you’ve got to get over the vast range of material that Kevin Barnes has produced over the last decade; from cutesy pop (The Gay Parade) to electro rock suites (Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?) to sensual funk (False Priest), the band has recorded in vastly different styles over the years. It takes a little bit of work to be able to recognize Barnes in each of these eras.

Secondly, there’s the matter of reconciling lyrics that can be as nakedly bare as “I’m in a crisis/I need help/Come on mood shift, shift back to good again” with lyrics that are, well, just naked: “I want to make you come/200 times a day.” On Hissing Fauna, Barnes’ lyrics were a stark portrayal of a depression that came after his relationship broke down. On the new False Priest, they tend towards the gleefully sexual, as inhibitions break down and the phrase “female erection” is tossed around like nothing.

Another hurdle for the rookie of Montreal fan to overcome is the live show, and this is the hardest one to come by for many. On the records, Barnes is all by himself, crafting collections of songs that are intimate, highly personal and (usually) brilliant demonstrations of his incredible imagination. On stage, however, Barnes opts for the all-out bizarre extravaganza that the of Montreal live show has become. As leader, Barnes rides horses, he strips down to (literally) nothing, he is carried in by assistants in elaborate costume, he gleefully prances around stage, unencumbered by any of the instruments he so masterfully plays on the records, handing those off to his capable band mates instead.

While some (myself included) tend to enjoy the live show as a separate entity from the record, and appreciate how Barnes is creating an “event” that takes people out of their normal lives, detractors (myself included, sometimes) complain that the costumes and the skits and the face paint take away from the music. I’ve had several people tell me that they saw of Montreal live and were turned off by the “performance art” that was taking place; they just wanted to see the band play the great songs that they had heard on the record.

I tend to fall in the middle of these two camps. I first fell in love with of Montreal after listening to Hissing Fauna over and over a few years ago. As Barnes’ most personal, intimate record, I was blown away by how he could sing such simple lines as “There’s the girl that left me bitter/Want to pay some other girl/To just walk up to her and hit her/But I can’t, I can’t, I can’t” and it would work so well. I wished I had the skill to be able to express myself in such an effective way. Thus, when I went to the first live show, I wanted Barnes and the band to take these songs seriously. The songs were important to me, and I wanted them to be important to the band. Instead, it seemed like they were making light of the songs, as everything was turned into one joyous romp; the crowd of teenagers dancing along to every song in the same way, Barnes jumping around with his wireless mic, goading on the crowd to dance more. This is where I find myself on the side of the “lose the costumes, play the songs” camp.

But in other instances, I’m on the other side. That is what happened Saturday night at Terminal 5 in Manhattan (oh yeah, there’s a live review in here somewhere!). Coming off the release of False Priest, Barnes organized a tour with opener Janelle Monáe, a fiery vocalist that is featured on two of the False Priest songs. It turned out to be the perfect combination of bands, and a joyous romp of a night that left most satisfied.

For many of these reviews, I’ve been comparing the NYC venue in question to a similar spot in Wisconsin, since that is where I just moved from and where many of the readers are. But for Terminal 5, there really isn’t anything to compare it to. And that’s probably a good thing for Wisconsin. Terminal 5 is a big industrial building with a stage at the end of it, like if you took Turner Hall Ballroom and stripped it of all its beauty, widened the room a bit, and added a second balcony towards the ceiling. Really, it’s not a terrible room, and it’s a good spot to have a relatively big (in fame) band and still be able to be close. The sound was not great though; as the low end kind of dissolved into one big wash that shook the room. But overall it was a decent place to see a band.

Janelle Monáe, the opening act, started promptly at 8:00 p.m. with a man in a tuxedo coming out and introducing her. From then on, she got into “character” as Janelle Monáe, a human sent here from the future to sing to us. And sing to us she did. Monáe’s specialty is in quick dance songs, evoking James Brown as she dances across the stage to a raucous musical backdrop, belting out passages that would make Beyonce blush. Monáe proved to be the perfect opener for of Montreal, as she also had skits, where people would come out in costume and accost Monáe as she sang, turning the performance into more of a performance art piece than a concert. Monáe was constantly in “character,” never breaking to speak to the audience in between songs. I usually find this annoying, but Monáe pulls it off with such sincerity and wide-eyed innocence that it ends up being charming and impressive. Closing the set with her biggest hits, “Cold War” and “Tightrope,” the crowd was eating it up, as the room became one big dance floor.

Of Montreal was up next, and they continued the theme of “performance art” that Monae started, but with a bit more of a wink and a grin. Barnes came out in a mini skirt, wearing leg tights beneath, and broke into a grin as soon as the crowd applauded his entrance. Throughout the set, Barnes was involved in many of the skits, several of which involved simulated acts of sexual intercourse, but at many times over the course of the night, the audience was given a glimpse of the “other” Kevin Barnes, the one that is married with kids and that watches SportsCenter. In this respect he differed from Monae, who refused to break from character.

Musically, the band was really at the top of their game. The last time I saw them, they had a drum sequencer that they used for about half of the songs. This time, the sequencer was gone and everything was live. This meant they increased the size of the band a bit, with eight members on stage this time. But it paid off, as the drums were bigger, the guitars were louder, and the grooves were tighter. They opened with “Coquet Coquette,” the strongest track off of False Priest, and proceeded to play through most of the new album, along with a few select past hits. The new songs sound great live; even the ones that I don’t particularly care for on the record (“Girl Named Hello,” “Godly Intersex”) were given a bit more life, as “Girl Named Hello” stretched out to a lengthy jam that gave The Late B.P. Helium a chance to showcase his guitar skills.

A couple of surprises were scattered throughout the set; at one point, Kevin left the stage and went somewhere behind stage to play a song alone on the piano. A live camera feed projected him back onto the stage, looking out onto the crowd. The song he played? I had no idea at first, but post-show research revealed it to be a cover of Sibylle Baier’s “Tonight,” a gorgeous song with a beautiful rendition by Barnes. The other surprise came during the encore, when Janelle Monae and all of her bandmates came back onstage for a massive Michael Jackson medley, as of Montreal played through Jackson’s hits while a dance-off took place on stage.

Overall, the night was a showcase of two artists that have created their own worlds, and are intent on only existing in those worlds. While legions of bands around the country are trying to latch onto the newest trend in order to get music blogs to take notice, bands like of Montreal are in their own worlds, doing what feels right to them, whether or not the outside world takes notice. And this is commendable. While a part of me still just wanted them to focus on the songs rather than the costumes, the bigger part of me knew that I’d prefer Barnes to be 100 percent in his own world than to try and compromise to fit the desires of everyone. To compromise is to dilute the message, and that message was at full force Saturday night.

MP3: Of Montreal – “Sex Karma”
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Buy: Of Montreal – False Priest

I woke up this morning, unsure if last night’s psychedelic sequence of ninjas, buddhas, tigers, soldiers and loud pop music was indeed a real occurrence, or just a really tripped out dream. I think it was a little bit of Column A and a little bit of Column B. Not sure if I was actually at a concert last night at the Riv or if it was some staged theatrical production of mysticism and eccentricities—but I’m pretty certain Of Montreal was somehow involved. That’s what my blurred out Kodak digi-pics explain, anyway.

I had a bit of an idea what was in store for me after reading various reviews of the recently kicked off tour—with the theatrics ranging from Kevin riding in on a white horse in NY to leaping out of a foam filled coffin. However, what I didn’t realize was how solid the group could hold their live sound together in the midst of all their shenanigans.

Barnes and crew took to the multi-leveled stage at around 8:00, playing out track after track without a pause for nearly two hours. OM showcased mostly Skeletal Lamping, with some oldies mixed in as well. Particularly amazing non-Skeletal tracks included “So Begins our Alabee,” “Disconnect the Dots,” “She’s a Rejector” and the closing encore number “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Loud, unapologetically disruptive and insane, the crowd rocked their dancing shoes to the max during the latter of the tracks.

Kevin Barnes is officially my newest hero. Not only does he have incredibly sexy dance moves with his hops and skips, but the dude’s got a set of lungs on him that can out-howl the wildest beast. He looks damn good in hot-pants and has got some pretty extravagantly freaky visions. Who the hell else can get away with leaping out of a coffin full of shaving cream, being escorted on stage in a golden prison carried by a pack of buddahs, singing in the midst of a self-executed hanging, and meanwhile never losing a beat skipping amongst children, ninjas, soldiers and creepy animal people?

Good times were had by all—that is, except for the two underage teen girls with Miller Lites who were escorted out by security after “forgetting their cards” in their car. Oh, the joys of all-ages shows.

Discuss: Have you seen Of Montreal on this tour? What was the most bizarre part of the whole show? What do you think of their take on “Smells Like Teen Spirit?” What do you think of Skeletal Lamping?

Myspace: Of Montreal

Find MP3′s at The Hype Machine or buy stuff from Strictly Discs | eMusic

Don’t forget to stop by Strictly Discs tonight to be some of the very first ears to hear Of Montreal’s Skeletal Lamping. We’ll be pressing play at 7PM and will have some cool giveaways as well.

Skeletal Lamping will see its official release on October 7th via Polyvinyl.

Myspace: Of Montreal