have you guys seen smokin aces as of yet? going in i didnt have much of opinion other than the previews made it look kinda badass, and it doesnt disappoint. in fact, i loved it, even if it features my arch nemesis, jeremy piven, as a coked out/has been vegas performer fucktard. why is he my arch nemesis you ask? long story short is that i had three run ins with him and all three encounters were less than cool. the last time took place at the holiday club, in chicago, back in like 1999. he was at the bar with some leggy blonde, i went to say hello and shake his hand when he pulled away and acted as if he was like a ninja. he flailed his arms in a circular fashion and screamed something about a cigar - this was not done in a comedic way either. at that point i just turned and walked away. still, my distaste for mr piven didnt take away from the fact that smokin aces is pretty great.
kevin barnes is a complicated man to say the least. up until of montreal’s latest and greatest release hissing fauna are you the destroyer i never paid too much attention to the lyrical content. i mean i listened and sang along but never picked up on the running themes of isolation and despair that seemingly run through most of their/his records. they are easy to pass over because of his incorporation/fascination of that damn catchy 60’s pop/psychedelia. this new found level of the onion or of montreal as it were makes listening more like sitting in on a therapy session than just a happy little sing a long for 45 or so minutes. one of the paste reviewers said of hissing fauna that, i am paraphrasing here, its “the most fun while wrestling with somebody else’s demons.” that pretty much sums up the experience, and its a grand experience. he’s definitely gone in a more disjointed musical direction but i think it helps create a landscape that is more intune with the severity of the subject manner. hissing fauna is the sound of man and his music that both sound as if they could come undone at any moment.
here they are performing at the wonder ballroom on 2.6.07 in portland, or.
this can now be found here
1. Verdi intro > Suffer for Fashion
3. Pussy Freak
7. Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
8. talking
12. She’s a Rejector> We Were Born Mutants Again with Leafling
14. I Was a Landscape in Your Dream
15. Bunny Ain’t No Kind of Rider
16. Gronlandic Edit
17. A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger
21. encore break
22. Tropical Iceland
23. Requiem for OMM2
buy of montreal stuff on 
