[rating=3.00]
Before you even getting to spinning Of Montreal‘s Skeletal Lamping, sensory overload immediately kicks with the 32-panel fold-out/pop-up art insert piece. And just wait till you skip to the music where glam, psychedelia, funk, and pop merge to create something outlandish, mildly flamboyant, but creatively adventurous… to put it nicely
Kevin Barnes, hailed as the heir to Bowie in Paste Magazine, certainly takes “weird” and “artsy” to another level where the redundant jam of “Non Parallel of Favor” merges into the falsetto funk of “Wicked Wisdom.” With a multitude of genres and music directions splattered freely, this is attention deficit music: jumping all over the place, while never sticking focus on one theme or pop structure.
While Of Montreal have been dissed in the past for being too indie pop, Skeletal Lamping tosses that notion aside, instead pulling a Beck and ignoring traditional pop structures. Of course it wouldn’t be Of Montreal without bi-sexual pokings where Barnes sings “We can do it softcore if you want/but you should no I take it both ways” on “For Our Elegant Caste.” With track titles: “Eluardian Instance", "Nonpareil of Wisdom", "Mingusings", and "Beware Our Nubile Miscreants” it’s easy to head-scratch your way through this 15 song affair with its silly lyrics. “Eluardian Instance" is the album’s standout, a danceable mix of 70’s funk, soul with a modern hip-hop beat. Hold onto to your headphones as Skeletal is more all-night dance mix than a cohesive recording– what some might call brilliant, others will call this unfocused and cracked out. Listen at your own risk.
