of Montreal devotees know that their shows are happenings in the truest sense, and the current show came at the audience hard with a teasing set that largely explored the band’s last three albums and visions of masculinity in 2017. Frontman/guru Kevin Barnes dazzled the crowd with a cross dressing series of tasteful ensembles while the stripped down band jammed out in cartoon good old boy get-ups and androgynous dancers acted out various passion plays, all of them living and breathing screens for the immersive projections that covered the wall behind the stage.

Finishing with a potent medley of “classic” of Montreal material including “Labrynthian Pomp,” “Id Engager” and “The Party’s Crashing Us,” Barnes and co. elevated the crowd to a dancing frenzy that was only topped by an insane “Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse” that closed the show with a mighty climax, an overwhelming orgy of tripped out projected images, heroic crowd surfing avatars, and that crowd deliriously dancing and singing “come on chemicals!” in a joyful frenzy. This, the non denominational pagan ritual of expression and freedom that is of Montreal in live performance, was what we needed (now more than usual), and of Montreal gave it all to us.

Check out some photos and video from the show below.

Christina Scheider’s Jepeto Solutions

Of Montreal

Written by Cliff Parks

Photos by Brendan O’Connor

Video by Cliff Parks

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The show will be kicked off by Jepeto Solutions at 8pm.  Tickets are still available at the door for $22.

The post Tonight: Of Montreal first appeared on buffaBLOG.

I really wanted to like of Montreal’s opener, especially because I usually dig their openers (Janelle Monae, Dream Tiger, Kishi Bashi), but Surface to Air Missive failed to excite When they veered into early R.E.M. territory, things looked up, but their predilection for 60’s jam band guitar noodling and staring earnestly at each other while they played became turnoffs. Their vocalist/rhythm guitar player did sing his heart out, putting the hammer down mightily on his throat muscles to hit some impressive falsetto notes, and I had to appreciate the effort, because a hernia operation is definitely in the guy’s future.

After a brief interlude and an invocation from master of ceremonies (and of Montreal’s resident visual artist) David Barnes, guru/shaman/brother of David/mastermind Kevin Barnes appeared, strapped on his guitar, and of Montreal unleashed  their show upon the sparse crowd with joyful abandon, ripping into the dark funk of “Bassem Sabry.” Projections covered almost the entire front wall of the church: the band, the speakers, the quaint screen behind the drummer… everything was a screen to contain some form of visual wildness that didn’t let up until the very end.

There were lights and images flashing across entire fields of vision. There were dancers that alternated between androgyny and hyper sexual caricature, riling up the crowd with their ever changing antics and holding up and or becoming screens themselves for projections, including a cameo by the Grand Idiot himself Donald Trump (looking especially baboonish) that amused the audience tremendously. And of course there was a point to all of it whether we absorbed it or not, creating a sense of data overload to go along with the always pleasing of Montreal sensory overload their beautiful fans live for.

Classics like “Suffer For Fashion” and “Requiem For O.M.M.2”  kicked off the many dance party moments of the night, but I really enjoyed how Kevin Barnes utilized his newer songs off Lousy With Sylvianbriar and Aureate Gloom (“Empryean Abattoir,” “Like Ashoka’s Inferno Of Memory”) to push the show into darker, more apocalyptic tones. Even the vintage stuff during the middle third of the main set like “Beware Our Nubile Miscreants” added to the mounting psychic tension that built until it found exquisite, ecstatic release during Skeletal Lamping’s wickedly sexy “For Our Elegant Caste” and the big finale of “The Party’s Crashing Us,” “Gronlandic Edit.” and “A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger.” This was the curated communal freakout that makes of Montreal shows so truly special.

Some audience members were overcome by the psychic and emotional fallout. Some laughed like kids on Christmas morning. Pretty much everybody danced  with utter abandon. The encore only contributed to the primal chaos, with a super freaky “Bunny Ain’t No Kind Of Rider” that managed to take the sensory overload to yet another level, a reckless disco funk workout to “Id Enlarger,” and a darkly sensuous “She’s A Rejector” that reduced of Montreal’s beautiful tribe to a sweating, writhing mass of humanity before it was all over.

Even as the house lights came up, the crowd didn’t make for the exits: many just basked in the warm afterglow, some understandably chanted “ten more songs!” in vain, while some just sought to put themselves back together before re-entering the real world beyond the sanctuary of Babeville. Many also thronged the merch table to work on their of Montreal CD and vinyl collections, snag a tasteful poster, and peruse the lovely selection of twisted ceramic art of David Barnes (I snagged an excellent live double album that fueled the writing of this review).

Ah, the annual of Montreal shared experience freakout was everything: a riot of sound and vision and liberated humanity that pushes all in attendance over the brink and back again. Babeville was the almost perfect venue (I’m still iffy on the dubious acoustics in Asbury Hall) for the of Montreal bacchanal experienced Monday night, and I sincerely hope it returns again next year, in spite of the fairly paltry yet thoroughly exhilarated crowd (Monday night must be TV night for the over 30 set).

The post of Montreal at Asbury Hall (9/14/15) first appeared on buffaBLOG.

Okay let’s be honest: you already know about of Montreal. Your friends have told you about the strange costumes and the small army of performers and dancers that will take the stage. You’ve probably even taken a liking to a couple of their songs; you’re just afraid of having to “make the commitment” and listen to a whole of Montreal LP (or all thirteen). I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to do this– just go to the show tonight and enjoy the strage combination of a live show, visuals, and performance art.

Yes, sure, I didn’t know most of the songs after my first time seeing the band two years ago. But of Montreal isn’t necessarily a band that you’re going to go see to sing along with, they’re a band that you go watch for the sole purpose of witnessing a fragment of the insanity-turned-art that comes out of the complicated, spontaneous, and ever-changing mind of Kevin Barnes and his backing members.

Barnes has a history of picking great openers for the band’s shows and this time around, he selected Surface to Air Missive, a solo-recording effort by Taylor Ross out of Florida that has turned into a four-piece band off of Stones Throw records.

Tickets are $20, and doors open at 7pm.

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Tickets for the Dan Smalls presented show will go on sale this Friday, May 27th, at noon for $17.50 in advance, $20 day of via Ticketweb. Surface to Air Missive is set to open.

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“Tive Razao” by Seu Jorge. The standout track from the FIFA 06 soundtrack, this sublime acoustic ditty from Brazilian superstar Seu Jorge is gorgeous, irresistible, and a glimpse into the soul and rhythms of Brazil.

“Festival” by Sigur Ros.  This soundtrack to pure joy was used brilliantly by ESPN for one of their commercials for the World Cup, which is also included because it’s an excellent piece of advertising and rousing as all hell.

“Baby” by Alice Smith with Aloe Blacc. A deeply soulful bossa nova cover of the Os Mutantes classic.

“Don’t Look Back In Anger” by Oasis.  Because Manchester City won the league this year, the song that sums up England’s complicated relationship to their national team goes to the Brothers Gallagher and Oasis.

 “Bat Macumba” by of Montreal. Another Mutantes cover, this time from pyschedelic art rock freaks from Athens, Georgia.

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Atlanta’s of Montreal was formed a while back in ’96, and since then, has grown a long repertoire of albums. They are contemporaries of The Elephant 6 Collective including bands such as Neutral Milk Hotel and Apples In Stereo. Most recently, their latest album lousy with sylvianbriar, featured a strong rock and roll edge mixed with an upbeat pop twang. WNYBAC designed the poster for tonight that you can have a chance to purchase for $20 at the venue. Check out more info about the poster here.

Dream Tiger, a feminine duo, opens the evening with their use of subtle white-noise electronics. Singer Liz Wolf captivates with an ethereal, dreamy, drawn out vocal. They will put you in a state of trance before Of Montreal breaks the gaze with an electric sword.

This show is all ages. Doors at 7. Skip over with $19 in your palm.

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WNYBAC’s most recent commission is for tomorrow night’s of Montreal show at the Town Ballroom. Samantha Epps, WNYBAC’s retail manager, filled us in on the design process:

“This is a 5 color letterpress print produced using metal and wood type exclusively from the collection at the Western New York Book Arts Center. The print centers around a “train tracks” woodcut printed in 4 different times, each in a different color: neon orange, neon red, robin’s egg blue, and bright purple. Bordering this colorful design is the band name, venue, date, and opener Dream Tiger, all printed in a bold gothic condensed type of varying sizes [see below].

“Letterpress is a type of antique style printing in which individual letters and pieces are set to create a form and then printed on a hand-run press. Due to the nature of letterpress printing, each print features uniques variances, making it completely one-of-a-kind.”

The posters will be available for purchase tomorrow night at the Town Ballroom for $20, in addition to the store at 468 Washington Street and WNYBAC’s etsy shop.

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