6 - Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

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Embracing the erotic

COURTESLY OF POLYVINY L
National Laser Tag Champions,1975
Spectacular sacrilege

'False Priest' shows off
what of Montreal can
do with a real studio
By SHARON JACOBS
Assistant ArtsEditor
Oh, Kevin Barnes. "Smoke hood! /
Merlion! / Female erection," he glee-
fully exclaims on
rev-up "Like A Tour- ***
ist." The song comes
from False Priest, of Montreal
the new LP by his False Priest
- and it's truly his,
as it couldn't be the Polyvinyl
product of any other
twisted, drug-addled mind - band of
Montreal.
The track's random bursts of mytho-
sexual fantasy followed by a falsetto-
crooned intellectual proclamation
"Youuuuu fetishize the archetype,"
the gently rising, surprisingly delicate
harmony of its chorus and the general
unfamiliarity of its sound are all clear
signs that of Montreal is back. And on
False Priest, the band is in top form.
False Priest is the first of Montre-
al album to be recorded away from
Barnes's computer, in a real studio,
and the difference is unmissable. With
more live instruments than any of the
group's earlier records - including a
surprising amount ofgritty guitar, par-
ticularly grindingthrough the "Coquet
Coquette" intro - it's the most extro-

verted of Barnes's work. Even moody
"Casualty of You," reaches a more
mature level of emotional expression
than anything on predecessors Skel-
etal Lamping or Hissing Fauna. It's the
methodical piano chords and creepily
slippery strings that land the song.
That's not to say of Montreal has
fundamentally tampered with its
synth-surrounded sound. The par-
anoid electronic whirring of the
"Coquette" bridge holds up the love-
life panic of Barnes's words. Unan-
chored "Hydra Fancies" has enough
artificial zonky machine meddling to
give it the texture of over-processed
whipped cream - a rare misstep
caused by extra electronization. But
out-of-this-world (thematically, and
also awesomely) "Enemy Gene" spar-
kles with computerized twinkling
and robotic-yet-emotional voice-
work from Barnes and visitor Janelle
Mone.
Not to discredit Barnes, whose
cute and kinky style is of Montreal,
but female guests Mone and Solange
Knowles help give False Priest a real-
ism that the psychedelic frontman just
can't imitate.
Whereas of Montreal's guest spot on
"Make the Bus," off Monie's debut The
ArchAndroid, sounded like a complete
creative takeover on Barnes's part,
Mone didn't go all-out vengeful on
False Priest. Instead, she blends evenly
with Barnes to create a genderless soul-
ful wail that's perfect for the extrater-
restrial, post-hope dance-off "Enemy

Gene." Mone could have gone fur-
ther in her other appearance on "Our
Riotous Defects." Barnes kicks up the
funk while wondering bewilderedly,
"Whatever your eyes caught, I bought
/Still we fought!" But with a negligible
supply of Mone's Broadway belting,
the track suffers ever so slightly from
an excess of fluff.
Knowles grounds playful wet
dream "Sex Karma," bringing human-
ity to freak-on lines like "I know that
you want to swing / Run and touch
my everything / 'Cause I look like a
playground to you." What might have
sounded like a lonely pedophile's
lament with one singer becomes a sort
of joyous naptime romp with two.
But despite the buoyancy and bed-
room surrealness of False Priest, of
Montreal holds onto the lyrical dichot-
omy started back in its early days of
asexual twee ditties. Many of the False
Priest tracks deal with heartbreak or
apocalypse, and Barnes is still "in a
war with this suicidal depression" on
closer "Do You Mutilate?".
"Everybody's searching for a cause
/ A reason to blow themselves up," he
intones in the album's final minute,
before a surprisingly directed con-
demnation of the too-religious. With
every release, of Montreal seems to be
getting more and more "out there." It's
these moments of personal and wider
insight that lets listeners know Barnes
is for real, and as fantastical as of Mon-
treal can sound, the trip's going to end
eventually.

When my father told me our family was
traveling to Peru, I had certain expectations.
I expected to hike among the ancient ruins
of Machu Picchu, to gush over the fluffi-
ness of the alpacas and llamas, to get a mil-
lion mosquito bites in the
Amazon Rainforest, to eat
exotic foods and to haggle
in embarrassingly broken
Spanish at local markets.
I did not, however,
expect to see the world's k
largest collection of erotic'
pottery. But when I walked
down the pathway leading LEAH
from Museo Arqueol6gico BURGIN
Rafael Larco Herrera's - ----- -
main building to its supple-
mentary structure at the bottom of a hill and
stepped into the brightly lit exhibition hall,
there was no denying it. Whether or not I had
been expecting it (or was prepared for it), I
was gazing upon millennia-old pottery depict-
ing, in vivid detail, a multitude of sexual posi-
tions and giant penises.
After getting over the shock of this spec-
tacle (and the awkwardness of sharing the
experience with my parents and two younger
siblings), the collection's importance became
apparent. These pre-Columbian societies,
including the Nazca, the Inca and the Chincha,
used pottery to represent the most important
aspects of their culture. The museum featured
thousands of pieces depicting sacred animals,
holy ceremonies and day-to-day practices. It
should be no surprise that these ancient cul-
tures also found sex important enough to docu-
ment. In fact, it was fascinating to see, clearly
and without obstacles like language barriers or
incomplete historical records, exactly what sex
meant to these ancient peoples.
Moving through the erotic pottery collec-
tion, there were several distinct categories.
There were pieces depicting heterosexual
relations - who knew fellatio existed B.C.E.?
- and the more spiritual implications of sex.
Several pieces demonstrated ghosts or corpses
having sex with the living. And then there
were the humorous pieces - vessels with
goofy-faced, spread-legged individuals with
penises that towered over them or vaginas
that were larger than the clay torsos.
Clearly, the pieces revealed a lot. These
ancient cultures were obviously ... experimental
when it came to sexual positions and practices.
They also revered sex as a powerful and holy
life-giving force with spiritual connections. And
they also made penis jokes. How little things
have changed in several thousand years.
But throughout the exhibit, my mind kept
repeating one question: Would this kind of
collection be displayed in the United States?
Would American museums be bold enough
(and the American public accepting enough)
to let a collection of erotic, borderline-porno-
graphic pottery be displayed?
And my answer: perhaps.
Perhaps the pottery could find a home at
the Museum of Sex in New York City. Per-
haps a large, respectable museum could pull
it off as a traveling exhibition. And perhaps
people would pay to see it. But there would
definitely be opposition. Last February, the

city management of Temecula, California
requested that a piece by Jeff Hebron selected
for "Visual Expressions 2010" at The Gallery
at the Merc be removed from the exhibition
because it depicted a non-"family-friendly"
nude woman. Last month, a satirical political
printby Stewart Williams, called Tea Baggers,
was removed from "Paper Politics," a tour-
ing exhibit now stationed in Pittsburgh, for
including an image of its sexual namesake.
But this trend is nothing new. In 1999,
then-New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani
threatened to revoke the Brooklyn Museum of
Art's lease and withdraw its municipal fund-
ing when the museum refused to remove a
controversial nude piece, artist Chris Ofili's
The Holy Virgin Mary, from "Sensation:
Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collec-
tion." This declaration stirred up the public,
inciting the likes of Hilary Clinton to come to
the museum's defense.
Based on precedent, it seems some factions
would vehemently oppose an exhibition of
erotic pottery, condemning the collection for
its blatant immodesty.
This makes me sad. Unlike Michelangelo's
David, which stands proud, naked and beau-
tiful in Florence, carved from the purest
of white marble by one of society's great-
est geniuses, the erotic pottery in Lima was
crafted from the dirt of the earth by simple,
unknown artisans. Both represent aspects
of human sexuality and both have endured
the test of time. Yet David would be more
accepted in the United States than the erotic
pottery - no questions asked. He is pure, he is
majestic and his sexuality is subtle.
No matter how stunned I was by the
Peruvian penises
should come to the U.S.
breathtaking awe that David inspired, I felt
more of a connection to the pre-Columbian
peoples who molded giant penises for kicks.
In the exhibition hall, I could imagine a group
of Nazca adolescents circled around a piece
of erotic pottery, guffawing like there was no
tomorrow. They seem more real to me and
their sexuality seems more honest than the
purity David exudes - it's primitive and in
some cases grotesque, but it's honest.
It saddens me to think that so many people
might never have the opportunity to inti-
mately connect to an ancient culture, simply
because some individuals might have reser-
vations with sex being portrayed in such a
primitive, direct fashion. In my opinion, half
the point of museums is to connect the public
with peoples and cultures from our collective
past. Museums are supposed to help spread
understanding and information - they are sup-
posed tobe a beacon of education, not be afraid
of being non-PC. And if our history includes
clay penises, well then, who are we to judge?
Burgin is still avoiding awkward eye
contact with her parents. To help break the
ice, e-mail her at Irburgin@umich.edu.

RELEASE DATE- Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS
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