Customer Reviews

Satanic Panic In The Attic

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's been a rough couple of years for us Of Montreal fans. Their last two release, "Coquelicot Amongst The Poppies (A Variety of Whimsical Verse)" and "Aldhils Arboretum," while repleat with the pop-perfect weirdness that is songwriter Kevin Barnes's bread-and-butterflies, were beginning to feel - well, let's say a tad over-ripe. Packed with filler material (from sub-par songlets to over-long "literary" passages), these albums felt like dull attempts to recapture the love, excitement, and sheer genius of such early Barnes masterpieces as "The Gay Parade" and "The Bedside Drama (A Petite Tragedy)."

Flash forward to Fall 2003. Barnes announces on Of Montreal's Web site (www.ofmontreal.net) that their new record, "Satanic Panic in the Attic," would be "a little electronic" - panic, right? Right. But then the pieces fell into place: "Sad Love" (retitled on this record "Eros' Entropic Tundra") was released as part of a Valentine's day comp, the opening track "Disconnect the Dots" was put up on the band site, and "Rapture Rapes the Muses" was leaked by their Australian label. And what, may you ask, did THIS pop fan do?

Jump for joy.

Kevin Barnes has hit a new level of brilliance on this album, fulfilling the promise of the band's other records. Unlike "Aldhils Arboretum," Barnes isn't afraid to reveal his freakish side, allowing the inner child to play catch with songs like "Lysergic Bliss" and "Chrissie Kiss The Corpse," maybe the greatest song about necrophelia NOT from a Norwegian black metal band (but don't quote me on that). "City Bird" is hands-down his most beautiful composition, the melody gently pressing down on soap bubble-brittle guitar work. "Vegan in Furs," "Spike the Senses," and "How Lester Lost His Wife" smack of indie posturing, but in the best way possible - raging guitars, bouncing drums, and the whimsical Syd Barrett-meets-ISB lyrics that we all know and love. And c'mon - "Vegan in Furs." How funny is that? Get it? "VEGAN In Furs"? Ha!

But perhaps the strongest track on the brilliant outing is the aforementioned "Sad Love" a/k/a "Eros' Entropic Tundra." Barnes condenses into the lyric ("I was walking with my parents in St. Peter's Park/When I saw a young couple with a child/They were all holding hands and smiling"), the arrangement (strings, organ, thumping drum, disco bass, and a distorted kazoo chorus), and vocal delivery (innocent misery) everything that fans of Of Montreal have grown to know and love. A perfect song, and if he'd kept the old title, it might've been a minor MTV2 hit. Oh, well.

So there we have it - Barnes & Co. (well, really just Barnes in his apartment) have delivered one of the great underground pop-psychedelic records of all time. If Barnes has been trying to re-create shades of The Zombies's "Odessey & Oracle" throughout his career, as I think he has, then he's definitely succeeded here - this is as perfectly hewned and lushly produced as any of the great underground psychedelic masterpieces of the 1960s, and deserves its place on your shelf along with them.

Five stars. A masterpiece, plain and simple.

Wow! If you listen to Of Montreal's acclaimed album "The Gay Parade" and then follow it up with a listen to "Satanic Panic In the Attic" you will be surprised that you are listening to the same band. The once whimsical circus music that enveloped their two concept albums "The Gay Parade" and "Coquelicot Asleep In the Poppies" is not entirely gone, but it has evolved into something much better, and much more accessible to the casual listener.

Begining with the Kinks/Monkees reminiscent track "Disconnect the Dots," it becomes very obvious that you are listening to a different Of Montreal. One could attribute this change to the record label switch to Polyvinyl, but we can't be entirely sure. What is sure is that for the next 13 tracks you are taken on a pop rollercoaster, and it's one of the greatest rides of 2004. Not only that, but the song "Rapture Rapes the Muses" is quite possibly the best indie pop song of all time, at least in the last few years. There's pretty much nothing to hate about this album, and with a group as fun-loving and easy-going as Of Montreal, that's not too hard to accomplish.

Of Montreal shifted gears somewhere along the road: instead of psychedelic folkpop, they began dabbling in catchy, humorous electropop. That sound is at the heart of "Satanic Panic in the Attic," a solid album that preserves their weird sensibilities, but changes their sound.

It's obvious from the beginning that this is essentially a psychedelic dance album: "Disconnect the Dots" opens with a gloriously catchy electronic tune, which is just a few beats too slow from being "poppy." And the lunatic lyrics are kept the same in songs like the lighthearted "Lysergic Bliss": "And I'm dizzy from her kiss/so vertiginous lost in lysergic bliss."

After that, the sound gets even more diverse, with Afrobeats and xylophone get mixed in with Beatlesque guitar pop. Frontman Kevin Barnes even dabbles in bass-pop in "Lester Loses His Wife." The biggest break in form is an acoustic ballad in the fragile "City Bird," a flute-and-guitar number that urges a "city bird" to seek its true place in the sky.

Time has passed, and Of Montreal seems to have grown up a little. In "Satanic Panic," Barnes muses on how "all I ever get is sad love," and laments "I think the chemicals have done/some evil thing to me" over a buzzing acid-pop tune. Fortunately, these songs don't overshadow the fun that brims out of most of the other songs.: Mischief comes into the song with the wonderfully gruesome "Chrissy Kiss The Corpse," about some people having fun with a corpse at a bus stop.

There's a greater electronic influence in this album, something which might be "new-wavey" if it weren't as loopy and folky. Under the blips and waves, however, are some solid drums, guitars and basslines, which form the basis of the catchier tunes. True to their history, the band also weaves in some keyboard and odd instrumentation. (Xylophone?)

And Kevin Barnes presides over it all like an oddball god, turning his rather unmelodious voice into a fun centerpiece for every song. Not every singer could sing a love song that says, "All of these faces are crowding around me/with mouths open wide to devour/But they have no impact no I do not cower/knowing I'm safe in your tower."

"Satanic Panic in the Attic" settles happily into the niche the Beatles might have had, if they had played new wave psychedelica. Great fun, and a worthy Of Montreal album.

While it seems that many listeners enjoyed the simpler pop sounds of their last album and the somewhat disappointing (IMHO) epic Colequet Asleep in the Poppies, I tended to find them much weaker in comparison with the Gay Parade. On the new album, Barnes experiments with a more electronic mix and a drastically more energetic sound than what he's attempted in the past, and he succeeds with his most creative album in years, and the lyrics aren't so cute as to make me queasy. In fact, fans of their Elephant Six brethren Beulah might find a little in common with the new Of Montreal; they've inherited a little of Beulah's 'cool' sound, but overall, as the album's title suggests, the energy level is a lot higher. Understandably, some Of Montreal fans may be a little taken aback (I was), but I think after a few listens, most fans would agree that the album is a second coming for the band.

We may have the solution to global warming, deadly disease and most evil leaders in Satanic Panic in the Attic's artwork alone. I spent well into 3 hours in a dark closet with a single emergency candle exploring the wealth of creatures in it's illustrations, and by the time the wax had reached my feet, I swear I nearly had the answers. Then I decided to pursue the vinyl edition direct to get a closer peek (the artwork is approx. 250% larger on an album, you see) - still, the answer seemed to be in the music itself.

'Satanic Panic in the Attic' is / was one of Kevin Barnes short poems from the of Montreal website - and it is now a full-on 14-track journey of audible grandeur. From the synthed up openings of 'dis-connect the dots' to the enhanced reverb of 'spike the senses', this is certainly not an album to write oneself off to - but likely find yourself suppressed in sheer jubilation. Truth be told, the only of Montreal release I own [and positively cherish] to this day is Cherry Peel, the beginner set from way back in 1997 [Bar None] - so you're getting something of an outsider's view on the whole journey that is OM. In short - I find Satanic Panic in the Attic a wonderous affair, much like a magical night on any near-weightless planet with the creatures from Sid & Marty Krofft's H.R. Pufnstuf (that leaves out the impossible chance of the mentioned "gay time" on a neutron star).

Who could have seen the time-changes that take place on 'lysergic bliss' coming? That song in itself develops & reforms at least 4 times before ending a glorious chorus of joy. Am I right in reading that "all instruments played by kevin (barnes)", except for 2 songs? I've always been a sort of a sucker for an intelligent singer / songwriter - but this is quite the impressive feat given the amount of depth this album possesses. City Bird, the lone track that was written by one other that Barnes (Dan Donahue) is simply delightful - the past Sgt. Pepper comparisons ( to 1999's The Gay Parade ) are beginning to make sense. Another tune of complete brilliance is 'Your Magic is Working' : "Lately I've been so happy, just holding you and gazing into your eyes - like an old movie" - over the top sweetness, for the lucky Nina I would guess.

Certainly one of the most important & interesting releases of 2004, let's not fret any longer - some are just born with greatness.

+ As an added "welcome to Polyvinyl - you may very well be our best selling artist of all time" bonus - there is a 4-track limited covers disc that is being bundled with SPitA, and it is well worth the time to track down. The take on 'know your onion" (the shins) is a puzzling case in itself - I can't figure out if the OM camp are "making fun" or just putting to tape a version of the song that rivals the original.

Simply splendid indeed.

Of Montreal's "Satanic Panic In The Attic" is barely a classic, but that's certainly not a bad thing. Kevin Barnes is perfect as an indie pop singer, and the lyrics are always cheerful and usually interesting (and funny!). Sometimes the lyrics discuss pretty odd and disgusting topics (the worst offender is "Chrissie Kiss The Corpse" which is about, you-guessed-it, kissing a corpse). The production and musicianship is near-perfect - the songs sound really great. The songs have a slight psychedelic pop sound to them. Every track here is good-if-not-excellent, and stand-out tracks like "Disconnect The Dots" and (to an extent) "Chrissie Kiss The Corpse" certainly help things a lot. I'm not sure if non-indie pop fans will like this album, but genre fans will most likely LOVE it. If you like Belle & Sebastian or Beulah, for example, you should be right at home with "Satanic Panic In The Attic". If you liked this album then I definitely recommend Belle & Sebastian's "Dear Catastrophe Waitress" along with Beulah's "The Coast Is Never Clear". Highly recommended!

Highlights include:
the entire album!

Of Montreal's "Satanic Panic in the Attic" is an infectious bit of indie pop rock. It reminds me of an oldies record, but at the same time it's very modern. The vocals are top-notch, the melodies are great, and the instumentation is perfect. This is for fans of indie rock, college radio, and well... music!

Of Montreal is very original. Satanic Panic is there best album perhaps, because every song is enjoyable. The best songs are: Disconect the Dots, Lysric Bliss, My British tour diary, and rapture rapes the muses, and city bird, and sad love. Highly recomended if you are just starting with this band.

This is the fourth album I have purchased by these guys (...Kevin Barnes..) and the music just keeps blowing me away. The first track "Disconnect The Dots" is so well put together with it's flowing pop genius that obviously stands out. I can't wait to get all of Of Montreal's music becuase it's so shockingly good. Electronic/Indie Rock/Pop...and kinda funny at times music is what this band is all about. O and by the way no other band that i've ever come across has ever sounded like these guys so i recomend picking up this disc because personally it was there easiest to listen to the first time around.




Enjoy The Happy Music Will Ya!

Compared to Of Montreal's prior albums, this one seems to be a leap forward. While being much more electronic than "The Gay Parade" and "Cherry Peel" for example, it still retains the psych-pop lo-fi structure that's defined the band for years. One may say that this is OM's possible attempt at reaching the mainstream, which may be true given the release of "Disconnect the Dots" on MTV(!).

Each track on the album is hook-ridden, but not cheesy in the least bit. The only hiccup is "City Bird." While this track may have found a better home on "Cherry Peel" or even "Cocquelicot...," it is stuck in the middle of "..Attic" possibly to keep older fans happy. It's very slow and tedious, unlike the rest of the album.

This is an album I will never grow old of. It sounds fresh every time I pop it in the stereo and it's amongst my favorite albums of all-time.

This should be the first stop for those interested in hearing what Of Montreal can offer. Try "Cocquelicot..." afterwards. Everything else is pretty much in the grouping of psychedelic revival-esque 60's-type indie music. Not nearly as catchy as "Satanic Panic in the Attic."