“And all those ugly days / That made us so sick / They are just fossils now,” wails Barnes; “The Party’s Crashing Us” is an optimistic song, written just after his relationship would be turned upside down with the birth of his daughter Alabee. words of hope and encouragement: ‘Don’t give up / you’re not beaten yet’. Rejection and personal crisis are two common lyrical themes throughout of Montreal’s mid-era material and they’re both on full display here. — Katrina Nattress, As the song’s opening lines would suggest, Kevin Barnes is indeed a “nihilist with a good imagination.” At least this iteration of himself is parallel to the chameleon-like frontman metamorphosing midway through 2007’s Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. —Adrian Spinelli, © 2020 Paste Media Group. We know what you’re thinking: Morrissey, really? Kevin Barnes had spent years writing catchy, pop-jingles and decided to record them however he wanted to and in the process, made a should-be indie rock classic. To me none of their other albums reach the desirability of False Priest. Thanks for making it. On stage, the theatrical Barnes is no stranger to performing in drag and “Gallery Piece” serves a bullhorn for embracing sexual orientation. This is the obvious choice, but that doesn't make it the wrong choice. This is where it all began, and stands alone in the catalog as the only album that really sounds totally raw and unpolished. Sampling Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s inspirational feminist call to arms, there are many layers to ‘***Flawless’ and just too many motivational lines to count. If you're looking for an entertaining listen and like the more danceable aspects of the band, this might be the album you find yourself coming back to most frequently. Spinning Innocence Reaches right now and you are right about that first track being outstanding. It just doesn't have that defined sound that its predecessor, This collection of early songs is my favorite of the pre-, This compilation of unreleased songs and rarities from the golden age of Barnes (. Pink’s ‘screw you’ to her husband (they had separated at the time) was praised by critics for its empowering message. I hope you've enjoyed reading this ranking of albums. MTL.”, “The Hot Tramp team was everywhere in 2019.”, “Happy fifth anniversary to Moonshine. In honor of this reissue, we combed through of Montreal’s 14 studio albums to pick the 20 best tracks most emblematic of their bombastic freakiness. Combined with a ‘70s organ and Niles Rogers-like guitar riff, it’s easy to imagine Barnes constricting himself with his microphone cord as he struts around a ramshackle stage, surrounded by hippies, summing the song up with “insecurities of men messing everything up again.” —Zane Warman, As a pure pop song, “Disconnect the Dots” is a force to be reckoned with. One of Madonna's very best pop songs is also a feminist classic. And in my personal opinion it is a great album to start with for getting into the band. M.I.A. It’s a testament to the band’s reflexiveness that they write precise, straight-ahead rock with the same depth as they can obtuse funk. Preach, sis, preach. It’s been hijacked a bit by gym bros, but don’t let that stop it from picking you up when you need a lift. It’s a love song in every sense, one of gushing, giddy, infatuated and highly sexual love (“I wanna turn you on / I wanna make you cum / Two-hundred times a day”), but it’s also one of Barnes’ defining moments of embracing the queer-positive themes in his music (“You see that sculpture on the hill? Here’s how that number breaks down by borough. —Adrian Spinelli, The volcanic, distorted guitars that open “Bassem Sabry” let listeners know of Montreal’s tolerance for sycophants is low. The Past Is A Grotesque Animal of Montreal • Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Empowerment has always been a … Erik Leijon is a former videogame columnist who writes about music, food and random city phenomena. Just like Rocky, you got this – just don’t start punching people, okay? The result is a despondent uncertainty that Barnes captures by keeping his audience just slightly uncertain throughout “Oslo in the Summertime.” —Ross Bonaime, Though never quite accepted as a fully psychedelic band, Of Montreal took an unexpected turn with “Lysergic Bliss,” a track from their 2009 album Satanic Panic in the Attic. 1. 3. Empowerment has always been a core theme in La Ciccone's work, and it comes to the fore in this funk-fuelled floor-filler written as an homage to Sly & The Family Stone. Carried away by the fear of his wife and daughter dying, the tone alternates between softly-strummed acoustic guitars and cracking and wiry electric leads. With these bops on your playlist, there will be no stopping you from now on. The initial explosion of synths, guitar, percussion and Kevin Barnes’s squealing vocals is such a delightful way to begin a record that ended up being one of the darkest Barnes has ever produced. And the message here is great: Don’t we all need a lover with soul power? —Steven Edelstone, It’s both a rarity and a relief when an of Montreal song can be plainly fun without the quiet urge to run to check a vocabulary book. SMS for Location, Vol. Plus, the animated video is just too cute (in a really morbid sort of way). —Ross Bonaime, “Oh, well, we made love like a pair of black wizards!” Barnes sings midway through “The Party’s Crashing Us.” The line floats over a funky synth intro riff, proving once again that he’s the king of inserting weird inside jokes into a song that’s actually intensely serious. The chemicals that originally put him deep in crisis-mode are perhaps his only way out, though he’s fearful that they may affect his writing as he sings, “Chemicals, don’t strangle my pen.” He needs help, but as always, buoyant synth melodies may have been his best way out, hoping that music, not chemicals, is what will finally get his mood shift to shift back to good again. The band’s bass-bouncing formula is adorned here with colorful, ringing strings and Solange’s stratospheric range makes their playful chemistry irresistibly energizing. But some of the darker side of this record, like "I Was a Landscape in Your Dream", are true standouts. Montreal Boston Miami Browse all cities en; es ... One of Madonna's very best pop songs is also a feminist classic. Get your answers by asking now. Or go see the band live! Gaynor later used it as the backdrop for a 2013 anthology of inspirational stories called ‘We Will Survive’. — Katrina Nattress, “Coquet Coquette” jumps out of False Priest, the band’s uneven foray into R&B. Still, “Gronlandic Edit” is the very figment of Barnes’s alter-ego, Georgie Fruit—the ‘70s disco icon living within Barnes—and of of Montreal’s entire story arc owes itself to this ideation. 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