Of Montreal is one of the only indie pop bands with enough talent to justify both their strange concert antics (lead singer Kevin Barnes came on stage last tour with a wedding dress on, wanting to marry the audience) and the fact that they sold their song and soul to the Outback Steakhouse. Despite their corporate ties, Of Montreal does seem to make a point of being outlandish. Influenced by psychedelics, their two previous albums, Satanic Panic in the Attic and The Sunlandic Twins, included songs called "Chrissie Kiss the Corpse" and "The Party's Crashing Us." Thus, naming their album Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? should come as no surprise, just as the fact that none of them are from Montreal. What is surprising is that after two stellar albums, Hissing Fauna comes as mixed bag: some tracks are true gems, dancey and witty, while others fail to excite. The album opens with the sound of a baby and the words, "We just want to emote 'til we're dead" on the aptly-labeled track "Suffer for Fashion." A sort of hipster anthem, this solid song is an upbeat start typical to Of Montreal. Another highlight, the sixth track "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsinger," offers euphoric storytelling. "Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider" is self-referentially boring, and the album ends less than thrillingly with "We Were Born the Mutants Again with Leafing." Their style remains dependable, but Of Montreal's fans might prefer their album more "well done."
-Pamela Takefman
If you aren't already a fan of the jam band genre, a studio album won't change your mind. Even live jam recordings tend to lack some of the improvisatory and energetic flair that endears bands like Phish, Widespread Panic and moe. to their audiences. Concert attendance is often a prerequisite for the willingness to actually buy a jam band's CD. But moe.'s latest album, The Conch, is notable for its ability to hold listener interest regardless of any preexisting experience with the band. Diehard "moe.rons" may know that moe. could sound ten times better live, but that doesn't detract from the impressive range of their latest studio release. The five-member group showcases an unusual variety of instrumental and vocal talent; experimenting with different lead singers, drum styles and even some limited audience participation. Songs like "Wind it Up," "Where Does the Time Go," and "Blue Jeans Pizza" are all about twice as long as the average pop song, but evolve in a way that Beyonc‚'s "to the lefts" never could. That said, moe.'s style will never provide the instant gratification of a catchy pop song. Their music takes patience, but it rewards with the rare sound from a band that works hard for its audience rather than an iTunes ranking.
-Hillary Smith
In contrast to the experimental proclivities of his more "freakish" Drag City labelmates (John Fahey, Six Organs of Admittance, White Magic), the more traditional folk of Scottish singer and guitarist Alasdair Roberts seems tame, and perhaps even quaint. With Roberts' thick, Highland accent and his bright, acoustic sound, the songs from his newest album, The Amber Gatherers, could be heard wafting amongst the clinky din of a dimly-lit countryside pub. Having said this, it would be wrong to write off Roberts' poised, lilting ballads as commonplace additions to the bevy of tired, Celtic-folk rehashes.
The overall sound of Gatherers - music so light-spirited and genteel it makes you wonder who couldn't like it - works almost to mask the creative nuances and complexities of its songs, which demand careful, repeated listens. Using unconventional tunings and wickedly clever pacing and phrasing, Roberts achieves a stark and simple beauty the hard way. In the case of standout track "Firewater," syncopated handclaps and a subdued electronic drone call attention to the album's intriguing relationship between tradition and unorthodoxy. Although Roberts' tune is about as palatable as music gets, he does not achieve this through old musical clich‚s of one, four and five-chord repetition. Rather. his style is built from the ground up, with his own reinvention of both a timeless art and instrument.
-Joe Yeakel
