along with elf power, and the apples in stereo, kevin barnes' band, of montreal emerged from the very important independent label elephant 6 recording company in the mid 1990's.  elephant 6 was founded in athens, georgia with the intent of pushing psychedelic folk/rock music into the forefront.  they called it a day back in 2002.

anyway, of montreal's latest album, hissing fauna, are you the destroyer?, released january 2007, is probably the band's darkest and most personal album to date.  tracks discuss issues such as apathy and death, but at the same time are juxtaposed with bouncy and whimsical melodies.  throughout the album's 12 tracks kevin barnes is really just asking to understand the meaning of his life in order to find his inner peace within his soul.

click here or here to watch to a pair of interviews/studio sessions recorded for morning becomes eclectic, on l.a.'s legendary kcrw on february 13, 2006 and march 05, 2007 respectively.  if you need more, click here for a ton of mp3's recorded at an atlanta show in 2001.

if you like of montreal, go catch a gig!  they currently have a  few dates scheduled.  click here to find out if of montreal is coming to your town.  expect a full blown tour later in 2008 when of montreal's next album, skeletal lamping, drops in october 2008.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.