Music is My Radar

Of Montreal is for me one of those bands where a little goes a long way.  Not to say that I don’t like/really like Of Montreal; I do.  But as I recently discovered, unless I am in a very specific mood, only one or two OM songs is plenty to quench my thirst.

For the uninitiated, Of Montreal is a band driven mostly by one guy, Kevin Barnes, who by all accounts is pretty effing weird.  (That’s him in the red cummerbund, FYI.)  Anyway, they’re one of the Elephant 6 bands that emerged from Athens, GA in the 1990s, along with Elf Power, Neutral Milk Hotel, and the Olivia Tremor Control.  All of these groups embrace psychedelia and whimsy in varying degrees, but Of Montreal takes both to new extremes.  Consider for example the band’s fourth full-length studio album, Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse.  It’s a loose concept record about … well, I’ll let ol’ KevBar explain it in his own words.

“Coquelicot is an Efeblum. An Efeblum is a fairy-like creature who is employed by the Efeneties (loving spirits) to place bells inside people’s hearts. When a person has a bell in their heart they are able to create works of art, fall in love and feel at peace with the world. Coquelicot, during one of her trips to Earth, decides to discard her bells and experience life as a human. Instead of living in “reality” she decides to experience life in a sleeping unconscious/conscious state. It is in this subconscious world that she meets Claude and Lecithin the inventor. They do all sorts of crazy stuff together like having incredible battles with evergreens and satellites, getting chased by psychotic zombies, playing with Lecithin’s inventions and eventually moving away together to a deserted frozen island. In time, Coquelicot feels remorseful about neglecting her responsibilities as an Efeblum and decides to return to her work. She can’t bear the thought of leaving her two new best friends so she invites them to come along with her. They happily accept and join her as honorary Efeblums.”

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.  You see what I mean?  I wish I could find a video on youtube of one of the tracks on Coquelicot, but no luck.  You’ll just have to trust me.

Not all of Of Montreal’s material is so very odd; some of it is fairly straightforward indie pop.  On their most recent album, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (a little whimsy goes a long way KevBar, you freak), they even get a little dirgy and angry.  Oooooh!!!  Makes me wanna holla!  But for whatever they lack in true musical range, they make up for in volume.  Since hitting the scene in 1997, the band has amassed 9 full-length albums (many with bonus tracks on certain editions), 8 compilations of various songs, 5 EPs, and around a dozen singles.  And when you consider that many of the albums have 16+ songs on them (Coquelicot clocks in with 22), you realize that this guy literally creates a new song every time he exhales.  I’m not joking.  Granted, many of the songs are less than two minutes long, and some are spoken-word or purely abstract, but still.  Someone’s been taking their adderall.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I decided to spend a day or two listening to nothing but Of Montreal while working in the yard.  I have around 10 releases by them; 9 albums and a collection of early recordings.  Altogether, it amounts to almost 140 songs and clocks in at just under 7 hours.  So, iPod in hand, I ventured out to the yard to pull weeds and try to figure out this enigmatic band.

Suffice to say that I made it about 4 hours before I had to switch to something else.  Of Montreal’s later recordings are much more straightforward (relative to their earlier material, anyway), but since I had my Of Montreal playlist sorted by year, I plowed through the old material first.  The collection of early recordings I mentioned earlier?  It consists of 16 songs, all of whose titles mention the actor Dustin Hoffman.  In fact, if you read the titles in order, it tells a story.  A story about Mr. Hoffman taking a bath, eating his bathtub, having his tongue seized by the police, wetting himself, and climbing a tree.  Seriously … WHAT … THE … FUCK.  Oh, and none of the songs are actually Dustin Hoffman or any of the events described in the song titles.  Damn.

Anyway, after deciding to give Of Montreal another try, I punched play on their 2005 album The Sunlandic Twins.  The first track is called “Requiem for O.M.M.2″ and as you might have guessed, is the subject of this post.  You can watch the video below.

Pretty good, huh?  Damn catchy, even.  This is the Of Montreal that I like.  Firmly grounded in Beatlesque pop without all the whimsical crap.  After listening to hours upon hours of songs about miniature philosophers and happy yellow bumblebees, it was a welcome surprise.

I probably need not explain much more about why I like this song; given my previous complaints about Of Montreal, the contrast should be obvious enough.  As a extra added bonus, The Sunlandic Twins also features a song called “Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games),” which boasts the memorable chorus “Let’s pretend we don’t exist/Let’s pretend we’re in Antarctica.”  Watch the video for it below.

Also very good and catchy.  But then Of Montreal sold out and licensed the song to Outback Steakhouse for this commercial.  Terrible crass awful.  I won’t even in-line the video.

Anyway, the moment passed weeks ago, but I wanted to preserve “Requiem for O.M.M.2″ as my Song of the Moment.  Enjoy.

Hello fan(s). Sorry for the prolonged absence from this blog. Between the end of the semester and some around-the-house projects I recently tackled, I’ve been a bit busy. But I haven’t forgotten about my blog or my fan(s), and I promise to resume my regular new-post-every-three-days schedule this week.

And in that spirit, I thought I’d mention the newest additions to my ever-growing CD collection. In no particular order, here they are.

1. Electronic Projects for Musicians by The Apples in Stereo.
2. Accelerate by R.E.M.
3. Monstre Cosmic by Monade.
4. I Am the Cosmos by Chris Bell
5. Trein Maersk: A Report To The NATOarts Board Of Directors by Icebreaker International.
6. The Roots Come Alive by The Roots.
7. Boo! Forever by The Boo Radleys.
8. Kaleidoscope by Ride.
9. Strawberry Fields Forever by Candy Flip.
10. See You On The Other Side by Mercury Rev.
11. Beneath the Rhythm and Sound by The Ocean Blue.
12. Teenage Symphonies to God by Velvet Crush.
13. Voxtrot by Voxtrot.

Now before you start freaking out about me purchasing 13 CDs recently, let me point out a few things. First, I really really wanted all of them, and that’s all the justification I need. But beyond that, they were purchased not all at once, but over a period of a month, from mid-April to mid-May. Further, items 7 through 13 were found in the $2 at my favorite local record store and all together cost just over $15.

Admittedly, I haven’t listened to all of them yet, but that’s not always why I buy CDs, for immediate consumption. Take 10 for example. Years ago a friend recommended this CD as one he would take to a desert island with him, and I made a mental note to pick it up some day. When I found it for $2, how could I say no? Although I have listened to that CD a few times, and it is pretty brilliant.

Anyway, as I listen to these CDs over the coming weeks and digest them, I’ll post my thoughts. Until then, thanks for reading.

As many of you know, I spend much of my work week fruitlessly attempting to teach economics to undergraduates at, uh, a local university. (That should preserve my anonymity.) Trying to inspire excitement about economics, or really anything other than spending hours on facebook and chuffing energy drinks like they’re going out of style isn’t easy, so over the years I’ve developed a few strategies to keep the kids interested, or at least awake. For example, I frequently scream loudly while swinging from the overhead sprinkler system wearing only a loincloth. Also, I show up to class clad entirely in A&F and Old Navy and pretend to be a student, then loudly berate the professor for being a douche. Not really. But I do hand out bonus points.

It is amazing how predictable my students are. I’m not talking about grade distribution or the aforementioned apathy, but rather attendance patterns. Every semester starts out strong; nearly 100% of students present the first few days of class. Then, within a week, 10-15% are absent on any given day. (Amazingly, about half of those students are near perfect in their non-attendance, showing up only to take exams.) By halfway through the term, attendance averages 50-60%. Of course, it is always highest when there is some assignment due or an exam scheduled, but most other days are spotty at best. I’ve noticed in particular that the day after an exam is given, attendance will be amazingly low. So on days like that, or whenever it strikes me, I give my students a bonus question and its answer that will appear on the next exam.

The bonus questions are always the same, of late at least. “What is the next CD I am going to buy?” is the question, and depending on the week or time of day, I provide them with some answer of a an album or EP I intend to purchase in the near future. Usually it’s an upcoming release, and I try to stick to indie artists, as they need more press than, say, Michael Jackson (who arguably would be much better with far less press.) The question is worth only two points on each exam, and I rarely give out more than two questions per test, so there is very little impact on anyone’s final grades. Mostly I do it to reward the kids that do show up, have a little fun, and promote the music I think more people should listen to.

Anyway, following is a list of all the CDs I’ve recommended to my students in the past few months. (Sorry for the lack of links.)

1. Signals, Call, and Marches and Vs. by Mission of Burma
2. Moon Safari re-release by Air
3. Odelay re-release by Beck
4. Young Team re-release by Mogwai
5. Songs in A&E by Spiritualized
6. Velocifero by Ladytron
   
7. Rising Down by The Roots
8. Water Curses by Animal Collective
9. In a Cave by Elf Power
10. Thriller re-release by Michael Jackson

I’ve only purchased three of the CDs in the list, the Mission of Burma CDs and the Beck rerelease. Many of them have not yet been released (numbers 5 and 6) and the Thriller reissue seemed less interesting once I had a closer look at it. (I have ordered the Animal Collective EP, but it hasn’t arrived yet.)

I don’t know how much of an impact on music consumption my bonus questions have had. I can remember only one time when a student told me that s/he bought or downloaded any music on my recommendation. And given the reaction to the Animal Collective song I played at the end of class just recently, I don’t think many people will heed my advice.

One final point. My beloved wife suggested that I move away from the indie-rock a bit and start recommending Memphis music to my kids. This is fine; point well taken. Although I do try to recommend new and emerging music (mostly), there are certainly some classic Memphis songs/bands that need props. And probably even some local bands that I can boost.