new animal collective

I heard there's a new Panda Bear solo album in the works too

more info here: http://www.paw-tracks.com/

Sung Tongs is a rilly excellent album IMO.

However, I don't know if I'd put them in the same scene as the Boredoms and Black Dice, or even Black Dice and the Boredoms in the same scene. Not only because the Boredoms have been around 10 years longer.

I don't know if I'd call them straight up noise per say, either. There's a difference I think between noisy rock bands and noise. Just as there is a difference between Merzbow and Sonic Youth, Whitehouse and My Bloody Valentine.

No, seriously, name just one band.

otm and way way better than young prayer

the new album is gonna be called "strawberry jam"??

I know!!! Sounds pretty lame to me, but if as many people were panting for my record, I wouldn't care about what it was called either. Still, I'm getting very excited about this one. I hope its a little rawer than feels. More Here Comes The Indian/ Mouth Wooed Her territory please.

that was a song by al hirt called strawberry jam maybe it's a cover of that song

I'd be very surprised if they returned to Here Comes the Indian territory again on a proper Animal Collective release. Don't a couple of them have kids? I have to think that probably plays into the songwriting, the idea of keeping the career going and selling more records. Not to say that they won't continue to make interesting music.

That's depressing. I loved feels just as much as anyone, but I don't think that it is their best album by a long shot, and I don't think that Animal Collective have already turned their back on what made them my favourite band still recording in the first place. I just think they need to go on tour with Black Dice again or something...:)

ysi?

I'd be very surprised if they returned to Here Comes the Indian territory again on a proper Animal Collective release. Don't a couple of them have kids? I have to think that probably plays into the songwriting, the idea of keeping the career going and selling more records. Not to say that they won't continue to make interesting music.
This is a little cynical. There could be a lot of reasons why they haven't returned to a HCTI sound. Like they don't want to. To assume they are only trying to sell records is pretty unfair.

I chuckled at this part of the NYT review of their South St Seaport show. Strawberry Jam material is too old and moldy for them to play live.

Animal Collective tends to play new music in performance: this means music that hasn’t been recorded yet, not the music that will appear on its next album, “Strawberry Jam” (Domino), in September. (Bits of that, from earlier concerts, has already gone up on YouTube.)

i thought their show on the pier was great, frankly. and sort of amazing that they got by with the setup they did--it relied a lot more on programmed drones and vocal work (which, i guess, the nyt review pointed out).

it was fascinating to hear them tailoring their old songs to the new sound--i don't think anyone even realized that they played 'who could win a rabbit' until after the song was over; they also did 'hey light' and 'leaf house' in ways that were barely recognizeable.

and re: HCTI/black dice. i dunno, i think that they're outdoing black dice at whatever the hell they were trying to do with creature comforts--abstract, beat-oriented, trancey. of course, i think they're a lot more talented than BD, but that's just me.

not just you!

the songs I heard them do live last summer (which I assume will be on this record) were very strange, kinda loud, and deeply weird in terms of structure and sound. I have some recordings of that tour but haven't had the time to really absorb them.

I hope this is the cover
http://www.thefader.com/blog/files/avey.jpg

it's much better than this
http://www.thefader.com/blog/files/animalcollective.jpg

allegedly the new saturday looks good to me sounds like animal collective which is hard to believe.

Saturday Looks Good To Me are possibly one of my least favorite groups ever. especially their fucking name.

So, this is going to be weird and abstract and dark? Yes? :-)

wrong

http://tunes.bluesummers.com/index.php/2007/06/strawberry-jam-surfaces/

the vocals are so clean

it's sort of jarring

I wonder if they are real finished trax

I like "unsolved mysteries" best

i bet they are finished mixes. when feels leaked it was also several months before the release date.

the vocals have been getting clearer with each record if i remember spirit they've gone... this is probably it.

Controversy!

My favorite part is the J0n w chain letter threat in the comments

so, did the same person who leaked the first three leak the last three?

I don't know. It wasn't from the same blog, but I don't know if these bloggers had promos or got the songs elsewhere

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/forkcast
song is so awesome...

this looks like a really, really strong contender for not only album of the year, but also an album people will still be vigorously talking about in five, six, seven years i think.

why not 8, 9 or 10?

an album people will be talkng about six years from now, what a classic!

This sounds like... Indie Rock Music.

never said a classic... but based off the "what music do you still listen to from 2002" thread... having an album that people still listen to six years from now is kind of an accomplishment.

also... animal collective are having fun! releasing a song called "fireworks" on fourth of july! next up: strawberry jam records! (on mars, of course.)

Then why do they sound like they're not having any fun at all. From that track it sounds like they had all their fun for person pitch and pullhair rubeye

eh... didn't necessarily say the track itself was fun. it sounds kinda sad and weary to me anyway.
but "peacebone" is really jovial i think and buoyant. it seems like not only will SJ be their most, cough, "poppy" album, but definitely their least pretentious (and i don't use that word negatively, necessarily).

wait... what is pullhair rubeye?

Anywhere I can get a proper definitive AC discog?

Pullhair Rubeye is Avey Tare's record with Kria Brekkan (of Mum, and his wife fame).

On first listen, this is pretty great..catchy, poppy, interesting. Encouraging.

i refuse to listen to it till it's out properly. i'm hoping it's gonna be the tits though.

A bit more dynamic and electronic than Feels...more like their live shows.

So has this whole album l34K3d? or just a coupla songs?

Whole album...at ease now..

sweet.

where?

nevermind. found it.

oh my, it's wonderful.

2K7 ROCKS!

This sounds like... Indie Rock Music.

-- I know, right?, Wednesday, July 4, 2007 10:03 PM

if this is what the rest of indie rock sounds like, i need to get back into it.

it seems like not only will SJ be their most, cough, "poppy" album, but definitely their least pretentious (and i don't use that word negatively, necessarily).

AC in poppy AND unpretentious shockkkker?

"derek" is everything i wanted person pitch to be.

its funny that these guys are like gnarls barkley or the beatles now meaning they dont even record in the studio at the same time they just send eachother tapes.

its funny that these guys are like gnarls barkley or the beatles now meaning they dont even record in the studio at the same time they just send eachother tapes.

i think they recorded strawberry jam together in arizona...

Yes, isn't there even footage of this in that latest video?

not really feeling the single. This does sound like Indie Rock Music. Something about the vocals is a bit irritating.

There's some classic AC hitz on here, but it sounds like Geologist kind of took over the joint. I just prefer him to subtly shade and augment the sound (though sometimes it's tough to tell who's responsible for what in this band). At their absolute worst (some of the programming on Chores and #1), they suspiciously resemble the String Cheese Incident. The title doesn't help.

The further they pull away from it, the more I miss the Avey/Panda strum'n'drum combo on Sung Tongs. I'll still buy this, largely because they have a better track record with album covers than anyone else right now.

largely because they have a better track record with album covers than anyone else right now.

on that front i think SJ is going to be a disaster.

worst. album cover. ever.

Lemme see.

SHOW US YER COVER, WOO

http://blog.filter-mag.com/filter/images/2007/06/19/animalcollective.jpg

they suspiciously resemble the String Cheese Incident.

I've always thought Avey Tare's vocals often bordered on something heard on an early Samples record.

alternate cover

http://www.breakplay.com/gameimages/gamescreen41e2fa1b74694-game.jpg

Peacebone is like a weird take on Switched-On Bach. nice

Peacebone b-side is awesome especially the line "don't get too freaky on me!"

Safer frustrates me, because I like it better than just about anything on Strawberry Jam. Plus it seems like a more logical follow-up to Feels. But with Animal Collective, obviously fuck logic.

cosmo you punk, you outbid me on a william onyeabor record

i really really never got feels at all, and strawberry jam is doing nowt for me either.

should i start with sung tongs or whatever it's called and then carry on from there? i loved the last panda bear album, perversely.

There's some classic AC hitz on here, but it sounds like Geologist kind of took over the joint. I just prefer him to subtly shade and augment the sound (though sometimes it's tough to tell who's responsible for what in this band). At their absolute worst (some of the programming on Chores and #1), they suspiciously resemble the String Cheese Incident. The title doesn't help.

The further they pull away from it, the more I miss the Avey/Panda strum'n'drum combo on Sung Tongs.

charlie, start with a joint and a campfire songs

and then sung tongs

And then Young Prayer.

No, start with Hollindagain and then Young Prayer and then Prospect Hummer and then Sung Tongs. It is the best course to take. ahem.

Huh, no Campfire Songs?

Oh. Listen to it between Prospect Hummer and Sung Tongs.

new update of rateyourmusic.com Top 1000 albums of 2007

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/2007

5: Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam

that pompous idiot ! calls himself the DJ. He is so out of touch with what is really happening in music it is laughable !

this fuckin guy

gah is that actually the cover?

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s883313.jpg

GAH.

maybe it's a comment on how sugary and syrupy the band's pop has become?

Metalheads be organized on RYM.

I'll believe that it's the real cover WHEN I SEE IT IN THE SHOPS.

hmph

fiery furnaces and of montreal influence on this one

and also frog eyes,but i think i'll like it.and even though all those infleunces -
more accessible are the words comes to mind.

All three of those bands, frog eyes to a lesser extent, are "accessible".

of montreal - yes
fiery furnaces - depends
frog eyes - no.

strawberyy jam was produced by the guy who produced "arcade fire" latest and it make sense.
the vocals are more front at the mix than before (you can understand the lyrics), as a matter of fact - everything sounds much clearer and upfront than before.
i also think of early brian eno ideas while listening to this.

frog eyes - sometimes.
fiery furnaces - catchy as fuck.

above all, i think there's a pretty huge Person Pitch influence here... like two songs that would probably be the best songs on that album.

but yeah, whatever.

eno ideas and stuff for sure.

xpost

we have different ears.

and i didn't like person pitch - those loops are boring,this one is more "rich"

The last song is great. the Person Pitchy one.

the circle of fans will grow larger for sure

Nothing leaps out at me immediately (well, actually, it all "leaps out", but I mean more in an OMG I love this sense) in quite the same way that most of Person Pitch did - or, for that matter, the ambient electronic track towards the end of Feels (which kind of reminded me of some Primal Scream circa Screamadelica?!?)...

It occurs to me that I just love the echoey Beach Boys vocals on Person Pitch, and now that Animal Collective have moved closer to that sound I vaguely miss the absence of those vocals (odd that Ned dislikes them so!).

BUT I reserve the right to change my mind about this. In theory I entirely approve of the shift, so I'd not at all be surprised if I fell in love with this.

the more I listen to this the more I think it sucks. The tunes just aren't there and all the programming and effects just add to the problem.A few of these are just bland piles of sound. Whereas Feels was so immediate and kept the hypnotic, otherwordly melodic sense that made ST so great and had tracks that moved. These don't go anywhere. "Derek" is good, though.

Ugh. Soundwise, this blares. The songs themselves might make musical sense after a couple more listens, but... well, I'd be surprised.

i can't lift you up cause my mind's tired.

i highly doubt they were influenced by the fiery furnaces and of fucking montreal. i surely hope not

I don't really like the new clear upfrontness in recording/production technique, i miss the blurry reverb and the multiple layering. "Fireworks" was great when I first heard it as "Allman Vibe" in a live recording, and still is. "Peacebone" has grown on me considerably, can't wait to hear the Pantha du Prince remix. The rest I'm not especially mad about. I need to listen to "Derek" a few more times, perhaps. Strongly dislike "Safer".

Certainly too soon to talk about the next album, but I recomend the tracks Little Girl, Am I Real, and Will to Joy from this 07 live show: http://www.archive.org/details/acollective2007-05-30

Pantha du Prince remix

!!

Fucking Animal Collective.

i know, right?

MTV!

jesus you guys the tunes are here more than ever before

i mean, i can understand not liking the production (though i like it) but these songs are far more hooky and tightly written than their other work

hooky. do not want.

what

THIS ISNT THE ILM I KNOW

Am loving The Reverend Green...great Avey vocal performance. Possibly the most Feelsy track on there.

It's not so much different to Feels overall imho..esp comparing the progression post-Sung Tongs to that.

yeah i can't believe after feels people were expecting them to go folksy/noisy again

their last several releases have shown a clear progression away from that

there's still a lot of neat old-AC ideas here; the tug between avey and the harmonies in the chorus of "reverend green," the slow fracture of the keyboard loops in "#1," the demented screaming in the middle eight of "peacebone"

they've just been attached to better songwriting

lol

"better", "songwriting"

hooky. do not want.

-- Drooone, Thursday, 12 July 2007 22:27 (2 days ago) Link

THANK YOU!

This album is so boring. WTF happened.

"peacebone" and "winter wonder land" sounds very much like brian eno's "tiger mountain". (especially "back in judy's jungle").
and when will the trend of hearing "tusk" influence in every second indie album will stop? (not that it's not a good thing).
the african rhythms and the beach boys are still there though for a good use, you can't take that from them even if you think this record is boring.

far more hooky and tightly written than their other work

I disagree. I actually like this record more than I liked Feels, but that's largely down to tone. However, as far as hooks, "Leaf House" jumped all over me in a way these songs don't. "Slippi" from Here Comes the Indian did the same. It's completely not a pop song, but I'm not sure I'm ever going to forget it. Those are the kinds of songs that I can't believe nobody ever thought of before, they're just so immediate, and somehow totally unique. They're infectious, where the more recent stuff seems considered and moody. It's like they went from being oranges to being plums, and while I love plums, it kind of sucks to know they still have a lot of that bright, citric acid to burn, but are more interested in smoothing out the sour edge rather than exploiting it.

But then that's unhappy consumer talking. Music person says live and let live.

i think this record is animal collective's best.
am i the only one?

Right, I've been avoiding this thread and downloading the album since I last posted but "Peacebone" is rocking my world so much right now, I'm a do it.

Boneface.

I just haven't been compelled to listen to it more than once, and every other animal collective album is so beguilingly appealing in contrast.

i think it's their best album too.
there are maybe two clunkers... everything else is succinct beautiful pop. "derek" "fireworks" "chores" and esp. "peacebone" have been consistently killing me since the leak.

I haven't listened to it a great deal (I'm in I know, right?'s boat), but at this point, I think it's not their best.

i think that "side 1" is annoying, and "side" 2 has some of their best work ever, although none of the moments last the entirety of a song. i've only listened to it once, though. could be a grower.

my gf is working a music festival in france and her job is to take care of animal collective!

Although I couldn't give a shit about this new album... Lucky girl!

they aren't all sexy and stuff, rite?

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/3285/glurmev5.png

If that isn't sexy, I don't wanna know sexy.

i scrolled two inches into the first head and thought you were posting a gunshot victim or something

I dont wanna kno sexy.

"and every other animal collective album is so beguilingly appealing in contrast"
quite the opposite for me!

Poortheatre if you dont mind my asking, which festival is she working for? It may be one i'll be attending :D

i can't remember the name. i guess it's in normandy?

ah-hah: Les Trois Elephants!

I was just listening to Peacebone, there's not much going on there I don't think.

I was just listening to Peacebone, there's not much going on there I don't think.

thre are like 78 different synths on that song!

in a twisted way,this song reminds me of neutral milk hotel and the elephant 6 movement.and brian eno of course.

xp: Right. but I find it kind of stale. Also the "da da's".

I do like some of the other songs though!!

thre are like 78 different synths on that song!

screw this

lol

pantha du prince mix can be hear in part here
http://www.juno.co.uk/products/278624-02.htm
even though it's listed as the album version
bd mix is wacky.

:(

this continues to not be very good.. (except for "#1" the drums in "Derek")

Agreed. They have grown progressively more boring with every release.

I believe the complete opposite. They've grown progressively more engaging with every release.

"fireworks" is amazing!

NO

Fireworks, Peacebone and For Reverend Green are superb but a lot of the tracks just wash into the background for me. It's their most solid and typically AC album and in a way that detracts from the whole mentalism of the band.

there's something flat, manic, relentless, one-dimensional, and physical about this album. But I'm starting to dig it. The gross out pix full of jam are totally appropriate. I hear elements of Danse Manatee.

it's a great album.
try to listen to it as if it's the first animal collective record you ever heard , and dont compare it with the previous ones.

cukoo cukoo is also great.
the only track i tend to skip is the 3rd.

vocals on this thing are mixed way too loud for my ears...

Avey's yelping is one of my least favorite of their stylistic tics.

I still dont know what I feel about being able to understand their lyrics.

If I love Sung Tongs and that Indian one, hate Feels and People, how does the new one slot in?

try to listen to it as if it's the first animal collective record you ever heard , and dont compare it with the previous ones.

Why? Because it's shite compared to their other albums?

O_o

it's a new direction but youll probably more hate it than love it

yeah prolly.

I don't think it's very much of a new direction at all really. More a collating of all their previous styles - noise, folk, indie, tribal, chanting. It excels and suffers for that reason. Nice to hear a bit more noise on it than the last two, although Sung Tongs'll always be my favourite.

9.3 in pfrk - i think it's the highest score yet in 2007, 4 stars in allmusic.

.........

"The frightened babies poo"

also,great interview with panda bear on pfrk.
makes you appriciate him (and the band) even more.

9.3 in pfrk - i think it's the highest score yet in 2007

Panda Bear's solo disc got a 9.4 this year. I think something else did, too.

The Wire review has made me optimistic. Pointing out that Animal Collective have never made the same album twice makes me optimistic that they'll never make this one again.

it could be also worse you know

Richardson referring to this as a "true pop record" is vortexes beyond ultra-classic.

Font=TimesNewWizardCap Size=MASSIVE

i'm surprised (sort of?) how many people don't like this.

i really enjoy it, although i wish pitchfork didn't point out that "frightened babies poo" line.

The first half of "Fireworks" is great—could have been on <I>The Top</I>, eh Ned?—but this band's inexplicable insistence that repetition equals "spiritual jamming"...[excised baby/bathwater cliche]. The lyrics to that one in particular are so strong; it's a quality meditation on growing up, the death of your dreams, etc., but they have to start trying, rather than trying not to try. There's a composite overconfidence in their sound and identity that's presently galling.

Fireworks is really really good. It's not really that repetitive either as it kind of morphs halfway through. There are some bits on this album that do get a bit annoying after a while though. I still think Sung Tongs is their most interesting album, but then it's probably my favourite album of the decade so Strawberry Jam's not really likely to beat it. Don't know what you mean about "overconfidence", cee-oh-tee-tee - they definitely sound more confident on this album. I found Feels a little sloppy in places. This is a bit of a slew as well, but not without many highlights. I still haven't managed to get into Cuckoo Cuckoo even though the band say it's one of their favourites.

but they have to start trying, rather than trying not to try

please. dudes are anything but "sloppy." every record of theirs is a concerted, often painstaking effort to "try" something new. loops or repetition doesn't equal trying not to try, and i think they ditched the "jamming" awhile ago, for, i dunno, composing dance music. anyway, don't take my word for it.

There's a habit in music at the moment to get things to sound "right"- by that I mean wrong, accidental, sloppy, chaotic- and hope that just enough sticks with just enough hipsters. I think the reason people might seek us out is because we're genuinely interested in perfection. I mean, why aim for anything less?

i personally think that's right on. and i love SJ.

Sloppy is the wrong word maybe as it connotes that the band hasn't practiced or can't play well together or something, which is obviously wrong. I don't know what it is - I still think Sung Tongs is the epitome of non-sloppy, seeing as it just seems so right.

"Not trying" does not equal "sloppy," vmc. It means a lack of effort. Their songs are (still) half-aimless and always overlong.

I liked Sung Tongs a lot. Well, Leaf House (very novel piece of music) in particular and the variety of textures (reminding me of neutral milk hotel) throughout that album. I found Feels to be somewhat boring and a shoddy recording, though the latter half of it is nice. Strawberry Jam has a lot more detail, which I like, and a lot of the textures are bolder, more crisp. Very nicely mixed also. Seems like a very tight record, kind of concise and punchy, though a lot of sounds going on. Kinda psyched to listen to it again.

so, how does everyone feel about Strawberry Jam, 3 months after its release?

for me? it's the first Animal Collective record, as a *whole* entity, that i've really grabbed onto and enjoyed - i'd heard Indian, Sung Tongs, Feels a couple times each before and nothing really stuck, a song or two from each record aside, perhaps. but this is fantastic nearly all the way through.

Some great songs, but on the album they sound weak and tinny (as opposed to live). "Winterwonderland", "Unsolved Mysteries", and "#1" weren't growing on me when I first heard them, and they still aren't.

I came around on this record and got used to the way the vocals are mixed and listened to it a bunch

but I still like Person Pitch better

Apparently they're recording. I'm gonna take the next one as a deciding moment, if it's not as recklessly shite as the last one, then there's hope for them. The video of them riding in a shopping trolley in Paris is terrifying.

i feel the same way...really didn't dig the last one. and it pains me to say it

I didn't dig the last one at all, and it doesn't pain me at all to say it. I don't think it's awful, and I can see why plenty of other people like it, but if this is the new direction, I'm out.

you guys haven't heard the new ep then i suspect

they have finsihed recording the new album.
new ep is a bit of a red herring as it is from the strawberry jam sessions.

xpost

nope. when does it actually come out? Ever since the downfall of OiNK it's been used record city for me.

i don't know when it comes out but it's way more like feels than straw jam

that's not the most reassuring thing anyone's ever said but I'll take it.

if they capture what i heard of the new tracks from their last tour, the next album is going to be a killer. you can hear a few on the NPR podcast..

what is a red herring?

I kind of liked the shopping trolley thing. Wouldn't watch it a second time, but it's clear they have their style of playing together.

I fucking loved the shopping trolley! It is the only thing I'm holding on to as proof of their enduring greatness right now! That and when they did loch raven when I saw them. Cool

red herring:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_herring

I do not like very much from SJ but I love Person Pitch. I'll definitely give the new EP a listen.

what are you guys talking about? Strawberry Jam was GREAT!

i liked SJ fine, but i really hope they go more "#1" and "Derek" and that MAD MAD "Leaf House" remix they've been playing lately and less "Reverend Green"

yes, that. the less Avey Tare yelping the better.

btw I also dug their recent Portland show a lot, although I got totally confused about the lineup.

i think the new ep only sounds like feels in that three of the songs are long, slow and somewhat formless seeming, like some of the songs on feels. but all of their albums, except for strawberry jam, have at least one song like that.

the first song kinda sounds like avey's sister song to derek.
and cobwebs reminds me more of meet the light child off danse manatee than anything off feels.

http://www.dominorecordco.us/resources/images/aniive/aniive_rel_16.jpg

animal collective need to rethink their design approaches. That thing is disgusting, and not in a good way.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00006JLX4.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

http://www.visi.com/fall/discog/pics/heh%20plus%20big.jpg

reminds me of
http://www.discogs.com/image/R-150-431647-1133682336.jpeg

hex enduction hour has a cool cover! Letraset™

I actually really like that Animal Collective EP cover. The grass and trees remind me of playing SimCity for some reason.

I nearly broke up in public when Prospect Feels came up on my shuffle yesterday.

I'm hoping their new album is like the encore of the show I saw them play in Berlin in October, which was like the second half of "Derek" crossed with Primal Scream's "Higher Than The Sun".

But I love Strawberry Jam so I'd be happy with a continuation of that.

is this a joke?

http://dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4276

if not, that might just be the worse review in the history of reviews

to come off like that, and use "genuinely" twice in one sentence . . . it's gotta be deliberately bad, right?

This sounds like these two guys that always hang out in the lounge area of my dorm talking about how revolutionary indie rock is and using terms they just learned that day in class.

Judging from that guy's other reviews, it looks it's his regular review style. Personally, I can barely read more than one paragraph of that 2nd year spring essay shit without getting bored silly. Congrats to anyone who have a crap about what he was saying more than 100 words into the piece.

Agreed. After just a couple sentences, I don't even know what he's talking about.

In a Hegelian mood, we can see this spirit carry over into Animal Collective’s music (for more on Olmstead, see Anne Spirn’s wonderful essay “Constructing Nature: The Legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted”), and for using that economic privilege to merely colonize rather than to critically reflect and create positively.

Dusted has run lots of terrible writing before, but that is quite possibly the single worst review I've ever read anywhere. It made me want to tear my skin off and I only made it halfway through. On the other hand, it made me really glad that I'm not in college anymore, so I guess that's something.

lol @ "In a Hegelian mood"

Get to work, Photoshoppers

best thing about that review: the streaming mp3 at the top.

Not that I like the song. I don't. In fact, for whatever reason I find the last few Animal Collective releases -Strawberry Jam, Water Curses, the pop songs on Feels - increasingly annoying, while I still enjoy the hell out of Sung Tongs and the more ambient material on their other albums.

But it is handy to have a simple button at the top of a review that lets you quickly form your own opinion on a new release, rather than trying to unravel some BS review that's bringing Chomsky into it for no discernible reason.

oh man i just read that and my face has fallen off

this guy clearly doesn't want me to listen to AC ever again

lol @ "In a Hegelian mood"

i keep hearing this to the tune of "in a sentimental mood"

The only diff between me and this reviewer is that I don't have the intellect for post-modern theory/critique, BUT I REALIZE IT.

it's a wasted intellect.

...or better drugs and reading list. Olmsted designed my private school, too.

there isn't a single mention of what the music sounds like. maybe he wrote it for class and it's doing double duty? except the typos ("In a number of way, I see. . .") and the lack of self-awareness about his own writing ("Although Kandia Crazy Horse’s prose is a bit purple") probably wouldn't help his grade

post minstrel syndrome

so much wrong. also confused as to how anyone could think Animal Collective is "pushing pop" into "non-repetitive area" - they're shit is totally repetitive!

It is unmitigated, irrelevant bollocks, isn't it? There are many you could label a more coherent, focussed attack along those lines at (yeah, Banhart, who most of that shit was about), but there's so much guff spouted within you realise he's just telling you what he's read in the last month.

It seems like he's just mashing together 2 or 3 already written essays of his, and then haphazardly turning into a review about animal collective. Honestly, I barely see where animal collective even fit in, as that article could have been about any band at all, in that they're just a vehicle to let everyone see him cite noam chomsky in a review. Thank you sir for pushing the bounds of masturbatory music writing.

I love how he constantly says things and then says "Not say that..."

Animal collective are racist rich kids because they sing abouts about dirt and rocks which isn't to say that they're racist or rich or sing songs about dirt and rocks.

Paragraph One: Wonders idly whether the EP's release was motivated by artistic or financial considerations. Then pushes the question aside because non-album-format releases are moral trasgressions on the level of unspecified "war crimes" (in passing, congratulates himself on the moral heroism this brave insight required).

Paragraph Two: Allows that the music is interesting, but is troubled by a "problematic" - namely that the band is racist and classist.

Paragraph Three: Provides a brief tutorial on "New Weird America" and unveils a "devastating" critique: because black musicians contributed to the current state of American pop, white musicians who like other white musicians are racist.

Paragraph Four: Compares AC's treatment of nature with Devendra B.'s treatment of Karen Dalton. Suggests that to describe someone's work as transcendentally great or "mystical" somehow diminishes the contribution of the individual.

Paragraph Five: Drives the comparison home by suggesting that Animal Collective's nature fetish is bogus in a completely unrelated way.

Paragraph Six: Blames AC for having grown up in the general vicinity of "a number of very elite private schools" and a park designed by Frederic Law Olmstead.

Paragraph Seven: Congratulates AC on their production of "the latest manifestation of the concealed bourgeois conception of nature, Water Curses."

http://inaeent.com/otio/hegel.gif

huzzah

"The way nature is portrayed in Animal Collective’s music is strongly tied to this bourgeois antimodernity and because they have such influence within the American underground (that phrase is perhaps tongue-in-cheek), it further reinforces the idea of Nature-as-other, as something different than human, a conception that has contributed greatly to the current environmental crisis." (!!!!!!!!!!!)

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm

"the general principle stands: if there’s nothing in the culture to tell you any different, then how could you possibly think outside the bounds of what is offered to you?"

the general question is then: if there's noting in your undergrad cultural studies syllabus to tell you any different, then how could you possibly think outside the bounds of what is offered to you?

I don't read dusted, but is this typical of most of their reviews??

In defense of Dusted, no. This is some spectacular next level bullshit.

Contenderizer's summary is gr8. Kudos.

Paragraph seven is even more ridiculous than you gave it "credit" for ... he's basically saying "I'm not necessarily claiming that Animal Collective are racist rich white kids, but I like to *pretend* that they're racist rich white kids because it gives me something to write about."

so does anyone have anything to say about the new animal collective ep or shall we piss and moan about some random college kid s'more

I don't read dusted, but is this typical of most of their reviews??

they have one or two dudes who push that style but mostly, no, it's not like that

Wow, I can't think of anything I would want to read less than a jargon laden "attack" of Animal Collective. Even if it's supposed to be funny in how bad it is, that's pretty fucking tedious.

(But I kind of agree with what the article's saying about the danger of fetishizing artists and how it takes away their individual agency. I just wouldn't say it like that.)

The only time I think the "fetishization of the other" / agency-denial thing is really offensive is when people praise artists for their identity affiliation, rather than for their individual worth. Like people who think Native American crafts are more "spiritual" (and thus more valuable) than the doll clothes grandma makes in her spare time.

new EP is better than Strawberry Jam, which blew goats

^ sweet

more curt1s reviews, fewer andrew beckerman reviews plz

yeah seriously, Curt1s actually made me wanna hear this in ten words whereas I had no interest in it before.

I love Strawberry Jam, and I like the EP lots too... it's in keeping with the slower moments on there mostly, has a lovely feel to it. The second and third tracks are pure lushness.

I should write for Dusted lolz

The hilarious douchebag is back, with <a href="http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4365";>a review</a> of the reissued Gal Costa LP on Dusty Groove that says not a goddamn word about her music except that it was influenced by- get this, guys, you'll never believe it- the Beatles! NO FUCKING WAY.

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/writers/beckerma

It can’t be incidental (although whether Bejar consciously employed it or not is up for grabs) that an artist whose art is structured by ideas of repetition, someone who is consciously and playfully messing with rock song structures – melodies, verses, choruses, etc. – would produce an album that is essentially repetition writ large. Historical and social systems (including aesthetic ones like being an artist and making music in a public arena) unfold like this, through a series of transformations in which earlier stages are incorporated into successive ones. As the system progresses – in this case, Bejar and those he makes music with and those that pay him to make music – the past bubbles up and becomes an externality.

...

Of course, the major objection to this is that the above offers no material evidence for the assertion, and in fact it could very well be just another album of pleasant and obfuscating rock that offers nothing novel besides something to hum under your breath from time to time. Granted, the album itself can be used to support either interpretation. Even if it turns into a trend, one would still have to question whether repetition became a structuring feature and then begat a constant stream of facsimiles or whether from the beginning Bejar began to grow too comfortable in Rubies’ shoes. In the face of this, competing interpretations both with a valid basis, a better question to ask is: which understanding offers a more meaningful musical experience? Bejar may very well be cranking out albums because he doesn’t know what else to do with his life or because he likes this strategy or whatever, but that interpretation actually takes something away from the music, makes it poorer, makes it the product of exhaustion. On the other hand, a structural interpretation adds meaning to the experience, creating a continuity with Bejar’s literary project and developing an understanding of Dreams that casts it in a novel light. Not to be some Sartrean dick or shirk my critical responsibilities (my feelings should be obvious), but the choice is ultimately up to you.

lol

I thought that he couldn't possibly carry the schtick through to the Flight of the Conchords review. Second sentence, Frederic Jameson quote.

http://pitchfork.com/news/62275-animal-collective-reportedly-streaming-new-album-in-baltimore-airport-right-now/

Painting With Animal Collective

1. FloriDada
2. Hocus Pocus
3. Vertical
4. Lying in the Grass
5. The Burglars
6. Natural Selection
7. Bagels in Kiev
8. On Delay
9. Spilling Guts
10. Summing the Wretch
11. Golden Gal
12. Recycling

bagels in kiev is a killer song title

this jam from their first practice of the year (May 12) is pretty sweet: https://vimeo.com/144051760

even though ilm does not fuck with the AC -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw2ssNnA_Es

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v617/WidowOfDestiny/Jiggle_Panda.gifhttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v617/WidowOfDestiny/Jiggle_Panda.gifhttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v617/WidowOfDestiny/Jiggle_Panda.gif

Oh no Whiney doesn't approve of this thread

nah this is totally jigglepanda

I thought jigglepandas were a type of fillibuster

nuce tune. melody and vocals sounds like Sung Tongs. and Avey Tare is not yelling at long last.
production is kinda thin though.

I wonder how this sounds in an airport bathroom.

Missed your chance to experience just that.

hmm...not exactly new territory is it

damn, was going to start a NEW thread for a new album (something that ILM seems to be against these days)

good lead off song, sounds like a single.

Damn, homies couldn't bring the tour to Baltimore?

how come most of the Animal colletive records aren´t on vinyl. I want to buy them.
― heroes + villains (brighter), Monday, March 15, 2004 9:04 AM (11 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

because you can't listen to vinyl in the forest on mushrooms
― cutty (mcutt), Monday, March 15, 2004 11:16 AM (11 years ago)

still funny

http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/fisherprice.jpg

Damn, homies couldn't bring the tour to Baltimore?

― RAP GAME SHANI DAVIS (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, December 8, 2015 6:54 PM (48 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

really starting to hold this against them. i have no idea why they can't play the ottobar or soundstage or even rams head. absolutely ridiculous. i love the 9:30 but it's a pain schlepping to DC, and it's at the very end of their tour. I would love to go to the Philly show, first show of the tour on the day the record is released, but that's an even bigger pain in the ass

Yeah, this is a gripe I have against tons of bands but especially ones with MD roots.

Whenever I bring it up, people are all "Why don't you just drive to DC or Philly?" And I'm all "Because it already takes me 2 1/2 hours to get to Baltimore - but Philly is like 3 1/2 hours and DC is I DON'T EVEN WANNA THINK ABOUT IT"

New Song is the last nail in the coffin

https://youtu.be/RAQF6q4O_n0

oh no that song was so bad they had to remove it from the internet

was that "Lying in the Grass"? I like it, not as good as Floridada, but I really like that they've stripped down their sound and brought back the Sung Tongs vocal harmonies.

recycling sounds.

like sung tongs meets the grim reaper.

so 2010..

I don't remember much about 2010 is this what it sounded like?

Sung Tongs meets the Grim Reaper seems like a really bad idea for a anyone to do, except for maybe the band Animal Collective.

that new Deakin album is pretty great. far better than anything they did since MPP..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmaJTpJpUiU

has he paid back his Kickstarter yet

he fulfilled the thing by finishing the record and sending out the gifts or benefits or whatever

best since MPP? I guess i should give this more listens. wasn't grabbed first three times

I'm about to start my third listen now, it's just okay for me at this point.

Poor deakin

(I would add that I'm more inclined to give this album a chance than the new AC record, FWIW.)

the new anco album gets better every time i listen to it btw

this is probably one of the coolest things i've ever heard a band do. the AC showed up to their gig in Edmonton yesterday, the venue couldn't get an all ages permit, so the band asked any underage fans to email them and see what they could do to make it up. they played a private set for 2 kids. so fucking cool https://www.instagram.com/p/BK_3SVOgHls/

That's really cool. At the Calgary show, probably 75% of the audience were kids, or at least in the all-ages section.

new EP called The Painters coming soon, they played some of it at a DJ gig the other night. it's an Avey song called "Kinda Bonkers":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtWfCPDOmcU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikl16iLeHIY

so psyched that they recorded Jimmy Mack! that sort of filled the Brother Sport spot in the two sets I saw last year...

The new EP is kinda better than the album, no? More diverse. Kinda Bonkers is a great track.

I don't think so, it's too short. Kinda Bonkers is sweet - I love how it starts out with the exact same rhythm/drum sound as FloriDada, but structurally it sounds like it's melting, and it goes in five or six different directions in three minutes, the exact opposite of the super structured FloriDada. Peacemaker is probably my favorite song on the EP, a nice sneaky melody from PB, one of the few mellow songs from this era. Goalkeeper is too nuts, sorry Avey, I still can't crack that nut. The Jimmy Mack cover was a highlight of both shows I saw last year, but it's way too short here. Anyway, I'm psyched to see them again in May, I hope they debut Bonkers and Peacemaker live for this last round of PW shows. FYI Avey is playing a festival in Sonoma, CA in June by himself, I suspect a new solo album will be out sometime later this year...

All AC post the "Fall Be Kind" EP hasn't connected with me at all. MCC codified their pop sound, "Fall Be Kind" hinted at an exciting new way forward, and then they dove straight up their own ass forever.

I will root for Centipede Hz all the way, it was my favorite record that year, and it still sounds exciting and different five years later. But they used to reinvent themselves at least once every two years, and it's been a much slower since then, their solo-albums has been less adventurous too. But they did their part, and now they're coasting a bit, and I guess that's ok.

I prefer Noah's nod to pop on his solo album

yesca otm

Centipede has really grown on me, but I was heartbroken when it came out. Important RJ remember they weren't just following up MPP, they were on a winning streak their entire career up until that point. I don't know what they could've done to lift that weight. Centipede and PW are totally distinct and sweet in their own way, but bands almost never have perfect runs that last over a decade.

I think I avoided the heartbreak because 1) the three year break made it feel as if the streak was done even before I heard the music and 2) I really really loved Moonjock.

me too. but I still can't stand "Today's Supernatural" - the only song by the AC I actively dislike.

new EP Meeting of the Waters coming out on Record Store Day. avey and geo went to brazil last year and recorded some songs:

The EP was recorded in a Brazilian rainforest and will be accompanied later this year by an episode of “Earth Works” on Viceland. Below, check out a trailer for their episode of “Earth Works.”

http://cdn2.pitchfork.com/news/72373/dde79d04.JPG

...with a big electronic machine. hm.

good eye!

psyched to see them tonight. they've added reworks of 'Sweet Road' and 'Taste' on this leg, in addition to 'Kinda Bonkers' and 'Peacemaker' from the new EP. tonight is their first show in DC since the election, I really hope they open with 'Pride and Fight.' I thought that was such an inspired choice to bust out a super obscure song in the middle of a tour and debut it on election night.

well that was the best set i've ever seen them play, out of the 8 AC shows i've been to maybe only the first one in 2006 tops tonight. just stunning. they're better than ever, go see them while they're still around. opening with Taste had me welling up.

Taste
On Delay
Lying in the Grass
The Burglars
Kinda Bonkers
Hocus Pocus
Bees
Sweet Road
Kids on Holiday
Summing the Wretch
Summertime Clothes
———
Peacemaker
Water Curses (w/ The Other One intro)
FloriDada

there is a new album ? lol did anybody notice

got my copy in the mail yesterday but haven't listened. it was only announced a month ago, it's a live in studio album & they're not touring on it. saw very little promo about it.

“At this point, we feel like we do have a core audience, and those are the outside thoughts or ears that we think about the most outside our own,” Portner says. “There is a continuous thread, or sound, that goes through all this stuff. Whether it’s something that we’re trying to work on for an album cycle or something like [“Tangerine Reef”] that’s a little more off the cuff.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/animal-collective-wants-to-do-their-own-thing-and-that-means-saving-coral-reefs/2018/08/16/596bfe0a-9cb0-11e8-8d5e-c6c594024954_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_source=reddit.com&utm_term=.30c6ad547e90

Feels very much like a throwback to their early stuff - very aimless.

halfway thru side B now, I really like it so far. reminds me of Here Comes the Indian but way more mellow

just got a mailer from Domino out of the blue, liners / announcement of new Avey Tare solo album Cows on Hourglass Pond.

Bartender was playing some AC or so I thought and it sounded great. Shazam told me it was “you can count on me” by PB

https://anmlcollectve.bandcamp.com/track/ballad-of-reverend-war-character-silver-jews-cover-2

A few weeks ago we planned on seeing Purple Mountains together. Instead we spent the night listening to David’s records and talking about how much his music and art meant to us. He was an inspiration for decades. One we wouldn’t be here without. We’ve been playing covers of his music since 1994 when we first picked up guitars together, so it felt like one of the few things we could do to get through the sadness. The next day we worked on this cover of “Ballad of Reverend War Character”. Per the request from David’s family, all of the proceeds will be donated to MusiCares and Music Health Alliance, so pay as much as you want.
- Avey Tare & Geologist