Millennial Classics, Mike Posner & of Montreal, Bring New Sound To Paper Tiger

Wayne Holtz | April 16, 2017 | music | No Comments

San Antonio, Tx – It’s been a busy beginning of April for Paper Tiger, a bustling venue on the St. Marys Strip. You can always count on Paper to bring in national acts with a heavy following, and recently they ushered in two favorites of a generation. For any of us millennials, whether it was on every top 40 station in the world, or on the indie waves of the internet, it was difficult to escape (as if we would want to) the stylish sounds of Mike Posner and of Montreal.

Mike Posner took over the waves in 2010 with his Billboard Hot 100 top 10 and 20 singles, “Cooler Than Me” and “Please Don’t Go“, off of his debut album 31 Minutes to Takeoff. Following his initial success, he released a collection of mix tapes and EPs, and in 2016 dropped his sophomore album, At Night, Alone. The album is a more relaxed and honest sound from Posner, while he continues to keep his fans dancing by allowing remixes of his tracks to be produced. Including, of course, “I Took a Pill in Ibiza” remixed by SeeB, which has topped the charts in countries around the world. During his performance at Paper Tiger on Sunday, April 2nd, Posner gave us an energetic display of all sides of his music and personality with his back up, The Legendary Mike Posner Band, including a taste of his latest project, Mansionz, the self titled debut album of his collaboration with Blackbear.

The following week on Friday, April 7th, of Montreal kept the energy high with a show you never need a pill to trip to. of Montreal has been the glamorous, gender bending band in the highly hetero-styled Indie world since 1996. With multiple changes in the band’s lineup over the years, the sound has remained the same due to most of it’s albums being written and recorded alone by frontman and creator, Kevin Barnes, who has taken over the beat of the internet since it’s inception. They’re dream and thought provoking psychedlic pop music that, to me, is proof that other worlds exist. My high school and college (though I didn’t go to college) years were heavily soundtracked by such notable albums from the group as Satanic Panic in the Attic, The Sunlandic Twins, and Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?. “She’s a Rejector” off of Hissing was the most played song on my iPod for years. Since then Barnes & of Montreal has continued to write and release music at a satisfying rate while frequently touring. of Montreal’s latest EP, Innocence Reaches, sites the band’s first venture into EDM (depending on who you ask) while still holding down Barnes’ preference to stay sassy and psychedlic. They brought this new energy to Paper Tiger along with every thing you normally expect from an of Montreal show. Costumes, monsters, fairies and magic.

Here are some shots from both shows shot by yours truly, pop artist, Wayne Holtz! So honored to have had to opportunity to experience, in person, the artists that greatly inspired my own career.

MIKE POSNER AT PAPER TIGER APRIL 2, 2017: