Pitchfork

"A world without objects is a sensible emptiness," the poet Richard Wilbur once wrote. Guess ol' Wilbur won't be preordering any of the awesomely ridiculous digital download packages for Of Montreal's forthcoming Skeletal Lamping-- you know, the tote bag, or the wall decals, or the freakin' paper lantern. Hey man, his loss.

And besides, Kevin Barnes calls the sensibility of an object-free world into question in a manifesto released to Pitchfork today and entitled "We Will Only Propagate Exceptional Objects", which explains the motivations behind the so-called "Skeletal Lamping Collection".

As Barnes writes, "We've always felt that the packaging was just as important as the music inside of it. We've worked within the constraints of conventional album packaging, and have tried to create something fantastically uncommon every time.

"We find ourselves in the middle of an exciting epoch: A time when new technology has shattered the conventional business model and has set a paradigm shift in motion. For some people in the music biz, this is terrifying. For us, it is a fucking miracle! While the kings are in a stupor, we are going to take full advantage of the changing guard."

That said, Barnes isn't down with useless clutter, which is why he and the band decided to "produce [only] objects that have a function and that can be treasured for their singularness...objects that can transform a room, bend the mind, and inform your dreams." Totally, dude.

Muses Barnes in conclusion, "We hope this idea catches on and, in the future, square CD packaging will be abandoned forever and only interesting art objects will fill record stores. We envision a time when you'll be walking around your local record shop and be like, 'What's the new Radiohead album again? Oh yeah, a bonsai tree in the shape of a deformed goat, I see it over there.'"

To be fair, Kev, Radiohead have done pretty well already in the unconventional packaging department.

Take a closer look at some of Of Montreal's exceptional (and functional!) objects below, where you'll also find the complete text of Mr. Barnes' eye-opening and very-much-worth-reading essay.

As reported last week, Skeletal Lamping and all accompanying goodies are now due October 21 via Polyvinyl, while a white label "Id Engager" remix 12" lands September 30 via Mad Decent.

Chat consumer theory with Barnes at the merch table (irony!) as he and Of Montreal take to the road beginning October 7 in Durham, North Carolina.

T-shirts



Tote Bags






Buttons


Wall Decals




CD




Vinyl


Exceptional Objects at Work






"We Will Only Propagate Exceptional Objects"

There are many scientists who believe, that it takes months for a new born child to establish a sense of individuality. The new born doesn't make a distinction between themselves and their mother. It takes some time before a child understands that their mother is a separate entity. Upon making this discovery, initially, we are filled with a great anxiety. Of course, over time, we develop a real appreciation for our individuality, and all that it awards us. From the moment of our first "self" discovery, until our death, we develop, discard and rebuild our sense of identity countless times. We all do this, even boring people. Once we've established a comfortable self-sense of our current identity, we want to parade it. We want to campaign for it. We want the whole world to know, "look look, this is me, how you like me now?". To project our self identity into the outer and, to amplify the howl of our self expression, we have many tools at our disposal; our art, our clothing and hair style, the way we talk..., and, for a lot of us, the objects that populate our living spaces.  There are myriad vendors, attempting to contribute to our identity campaigns, creating rather dull and uninspiring products. Making the production of any new objects, at this point, almost seem criminal. In reaction to this, we unveil, the Skeletal Lamping Collection 08.

of Montreal has, from the beginning, taken great pains to always put a lot of thought and care into the art packaging for our records. We've always felt that the packaging was just as important as the music inside of it. We've worked within the constraints of conventional album packaging, and have tried to create something fantastically uncommon every time. Now, we find ourselves in the middle of an exciting epoch: A time, when new technology has shattered the conventional business model and has set a paradigm shift in motion. For some people in the music biz, this is terrifying. For us, it is a fucking miracle! While the kings are in a stupor, we are going to take full advantage of the changing guard. 

The concept behind the Skeletal Lamping Collection is this: ideally, every object that you bring into your home, should feel exceptional to you. Otherwise, it just adds to the clutter and chaos of your life.  We feel that there's no reason to produce another object that just sits on a shelf. We only want to produce objects that have a function and that can be treasured for their singularness. Objects that can transform a room, bend the mind and inform your dreams. A CD has little value, as an object, and the conventional, right angle plagued CD packaging, we've been forced to endure forever, has nothing new to offer us either. That is why, instead of following the tired path of the past, we've decided, to release a table top floral beast, a lantern, a collection of wall decals, a stallion shaped print, a collection of pins, and a clothing and tote bag line as our album packaging instead. All art objects in the Skeletal Lamping Collection were designed by the Apollinaire Rave collective artists: Gemini Tactics and The Bee With Wheels. 

One of the most exciting aspects of our escape from the trappings of conventional album packaging is that, upon buying Skeletal Lamping, a person is given the option to choose from a number of different items in the Skeletal Lamping Collection. Digital downloading of albums has brought upon an unfortunate situation, wherein, with your purchase, you only receive, at best, a thumbnail sized image of the album's cover art, to look at on your mp3 player or computer. In our minds, this is unacceptable. We feel a person should not be punished for opting to purchase a record digitally, nor should one have to choose between, either, fantastic art object or ease of purchase. 

We hope this idea catches on and, in the future, square CD packaging will be abandoned forever and only interesting art objects will fill record stores. We envision a time when you'll be walking around your local record shop and be like, "What's the new Radiohead album again? Oh yeah, a bonsai tree in the shape of a deformed goat, I see it over there."

Of Montreal:

10-07 Durham, NC - Carolina Theatre
10-08 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel !
10-09 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club !
10-10 New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom !
10-15 Paris, France - Elysée Montmartre
10-16 London, England - KOKO
10-17 Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz
10-18 Rome, Italy - Circolo Degli Artisi
10-19 Berlin, Germany - Lido
10-20 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser Medis
10-21 Copenhagen, Denmark - Amager Bio
10-24 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant *
10-25 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
10-26 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre *
10-27 Chicago, IL - The Riviera *
10-28 Toronto, Ontario - Queen Elizabeth Theatre $
10-29 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis $
10-30 Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre $
10-31 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory $
11-01 Richmond, VA - The National $
11-08 Atlanta, GA - The Tabernacle %
11-11 New Orleans, LA - The Howlin' Wolf %
11-12 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live %
11-13 Austin, TX - Fiesta Gardens %
11-14 Dallas, TX - House of Blues %
11-15 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall
11-16 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre %
11-17 Murray, UT - Murray Super Theatre %
11-19 Seattle, WA - Showbox SoDo ^
11-20 Portland, OR - Roseland ^
11-21 San Francisco, CA - Regency Center Grand Ballroom ^
11-22 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium  ^
12-04 Tallahassee, FL - The Moon #
12-05 Gainesville, FL - The Venue #
12-06 Ft. Lauderdale, FL - The Revolution #
12-08 Tampa, FL - The Ritz #
12-09 Lake Buena Vista, FL - House of Blues #

! with Love Is All
* with Sinkane
$ with Gang Gang Dance
% with Icy Demons
^ with HEALTH
# with the Fiery Furnaces