Since 2007’s ambitious, masterful Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? , absorbing an Of Montreal album has become a feat akin to eating Thanksgiving dinner for four—then going out for fusion tacos. There’s a lot to take in. Paralytic Stalks finds frontman Kevin Barnes once again attempting to exorcise his personal demons through a dizzying pop whirlwind. It’s a further refinement of his defiantly complex sound, which this time reconciles the naiveté of his ’60s psych-pop roots with his recent post-Prince sex jams.  The hi-fi sonic retrofitting that producer Jon Brion gave False Priest extends here, though ...

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of Montreal Paralytic Stalks [Polyvinyl; 2012] by Conrad Tao Rating: ‘Ambitious.’ It’s a bit of a dreaded word, a damning bit of faint praise usually reserved for albums that aim too high. “That album was bereft of anything memorable..… but it was ambitious.” Or, more accurately, “That concept album about vocoders and indigenous masks was ambitious, awful shit.” Well, there’s no getting around it: of Montreal’s newest album, Paralytic Stalks , is capital-A Ambitious, with its sprawling second half, dense sonics, and ominous opening inquiry (self-described as “unanswered”): “You know what parasites evolved from?” But it’s also ...

Alex Wisgard speaks to of Montreal's Kevin Barnes about their forthcoming album Paralytic Stalks, getting to grips with his past, and just how the band will manage to bring its "raw, exhausting, terrifying, psychotic and beautiful" sounds to life onstage.

of Montreal “Spiteful Intervention” There was a time – a mostly quite bad time – in my life when I related quite strongly to Kevin Barnes’ music, but thankfully, I’m not there anymore. This puts me in a strange position in terms of my relationship with his music: While I maintain that he has made some [...]

We had a pretty interesting week here at The 405; we brought you a bunch of new columns, the second edition of 'Black Vase', a new 'Plastic Platform' mix, an iPad book/site playlist, a load of reviews, a lot of news and more. Below you will find the playlist equivalent of the week we've had. Enjoy. You can listen to the playlist by clicking here . New Music Chart The Hood Internet - 'Nightchain' (Wale x Kavinsky) - ( link ) Perfect Hair Forever - 'My Teen Idol' - ( link ) Jesse Ruins - 'Shatter The Jewel' - ( link ) M.I.A. - 'Bad Girls' - ( link ) Keep Shelly In ...

Quintron and Miss Pussycat 's last tour was pretty short, and it left us wanting them to take a longer trek (or at least one that stopped by New York City), and this time around we get two shows in the City. Brooklyn's 285 Kent Avenue is one of the stops; the duo play there on April 28. The next night, they'll be playing in Manhattan at the Mercury Lounge. The full list of tour dates is below. Quintron and Miss Pussycat tour dates: 2/07 - St. Augustine, FL – Nobby’s Tavern 2/08 - Miami, FL- The Stage ...

How far Of Montreal have come since releasing Cherry Peel way back in 1997. In the fifteen years, and eleven albums, since Kevin Barnes and his motley supporting cast of musical misfits took their first steps away from their humble Elephant 6 collective beginnings, they’ve taken in a diverse, disparate array of styles. From the psychedelic-infused tweeness of their early releases through to the space-age pomp of their 2007 magnum opus Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer , Barnes has presented himself and his troupe of musical vagabonds as a consistently evolving tour de force of indie rock weirdness. However ...

Sub Pop hip-hopper and SPIN Top 50 albums of 2011 honoree Shabazz Palaces dropped a fittingly stuttery video clip for the ellipsis-heavy "Are You… Can You… Were You? (Felt)" today. The video, directed by Seattle visual artist Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes , is chock-full of spastic floral imagery, long shots of African tribal sculptures, and the protagonist's problems with other people: namely, this girl on a bike gets nearly hit by Shabazz in his Benz while biking, then returns home to her mother's (we think?) disapproval of her wardrobe. The conversation flickers between English and a foreign language (we should probably ...

(Polyvinyl/Shock) Equal parts experimentalism, pop music and bizarre song titles Initially, I was prepared to write off Paralytic Stalks as a staggering, less coherent cousin to Of Montreal’s last two efforts – False Priest and Skeletal Lamping. I found myself grasping for the hook-filled experimental pop songs of the past and coming up with handfuls of psychedelic complexity. With their 11th album Kevin Barnes and his Athens (Georgia, USA) outfit have sacrificed some of the immediacy of the a ...

Como les contamos antes, Of Montreal prepara el lanzamiento de Paralytic stalks, nuevo álbum de la banda estadounidense, sucesor de False priest, editado en 2010. Los de Georgia siguen en su cruzada de colorido pop y rock, que bebe de una amplia gama de influencias. Lo nuevo de Kevin Barnes y sus chicos sale oficialmente [...]

Die Psychedelic-Pop-Band Of Montreal macht allmählich ernst mit ihrem neuesten Werk "Paralytic Stalks". Der mittlerweile elfte Langspieler, der am 10. Februar seinen Weg via Polyvinyl/Cargo Records in die deutschen Plattenregale findet, ist bereits bei den Kollegen von SPIN als kompletter Stream zu hören. Zuvor durfte man in "Dour Percentage" lauschen ( motor.de berichtete ). Das Septett aus Georgia präsentiert dabei neun Songs, welche die bekannten musikalischen Pfade aus Eingängigkeit und experimentellen Klangwelten weiterführen. Klickt einfach auf das Album-Artwork und ihr gelangt zum Stream. Außerdem könnt ihr »hier bereits zwei Lieder der neuen Scheibe herunterladen und einen Blick auf die Tracklist ...

The ever-eccentric Of Montreal are set to release Paralytic Stalks on February 7th, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it now. Spin 's got it streaming right here , along with vivid descriptions of various tracks from Kevin Barnes himself.

Georgia art-glam veterans of Montreal have a new album called Paralytic Stalks coming out soon, and we’ve already heard the early tracks “Wintered Debts” and “Dour Percentage.” And now the entire LP is streaming online. To hear it and read a track-by-track breakdown from frontman Kevin Barnes, head over to Spin. And hit the comments [...]

of Montreal are offering a full stream of their upcoming album Paralytic Stalks, out February 7th. Check out Spin for the stream, and a very helpful track-by-track account by frontman Kevin Barnes. Polyvinyl said that Paralytics Stalks contains “an infinitely more personal nature than anything Kevin Barnes has written since 2007′s Hissing Fauna, Are You