all songs mentioned in this post can be downloaded below)

Of Montreal has become one of the bands that I started to like a little and have begun to love a lot. Their new album “Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?” will be out on polyvinyl records on the 23rd of january, and what I have heard so far sounds absolutely brilliant.

I am not going to say much about the album now, but focus on a thing that’s a bit interesting for a norwegian like me, and maybe for others too. The theme of this post may seem a bit nerdy, and it probably is:
this is a post about the references to Norway in Of Montreal’s recent songs.

Kevin Barnes of Of Montreal has a norwegian wife named Nina, who used to play bass and sing for the norwegian band Ethnobabes (another Eardrums-favorite). Their daughter Alabee was born in Norway, and several songs for the Of Montreal-album The Sunlandic twins were written during Kevin’s stay in the country. Their new album is recorded partly in a tiny norwegian bedroom and in an attic in Athens, GA.

Norway has definitely made his mark on Kevin Barnes, and several of his titles and lyrics are referencing to his wife and child’s country of birth. It is clear that the meeting with Norway has not been entirely positive for Barnes, and that cultureshock and depression has been a part of his norwegian experience.

On the Sunlandic twins-album, there is a track called “Oslo in the summertime”(lyrics here), where he sings about his first meeting with Oslo. He tells about sunshine at night, no sleep and the empty city of Oslo (all the people are on holiday…). In this song, he also mentions Heimdalsgate, - the name of the street where he and Nina stays when they are in Oslo (”gate” = street in norwegian). If you click here, you will see a photo of Heimdalsgate (from the air).

“Heimdalsgate is like a Promethean Curse” is the opening track on Of Montreal’s new album, and it captures the crisis and depression he went through during his first time in Norway. “I’m in a crisis, I need help”, he says in the very personal lyrics. Very dark lyrics, Super-energetic and uplifting music…

The new song “Du og Meg” tells the story about a girl who fell in love with a boy from “across the ocean in the evil empire”. “Du og Meg” is norwegian for “You and Me”. In the song the girl tours “the evil empire” with her band, where she meets this boy. I guess the name of the band is The Ethnobabes…

Here are some related songs for you:

The Ethnobabes - Make some sound
The Ethnobabes - my favorite fool
(both from their label’s site)

Of Montreal - Oslo in the summertime
Of Montreal - Heimdalsgate is like a promethean curse - from polyvinyl
Of Montreal - Du og Meg - from stereogum

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The whole new Of Montreal album can be streamed from here.
The great You ain’t no picasso has another downloadable track on his site.

I know I’m late, but here are the albums I liked best in 2006.

1. Final Fantasy – He poos clouds

2. Audrey – visible forms

3. [Ingenting] – mycket väsen för ingenting

4. My latest novel – wolves

5. Page france: Hello, dear wind

6. Someone still loves you boris yeltsin – broom

7. Midlake - “The Trials of Van Occupanther”

8. VETO - There’s A Beat In All Machines

9. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – the letting go

10. Headlights - kill them with kindness

11. The Curtains – Calamity

12. Shiny toy guns – we are pilots

13. My brightest diamond - “Bring Me The Workhorse”

14. Junior boys – so this is goodbye

15. Drowsy – snow on moss on stone

16. Joanna Newsom – ys

17. Anathello – floating world

18. Ron Sexsmith – time being

19. Sonic Youth – Rather ripped

20. Math and Physics club – s/t

21. Tom Brosseau – empty houses are lonely
    
    

22. Lily Allen - “Alright, Still”

23. The Rifles – no love lost

24. EPO 555 – mafia

25. The Dears – ticket to immortality

26. 120 days – s/t

27. Hey Willpower - PDA

28. Semifinalists - semifinalists

29. Hanne Hukkelberg – Rykestrasse 68

30. Guther – sundet

31. Thom Yorke - “The Eraser”

32. Head like a kite - Random Portraits of the Home Movie

33. ISAN – plans drawn in pencil

34. Vetiver – to find me gone

35. Serena Maneesh - Serena Maneesh

36. Clogs – lantern

37. Dirty on Purpose – Hallelujah Sirens

38. James Yorkston – the year of the leopard

39. Juana Molina – son

40. Delaware – lost in the beauty of innocence

41. Crash Tokio - Heads, We’re Dancing

42. Fern Knight – music for witches and alchemists

43. Pascal – förbi fabriken

44. The Submarines – the submarines

45. The Charade – a real life drama

• I also enjoyed a lot of Eps this year, especially from:
  MAPS, THE LITTLE ONES, I WAS A CUB SCOUT, FIELDS, TO MY BOY, HEARTS OF BLACK SCIENCE, THE BOYFRIENDS, FAMILIAR TREES, FANFARLO, HOPE I DIE VIRGIN, IT HUGS BACK, JENIFEREVER, THE LADYBUG TRANSISTOR, THE MARY ONETTES, [INGENTING], MONZANO, PALACE FIRES, PAGE FRANCE, VOXTROT, BIRD&BEE, 28 COSTUMES… and probably some more….

The internet’s tubes are full of good karma this holiday season, and it sounds like music bloggers have been especially good this year: we’re getting lots of presents in the form we like best, mp3’s! It seems that Swedish artists are the most generous: Knut shared songs by The Knife, Irene and Hello Saferide earlier this month, and now it’s time for Lasse Lindh’s holiday special.

Lasse is a Labrador artist who gave us the song “Happy New Year” with his band Tribeca a couple of years ago; to me, it’s still one of the most eloquent songs about the sadness of the end of December (together with “The New Year” and, uh, “Last Christmas”).

Lasse live in NYC last summer (from official site)

His gift to us this Jul is a set of funny, disposable accoustic covers. Here they are, from his official site:
Lasse Lindh - Genie In a Bottle (Christina Aguilera cover)
Lasse Lindh - Let’s Go To Bed (The Cure cover)
Lasse Lindh - Bigmouth Strikes Again (The Smiths cover)
Lasse’s Myspace

Oh, and about “Last Christmas”, if you’ve never heard the version by Erlend Øye (King of Convenience, Whitest Boy Alive and Singing DJ), you should; here it is, courtesy of The Yellow Stereo.