TS: Olivia Tremor Control - Black Foliage vs. Of Montreal

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I know this thread won't get too many replies due to the lack of Elephant 6 fans on ILX (not necessarily a bad thing), but I think it should be an interesting matchup.

My vote goes to Olivia Tremor Control for being more experimental, and in my opinion, having stronger harmonies.

― Christian, Friday, 27 May 2005 11:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I like the Elephant 6ers, but I think both these albums are just horrible. Each of these bands has done way, way better. Black Foliage never engages my attention, and then goes on overlong with empty music. I haven't heard The Gay Parade since it came out, but I remember being very disappointed. On the other hand, I still get excited when I listen to Dusk at Cubist Castle. I don't have the patience for the found sound typewriter suite I once had, but everything around either side of that is golden. As is the latest Of Montreal album. I think Kevin Barnes is only getting better as he goes along.

― album zutique, Friday, 27 May 2005 11:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I still haven't really gotten into Black Foliage either. It's very dense, and impressive in that way, but something about the tone of it is generally more somber/dour than I prefer (I might just be talking about something as simple as too many minor chords, I don't know). Dusk is far more to my liking, and one of my all-time faves. Haven't heard The Gay Parade -- Satanic Panic, though decent, didn't really compel me to explore the Of Montreal discography.

― sleep (sleep), Friday, 27 May 2005 11:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Though I don't listen to them any more, there was a time I was into both of these. The Gay Parade initially put me off with the tweeness and silliness, but the hooks drew me in. Somewhere someone suggested Barnes might come up with songs by randomly selecting chords and then fitting a melody to them, and there are moments when it feels like that, with catchy results. None of the other Of Montreal I've sampled has caught on with me, though to be fair I haven't given it as much of a chance as I did TGP.

Black Foliage has some great pop songs, biting the Beach Boys of course, but. Following the recurring riff is kinda fun. I usually skipped the longest passages of instrumental noise and tape loops, but not always, nice to know it was there if I wanted. The moment when Hilltop Procession bursts forth to end the album can be sublime. I would choose BF over TGP easily.

― W i l l (common_person), Friday, 27 May 2005 11:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Of Montreal always just annoyed me.

Black Foliage sort of perplexed me — less Beach Boys than Emmitt Rhodes when it was doing pop songs. Pierre Henry when it wasn't. It seemed to suggest genius without ever laying out its case.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Five years ago, I would have gone with Black Foliage, but The Gay Parade has had more lasting appeal for me.

― Michael Copeland, Friday, 27 May 2005 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't find The Gay Parade to be annoyingly cutesy on the whole, but it has its moments. I don't think that these moments undercut the massiveness of the album (and it IS a massive album) that much, though.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I haven't heard The Gay Parade, but the new Of Montreal awesome is easily one of my favorite releases this year. I'd say it's just as classic as Dusk at Cubist Castle. Both wonderful. I'd hate to pick one over the other.

― darin (darin), Friday, 27 May 2005 18:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Geez, must say I think The Sunlandic Twins has got to be twenty times the album that Dusk at Cubist Castle it (25x if you include Sunlandic Twins' bonus EP).

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 27 May 2005 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

i could see myself coming around to that. each time i listen to it i hear something new. but right now, sunlandic twins doesn't yet pack the impact of hearing dusk at cubist castle for the first time. nobody i knew of was making music anything like that back then.

― album zutique, Friday, 27 May 2005 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Black Foliage by a mile. I can't get past Kevin Barnes's voice; frustratingly saccharine. Also, the new wave/synth pop leanings on recent albums have made me even more fearful. Black Foliage was one of my absolute favorite albums when I was in high school, and it's one of the only E6 albums I can still listen to all the way through without irritation (I like the long meandering instrumental sections; fuck a pop song.)

― Ian John50n (orion), Friday, 27 May 2005 19:19 (twenty-one years ago)

gay parade is the best of montreal album for me. it's the sound of an elementary school pageant sure but it's big and fun and saccharine and twee and more. they're sure to make the hard gnash their teeth but it's a hyper surreal record whose kiddie-ness belays it's greatness. it should have been a children's musical although i suppose the ones about driving off a cliff into the ocean would have made it pg-13. i like black foliage but it's too vaguely stoner at times and they never get a truly relaxing vibe going, it just kinda turns foggy in spots. if they ever made a completely pop record with their fantastic harmonies and pop sense it would have been genius. but they didn't.

― keith m (keithmcl), Friday, 27 May 2005 22:19 (twenty-one years ago)

It's easy to see how people can find The Gay Parade annoying, though. It took sitting and listening to it all the way through on headphones for me to feel that the artistic massiveness of the whole thing transcends the perhaps (sometimes) intentionally coy and dorky approach.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 27 May 2005 23:19 (twenty-one years ago)

black foliage all the way!.
the gay parade isn't even the best of montreal album.

― Aerodynamic (Aerodynamic), Saturday, 28 May 2005 00:30 (twenty-one years ago)

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TS: Olivia Tremor Control - Black Foliage vs. Of Montreal - The Gay Parade