History Will Absorb Me

Okay, after reading the pree release Barnes wrote about the new EP it kinda felt like somebody wrote it taking the piss out of Barnes. A kind of parody of the mind-frame that Barnes has been working in for the past few years with all of his alter egos and shit. In the press release everything had been expanded, alter-egos, ficional landmarks, all that shit. Because of this, it made me kind of worried about the music. Also, of Montreal’s last album False Priest was really not my cup of tea and this new batch of songs came from the same sessions.

BUT, what the weird thing is, you can download the opening track on the new EP, Black Lion Massacre. It sounds absolutely nothing like anything from False Priest. It’s noise music, from the very beginning every instrument is in their tearing shit up. It reminds me of Nonpareil of Favor from Skeletal Lamping after the two minute mark when the lovely melody just turns into a loud epic stomping thunderous intense song that has the energy to scare you shitless. This song doesn’t work as well, but it’s still great and made me happy that they’re trying this unafraid-of-what-the-fans-will-think sound again.

I am now excited for thecontrollersphere and I never thought I would be.

This is a very special Record Store Trip post. Mainly because I haven’t been able to buy any for months because I’ve been skint and getting settled into Uni. So a couple of days ago I finally attempted to find Picadilly Records. In my mind I was expecting the lamest selection of very few genres, a shitty bargain bin, and the smallest amount of new records. I thought this because my record store I went to back home was Jumbo Records, THE GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH. It had everything, EVERYTHING. But oh how I was wrong…

When I found and entered Picadilly Records my heart sank. It was huge. Bigger than some HMVs. And as for the genres, there’s 52!!!!! Some I have never even heard of. Wonky-hop? But there are few artists in wonky-hop I listen to. Crazy. So yeah, shits all over Jumbo.

And now for the records I bought. I spent over £120 on these. They were worth it!:

D Styles - All Star Dirtstyle Battle Rebels (2007)

This is music that DJs play during rap battles. It’s instrumental music that’s mainly drum beats and samples. I love this sorta music it’s chill background stuff and there’s shelves upon shelves of it at Piccadilly Records. It can be a bit harsh on the ears at times, but keep going and something good will come of it.

Curtis Mayfield - There’s No Place Like America Today (1975)

Ibought this purely based on the artwork. It was in the soul (or some sub-genre of soul) genre and it captured my eye immediately because of it’s ironic title and artwork having a strong message and impact. I had heard and know of Mayfield but never have I listened to him. I should have. It was the first record I played when I got back due to my curiosity. And it was brilliant!!

The Flaming Lips - Embryonic (2009)

It’s no secret that The Flaming Lips are my all time favourite band. And that Embryonic was easily my favourite album of 2009. But I never managed to get my hands on the physical copy of the vinyl. I think it went out of print and it’s getting repressed later in the year. But there it was a brand new wrapped copy of the beatiful looking album! The vinyls are also yellow and blue!!

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest (2010)

This was one of only two records that I actually knew I was going to buy when hitting the record store. It has quick become one of my favourites of the year and considering I’ve never particularly found the other the albums amazing (although Cox’s side-project Atlas Sound released a magnificent album last year) this one really hit the spot for me. It probably has something to do with the fact that Ben Allen (who has produced a lot of AnCo work in the past) worked his magic on this record. The vinyl is white too! I’m a sucker for coloured vinyl.

Of Montreal - False Priest (2010)

This is the second record I knew I was going to buy prior to entering the store. It’s an album that’s recieved a lot of mixed responces. I really like it, although it gets very hard to listen to towards the end. I’d go as far to call the last three tracks awful. It might not be Of Montreal’s best and I don’t think any type of Of Montreal fan would say it was. I’m not going to lie, I find it a little dissappointing, but when it comes to oM, I’m very biased because I love them! But there’s no doubt it in my mind that they will be back on form soon. It’s still a great album, just weak in comparison to their earlier work is all.

I also think Dave Barnes’ art is starting to loae it’s appeal for many reasons. But that’s are post for another day.

Flying Lotus - Pattern + Grid World EP (2010)

This is the very first record I’ve bought purely based on my love for the artist without hearing it before hand. And I have still yet to listen to it so I can nay comment on whether or not it’s good. But if it’s just more Cosmogramma, I should be happy. I love the art too.

Gang Gang Dance - God’s Money (2005)

God’s Money is an album that I love soo very much. I just happened to come across it when browsing the ‘avant-garde’ section. I also thought that if they had this they’d have the side project I.U.D, which is fucked up industrial music, but awesome. They didn’t have it though :(

Ducktails - Ducktails (2009)

Ducktails is one of many side projects to come from Deerhunter. It’s choppy bedroom pop sort of thing. But good, unlike all these other bedroom poppers. It’s very relaxed. Chill background music.

Daniel Savio - Dirty Bomb

This was a random pick. I don’t know why I chose it. The cover is ugly as fuck. But the music is very interesting. Kinda industrial influenced. It sounds like your record player is having a spaz attack. Would make a good soundtrack to some thriller film, for sure.

Gil Scott Heron & Brian Jackson - Bridges (1977)

I bought this because I loved the shit out of the album Heron released earlier this year. He’s old as hell now and he has many, many albums under his belt since the early 70s. I had no idea which one to pick, so I went for Bridges which happens to be with Brian Jackson. It’s a great album. Much more funky than I’m New Here fo sho. I’m thinking I’ll be buying a lot more Heron material in the near future.

Seriously, you’ll understand if you download and listen. Please, I beg you. So much to love. And if you know about Deerhunter you might shocked when you get to the penultimate song which features a sexy sax! Seriously, like, Megan Fox sexy. Cheryl Cole sexy. Sarah Chalke sexy. Need I go on. What I’m trying to say is, it’s sexy.

I haven’t connected with any other Deerhunter album after just one listen like I have with Halcyon Digest. It’s pretty different, too. A lot of it as the hooks you might hear in an Atlas Sound record. And the last song actually reminds me (A LOT) of the song Lisbon be The Walkmen, which I fucking love. I’ve always been very fastidious when it comes to Deerhunter, but my god, this album is blowing me away. It’s so powerful and emotional. AND THERE’S A SAX.

I dunno maybe it’s just that first listen adrenaline you get after an album you’ve been looking foreward to. It happened to me with the new Of Montreal which is just a huge failure, it happened to Arcade Fire, which is nowhere near as good as I or anybody else made it out to be (still good though). So yeah, time will tell.

Kevin Barnes has recently (I.e. the past few years) been going through a lot of traumatic stress, which was apparent though his theatrical character, Georgie Fruit, in Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer. So when the traumatised and weak man wished to flee from his troubles he turned to Mr. Fruit, the late forties black transvestite who has been through multiple sex changes. Is this metaphorically supposed to reflect Barnes? Because he isn’t black, he’s still in his youth, he isn’t a woman and on record, sounds quite the sex pest.

Skeletal Lamping, less of a concept album about Georgie Fruit than it’s predecessor, centres more around the secretive antics Barnes got up to at the peak of craziness of what he was suffering from. I also see the album’s tracks as a sort of timeline, starting from when he was angry and in a state of depression to when the fog was clear and the was no sign of crashing without headlights. Except there’s a twist, the timeline is backwards, so it goes from delightful pleasing music to grim SNM soundtrack like music - Starting energetically and ending feeling empty. This is one of the many pulsating characteristics that gave Skeletal Lamping such great atmosphere.

On False Priest, there are no long songs, no short songs. They’re all three or four minutes, the length of a single. This means there are no interlude type instrumentals that Of Montreal seem to pull off quite well. Nor are there any epic sprawling songs dragged out to length in double digits. It’s almost as if Barnes has purposefully stayed away from anything too risky. Maybe because of the mixed reception of Skeletal Lamping (Which personally, I loved to death). With Skeletal Lamping and Hissing Fauna, you felt you was with Barnes on his emotional journey every step of the way, mostly because of the intense songs like The Past Is A Grotesque Animal, Touched Something’s Hollow, Sink the Seine and No Conclusion. All of these are chaotic, climatic, intense, fierce and they are all either short or long.

The majority of the songs, in my opinion, seem very classic Of Montreal story telling, in terms of the way Barnes creates majestic alternate realities in a bedtime story style. For example, Girl Named Hello makes me think of the protagonist focused songs on The Gay Parade, the most underrated Of Montreal album. But the similarities are purely in the story telling, the beats on this album are incomparable to the poppy guitar strumming of The Gay Parade.

The album as a whole is very expansive and covers more genres than just Of Montreal’s normal body of chaotic jangly pop. I think I might have said how heartfelt Skeletal Lamping was in it’s own diverse sort of way, but False Priest is a gateway to Of Montreal’s vortex of love, or rather is Of Montreal’s vortex of love. But I know they can do better. Barnes’ voice has never been so prominent and protrusive than on some of these songs. His use of moulding and warping syllables to fit a line, or to make it rhyme is ecstatically brilliant and Barnes takes advantage of it well. This is obvious in Sex Karma, which would be an otherwise dull song if it wasn’t for the vocal use. And it wouldn’t have made any difference to the music if Solange and Janelle Monae didn’t feature on it. Jus’ Sayin’.

The lyrical content is very predictable and clichéd modern romance discussing light-hearted and meaningless topics like blogs. It comes off a little patronising. It’s not Of Montreal’s most clever work. But then there’s the simplicity and childlike charm of Famine Affair, which reminds me of their sweeter songs in their career like Suffer For Fashion or anything on Sunlandic Twins. Then there’s the song Casualty Of You, which is quite the contrary. It’s an eerie piano ballad similar to St. Exquisite’s Confessions, but with less visceral visuals.

Despite the album name referencing Hissing Fauna, there are no connections to the recent themes of Montreal have been setting, they’ve replaced themes with trends. I’m sure Kevin Barnes has escaped entirely into his own world and know longer confines to realism. And what happened to George Fruit?

A mention of Of Montreal’s albums before ‘Hissing Fauna’ has yet to be risen. That’s because at this point, a peak so high, it’s irrelevant. This album has been grown from blatant upbeat and crazy live shows, various other random extras, and just band member’s taste changes in music, not through albums and wanting to explore their current sound (which is what they’ve done for the past ten years). They want to explore new sounds. This is why the Skeletal Lamping sound was suddenly shocking and impressive. The electronic beats of Id Engager, the single we all heard before the release, were so immersive and so full of energetic vibes. I had a preconceived vision of what the album was going to sound like in my head, and it wasn’t like that. This is also the same with False Priest. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the veteran of Montreal fans think they might have reached the point of no return. The music is an inflated journey into commercial R&B.

Naturally, because I’m in love with Barnes, I feel it’s fair to blame this disappointment on the people who, didn’t exactly produce it, but put their voice forward. Jon Brion is the main culprit, who advised Barnes to replace the normal drums for synths and drum machines. I feel it would have been better keeping the classic drums because the work oh so well on Coquet Coquette. Although I love Brion for his soundtrack work, for which he’s scored a lot of my favourite films, and he does know what works, I think his radar was slightly off this time.

The jazz type drums at the beginning of Godly Intersex introduce a brilliant echo-y dance floor groove. And despite what I said about this being less of a jigsaw piece to Barnes’ life in compressed sound than Skeletal Lamping or Hissing Fauna, of course, this is Kevin Barnes, so there’s gonna be a little personal sprinkle on the album. This is the case with Godly Intersex. Enemy Gene is close to amazing. It’s very futuristic. As is the clash of 70s style choruses and fuzzy guitars and beats in Hydra Fancies. This is an album that I can see receiving a lot of remixes.

So the album isn’t the masterpiece I thought it was going to be. False Priest’s biggest flaw is the lack of variation. The fierce capacity that riddles previous releases has been wrongfully overlooked. The first single, Coquet Coquette, is the only song with proper, real pounding drums. In fact, the whole song is a genuine rock song, with pleasant but rough guitar riffs, a string of chorus and verses that lead up to a climax of epic proportions. It’s the most spacey Of Montreal have been. But I haven’t become addicted to ANY of the songs or overplayed any of them, like I have with all of their other instant classics. Some of the songs just don’t do anything for me. This especially applies to the closing track, You Do Mutilate?. It’s easily the worst song. As much as I hate to say this out loud, False Priest is a little disappointing. It just doesn’t have the impact that every single one of their other releases had. Overall, it is a great, classic Of Montreal album but without the character and emotion that made us fall in love with Of Montreal in the beginning. Don’t give up on it. Give it a lot of listens, I promise you will be rewarded.

80/100

The selection of jazz and hip-hop was pretty plop. They had a J Dilla album though, but I’ve only heard Donits and I didn’t want to take a risk. The Panda Bear 7” which I was looking foreward to the most has been pushed back to the 26th of July, which sux balls. Totally forgot to look for Baths*, and they haven’t taken down the Flying Lotus poster that I want yet.

On the plus side, I did get Expo 86 by Wolf Parade, which has marvellous packaging. And I also got a rare of Montreal 7” that was hidden behind everything, which was a pleasant find.

Also, this is the link to the new Walkmen song, which I forgot to post when I wrote a little bit about it. Please, please check it out. It’s beautiful http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=128463977&m=128462592

*I think this might be the first time I’ve mentioned Baths hear. He’s an L.A. beatmaker with hench sideburns. That’s all you need to know. Look him up.

Seriously, The Walkmen, Of Montreal, Interpol, No Age, Panda Bear (etc.) are all releasing new records this September. I’m most looking forward to The Walkmen as they’re personally one of my favourite bands. Of Montreal are a big fave as well. I’m not keen on the newer Interpol stuff, but I’ll remain open-minded.

This is so great because I feel this year has been a little dull in the music world. I haven’t fallen in love with any release yet. Teen Dream by Beach House and Swim by Caribou do come VERY close though.

So yeah, that strong list of Bands/artists give me hope that 2010 won’t be an utterly lifeless start to a new decade in music. DON’T LET ME DOWN WALKMEN.