Of Montreal and Janelle Monae @ Terminal 5 in NY, September 18th 2010

To say that I have been to my fair share of fabulously bizarre shows is quite an understatement... Fever Ray, N.A.S.A., and obviously Lady Gaga are a few that come to mind. But I think Of Montreal and Janelle Monae have successfully topped them all on the weirdness scale, and I mean that in the best of ways. The combination of these two acts at first came to me as a bit of a surprise; I couldn't really picture them directly appealing to the same demographic. I was completely proven wrong, however, as I have come to learn that both Janelle and Kevin Barnes & co. employ similar performance techniques that I found to be equally entertaining and attention-grabbing.

Janelle's set, which included incredible songs such as "Wondaland", "Tightrope", and "Cold War", was extraordinarily fun to watch, as everyone on stage was in various costumes of all black and white, contrasting beautifully to the vast array of colors projected onto the stage.... very aesthetically pleasing. What I appreciated most about her show, though, was her tangible energy and absolutely jaw-dropping vocals; I have a whole new appreciation for this girl. Her songs are brilliantly arranged and so great to dance to, the kind of music that could put anyone in a good mood no matter the time or circumstance. She's so god damn fierce I can't get over it... her sophomore album, The ArchAndroid, is definitely going on my list of top albums for the year.

I won't lie, Janelle Monae may have been a bit eccentric but her edginess seems almost mundane compared to the SHITSHOW that was Of Montreal. Giant fish in gas masks, girls dressed as pigs simulating things in cages I won't post on this blog, and magical wing-like capes: I honestly don't know where they come up with this shit but someone has a very, VERY active imagination. Needless to say, it was so unbelievable to watch and to dance to; they always put on a great show, and we all loved singing along to old classics like "Gronlandic Edit", "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger", and "For Our Elegant Caste", as well as new songs off of the recently released False Priest, which came out earlier this month. I can't say personally that False Priest trumps Hissing Fauna in any way, I think the latter is actually much better in its entirety. Regardless, I admire Of Montreal's originality (to say the least), and aspire to be that weird in public one day and get away with it like Kevin does.