despite their name, of montreal is not just another excellent canadian band and they really hail from athens, georgia. they are pretty much one of the most unique bands around these days both musically and visually in their live shows. i saw them probably 2 years ago now, and i really dont know how they come up with this stuff. for one song, lead singer kevin barnes wore a giant foam lobster claw for the whole song (see above). didnt really do anything with it, just wore it. for another song, he climbed up a ladder that had a giant dress draped over it so that it gave the appearance of him being a giant wearing a dress. i dont think i would describe their shows as “weird”, but i would describe them as “completely random in a great way”. and from what i hear they have only gotten more completely random over time. and even if youve never heard of the group, youve definitely seen the “lets go outback tonight” commercial back in the day, whose music was based off their song “wraith pinned to the mist and other gates”. oh yeah, i forgot to mention that they also have some of the craziest song titles that would even make sufjan stevens blush.
has any heard about this yo gabba gabba soundtrack thats coming out? its pretty much the strangest kids show ever to exist, so it only makes sense that of montreal would sing a song on the soundtrack. the song, entitled “brush brush brush” can be heard here courtesy of brooklyn vegan. its actually a pretty decent song, aside from the fact that its all about brushing teeth. but even as inappropriate as some of montreal antics may be for youngsters, its still WAY more appropriate than this gem courtesy of barney.
really? lucky for us, todays track is a bit less, uh, suggestive. in fact, its pretty much completely straight forward. the song “gallery piece” from the album “skeletal lamping” became one of my favorite songs of theirs just because of the excellent contradiction in the lyrics. barnes sings of love and betrayal interspersed throughout the song. for example: i wanna hurt your pride/i wanna slap your face/i wanna paint your nails/i wanna make you scream/i wanna braid your hair/i wanna kiss your friends. the group is definitely not for everyone, but they are definitely one of a kind.
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Great song. Of Montreal is fantastic! They are basically an even more flamboyant Bowie experience. There isnt any other bands that really can be compared to their style. Keep up the great blogging!
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I love them. Lyrics aside, because we all know they’re a bit crazy, the beat and sounds always makes me feel happy-go-lucky.
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I saw them at Rothbury ’08, and they were all wearing what seemed to be tarps or trash bags while performing, and the singer was wearing a leotard. Also throughout the set there was this large demon who was stalking the singer and at one point the demon exploded into many little demons which also plagued the singer. Great performance, and singing, and stage show. I would go with the word “wierd” though. random and wierd cross my mind.
so… they’re not from montreal, huh?
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