Girls Are Pretty
12-09-2008, 05:26 PM
So I listen to a lot of music and figure that sharing some of my knowledge might be cool. I was planning on writing about a single album now and then but for starters I think I'd crit you all with a tl;dr exaltation of the band of Montreal, seeing as I am obsessed with them right now. If you're just interested in sample songs, scroll to the bottom.
***
of Montreal are a band from Athens, Georgia. Lead by musical mastermind and muse Kevin Barnes, they are a member of the famous Indie collective Elephant 6, known for such bands as The Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel and The Apples in Stereo, they have a varied and creative catalogue that boasts 9 studio albums, as well as a number of EPs, singles and compilations. One thing that ties all the albums together is Kevin Barnes' quirkiness, evident from Cherry Peel with songs like "Tim I Wish You Were Born A Girl" and continuing and evolving to today, with songs like "Gallery Piece", a Funky, Dancey song from their latest album, Skeletal Lamping, about all the things Kevin Barnes wants to do to an object of affection, including being their lovem, sweeping them off their feet, slapping their face, kissing their friends, dressing the same, kissing their eye lids and crashing their car.
As I've said, their catalogue is incredibly varied and ever changing, with each album different than the last in some way, while providing a noticeable logical progression to the next album upon a chronological listening of their discog. Their first album Cherry Peel, released in 1997, is their most basic. It's a largely acoustic Indie Pop album, with a raw, lo-fi recording, catchy hooks and choruses and entertaining lyrics. The music is charming and the lyrics entertaining and sometimes strangely witty. If you're at all into this kind of music, the album will get under your skin and make you want to listen to it over and over.
Cherry Peel was followed in 1998 by The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy. This album continues largely with the feel and sound of Cherry Peel. It's mostly acoustic and catchy and quaint. The lyrics are as usual cute and quirky, fitting the mood of the music well. The music, however, starts to take on elements of future strangeness and experimental attitude that show up with more frequency later in the band's discography. Examples include the bizarre horn impressions in the middle of "Little Viola Hidden In The Orchestra", the childlike Ambient track "The Couple's First Kiss" and the creepy harmonized Ambient-of-sorts track "Sadess Creeping Up And Scaring Away The Couple's Happiness". It also shows signs of increasing musical complexity, and also belays the fact that the next two albums would be concept albums, due to Bedside's thematic and semi-conceptual lyrically content. While I prefer Cherry Peel, The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy is a wonderful Indie Pop album.
The year after, in 1999, of Montreal released their third studio album, The Gay Parade. A full fledged concept album, it's an exaltation of life in musical form. The music's experimental nature continues to grow here, but the delightful catchiness remains. The lyrics are playful, creative and interesting as usual; I particulaly enjoy the song "Fun Loving Nun". It also has one of their most entertaining song titles ever: "A Man's Life Flashing Before His Eyes While He And His Wife Drive Off A Cliff Into The Ocean". The Gay Parade was most mature album of Montreal had released thus far. It's equally as, if not more engaging than, Cherry Peel, due to both the fantastic music and conceptual nature of the album.
Following The Gay Parade, of Montreal released their first full length of the 21st century: Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse. It is also a concept album and is the most incredibly bizarre concept album I've ever heard, and probably the weirdest output the band ever released, even considering how wild Skeletal Lamping is. Straight from the mouth of Kevin Barnes:
"Coquelicot is an Efeblum. An Efeblum is a fairy-like creature who is employed by the Efeneties (loving spirits) to place bells inside people's hearts. When a person has a bell in their heart they are able to create works of art, fall in love and feel at peace with the world. Coquelicot, during one of her trips to Earth, decides to discard her bells and experience life as a human. Instead of living in "reality" she decides to experience life in a sleeping unconscious/conscious state. It is in this subconscious world that she meets Claude and Lecithin the inventor. They do all sorts of crazy stuff together like having incredible battles with evergreens and satellites, getting chased by psychotic zombies, playing with Lecithin's inventions and eventually moving away together to a deserted frozen island. In time, Coquelicot feels remorseful about neglecting her responsibilities as an Efeblum and decides to return to her work. She can't bear the thought of leaving her two new best friends so she invites them to come along with her. They happily accept and join her as honorary Efeblums."
That screams "What the fuck?" doesn't it? Well, so does the music. The music is more complex than ever, and more experimental as well. There are numerous bizarre parts in the album, including strangely sung passages in "Mimi Merlot", a song about a kidnapping which also includes a strange spoken word passage about sucking someone's finger; mention of draw-bridge operator's favorite radio program, 81.3 Sound of the Sea, in "Butterscotching Mr. Lynn"; and the spoken word track "The Events Leading Up to the Collapse of Detective Dulllight" which involves alliteration about softcore porn, a finger print in jello, a detective riding a toy boat down a drain, singing butterflies, a murder involving stabbing someone in the neck with a fountain pen and free verse. I'm not sure how to describe the album overall, but in it's strangeness it is absolutely wonderful, creative and enjoyable. It's certainly essential.
The year after, of Montreal followed up with Aldhils Arboretum. Kevin Barnes' singing really takes on the basic feel that it will have in later material, and the general feel that will be infused in their music later shows its genesis here. It also breaks away from the prior concept albums by lacking an overall concept or story. While Coquelicot shows the beginning of their further experimental music, Aldhils Arboretum really marks what could be called the "new" of Montreal. While still Indie Pop, the album takes on a more rocky feel, with each song feeling more concrete than the individual songs from the previous album, which was instead concrete as a whole concept.
Satanic Panic in the Attic followed Aldhils Arboretum in 2004. It was really an affirmation of the style that began in the previous album. Their new style began cementing here even more and Barnes begins to use his falsseto more often here, really finalizing the singing style he'd picked up in Aldhils. I find Satanic Panic to be their most varied album to date and while not as bizarre as Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies it was their most experimental. The Dance and Electronica accents that their later albums would begin to take on more fully first appear here. Satanic Panic is also one of their best albums with fantasticly written and catchy yet complex yet simple tracks like "Disconnect The Dots" and "Rapture Rapes The Muses" (one of my all time favorite of Montreal songs) sticking in your head long after you stop listening. It greatly foreshadows the albums which came after.
Speaking of which! In 2005 of Montreal followed with The Sunlandic Twins. This is probably their most schizophrenic and experimental album next to Skeletal Lamping. It doesn't cohese as much as Skeletal Lamping, however. The album starts and ends with the Rockish Indie Pop of the past two albums but in "So Begins Our Alabee" the Rock elements begin to fade and don't really appear again until "The Repudiated Immortals". The middle of the album consists pretty much of straight Ambient, Dance, and Electronica tracks, many of which are instrumental. While a lot of the songs are enjoyable, there's a bit of an audible clunk, so to speak, as the middle begins and ends and songs like "Our Spring Is Sweet Not Fleeting", while cute, feel at times somewhat pointless. It's still an enjoyable album and a must listen for fans of the "new" of Montreal. I love it, but still... it doesn't stand up to Satanic Panic in the Attic, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? and Skeletal Lamping as far as overall quality and cohesion.
***
of Montreal are a band from Athens, Georgia. Lead by musical mastermind and muse Kevin Barnes, they are a member of the famous Indie collective Elephant 6, known for such bands as The Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel and The Apples in Stereo, they have a varied and creative catalogue that boasts 9 studio albums, as well as a number of EPs, singles and compilations. One thing that ties all the albums together is Kevin Barnes' quirkiness, evident from Cherry Peel with songs like "Tim I Wish You Were Born A Girl" and continuing and evolving to today, with songs like "Gallery Piece", a Funky, Dancey song from their latest album, Skeletal Lamping, about all the things Kevin Barnes wants to do to an object of affection, including being their lovem, sweeping them off their feet, slapping their face, kissing their friends, dressing the same, kissing their eye lids and crashing their car.
As I've said, their catalogue is incredibly varied and ever changing, with each album different than the last in some way, while providing a noticeable logical progression to the next album upon a chronological listening of their discog. Their first album Cherry Peel, released in 1997, is their most basic. It's a largely acoustic Indie Pop album, with a raw, lo-fi recording, catchy hooks and choruses and entertaining lyrics. The music is charming and the lyrics entertaining and sometimes strangely witty. If you're at all into this kind of music, the album will get under your skin and make you want to listen to it over and over.
Cherry Peel was followed in 1998 by The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy. This album continues largely with the feel and sound of Cherry Peel. It's mostly acoustic and catchy and quaint. The lyrics are as usual cute and quirky, fitting the mood of the music well. The music, however, starts to take on elements of future strangeness and experimental attitude that show up with more frequency later in the band's discography. Examples include the bizarre horn impressions in the middle of "Little Viola Hidden In The Orchestra", the childlike Ambient track "The Couple's First Kiss" and the creepy harmonized Ambient-of-sorts track "Sadess Creeping Up And Scaring Away The Couple's Happiness". It also shows signs of increasing musical complexity, and also belays the fact that the next two albums would be concept albums, due to Bedside's thematic and semi-conceptual lyrically content. While I prefer Cherry Peel, The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy is a wonderful Indie Pop album.
The year after, in 1999, of Montreal released their third studio album, The Gay Parade. A full fledged concept album, it's an exaltation of life in musical form. The music's experimental nature continues to grow here, but the delightful catchiness remains. The lyrics are playful, creative and interesting as usual; I particulaly enjoy the song "Fun Loving Nun". It also has one of their most entertaining song titles ever: "A Man's Life Flashing Before His Eyes While He And His Wife Drive Off A Cliff Into The Ocean". The Gay Parade was most mature album of Montreal had released thus far. It's equally as, if not more engaging than, Cherry Peel, due to both the fantastic music and conceptual nature of the album.
Following The Gay Parade, of Montreal released their first full length of the 21st century: Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse. It is also a concept album and is the most incredibly bizarre concept album I've ever heard, and probably the weirdest output the band ever released, even considering how wild Skeletal Lamping is. Straight from the mouth of Kevin Barnes:
"Coquelicot is an Efeblum. An Efeblum is a fairy-like creature who is employed by the Efeneties (loving spirits) to place bells inside people's hearts. When a person has a bell in their heart they are able to create works of art, fall in love and feel at peace with the world. Coquelicot, during one of her trips to Earth, decides to discard her bells and experience life as a human. Instead of living in "reality" she decides to experience life in a sleeping unconscious/conscious state. It is in this subconscious world that she meets Claude and Lecithin the inventor. They do all sorts of crazy stuff together like having incredible battles with evergreens and satellites, getting chased by psychotic zombies, playing with Lecithin's inventions and eventually moving away together to a deserted frozen island. In time, Coquelicot feels remorseful about neglecting her responsibilities as an Efeblum and decides to return to her work. She can't bear the thought of leaving her two new best friends so she invites them to come along with her. They happily accept and join her as honorary Efeblums."
That screams "What the fuck?" doesn't it? Well, so does the music. The music is more complex than ever, and more experimental as well. There are numerous bizarre parts in the album, including strangely sung passages in "Mimi Merlot", a song about a kidnapping which also includes a strange spoken word passage about sucking someone's finger; mention of draw-bridge operator's favorite radio program, 81.3 Sound of the Sea, in "Butterscotching Mr. Lynn"; and the spoken word track "The Events Leading Up to the Collapse of Detective Dulllight" which involves alliteration about softcore porn, a finger print in jello, a detective riding a toy boat down a drain, singing butterflies, a murder involving stabbing someone in the neck with a fountain pen and free verse. I'm not sure how to describe the album overall, but in it's strangeness it is absolutely wonderful, creative and enjoyable. It's certainly essential.
The year after, of Montreal followed up with Aldhils Arboretum. Kevin Barnes' singing really takes on the basic feel that it will have in later material, and the general feel that will be infused in their music later shows its genesis here. It also breaks away from the prior concept albums by lacking an overall concept or story. While Coquelicot shows the beginning of their further experimental music, Aldhils Arboretum really marks what could be called the "new" of Montreal. While still Indie Pop, the album takes on a more rocky feel, with each song feeling more concrete than the individual songs from the previous album, which was instead concrete as a whole concept.
Satanic Panic in the Attic followed Aldhils Arboretum in 2004. It was really an affirmation of the style that began in the previous album. Their new style began cementing here even more and Barnes begins to use his falsseto more often here, really finalizing the singing style he'd picked up in Aldhils. I find Satanic Panic to be their most varied album to date and while not as bizarre as Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies it was their most experimental. The Dance and Electronica accents that their later albums would begin to take on more fully first appear here. Satanic Panic is also one of their best albums with fantasticly written and catchy yet complex yet simple tracks like "Disconnect The Dots" and "Rapture Rapes The Muses" (one of my all time favorite of Montreal songs) sticking in your head long after you stop listening. It greatly foreshadows the albums which came after.
Speaking of which! In 2005 of Montreal followed with The Sunlandic Twins. This is probably their most schizophrenic and experimental album next to Skeletal Lamping. It doesn't cohese as much as Skeletal Lamping, however. The album starts and ends with the Rockish Indie Pop of the past two albums but in "So Begins Our Alabee" the Rock elements begin to fade and don't really appear again until "The Repudiated Immortals". The middle of the album consists pretty much of straight Ambient, Dance, and Electronica tracks, many of which are instrumental. While a lot of the songs are enjoyable, there's a bit of an audible clunk, so to speak, as the middle begins and ends and songs like "Our Spring Is Sweet Not Fleeting", while cute, feel at times somewhat pointless. It's still an enjoyable album and a must listen for fans of the "new" of Montreal. I love it, but still... it doesn't stand up to Satanic Panic in the Attic, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? and Skeletal Lamping as far as overall quality and cohesion.