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TRACK: Brush Brush Brush.

WHO: of Montreal, fine purveyors of unstoppably arch pop electro-rock opuses.

WHAT: The sexiest piece of public service information ever.

THE HYPE: "So psychotically overambitious, so ballsy, bewildering, beautiful, mad, terrifying, romantic, depraved, unwieldy, illogical and just plain wrong that it shames the aspirations of near enough anyone you might call their peer" – Drowned In Sound.

WE SAY: The American city of Athens has been quite giving when it comes to smart and eccentric entries into the musical mainstream – REM, B52s and Danger Mouse spring to mind. But all of them would hold their hands up in acknowledgement of Montreal’s unfettered creative stream, which for some time now has seen flamboyant frontman Kevin Barnes (that didn’t sound right, did it? Maybe we should use his alter ego, Georgie Fruit) follow a highly individual path from more traditional indie formatting through to more theatrical and glammy electronic realms.

The creative snowball gathers momentum with the forthcoming release of Skeletal Lamping, an album so exotically outgoing, unrestrained and life-affirming it makes the Scissor Sister seem like Travis doing an album of Joy Division covers. Hi-NRG pop glides into psychedelic rock extravagances before settling into dirty punk funk workout – frequently in the same song.

Lyrically parked in the outer reaches of the English language, with song titles that suggest a night on the razzle with William Blake, they also aren’t afraid of getting a bit fruity, as the reference to ‘taking it both ways’ in For Our Elegant Caste attests.

All of this hardly makes them go-to guys when it comes to instructing the children of the world on matters of personal development. Yet the greatest kids show ever - no arguing, no room even for debate – Yo Gabba Gabba has curiously called on them to help provide dental guidance for the new series, and Brush Brush Brush is the result.

A daydream in dayglo-major key-disco-pop-funk form, Barnes et al manage to keep the sauciness in check to deliver a minute and a half that is not only hygienically sound, but also sounds, to use the dialect of those a tad younger than me but apt here, totally mint.

Oh, and if you’ll allow me a moment of tangenty digression, The Ting Tings have also contributed to the new series of Yo Gabba Gabba – here is their version of Altered Images’ twee-pop classic Happy Birthday.

IF YOU ONLY NEED TO KNOW ONE THING: of Montreal have two special gigs lined up for this week – a low-key acoustic appearace at Rough Trade East tonight and a one-off show at london’s Koko on Thursday 16.

WHERE CAN I GET MY HANDS ON IT: of Montreal’s album Skeletal Lamping is released on November 3, available on CD, vinyl and a Chinese lantern pack with download. Oh, yes.

FIND MORE: www.myspace.com/ofmontreal / www.ofmontreal.net

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