In a way, I kind of miss the days when Of Montreal gave us songs like “Disconnect the Dots” and “The Party’s Crashing Us” and even “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal”. Paralytic Stalks seems a different beast entirely, filled with further psychedelic pop experimentation than we’re used to from Kevin Barnes and company. The more I listen to it, the more I get it. This album is not supposed to be an easy listen.

Any music nerd that enjoys the physical release is likely to favor limited print items. Case in point: me. I love ‘em! Can’t get enough of ‘em. A limited release means it will ultimately go out of print, and that OOP association is something nerds like me freak out about. Take, for example, yesterday; someone gave up some old early 90’s K and Sub Pop 7″ singles to Sonic Boom in Ballard (a Seattle neighborhood, for those of you who aren’t familiar with The Emerald City). I picked up OOP …

Casiokids‘ “Finn Bikkjen!” is a video about a man and his dog. On his dreamscape journey attempting to catch his best friend, he comes across strange dancers. From there, things get a little weird. The video goes well with the Casiokids style of psychedelic electro pop. “Finn Bikkjen!” lives up to the band’s recent hype, collecting hip beats and fronting it with their Norwegian tongue. The result is a fun tune, a fun video, and an exciting new band.

While nothing new, it’s still a bit odd to hear a Headlights song without Erin Fein at the vocal helm, as found on the group’s new single “Get Going”. Even as early as The Enemies EP from 2005, the group dabbled in giving Fein’s male counterpart, Tristan Wraight, a vocal lead. But her dominating vocal presence on some of the greatest tunes from their two LPs, Kill Them With Kindness and last year’s Some Racing, Some Stopping all but removed the memory that others occasionally snagged that role.

Headlights‘ Kill Them With Kindness comes with incredible hype. So, what everyone wishes to know is whether or not the album lives up to said hype. When it comes down to the answer, it all depends on the individual and their expectations of the band, their personal musical preferences, and their particular mood at the time of their first listen… second listen, third listen, etc.

Oh man, this takes me back to the gritty rock of the late 90s. Following the loud, raucous punk-ish path of groups like No Age, Japandroids feature wild guitars, intense percussion, and dual screams. The band is Brian King and David Prowse and their music is Canadian genius. “Young Hearts Spark Fire” is absolutely brilliant.

Written by Fense
So, Id Engager by Of Montreal (MySpace) isn’t necessarily an album, though it will be categorized as such. It’s a single. And boy was I excited to see it in a small pile of singles when I was at Everyday Music in Bellingham last week. There it was, sitting precautiously on the counter top as I picked up $50 for selling them a bunch of old crap. I turned right back around and dished out four bucks for the orange-ish wax.