Of Montreal doesn't like to call them rarities or B-sides. They like to call them "singles and songles." The justification came with their first "singles and songles" release, A Horse and Elephant Eatery (No Elephants Allowed), issued on Bar None in 2000: "Calling this a compilation of singles...would be stretching the truth since only a few of the songs have actually been released as such. We've invented a new word to describe a song that isn't on an album but has been previously released in some other form. Dottie came up with the word songle, and we all thought that was pretty clever..." A Horse and Elephant Eatery contained songles from Cherry Peel through The Gay Parade, but Of Montreal was (and is) so prolific that a second compilation became necessary, issued as a tour-only CD, If He is Protecting Our Nation Then Who Will Protect Big Oil, Our Children? On that tour they even performed one of these cast-to-the-haze songles, "My, What a Strange Day with a Swede" (as well as a number of songs that would soon be issued as Aldhils Arboretum). Track & Field Organization, the U.K. label given to releasing Elephant 6 albums on the other side of the ocean, gave the "Big Oil" compilation an official release a year later, but changed the song lineup, adding some new songles ("There is Nothing Wrong with Hating Rock Critics," to which Pitchfork took exception in their review, and "Barely Asian at the Beefcake Horizon"), and subtracting others. Those subtractions are today's MP3s. Yes, they're tracks that weren't good enough for the somewhat-derided Big Oil's official release.

The first is actually wonderful: a cover of the Velvet Underground's "She's My Best Friend," and it seems like Lou Reed wrote the song for Kevin Barnes, as it makes a lot more sense in Of Montreal's hands. This song appeared on the excellent Japanese compilation Rabid Chords 002: VU Tribute, which also featured The Ladybug Transistor, The Music Tapes, and The Olivia Tremor Control.

The second is far more obscure and inessential, although fascinating. Remember when the Beatles actually sung two of their singles in German for the German market? Hear Kevin court the Japanese market (as though he needed to) by delivering "An Ode to the Nocturnal Muse" as "Neru no daisuki." Amazingly, the song sounds almost exactly the same as the completed English-language version, although most fans in America heard this version first.

The last songle is "Nickee Coco Chorus," an outtake of the recording of "Nickee Coco and the Invisible Tree" from The Gay Parade. Featuring the "Elephant 6 choral ensemble," as the credits call it, the cast singing includes most if not all of Neutral Milk Hotel, Elf Power, Of Montreal, The Music Tapes, The Gerbils, and Fablefactory.

Since Big Oil's release there have been enough songles for a double-album. I doubt it will be that length, but Kevin Barnes told Optical Atlas earlier this year that a third singles & songles collection is in the works (probably after the January 2007 release of Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?).

She's My Best Friend
Neru no daisuki
Nickee Coco Chorus