4-12-13

Of Montreal - rarities and B-Sides from 2006 until now. Straddles their sound, from their earlier twee to their current Princey-dancey. Some of these, in fact many of these, were kept rare for a reason-- not every track is a gem.

Too, MANY are FCC unclean. Make sure to play only the safe tracks.

In general, some nice curiosities and some forgotten gems, but not TOO many.

1. (3:54) * Bass-heavy, electronic, dancy and twee, with whiney cryptic lyrics-- that is, the standard late-era Of Montreal sound... some good quiet moments brought back by drums...
2. (3:01) * FCC 3. (3:33) ** FCC 4. (2:35) FCC
5. (4:32) *** Woozy, damaged sound, under sheath of sound, about a coma. Weird talky bridge, echoey effects and more, all under dancey woozy bass, fades out into bleary dancey soundscape
6. (2:00) FCC 7. (4:15) *** FCC 8. (2:50) ** FCC
9. (3:40) From a split 7" they did with Deerhoof. Female vocals (Rebecca Cash)-- slow ballad with drums and piano, couldn't be less typical for the band. Computerized backing vocals come in halfway, and I guess that's more the band's speed. But mainly, it's a slightly pretty, slow singer-songwriter-y track.
10. (3:15) ***** Don't know when/where this song Slow, more acoustic opening, gets into sunny bass groove, hooky vocal lines in typical snotty Barnes delivery. A few etheral backing vocals... and a sax break. Then it gets minor and choral-ey, echoey and paranoid.
11. (2:56) *** FROM 2006 LIMITED TOUR EP-- more straightforward, driving guitars. The "old" Of Montreal non-dancey sound. Weird dissonant keyboards, vocals mixed very up. The driving sound... very unusual for them, but it's a hooky little song, and it works. Nice oohs and aahs at end, then SUDDEN silence.
12. (2:32) 2008 single. Harsh sounding mechanical percussion, "Clash of the Titans" reference. Strange re-sampling of own voice in higher pitch, very hip-hoppy production. I don't think it really works. Instrumental for last minute.
13. (2:58) FCC
14. (2:48) ** From 2006 tour single. Not too dancey, but high energy... weird grab-bag of '60s-ish instruments, all woven into strange psychey pitch, with strummy breaks, with twee snotty vocals over it all. More straightforward, driving... Sudden ending.
15. (2:28) * Record Store Day release. Heavily processed, electronic chirping, with voice from bottom of well. Slow, chill, lightweight, but ultimately pleasant.
16. (5:18) * FROM 2006 LIMITED TOUR EP. Slow, chill, drums and wafting synths... lazy minimalist vocals, only a few lines, repeated. Prolonged, pretty fade-out.
17. (3:43) * Buffalo Springfield (writer: Neil Young) cover. Prolonged, slow, all echoey piano and echoey vocals, occasionally expanding into multi-tracked chorus. Ambitious, fairly successful.

-Hervey Okkles