Of Montreal: The Queen of Our Generation

Ever since I saw them live last week, I’ve been having an Of Montreal revival. I was a medium fan of theirs ever since Nathan clued me into them a year after Satanic Panic in the Attic was released. “Medium fan” meaning that I would listen to their hits but skip a bunch of their lesser songs. Every now and then a fantastic song was heard, like the glorious “Rapture Rapes the Muses” which contains two brilliant couplets¹ AND an extremely danceable (if I danced) and catchy tune. Or the heaven on earth “Requiem for O.M.M.2” that seemed to say: “Yeah…we can sound like Beulah if we want…but deep-fried in awesomeness.” But sadly, some songs were a little thin and boring. I think I went on the record² as saying I liked one out of every 12 of their songs.

scorecard:

• Thigh-high in synth-pop: superb
• Cute and Elephant 6-y: not so much

Because I am ultra-harsh and extremely picky it is only natural that when a band can’t pull it off live, I might not want to listen to them that much after seeing them (Metric, Pinback, etc. etc.). But when the opposite is true: when seeing a band perform so fantastically revitalizes my interest in them…well, that’s what live music is all about. And if the touring band plays the studio versions that Kevin Barnes originally recorded, well then, that explains the double bass attack not seen since the glory days of TFUL282. Also, I had no idea his million dollar voice would cut through the sound mix. It did, and the band’s harmonies were amazing.

Their SF gigs nearly coincided with the release of their latest album, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? which is fantastic and solid and on constant play in the Goodman house.