{"id":6098,"date":"2012-01-19T20:39:15","date_gmt":"2012-01-20T03:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/?p=6098"},"modified":"2012-01-25T10:17:30","modified_gmt":"2012-01-25T17:17:30","slug":"of-montreal-is-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2012\/01\/19\/of-montreal-is-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Get Ready for a Sex-Up!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Paralytic-Stalks-CD-cover.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Paralytic-Stalks-CD-cover-150x150.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-6099\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Paralytic-Stalks-CD-cover.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Paralytic-Stalks-CD-cover.jpg?w=290&amp;ssl=1 290w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>[New Music]<\/p>\n<h2>of Montreal<br \/>\n<i>Paralytic Stalks<\/i><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Polyvinyl  Records, 2012<br \/>\nReviewed by Kent Manthie<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"twitter-share-button\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" data-count=\"none\" data-via=\"reviewermag\">Tweet<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>     With the brand new year upon us, 2012 is sure to bring some surprises. So far, the most intriguing one has been the new CD from of Montreal&#8217;s, <em>Paralytic Stalks<\/em>, a righteous return to the heady days of the mid 2000s. Just when you thought the party was burning at both ends and had just about burned out, from left field emerges this brave new CD.<\/p>\n<p>    Originating from Athens, GA, of Montreal is the brainchild of singer\/songwriter\/guitarist Kevin Barnes. Of Montreal was part of the second wave of bands to emerge from the sprawling Elephant 6 collective. Barnes chose the band\u2019s moniker to memorialize a failed relationship with a woman from, of all places, Montreal.  Barnes originally signed with Bar\/None Records whilst residing in that place called Florida and after having had enough of FLA, he made his way northwards, both to Cleveland and Minneapolis in order to seek out compatible, like-minded freaks that would suit his needs perfectly and complement the idea he had for of Montreal, finally returning home to collaborate with bassist Bryan Helium (also a member of Athens&#8217; Elf Power) and drummer Derek Almstead.<\/p>\n<p>    Their first CD, <em>Cherry Peel<\/em>, appeared in mid-1997, which was followed up that same year by an EP entitled <em>The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit&#8217;s Flower<\/em>.  From the start, Barnes &amp; company merged their bright, flamboyant indie dance sound with heavy doses of psychedelia and humor; of Montreal&#8217;s earliest records also exhibited a lo-fi sound that bordered on \u201ctwee pop\u201d, although the band steadily shed those influences throughout the early 2000s. After Helium left the group in 1998 to focus on Elf Power full-time, Almstead assumed bass duties, while keyboardist Dottie Alexander and drummer Jamie Huggins both joined the lineup.  Next, though, of Montreal\u2019s follow-up full length, 1998&#8217;s <em>The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy<\/em>, was recorded primarily as a Barnes solo project, wherein Barnes did most of the studio duties as a one-man outfit, playing all the instruments, singing, writing and producing and\/or co-producing.  But that was not to be just a one-time thing, as Barnes\u2019s long shadow would penetrate most of the best of their CDs, with help, of course, from the others.  But without Kevin\u2019s vision and songwriting efforts, of Montreal would definitely not be what they are today. <\/p>\n<p>    On 1999&#8217;s <em>The Gay Parade<\/em>, multi-instrumentalist A.C. Forrester signed on as a collaborator; then the retrospective album, Horse &amp; Elephant Eatery followed in the spring of 2000. The group continued with the release of <em>Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse<\/em> in April 2001 and <em>Aldhils Arboretum<\/em> in September of 2002, both of which were issued by the Georgia-based label Kindercore Records. With the subsequent folding of Kindercore, the departures of multi-instrumentalist Andy Gonzales and Almstead, and Barnes&#8217; marriage, 2003 proved to be an up and down year for the group. Barnes&#8217; wife, Nina, joined of Montreal&#8217;s lineup as the group signed to Polyvinyl Records and in 2004, delivered one of the first of the records that really started getting them noticed around the indie scene, <em>Satanic Panic in the Attic<\/em>.  <\/p>\n<p>    The following year found Barnes exploring a bouncier, synth-driven avenue with the release of <em>Sunlandic Twins<\/em>, but things began to get complicated in his personal life at the same time. He and his wife moved to Norway for the birth of their baby. Deprived of familiar touchstones, Kevin fell into a deep depression and, upon returning to the States, continued to travel progressively downhill. He and his wife separated for a time, and she returned to her family in Norway with their new daughter. Through the emotional turmoil, Barnes concocted what was to be his darkest, most personal and ambitious album up to that point:  2007\u2019s <em>Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?<\/em>   The same year saw the release of one of several compilation EPs:  <em>If He is Protecting Our Nation Then Who Will Protect Big Oil, Our Children?<\/em> which, sadly, was thoroughly stomped on by critics.  The next year, however, Barnes et al came out with something that surpassed <em>Hissing Fauna\u2026<\/em> and all that had they had created up to that point (and in my opinion, still ranks as unsurpassed in creative, sexual chaos:  <em>Skeletal Lamping<\/em>, a mind-blowing, 15-song magnum opus of brilliance that only furthered their ambitious sound by emphasizing Barnes&#8217; outrageous alter ego, &#8220;Georgie Fruit,&#8221; whose influence pushed the album toward a funk and sexually charged disco-rock territory, with a slice of prog-rock hidden in the background. <em>An Eluardian Instance<\/em> (Jon Brion Remix EP) followed in early 2009, featuring five remixed tracks from the previous album. Of Montreal&#8217;s tenth studio release, <em>False Priest<\/em>, arrived the following year and besides (or because of) featured cameos from fellow genre-hoppers Janelle Mon\u00e1e and Solange Knowles the album was not awful, but something about it was just a little off to me, of course, following up a mind-blowing, genre (and gender-bending) masterpiece would\u2019ve been hard to do.  At first I was into <em>False Priest<\/em>, danced around to the new tunes and enjoyed the variety of the novelty, but after a whole bunch of listens, found <em>False Priest <\/em>leaving me feeling a little bit empty and not as excited, as if Kevin Barnes and his cohorts had used up too much of their creative skills on the previous brilliance and instead of taking a little break had to go right back to work.  <\/p>\n<p>    A smattering of songs originally slated for release on <em>False Priest <\/em>but which were, for one reason or other, were left off it saw the light of day in April of 2011 on <em>thecontrollersphere<\/em> EP, which was a nice, short EP that whet one\u2019s appetite for the return of the raw, unyielding alter ego, \u201cGeorgie Fruit\u201d, who seemed to be hospitalized or otherwise indisposed during the <em>False Priest<\/em> sessions.  Songs such as \u201cBlack Lion Massacre\u201d, \u201cHoliday Call\u201d and \u201cSlave Translator\u201d showed that the band was definitely on the mend and getting their groove back.<\/p>\n<p>    The following year Barnes revisited the lyrical rawness and supercharged emotion evident on <em>Hissing Fauna\u2026<\/em> with <em>Paralytic Stalks<\/em>, the new CD just out, which explores themes of self-loathing, revenge, and romantic turmoil to create Barnes\u2019s most honest, personal and naked offering yet.  Although I, myself, still feel that <em>Skeletal Lamping<\/em> is somewhat of a peak for of Montreal, I must admit that <em>Paralytic Stalks<\/em> has the effect of returning to the greatness of 2007 and before.  This is proof that of Montreal is not burned out and that their bag of tricks is not used up.  Look for them (or at least hope they will) to show up in your neck of the country, as an of Montreal show is sure to be a colorful, Tubes-like gig for the 21st century.  <\/p>\n<p>&#8211; KM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[New Music] of Montreal Paralytic Stalks Polyvinyl Records, 2012 Reviewed by Kent Manthie Tweet With the brand new year upon us, 2012 is sure to bring some surprises. So far, the most intriguing one has been the new CD from of Montreal&#8217;s, Paralytic Stalks, a righteous return to the heady days of the mid 2000s. Just when you thought the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,573],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9802,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2013\/11\/25\/magic-carpet-circus\/","url_meta":{"origin":6098,"position":0},"title":"Music Review: Magic Carpet Circus","author":"Kent","date":"November 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"[New Music]Of Montreal: Lousy With SylvanbriarFrom Polyvinyl Records, 2013Review by Kent Manthie Kevin Barnes's traveling circus, aka Of Montreal are back. This time with new, mellow toxic gold (my italics) encased in the new CD, Lousy With Sylvanbriar. The tunes are smooth, groovy, laid back, a slight change from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lousy with Sylvanbriar Cover - of Montreal","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Lousy-with-Sylvanbriar-Cover-of-Montreal-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7163,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2012\/09\/04\/were-breaking-up-already-babe\/","url_meta":{"origin":6098,"position":1},"title":"We&#8217;re Breaking Up Already, Babe?","author":"Kent","date":"September 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Deerhoof The Breakup Song Polyvinyl Records, 2012 Review by Kent Manthie Tweet This year, so far, has been a pretty good year for indie music. In the early part of 2012 we received a couple other bands\u2019 albums also on the Polyvinyl Records roster: Owen\u2019s whimsical, at times and always\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;archive&quot;","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Deerhoof-the-breakup-song-pic-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2669,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2010\/08\/08\/brand-new-of-montreal-cd-just-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":6098,"position":2},"title":"Brand New of Montreal CD &#8211; just out!!!","author":"Kent","date":"August 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Of Montreal False Priest Polyvinyl Records, 2010 Reviewed by Kent Manthie What\u2019s in a name? Plenty, if you\u2019re Kevin Barnes. False Priest is his tenth blissful CD, released under the moniker of Montreal. Unfortunately, I was a Johnny-Come-Lately when it came to discovering this project, but then again, they hardly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/False-Priest-Pic.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4715,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2011\/05\/15\/three-new-iconoclasts-from-polyvinyl\/","url_meta":{"origin":6098,"position":3},"title":"Three new iconoclasts from Polyvinyl","author":"Kent","date":"May 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"of Montreal thecontrollersphere Polyvinyl Records, 2011 www.polyvinylrecords.com Review by Kent Manthie After 10 great CDs by this genre-bending, androgynous outfit led by maestro Kevin Barnes, of Montreal has just released a little EP - thecontrollersphere, a five song experience that is typical of the gender-bending, hyper-sexual, disco-on-acid style wiggles that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;archive&quot;","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/thecontrollersphere.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":364,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2007\/09\/13\/of-montreals-hissing-fauna-are-you-the-destroyer-cd-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":6098,"position":4},"title":"Of Montreal&#039;s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? CD review","author":"admin","date":"September 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Of Montreal Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? review by Collin Wicker Hissing Fauna is a masterpiece, a sparkling gem of the indie world, spawned from holy ground, Athens, GA. Truthfully, I\u2019ve never heard another album like it, part Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Heart\u2019s Club Band, part Bowie, with dance undertones\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;archive&quot;","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":142,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2006\/09\/11\/cd-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":6098,"position":5},"title":"CD reviews","author":"admin","date":"September 11, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"new CD reviews by Kent Manthie UBZORB (s\/t) (Cordhead Recordings) One cool tune on this record is track 5: \u201cSize Mick\u201d, the chorus: \u201cSeismic waves and Cosmic Rays\/destroy the maze\u2026\u201d Cool, huh, so California. Apocalyptic visions of a California bursting at the seams, earthquakes, fire, death, destruction \u2013 constant reference\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;archive&quot;","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6098"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6102,"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6098\/revisions\/6102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}