Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

Still can't bring myself to listen to the version I downloaded weeks ago.

lol @ that thing comparing anco and the bulls, though it's really more true for the bulls.

ok well michael chornomanz sent me an apology and now we are total bros

:(

And then you danced.

hes a nice kid!!!!

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

Parody of Barack Obama ... best music writing of 2008 so far...

From Ronan F's Irish friend Una

http://unarocks.blogspot.com/2009/01/celebrity-album-reviews-1-barack-obama.html

Celebrity Album Reviews #1: Barack Obama reviews Animal Collective - 'Merriweather Post Pavilion'

I stand here today humbled by the album before me, grateful for the sounds that have been bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by a record label. Animal Collective have now made nine albums. The songs have been recorded during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often an album is released amidst gathering clouds and raging storms, genres blurring beyond recognition, a music industry in freefall. So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

Today I say to you that the complexities of this record are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, music lover – they will be met.

On this day, we appreciate this record because we have chosen progress over the static, avant-guarde beauty over reluctant discord. From the glowing synth of ‘My Girls’, inspired by our forefather Frankie Knuckles, to the expansive exquisiteness of ‘Summertime Clothes’. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to landfill indie, the petty pop and false promises, the worn out MOR rock, all of these things that for far too long have strangled our music collections.

Animal Collective remain a young band, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. Their time has come to reaffirm their enduring spirit, to choose a better history, and to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, of innovation and experimentation in indie music.

Everywhere on this record, there are intricacies. The sounds are as glorious as they are mysterious. The progress in vocal harmonies and melodies is tinged with bravery, courage and hope. All this they do so well. We are the keepers of this legacy.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them. The question we ask today is not whether this album is cool or not, but whether it works.

Men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration over this magnificent album. So let us mark this record with remembrance, of who Animal Collective are and how far they have travelled.

In the year of Animal Collective’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of musicians huddled by dying cigarette lights on the shores of home studios. Music was being abandoned. The enemy of thoughtless songwriting was advancing. At a moment when the outcome of the flux in the industry was most in doubt, Animal Collective banded together and succeeded. And like true citizens, they persevered in their craft, and it is only because of that, they can produce such work now.

With eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon them, they carry forth that great gift of ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ and will deliver it safely to future generations. Thank you. God bless you. And God bless Animal Collective.
Posted by UnaRocks at 3:29 PM

rewind..Parody of Barack Obama ... best music writing of 2009 so far...

oops wrong merriweather "post" pavilion

xx-post that's priceless

tbf though that's abt the nicest way one could call someone a "fucking asshole"

yeah i mean hes no taylor saporito

who thought i owed him an apology for "making it personal"

friend?? haha

http://www.myspace.com/zimmermanbrain

let's not forget these glorious indie masterpieces from Taylor Saporito

http://www.myspace.com/zimmermanbrain

let's not forget these glorious indie masterpieces from Taylor Saporito

stupid internet

Is it much to admit I need
A solid soul and the blood I bleed
With a little girl, and by my spouse
I only want a proper house

I don't care for fancy things
Or to take part in a precious race
And children cry for the one who has
A real big heart and a father's grace

I don't mean to seem like I care about material things like a social status
I just want four walls and adobe slabs for my girls

straight·for·ward

1. Proceeding in a straight course; direct.
2.
a. Not circuitous or evasive; honest and frank. See Synonyms at frank1.
b. Free from ambiguity or pretense; plain and open.
adv.
In a direct course or an honest manner.

I take back everything bad I ever said about Animal Collective. This album is tremendous.

why do you like it so much mordy

Well, for one thing I find it much more memorable, more hooky, and more -- poppy? than their other albums (and side projects). So it's actually a joy to listen to the music. And once I can get into the frame of a song, I can start to appreciate all the other sonic stuff that's going on. So "Summertime Clothes" sounds drenched in water, and when they sing "I don't mean to seem I care about material things" on "My Girls," I both love the lyrics (which are, FBOFW, key for me), but also love the way his voice moves around the lyrics.

I think what's really distinguished this album for me from their other output is that it's immediately accessible on a very - what Frank might call - a free lunch level, and then it builds on that for me. But there's a place for me to start. By contrast, with Person Pitch, I felt like I was just banging my head against these monoliths over and over again without making any headway. I need some 'in' before I can start to love everything else -- and I really love everything else with this album too. But as elaboration.

Not sure if this makes total sense. If not, I'll try to figure out my reactions to this album better.

no, i get what you mean with the 'in' song. preson pitch is my fav thing related to them by a considerable distance, but it took me a while to get into too. once "carrots" hit me, i was able to love the rest.
as for this one, i really like "in the flowers" a lot, but i can't seem to connect with another song to the same extent. i used to really love the old live version of "brother sport" too, but i'm not feeling this new, aired out album track

I think my favorite three tracks are My Girls, Summertime Clothes, and Bluish. The last almost entirely for the "curls" section.

Also, I got new speakers tonight, and that might've made a huge difference since they are the warmest sounding sound system I've ever used in my living room.

does anyone know how many copies this sold in its first week?

hang on let me log in to soundscan

Merriweather Post Pavilion - 5,567,987 units

lil wayne cameos carry weight grady!

5.5 million!? wow...

Yes. That statistic is completely real and factual.

does anyone know how many copies this sold in its first week?

― Bee OK, Tuesday, January 27, 2009 11:08 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I read on another board that it will debut at #13 with 25,000 units sold. No idea if that is true, though.

new song (sky) and lion in a coma live on the bbc
http://www.bansheebeat.com/ac/Stuart%20Maconies%20Freak%20Zone,%20BBC%206%20-%2025.01.2009/

Also scoring career-best numbers is Animal Collective with the Domino album "Merriweather Post Pavilion." The project lands at No. 13 with 25,000; it debuted at No. 38 two weeks ago on the Top Independent Albums chart purely on vinyl sales.

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/taylor-swift-album-starts-eighth-week-at-1003935143.story

I was kind of disappointed when I finally heard "Summertime Clothes" on the album. I'd heard it live, and the marching bassy stomp present in the verses approximates what they did live. Avey yelled on the chorus, though, and the instruments and bass (especially the bass) were pushed hard on that part. I liked the song a lot especially for that peaky part, so the version on the album wasn't as exhilarating when it gets to the refrain. It's still a great song, but it was the one instance I could pick something out on the album as too polished.

There's a live version on the end of the album as purchased from iTunes; I actually far prefer the studio one.

I had a dream last night these guys were recording their new album in my apartment and Avey was like the most disgusting houseguest ever. High all the time, spilling shit all over me, constantly doing that yelping thing he does.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3187/3083240768_f9a88f7bab_b.jpg

exactly.

^ never gets old.

http://www.jefframirez.com/ilx/tuomasclub.jpg

never gets old.

12. Andrew Bird Noble Beast 25, 700
13. Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion 24,700

when did Andrew Bird become so popular?

ask the nyt

Yeah, the Bird placing baffles me a little too. I figured he'd be back in the 40s or 50s somewhere.

These guys wear sixties mysticism really well. They made a personal playlist/"mixtape" for a website not too long ago and so many of the band's selections were late sixties and early seventies album cuts from bands that, for a long time, were stigmatized with the "hippie" label (Mama's and the Papa's, Joni Mitchell covers, Cat Stevens, The Byrds circa Notorious B.B, "Tomorrow Never Knows," etc). Their sound encompasses much more than just that genre of rock but their attitude and aesthetic seems to be very firmly grounded in the sixties, and the mysticism and Eastern spiritualism that was in close proximity (Just look at the band's name).

Also, there's that hippie aesthetic of "This isn't a simple chorus or a hook, we're singing this part of the song like it a religious mantra, or a chant, guys" in a lot of AC music, along with another hippie-rock gimmick: hypnotizing loops and sounds that are meant to induce something in-between a glazed-eye and a spiritual rebirth. It's a mindset that's all over the music they put on the aforementioned online playlist. People often times just associate psychedelia with the surrealism, radicalism and the drug use of the era, almost always neglecting or underemphasizing the neo-Theosophic influence that was overtaking youth culture. The way the Beatles' went into some sort of Eastern chant at the end of "Hello, Goodbye" was probably just as shocking and revolutionary to most Western youths as a lot of the oddball stuff on "I Am The Walrus." With Animal Collective I'm reminded of the "rock music as an Eastern religious experience," style that was stamped on so many sixties records and then went away. When AC is at their best I think that's one of the things that sets them apart from so many other sixties-loving bands - they way they internalize the spiritual aspect of the music they love, and not just the superficial exterior. Now whether these guys are actually "let's go sleep in the fields" mystics themselves is beside the point, the point is just that they've managed to capture that element from their original influences and I can hear it in their music.

I should also point out that before he died in the early '90s Timothy Leary was raving about the potential of "the internet" and how it'd change everything. So...

Timothy Leary championing acid>Magical Mystery Tour>LARGE GAP>Timothy Leary championing the internet>Pitchfork Media>Blogs>???>Animal Collective

The links are becoming ever more clear.

The thread has worn its welcome out/
Before the record did.

Timothy Leary championing acid>Magical Mystery Tour>LARGE GAP>Timothy Leary championing the internet>Pitchfork Media>Blogs>???>Animal Collective

most o_O timeline i've ever seen