Spring coming automatically puts me in an Of Montreal mood. Okay, more so. Aren’t I always in an Of Montreal mood? Hah. This video is an oldie and a personal fave from The Sunlandic Twins (Polyvinyl). “So Begins Our Alabee,” is one of the greatest songs and the video is just fun and colorful. Yes this is before they glammed themselves up. Notice Kevin’s casual dancing and non-flashy clothes. My my have they come a long way. Either way, they are one of the best bands to ever exist. We can’t wait to see what the band has up their sleeve next.
Tag Archives: Ahmed Gallab
Modern Mystery’s Holiday Party Part One
Welcome friends! Come out of the cold and be intrigued once again this year by our Modern Mystery Holiday Party! This year we’re doing things a bit different. Posting several bands and artists at once for maximum, er, readage. That isn’t a word, we know, but we’ve been trying to pass ‘Radtacular’ as one for about a year now in hopes that it takes off. Maybe it will. Sigh.
Enjoy the first round of our Holiday Party. You never know who will drop in, and sometimes, neither do we!
Charlie Brand- The Miniature Tigers
Top 10 Albums of 2009:
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Alvin Band – Mantis Preying
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Julian Casablancas – Phrazes For The Young
Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms
Animal Collective – Fall Be Kind EP
Micachu – Jewelry
Peter, Bjorn & John – Living Thing
Craziest Thing that Happened to You This Year?:
The craziest thing that happened to me this year was touring for the first time. It’s been a life changing experience.
What do you love the most about the Holidays?
The thing I love most about the holidays is the overall smell in the air. I guess you could even classify it as a vibe more than a smell. Very warm and cozy.
Alex Gerber- The Miniature Tigers
Top 2 of 2009:
Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear
Curse Your Branches by David Bazan
Curse Your Branches by David Bazan
Craziest Thing that Happened to You This Year?:
Craziest thing to happen is that I joined Miniature Tigers.
The craziest thing that happened to me this year was touring for the first time. It’s been a life changing experience.
What do you love the most about the Holidays?
What I love most about the holidays is family, warmth and love.
Will Currie-Will Currie and the Country French
Top 10 Albums of 2009:
Dan Mangan – Nice, Nice, Very Nice
Said The Whale – Islands Disappear
Arkells – Jackson Square
Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
Patrick Watson – Wooden Arms
Zeus – Sounds Like Zeus EP
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus
Julian Casablancas – Phrazes For The Young
Hey Rosetta! – Into Your Lungs
Joel Plaskett & The Emergency – Three Craziest Thing that Happened to You This Year?:
Said The Whale – Islands Disappear
Arkells – Jackson Square
Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
Patrick Watson – Wooden Arms
Zeus – Sounds Like Zeus EP
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus
Julian Casablancas – Phrazes For The Young
Hey Rosetta! – Into Your Lungs
Joel Plaskett & The Emergency – Three Craziest Thing that Happened to You This Year?:
The craziest thing that happened to me this year was probably the time that my girlfriend and I attempted to cross into the US without proper ID. We were just going into the states to buy some breakfast cereal that they no longer sell in Canada, i.e. Trix and Coco Pebbles, and we were planning on being there no more than half an hour. We told the border guard that and said “if you don’t let us in, it’s no big deal, we’ll just go another time.” and he just kept getting more and more mad, as if our nonchalance was offending him. Anyway, in the end Myself, my lovely girlfriend, and her Toyota Tercel were allowed to cross but we were marked as “Non-compliant” at the border, whatever that means. Sounds like we were bein tough. We crossed back into Canada a bit later. the Canadian Guard said “Whatcha get?” We said “Cereal!” He said “Neat!” and we went back to our lovely country. It was then that I thought “Whoa, that was crazy. The craziest thing that’s happened to me this year? Perhaps.”
What do you love the most about the Holidays?
What I love the most about the holidays is walking downtown Toronto and seeing everything lit up and everybody going crazy shopping in the evening and stuff like that. It makes me feel like I’m in a movie or something. Basically Yonge St. from Dundas down to Queen St. That’s all prime Christmas movie atmosphere. Also, the World Jr Hockey Tournament is an amazing part of the holidays. If you’re a Canadian it’s awesome, others may be disappointed though.
Ahmed Gallab-Sinkane, Caribou, Yeasayer
Favorite Record of 2009:
Sa-Ra Creative Partners are a group composed of Om’Mas Keith, Taz Arnold, and Shafiq Husayn. Their 2009 release “Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love” is the the future of music as we know it.
Craziest Thing that Happened to You This Year?:
– Playing in Caribou Vibration Ensemble with Marshall Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra
– Listening to Marshall Allen tell me about the Sun Ra Arkestra dancing on the Sphinx in Egypt.
What do you love the most about the Holidays?
Well, being Sudanese and growing up in The U.S. I have become very confused about the holiday season. My family doesn’t really celebrate the American holidays. I mean, we used to get a Christmas tree and make our parents buy us stuff. But we always picked out exactly what we wanted and wrapped the gifts ourselves. There wasn’t ever a surprise element involved. I guess we never really got the whole concept in the first place.
Anyway, I like hanging out my with my mom and dad a lot. Lately I’ve been having a lot of girl problems so I talk to them about it. The conversations usually go like this like this:
Me: Hey guys, I’m really down. I want a girlfriend
Mom: Get a job
Dad: Get a haircut
Secondhand Sunday: Of Montreal ‘Disconnect the Dots’
All of the Of Montreal Lollapalooza and tour dates news this week has put me in the OM spirit. The band has definitely been making waves at the festival this year and all of this talk makes us jealous that we aren’t there! Today’s Secondhand Sunday features the song that started the band’s mega transformation, ‘Disconnect the Dots’. Sure it had some heads scratching at the time but it also went along with a lot of, well, dancing. Correct is of we’re wrong but it was also the band’s first video and features the artwork of Kevin’s brother, David Barnes who also along side Kevin’s wife, Nina, does all of the artwork for the band. This was the beginning of things to come.
Watch Of Montreal’s ‘Disconnect the Dots’
Of Montreal Upcoming Tour Dates
August 7 — Chicago, IL — Lollapalooza 2009 AA
August 9 — Houston, TX — Free Press Summer Fest AA
August 29 — San Diego, CA — Street Scene 2009 AA
September 12 — Morrison, CO — Monolith Festival 2009 (Red Rocks) AA
September 18 — New York, NY — Terminal 5 AA
Of Montreal Get Unplugged (Again) and Cover The Beatles
As much as I adore Of Montreal’s new songs in their original form, there is something about the feeling of Kevin Barnes and BP Helium performing the songs acoustically. We’ve been seeing this for a while from the band, as they are no strangers to these kind of performances. Every song they strip down just seems so beautiful and raw. Barnes and Helium have stopped by 89.7 WTMD and 90.7 WFUV (New York shoutout, what?) on the current tour to provide us with great versions of ‘Beware Our Nubile Miscreants’, a new song ‘Coquet Coquet’ and a cover of The Beatles ‘I’m So Tired.’ Of Montreal, is there no end to your greatness?
On a side note, I seem somewhat distracted by BP’s new moustache. Who isn’t?
‘Beware Our Nubile Miscreants’
‘Coquet Coquet’
Jon Brion Remixes Of Montreal
Oh, we just love the sound of that title. Jon Brion who is an incredible songwriter and has penned tracks for such movies as ‘I Heart Huckabees’ comes together with everyone’s favorite indie glam group, Of Montreal. This week, Of Montreal will release the ‘Jon Brion Remix’ EP.
The great thing about this upcoming EP is that Jon Brion doesn’t make all of the band’s songs sound absolutely weird. There is nothing more awkward than a remix that mashes up a song so much that it is barely recognizable. Jon Brion remixes every Of Montreal song beautifully, and keeps what we love most about the band. Themselves.
Tracklisting
1 “First Time High” (Reconstructionist Remix of “An Eluardian Instance”)
2 “First Time High” (Of Chicago Acoustic Version)
3 “Gallery Piece” (Remix)
4 “Gallery Piece” (Long Version)
5 “Gallery Piece” (Instrumental)
Download Of Montreal’s First Time High (Reconstructionist Remix of An Eluardian Instance)
Of Montreal Peform ‘An Eluardian Instance’ on Letterman
Last night I was super excited waiting for of Montreal to perform on the Late Show with David Letterman. I was like a teen girl waiting for the Beatles to come on the Ed Sullivan show.
of Montreal sort of threw me for a surprise last night. I was actually expecting it to be more like when they performed ‘Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse’ on Conan in 2007. Their performance on Conan was extremely ellaborate with the band trying to put everything they did in their whole live show into one song….which is a hell of a lot. They pulled off the song great, but it was a lot to look at during one song.
of Montreal did not do this last night. I think the band pulled off their performance on Letterman perfectly. It was just enough OM pizazz that they needed for one song. They came out with the gold Buddhas and then continued on with the paper mache man towards the middle and end. The band played beautifully last night and everyone in the band looked super sharp, especially Kevin in his purple ensemble. ‘An Eluardian Instance’ was completely flawless and amazing last night, and even by the end of it, Letterman looked like he was actually amused.
Watch of Montreal ‘An Eluardian Instance’ live on Letterman
Modern Mystery 