SHIT. This is a cool line-up. You all know Of Montreal. They have a new album out, they are awesome, yadda yadda yadda. Janelle Monáe, however, is a new kid on the block and is blowing up. She killed it on Letterman with her single “Tightrope” and has been tagged the female James Brown. Check out this video NOW:
Janelle Monae will be in Louisville on September 29th at the Idea Festival, but she will be in Nashville at the Cannery Ballroom with Of Montreal on September 26th. We can also catch them at the Madison Theatre in Covington, KY on September 21st. I just may try to catch all of them.
Schedule:
Of Montreal / Janelle Monáe
09-13 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
09-14 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
09-15 Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
09-16 Boston, MA – House of Blues
09-17 New York, NY – Terminal 5
09-18 New York, NY – Terminal 5
09-19 Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom 09-21 Covington, KY – Madison Theatre
09-22 Urbana, IL – Canopy Club (Pygmalion Music Festival)
09-23 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
09-24 Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theatre 09-26 Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom
10-21 St. Louis, MO – Pageant
10-22 Omaha, NE – Sokol Auditorium
10-23 Lawrence, KS – Liberty Hall
10-24 Denver, CO – The Ogden Theater
10-25 Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
10-27 Seattle, WA – The Paramount
10-28 Portland, OR – Roseland
10-30 Los Angeles, CA – Palladium
11-01 Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theatre
11-02 Dallas, TX – The Granada Theatre
11-03 Austin, TX – East Side Drive In
11-04 Houston, TX – Numbers
11-05 Oxford, MS – The Lyric
When I heard that Beach House was playing in Nashville, there was no question in my mind that I was going to make the drive. Better yet, Washed Out was slotted to open. We made the drive down, hit a few record shops (Why is it that Nashville has a better Will Oldham, Palace, BPB selection than here?), then headed over the the Mercy Lounge for the show. If you haven’t been there, it is the smaller sister venue to the Cannery Ballroom. I’d say there is room for a couple hundred people there. Picture half of Headliner’s. Apparently there was some big country show in the Ballroom, so Beach House ended up in the smaller venue and the show sold out weeks before the date. I feel bad for those folks who wanted tickets, but selfishly, I enjoyed the small feel of the show.
Washed Out opened and other than hearing a few track from an EP which I really enjoyed and reading all of the buzz, I had never seen a picture of the live show. I did know that the sound is often hard to reproduce live. The sound stems from the ever-growing chillwave revolution and, turns out Washed Out is one guy, Ernest Greene. He was into it, but the crowd really wasn’t. The main problem is with that type of music, you don’t know whether to dance, sway, jump, reflect or maintain a steady nod while sipping a beer. No knocks on the show and I still love the music, this is just something to keep in mind when selecting live shows.
I was there for Beach House. Teen Dream is my favorite album so far in 2010 and I can’t imagine an album surpassing it (not even my favorite band, The National). Beach House is a dynamic trio, each with enough talent to put us all to shame. The album, from start to finish, just keeps digging and digging on you and forces you to listen. The melody isn’t necessarily catchy in the “you’ll be humming this one tomorrow” sense of the word, but it does had a tendency to put you in a bit of a trance. What really gets me is the vocals of front-woman Victoria Legrand. They are husky and deep, but still feminine without rough edges. Guitarist, Alex Scally’s vocals were more present on previous albums, but Legrand takes center stage with Teen Dream (and I’m not saying the other two albums aren’t great, but the change was refreshing). Please, please, please listen to this album immediately.
So needless to say, I had high expectations going into the show. The sound translated easily to the small venue because it filled the room, bouncing off the walls and commanding attention (unfortunately, as in every venue there are a few people too drunk to have their attention commanded and I always end up next to them). They played every song from Teen Dream and four from other albums. As someone completely obsessed with the new album, I was ecstatic to be able to have a visual queue for every song on their new album (the music video DVD for each song that came with the album was pretty lame, so I needed a replacement). Unlike some shows, I didn’t move from one spot for the entire set. No breaks for fresh air, no beer line, no bathroom, no conversations with old friends. I didn’t want to miss a drop. My brother was right up front and grabbed some pics and we both grabbed a video (“Lover of Mine” and “Zebra”), so hopefully you can get some idea about the show, but I highly recommend you live it for yourself. Pitchfork Fest in Chicago anyone?!?!
After the show, we stuck around and I had the band sign my copy of Teen Dream for posterity. In nervous small talk, I told Victoria that I drove down from Louisville and said something about the Derby that was coming up that Saturday. Little did I know that this would prompt her to write “Drive safely please” and then draw a horse (or zebra) in honor of the Derby. Other than Titus Andronicus’ beaver drawing and explicit filled thank you, I would say this might be the most unique and strange signature I have in the collection. I’ll take it!
On a final note, I also found out that Beach House is a fan of Louisville’s Sapat!!! There was also a reference to Will Oldham, but who wouldn’t? Chalk it up ladies and gents. That one made my day.
Let me start by saying that I’m a big fan of of Montreal. I think they are amazing musicians and they have put out great record after great record. I went down to Nashville to see them at the Cannery Ball room on February 6, 2010 and left happy, but unsatisfied. Perhaps I missed the bus on this rant and it should have been made years ago, but I’ll write it anyway.
Full disclosure: my favorite album is Cherry Peel, but I listen to Satanic Panic in the Attic just as much. This is a tribute to the band’s range. Kevin Barnes and Co. have the ability to reinvent The Beatles and make a modern dance song at the same time. It shows in their collective work of art. That said, the level of their talent is lost on the majority of the audience because their show has become too gimmicky/weird. Back in 2006, I saw them in Lexington complete with scantly clad characters being walked around on all fours with one of those Pulp Fiction balls in their mouth being whipped. Their Bonnaroo 2009 show was more watered down, but still included pig-headed men and random animal/human amalgamations.
The Cannery Ballroom show took it to the next level. Pigmen, check. Nude guys, check. Tigerman, check. Gasmasks, check. It felt like less of a musical performance and more like an exhibition in pushing the envelope. Please don’t get me wrong, I love high energy shows and I love a band going the extra mile for their fans. That said, when the lead singer is pulled off a cross by men in tights with pig masks after the song prior to the encore, I am forced to question the band’s credibility.
I want to think that they don’t need a bazaar spectacle to gain a fan base. Unfortunately, I may be wrong. The crowd in Nashville included a large number of bedazzled Ke$ha’s (including guys) that where there for “the show.” of Montreal might as well be playing “The Entrance of the Gladiators” at the Barnum & Bailey’s Circus. In any other situation, I wouldn’t care, but having followed of Montreal for so long, I know they don’t need a “show” to be big.
Eat a bat’s head. Remove a rib. Break a guitar. Smash a bottle on your face. Bands have cooked up plenty of ideas to get people to shows, but at the end of the day, it’s talent that keeps them coming. I only ask that of Montreal embrace their abilities and follow the path of the great bands before them. Acts like Bowie and The Beatles had times of strange that were well received, but they always came back to their core; solidifying and expanding their base, while maintaining credibility.
of Montreal has a new album, False Priest, coming out this year. It is probably too late for this one, but I only hope that they reach back soon and embrace some of their older stuff and create a tour that reflects the same. Otherwise, the morning after, the make-up will be smeared and love will be lost on an experience that cannot last longer than a single show.
of Montreal- For Our Elegant Caste (the most “normal” song of the show)
of Montreal is many things. of Montreal is one of the stalwarts of the Athens, Georgia pop scene. of Montreal is the recording and performing project of one Mr. Kevin Barnes. And of Montreal is one of the many bands still in operation with a tie to the loose Elephant Six collective of the late ’90s, a group of like-minded bands centered around that incredibly fertile Southern college town. of Montreal is not, however, predictable. And therein lies the appeal of a band that, over its past two albums with Polyvinyl Records, has exploded from cult appeal to international popularity. With its union of Kinks-inspired, late-’60s rock send-up and ’80s-era synth stylings, the 2004 album Satanic Panic in the Attic planted the seeds for a new audience. Last year’s dance-inducing, idiosyncratic electro-pop masterpiece Sunlandic Twins cultivated that expanded and ever-enthusiastic audience, letting a growing legion of fans flourish. Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? arrives on January 23, 2007, ready to reap the benefits. It’s an irresistible and remarkable album, sounding like a logical extension of the erratic indie-disco sounds of Sunlandic Twins. Recorded as a one-man operation in a tiny Norwegian bedroom and an attic in Athens GA, the album swings from swaggering guitar to moody synths, from exultant sing-along to curious combinations of sounds. Lyrically, you’ve got boisterous pomp, maddening depression and decadent indulgence. Hissing Fauna is strange, unexpected, entrancing and rewarding. And if not for the tumultuous year that nearly tore Kevin Barnes apart, it never would have existed.
Of Montreal Tour Schedule:
01-25 Baltimore, MD – Ram’s Head
01-26 New York, NY – Highline Ballroom
01-27 Boston, MA – Paradise
01-28 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
01-29 Norfolk, VA – Norva
01-30 Richmond, VA – The National
02-04 Athens, GA – 40 Watt
02-05 Asheville, NC – Orange Peel 02-06 Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom
