Monolithic Gaze
20th October 2008, 10:16 AM
Interview: Of Montreal
Interview by Tyler Grisham
Pitchfork: Are these disco and funk elements things you always wanted to work into your music?
KB: [On] the early records, I was into a completely different thing-- really creative, psychedelic pop music from the 60s. That's all I really listened to, and really the only kind of music I really wanted to make, and eventually I realized I was tired of making that kind of stuff. I wanted to make something new. As a kid I was really into Kool and the Gang and stuff like that. I always had an interest in that stuff, but I went through different phases and I have kind of come back around to stuff like that again. I just sort of rediscovered Prince. When I was in high school I was a big Prince fan, and then I sort of lost it and got into other things, and then I came back to Sign O' the Times and realized what a masterpiece it was. Then I got into some Curtis Mayfield, Sly & the Family Stone, and Stevie Wonder, and also there's definitely a hip-hop influence as well. I really like Kanye West, the Neptunes, Timbaland. All sorts of modern, really great producers in that genre inspire me. I really like André 3000 and Cee-Lo and everything that Danger Mouse touches seems pretty, pretty golden.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/146435-interview-of-montreal
Of Montreal Trades Polite Beatles Worship for a Flashy Prince Fixation
Fittingly enough, Prince happened to be performing an intimate show on the rooftop of the Gansevoort Hotel that same night. So after his own gig, Barnes tagged along as the plus-one of MGMT frontman Andrew VanWyngarden. (The longtime friends are collaborating on a side project dubbed Blikk Fang.) Barnes has long been a fan of Prince; he compares Skeletal Lamping to "Sign 'O the Times, Lovesexy, and The Black Album all together." So to see his idol live for the first time in such an intimate setting was an absolute blast. "There's a Prince song called 'The Ballad of Dorothy Parker' that I think is definitely one of the best pop songs ever written," Barnes raves. "I feel like that one song has inspired so many other songs for me." While it's not like Prince and Barnes are pals, it's certainly something Barnes hopes for. "If Prince contacted me and told me he liked my music," he says, "it would just mean the world to me."
http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-10-15/music/of-montreal-trades-polite-beatles-worship-for-a-flashy-prince-fixation/
Interview by Tyler Grisham
Pitchfork: Are these disco and funk elements things you always wanted to work into your music?
KB: [On] the early records, I was into a completely different thing-- really creative, psychedelic pop music from the 60s. That's all I really listened to, and really the only kind of music I really wanted to make, and eventually I realized I was tired of making that kind of stuff. I wanted to make something new. As a kid I was really into Kool and the Gang and stuff like that. I always had an interest in that stuff, but I went through different phases and I have kind of come back around to stuff like that again. I just sort of rediscovered Prince. When I was in high school I was a big Prince fan, and then I sort of lost it and got into other things, and then I came back to Sign O' the Times and realized what a masterpiece it was. Then I got into some Curtis Mayfield, Sly & the Family Stone, and Stevie Wonder, and also there's definitely a hip-hop influence as well. I really like Kanye West, the Neptunes, Timbaland. All sorts of modern, really great producers in that genre inspire me. I really like André 3000 and Cee-Lo and everything that Danger Mouse touches seems pretty, pretty golden.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/146435-interview-of-montreal
Of Montreal Trades Polite Beatles Worship for a Flashy Prince Fixation
Fittingly enough, Prince happened to be performing an intimate show on the rooftop of the Gansevoort Hotel that same night. So after his own gig, Barnes tagged along as the plus-one of MGMT frontman Andrew VanWyngarden. (The longtime friends are collaborating on a side project dubbed Blikk Fang.) Barnes has long been a fan of Prince; he compares Skeletal Lamping to "Sign 'O the Times, Lovesexy, and The Black Album all together." So to see his idol live for the first time in such an intimate setting was an absolute blast. "There's a Prince song called 'The Ballad of Dorothy Parker' that I think is definitely one of the best pop songs ever written," Barnes raves. "I feel like that one song has inspired so many other songs for me." While it's not like Prince and Barnes are pals, it's certainly something Barnes hopes for. "If Prince contacted me and told me he liked my music," he says, "it would just mean the world to me."
http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-10-15/music/of-montreal-trades-polite-beatles-worship-for-a-flashy-prince-fixation/