Local psychedelic funk fans and art lovers will be coming together again for the semi annual ritual that is the welcome return of Athens, GA's of Montreal to the Town Ballroom on May 13th. Kevin Barnes and company have treated us to some fantastic shows over the years; some full on multi-media art freakouts, others stripped down and direct, but always they are weird, beautiful, and a total dance party. Ticket prices and the on sale date are not available yet but definitely circle that day. 

It got more than a little heavy in the hours running up to the of Montreal show Monday night. Mass devastation near Oklahoma City (home of my beloved Flaming Lips), the passing of  Doors cofounder Ray Manzarek... it was impossible not have mortality and other heavy thoughts on the mind heading downtown to party. But a party with of Montreal and their psychedelic pageant of funk, art, sex, life and death was the ideal way to work it all out, and of Montreal did not disappoint.

First though I have to give some love to Wild Moccasins, who opened the show perfectly. This young band from Houston delivered an exquisite set of tight yet dreamy new wave pop that in many ways seemed too good to be true. The band looked right from Central Casting, so much so that I actually had to laugh while I danced. Their indie rock as 80's pop was irresistible; the songs were sharp and loaded with hooks, the band was imminently tight, and the vocals of Zahira Gutierrez were impressively powerful, expressive, and... rather alluring, in a vintage pop star way. Because it was hard to say whether they were real or a really great dream, Wild Moccasins totally got me in the right head space for of Montreal.

One of my all time favorite concert moments came during one of the many freak out moments that dotted the now legendary of Montreal and Janelle Monae show from 2010. The lights were flashing, the projections were transifixing, the band was on fire, the cock dragon may or may not have been on stage, and the guy in front of me who may or may not have been wearing an Izod shirt yelled to his buddy "DUDE, WE'RE TOTALLY GOING TO DIE TONIGHT!" Of course nobody was dying that night; the crowd was  obviously non violent and we were safe as houses at the Town Ballroom, but it was an appropriate thing to say nonetheless. Because they push everything to the edge, anything seems possible at an of Montreal show, which is why I really love going to their shows.

And we got a vintage of Montreal show. The Town Ballroom really fits them perfectly at least in terms of the entire audience really being on top of the band and part of the action and spectacle, and the energy was insanely high as the band ripped through a wild and funky set accompanied by the always pleasing of Montreal accoutrements of freaky lights, trippy animated projections, and performance art. I'm no fan of performance art but theirs I always enjoy, in part because it's usually like a cartoon come to life, always contextually consistent, and it never overshadows the ensuing funk dance party, which we had last night and then some.

The setlist consisted of choice of Montreal classics like "Chrissy Kiss The Corpse," "I Was Never Young" and "Oslo In The Summertime" and funk workouts like "Do U Mutilate?" and "Plastis Wafers" off of Skeletal Lamping and False Priest. To be honest with you I wasn't really keeping track of the setlist as the show unfolded in favor of being on the floor dancing with the masses and experiencing the show as directly as possible. If I had to pick highlights I'd have go with "Plastis Wafers" because it's lewd grooves really kicked the dance party into gear and "Sex Karma," which sizzled in large part due to the a hot performance of the Solange parts by an unidentified back singer who kicked ass, and "Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse" which closed the show with a psychedelic freak out flourish that drove the passionate and enthusiastic crowd NUTS.

The encore sent the crowd into an ecstatic delirium, even when they played something that nobody had heard of by one of the band member's side projects by the name of Space Trucks. We didn't care, we just wanted to dance and keep the liberated freak out vibe going, and when they charged into "Gronlandic Edit" and "She's A Rejector" they crowd went completely around the bend. The glammed out art funk of "She's A Rejector" in particular riled the audience into a frenzy, maybe because we sensed that the show was reaching it's conclusion and we wanted to push ourselves further and closer to the edge of losing our....

In any case of Montreal finished strong, giving us an apocalyptic art funk dance meltdown, triggering a few obligatory religious experiences for the kids and for the of Montreal newbies, before sending us home satisfied, overcome by art at a shared experience, and very sweaty.

of Montreal shows are part psychedelic happening, part dance party, and part art show freakout, and after a 2 year absence, Buffalo gets to enjoy all of the above tonight at the Town Ballroom when this legendary indie band from Athens Georgia returns. Fronted by creative mastermind Kevin Barnes, of Montreal is a delirious and joyous sensory experience that fuses Bowie, the Beatles, and Prince with visual and performance art, and with a new album due this fall, expect the unexpected. Opening the show will be the shiny new wave indie pop of Wild Moccasins from Houston, with doors at 7 PM. Tickets are still available and are $19 because you didn't buy them in advance.

Joy! Of Montreal just announced dates for their Spring tour and the psychedelic art rock/funk outfit will be playing Buffalo's Town Ballroom on May 20 with Wild Moccasins opening the show. It's been a couple of years since the Of Montreal live freak out has played Buffalo, and anticipation will be high. If you've never been to an Of Montreal show, frankly your life is incomplete; part mixed media art installation, part performance art piece, and part tribal funk meltdown, their show is full on  sensory overload and a sure ticket to total liberation. Stay tuned for ticket information and on sale dates.

The collective mood of music lovers in Toronto was tempered yesterday with the tragic news of the stage collapsing and killing one man at Downsview Park where Radiohead had been scheduled to play the last show of their North American tour. Though the show was not part of the 2012 North By Northeast Conference it would be false to say that those unfortunate events did not have an effect on the rest of the festival. Mainly that those who traveled from far and wide across Canada and from the United States were left in Toronto saddened and soured by the fact that they could not see their favorite band last night. Good for NXNE, right? Well, sort of.

When we arrived at Younge and Dundas square last night to see the live acts, it quickly became apparent that much of the audience had been displaced from the canceled Radiohead concert. Most of the people I talked to were upset but rational, and others where inappropriately angered by the situation.    Brooklyn indie rock band Oberhofer was finishing up their set, and I felt very fortunate to arrive at this moment because I was happily surprised by their performance. Brad Oberhofer the frontman of this outfit is an prolific performer and their sound is really fresh. More to come on him later.

I was there to see Of Montreal. Though I've seen them and their stage performance before, they always seem to exceed expectations. Kevin Barnes took the stage and took two songs to really find his pace. Lately he's going with an even more ambiguous look, with a Skrillex like haircut, blurring the line between his masculinity and femininity. Nothing crazy. Their performance was solid, and they kind of played a quick hit list for the diehard fans, who were there, in hiding.
Next up was Alaskan transplants and talk of the music world Portugal. The Man. They took the stage with great energy, but unfortunately the sound mix was a little off. Now I'm sure that space has many strange sounding anomalies depending on where you're standing, so I made sure to move around a bit, and it was clear that the levels were not correct. But they played with great energy and a genuine respect to be playing at NXNE. The highlight of the set was their cover of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter," and teasing "Hey Jude" epically at the end of their set.
Then it was time for the Flaming Lips, who I intended to give every opportunity to woo me and win me over, and once again Wayne Coyne managed to piss me off. First they took forever to start playing (after they came out on stage) which was fine, I had hoped they were fixing the sound, but after saying they were ready several times, and were not, it became agitating. Finally they got underway. Confetti guns exploding, balloons bouncing, and the smile was plastered back on my face. The show was theatrically going swimmingly. Then after the first 3 or so songs, Mr. Coyne took to the mic to express his condolences to their friends and inspirations Radiohead in reference to the incident. They then played the Radiohead song "Knives Out" which is not a happy-go-lucky song and followed it with a piano ballad of their own that seemed to last forever, completely halting the performance and dampening the mood. And in typical fashion he began placating to the crowd and begging them for their affections in this a difficult time. It totally turned me off. And although it was of no fault to them, I have never seen that many kids pass out of "heat-exhaustion," not even at a Disco Biscuits show.
Needless to say we all needed a change of scenery. At that point I was ready to punch the next person that mentioned a "secret Radiohead show" or "Thom Yorke DJ set." We got the fuck out of there. Horseshoe Tavern was the next spot on our chain of events and it was absolutely overrun with people dying to see the Lumineers. We got the hint that every NXNE venue was going to be this packed for the rest of the night. Remaining there for only a portion of Young Empires set, it was either leave, or pass out in the bar.

Smartly we headed away from downtown to the Drake Underground. I needed to see some DJs spin. I was getting "banded-out." Luckily we skipped the block-long line and kind of persuaded ourselves in coyly. Treasure Fingers put on his headphones and began spinning the moment we walked in. Blissfully, we danced around to his blending of Hard French Nu-Disco music until we began to tucker out around 3:45AM. As we were leaving some of the members from Portugal. The Man were entering the premises, and there at the door getting denied entry was poor Brad Oberhofer, who later told me on the street how he hates nightclubs. I consoled him, and disagreed, but shared a token moment with him in commiseration of how the vibe of the city unfortunately changed over last night.

• Regrets... I have a few, and one of them is saying in last Monday's post about Lana Del Rey that I was "still intrigued" by her debut album. Why? Because that meant I had to listen to it, and I did, and that's time I'll never get back. If you like under-cooked hokum that wants to walk on the dark side but really doesn't, Lana Del Rey's Born To Die is your album. "Videogames" is literally all she's got. Kudos however to the recording industry for getting succesfully subverting the indie/buzz blogosphere and getting one by that firewall. Well done. And that's all I'm going to say on the subject because I value my time and yours. 

• Speaking of regrets, yeah, I probably could've put that post up about St. Vincent on last Friday's "Portlandia" a little sooner than last Friday night. I'll try to do a better job in that department in the future. For those that missed Annie's.... uh... understated yet wonderful performance on "Portlandia," here it is:

• After a dry January for new music releases of note (to me at least), February's got some mighty choice nuggets, including the new of Montreal album Paralytic Stalks, due out tomorrow. Word on the street has it that it's got a Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? vibe, an interesting turn after the adventures that were Skeletal Lamping and False Priest, and that has me very stoked. Here is a taste, and hopefully if we're good boys and girls maybe we'll get a Buffalo of Montreal show this fall...

Dour Percentage by of Montreal




That's all I got. Happy post Super Bowl Monday. We'll get through this. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids... and good luck.

Dour Percentage by of Montreal