New Of Montreal album Paralytic Stalks streaming now!

The ever-prolific wonder project of Kevin Barne's deranged mind Of Montreal are back with a new album Paralytic Stalks, out on Ferbuary 6th in the U.K., and its available to stream in full on Spin's website (the link below includes a full song-by-song guide from Barnes). Expect a review here very soon, but darn me if Ye Renew The Plaintiff isn't the most brilliant thing they've come up with since The Past Is A Grotesque Animal from 2007's Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer.

Paralytic Stalks - listen here

Classic Albums 10 Years In

I particularly rever artists with true staying power. Stereogum's Listomania feature recently came out with an inspired list of 10 Classic Albums Released 10 Years Into A Band/Artist's Career. The original list is here, but it inspired me to think of a few of my own, less obvious but equally noteworthy, inclusions. Alas, scanning quickly through my record collection I've only come up with a further six, so I would be interested in your own suggestions.

Animal Collective - Merryweather Post-Pavilion (2009)

A decade into one of the most unpredictable and genre-defying careers of recent times, Animal Collective finally hit the big time with this gorgeous yet vibrant concoction of ethereal pop. Arguments will rage on as to which AC album is the best (with the exception of Danse Manatee, I'll accept cases for any one of their releases), but there can be little argument that Merriweather Post-Pavilion is their most cohesive and consistent release to date. The world waits in anticipation of what they'll come up with next.

The Flaming Lips - Transmissions From The Satellite Heart (1993)

Transmissions Of A Satellite Heart marked the first unlikely success story for Oklahoma's acid-fried rockers, thanks to the wonderfully goofy single She Don't Use Jelly (the only song which dared to rhyme the word "store" with "orange"). It was indicative of an album with a wealth of deranged yet oddly endearing riches, whilst the uber-drums and digitised guitar sound of the closing Slow Nerve Action pointed the way towards the even more fruitful Dave Fridmann years.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Let Love In (1994)

There perhaps isn't such a thing as the definitive Bad Seeds album, a fact which owes more to their unwavering brilliance than any paucity in quality recordings. But Let Love In may be the closest they've got to it. It has textbook examples of all their calling cards: unhinged rockers (Jangling Jack); songs of unrepentent lust (Loverman); hilarious gallows humour (Lay Me Low); a clutch of Cave's finest ballads (I Let Love In, Nobody's Baby Now, the all-encompassing two-parter Do You Love Me?) and of course, in Red Right Hand, one iconic song about a man of shadowy deeds.

Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer? (2007)

With 2007's game-changing Hissing Fauna... Of Montreal were transformed from fey, anglophilic popsters, to dark, damaged electro-glam-funksters. They hadn't completely forsaken their love of the UK; pushed to the brink by a messy break-up from his then-girlfriend, bandleader Kevin Barnes took on the persona of African-American tranvestite Georgie Fruit, a definite nod to Bowie's alter-egos of the 70's. Faberge Falls For Shuggie would casually toss out the titles for the band's subsequent string of releases, none as good as this landmark record.

Sleater-Kinney - The Woods (2005)

In what unfortunately turned out to be their swan song (though at least we now have Wild Flag as compensation), the Washington all-girl trio beefed up their guitar-playing chops and enlisted producer Dave Fridmann to amp up their sound even further, resulting in their heaviest sounding record. The Woods shamelessly revelled in a love for bluesy 70's rock - few suspected that Sleater-Kinney could write an 11-minute song, let alone pull it off with such fortitude - but the siren-like vocals of Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein gave it that crucial gut-punch.

Talk Talk - Laughing Stock (1991)

After a painstaking recording process which would ultimately break the band, 1991's Laughing Stock found Talk Talk worlds away from the (admittedly darker than most) New Romantic outfit which had started out 10 years previously. It stands alongside its predecessor, 1989's Spirit Of Eden, as a stunningly singular piece of work, Mark Hollis' haunting vocals put to music which, with the aid of a host of fellow musicians, resonated with atmosphere, managing to sound both wildly improvised and impeccably crafted. Few albums are so hugely influential, and yet so utterly inimitable.

Gig Review: Of Montreal @ The Koko, Wed 6th October

Is there a more fitting setting for an Of Montreal gig than the Koko? The decadent red and gold of the former theatre provided the perfect setting for Of Montreal to play out their unique and, frankly, homo-erotic stage drama to an enthusiastic crowd.

Looking back over the colourful mayhem which ensued, it's easy to forget that the night began with the rather excellent support band Cats In Paris. The Manchester-based trio dished out a frenetic set; Michael J Watson dashed between keyboards and violin on songs about vampires, serial killers and traditional English cookery, all to a colourful video backdrop. Great fun, and the perfect mood-setter for what was to follow.

Whilst on record False Priest falls short of its two illustrious predecessors, there was never any doubt that the songs would translate into a whole barrel of fun in a live setting, and so it proved. Kevin Barnes, dolled up in a skirt, bandana and a technicolour dream-coat, was given free reign to prance around the enormous Koko stage and his army of musicians, immaculately clad out in white. Amongst a set almost exclusively comprising material from Hissing Fauna... onwards, the new songs found their natural home; Like A Tourist aspired to hit the R'n'B heights it never quite reached on False Priest, thanks to its throbbing basslines and diva chorus , whilst our Riotous Defects (known to one and all as Crazy Girl) cemented itself as a firm fan singalong favourite. The one disappointment? No Janelle Monae; following on from her Jools Holland appearance the previous night, I could have put money on her duetting with Barnes on Enemy Gene, but it was sadly not to be.

Amidst it all, Barnes et al were constantly molested by the usual (for want of a better word) array of costumed fiends, including gun-toting fish-robots, silver-winged creatures and crazed men in blood-stained strait jackets (who on freeing themselves confirmed that the lunatics truly had taken over the asylum). The crowd too were not immune to molestations, with frequent invasions from masked misfits and band alike; one such moment of indulgence during She's A Rejector gave Barnes sufficient time to drape a silver veil over himself and put a noose around his neck, appropriately morbid attire for the set's sole downer Casualty Of You, before immediately bouncing back with Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse. The main set closed in spectacular fashion with an explosion of streamers and confetti fired from the palms of Barnes' hands.

Once a guy in a pig mask and another guy in a blonde wig had roused the crowd into a frenzy, the band returned with the now-obligatory encore of The Past Is A Grotesque Animal. Officially recognised (well, by me) as one of the 10 or 15 greatest songs of modern indie, an intense Barnes actually played it straight (for once), fixated to the mic over the song's 12 stormy minutes, before throwing a fit in the middle of the stage. In short, a gay time was had by all, quite literally; the sight of Kevin Barnes singing "we can do it softcore if you want/but you should know I take it both ways" over a video backdrop of male body-builders may have scarred me for life.

I've included more pics than I usually would for these things; it was the only way to do an Of Montreal gig any justice.

Review: Of Montreal - False Priest

False Priest, the tenth album by Kevin Barnes' technicolour troupe, can be considered as the third album from this current phase of Of Montreal, lifting its title, as with 2008's Skeletal Lamping, from a lyric contained in the band's 2007 near-masterpiece Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?. Promising a more R'n'B, bass-heavy sound this time around, and featuring contributions from Solange Knowles and critical darling Janelle Monáe, False Priest is in truth no great deviation from the band's recent work, but those deterred by Skeletal Lamping's schizophrenic tendencies may find the slightly more reined-in (by Of Montreal standards) False Priest to be a little more palatable.

On Skeletal Lamping, track names and divisions seemed little more than a suggestion; the album could've been divided up any number of ways, or just left as a single hour-long head-f*ck. On False Priest, most of the 13 cuts actually resemble stand-alone, fully-realised songs, although that's not to suggest that they're not packed to the rafters with the usual hysterics and histrionics. Yet whilst Skeletal Lamping, for all its critics, was rife with hooks, False Priest in comparison feels just a little short-changed in that respect, and for all the work and sonic details that Barnes has put into the album, there's not really much to come away with.

Barnes himself is a factor of his own downfall. His increasingly grating falsetto, coupled with his endless vocal overdubbing, and overly-verbose wordplay, reach new heights on False Priest, all too often suffocating the sounds of his fellow bandmates. Even with that aside, there are a couple of limp efforts here, particularly in the middle third; the soggy Hydra Fancies squelches along with no great purpose, and Girl Named Hello sees Barnes repeating "If I treated someone else / the way I treat myself / I'd be in jail", with diminishing effect, over an endlessly recycled indie-funk track which is fast becoming Of Montreal's stock in trade.

When Barnes throttles it back a bit in the latter third though, the rest of the band raise their game too.  Famine Affair is a surprisingly straightforward slice of 80's pop, made fun by Barnes' sulking ("go 'way, go 'way/ / you're a bad thing"). The morbid piano ballad of Casualty Affair sees Kevin Barnes laid bare (no, not like the notorious Las Vegas incident); "It's not fair / it shouldn't be like this/ you shouldn't be so compulsed" he cries, and then sighes "I dunno..../you should be more....awkward". That's followed by Around The Way, an edgy piece of synthpop that recalls Bowies Ashes To Ashes. First single Coquet Coquette is a success too, it's combination of Kinksy guitars and a galavanting chorus an appealing blend.

What of the guest appearances? Well, Solange Knowles is wasted on Sex Karma, trying and failing to out-diva Kevin Barnes. Far more successful is Monae, her suave delivery on Enemy Gene providing one of the more memorable choruses here.

There's much to enjoy about False Priest - I still haven't grown tired or Barnes' hilarious monologue on Our Riotous Defects - and Of Montreal continue to occupy an indie-sphere entirely their own. But Kevin Barnes has to draw inspiration from elsewhere next time; the arty love-damaged soul schtick is becoming increasingly thin and disingenuous.

P.S. David Barnes' psychotic artwork is, as ever, amazing.

71/100

Listen to if you like: MGMT, Phoenix, Memory Tapes