Of Montreal, of Athens, GA

I've been kind of half-heartedly embracing Of Montreal for several years now. I like a lot of things about them, but I also dislike enough things that I always end up checking out their new albums when they come out but if somebody asks me if I'm a big fan, I say, "eh, not really." Anyway, they were on Conan O'Brien's show last night. It's pretty cool for them I guess. Check out the video:






of Montreal - Heimdalsgate like a Promethean Curse (live) on Vimeo

Like I said, it's cool for them that they get to be on national TV and whatnot. But since I'm a wet blanket and everything, I want to point out some things that I don't really like.

For starters, Kevin Barnes keeps drifting closer and closer to glam rock. His Bowie-ness is increasing, if not in the music than definitely in appearance.

Second, it's kind of reinforcing the image that Of Montreal is actually "The Kevin Barnes Show." I know that's the case anyway, but I'm starting to get uncomfortable with it. As if the costume changes weren't enough to draw all the attention to Barnes, I would swear he actually told the rest of the band to remain perfectly still. I've seen them live (and you may recall I was not entirely satisfied with that either), they actually do move. They looked like a band when I saw them. They look like Kevin Barnes and a backing band here. His vocals are even way up in the mix compared to the studio recording.

And back to those costume changes: does anybody else find them unnecessary and distracting? The song they're playing is actually a pretty good one, but I'd bet that a lot of people hearing them for the first time had no idea, because they were wondering why the dude with the makeup is suddenly wearing a huge lobster claw. It's kinda cool to try to replicate a music video onstage, but anybody who hasn't seen it (which is most people) was probably confused by it. Also, it's risky to be known exclusively for a music video, but that's for a post about Ok Go.

Now, I am aware that lots of people will like the performance for all of the exact reasons I didn't. So you know, don't pounce on me for being too negative. Or go ahead, I don't care.