Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

so I finally got to spend some time with this record, I was out of the country during the whole leak/hype/rickroll merriment and too busy to listen during the backlash phase. I like it more than Strawberery Jam for sure, but it all seems downhill after Summertime Clothes because it is front loaded like crazy. The jew's harp on Lion In A Coma is questionable, the last song is like an AC parody, and daddy issues recur throughout, but the first four tracks make it all worthwhile.

oh, youre just in phase one.thats not the end of the story:
wait till you get tired of track 1-4, than discover the middle section of the record and think it's great,and than (phase 3) get tired of the whole thing and neglect it till next year, when youll miss it again.

I dunno 'bout that but I will certainly continue to throw the record on for a while to come. No More Running is also v nice, I think the rest of the record is way stronger than SJ. I'm not sure what I think about the whole low end issue discussed above.

"also, though i liked MPP a lot up front, i'm finding that it doesn't reveal much beyond what it first gives away. not a record of unexpected depths"

kinda otm

it all seems downhill after Summertime Clothes because it is front loaded like crazy

I agree generally, but track 5 is the album's best so no way does it go downhill after "Summertime Clothes," not quite yet.

Strawberry Jam highly underrated, btw.

"bluish" grows on you after a few listens, once the very wilson boys vocal harmony in the chorus bridge sinks in. that is a gateway song to zeno's phase 2

i dont know how i feel about the "doesnt reveal much beyong what it first gives away" comment(s). every song is so god-damned layered and dense i'm constantly discovering new aspects of a beat or melody that had hitherto gone unnoticed (or at the very elast unappreciated). most of the melodies are really accessible it's true but they're hard to get bored of, and my favourites are constantly shifting positions.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/feb/06/simon-reynolds-animal-collective

I don't care much for Reynolds' music taste, for the larger part, and I find some of his thoughts muddled with nonsense ("black capitalism" as an economic theory in a discussion about Motown?) but his article on AC reminds me of his article on Vampire Weekend: thought provoking and insightful, even if I think he's possibly reading too far into things at times.

What I enjoy about Simon Reynolds is that he's always got a theory for why something is happening in music. No dots are ever left unconnected.

I quite enjoyed reading that article, and I think he makes some interesting and relevant points about middlebrow, etc.

But MPP is still fucking horrific.

Comments on that article way better than the article itself...

stoddy

06 Feb 09, 12:25pm

Jesus Christ - this is one of the most tedious, pretentious and pointless pieces of drivel i've seen appear on the Gruniad's music blog. Turgid, unappetising fare and the sound very clearly of one man disappearing happily up his own arse. Rather like Animal Collective in fact...

another classic...

fakeycakemaker

07 Feb 09, 11:54am

I find it plain funny how Reynolds' stock as an alternative music journalist is just based upon his anxieties from a mid-class, record collecting, obscurist p.o.v over the popularity of a band....he always comes back to the bourgeois experience of listening and watching music as some all encompassing envelope, and it's both interesting and very dull how this gets him nowhere, only repeating the stereotype of the (male) artist in a perpetual child like state of "creativity"

aren't Animal Collective, strictly speaking, emerging reborn from their own arses.

Are there going to be any remixes of "My Girls"?

Does it really need a remix? A coworker of mine was at a recent Prodigy gig and he said that Busy P opened and played "My Girls" as if it were, "just another banger".

i know Hatchmatik did a remix, for one. but i agree with uncannydan; it's pretty unnecessary.

i approve of that experiment

because I am poor and lazy I am just listening to it now and it is good. probably their best yet (altho I haven't heard Strawberry Jam).

don't forget that you're also old

right. I forgot. alzheimer's, you know.

if sick mouthy is against it then it is probably great and the converse is also true.

i approve of that experiment

seconded. that's how I always hoped animal collective sounded.

My issue with Reynolds' article (and the general response to MPP) is that I really don't see this as a breakthrough album for them. To me it sounds like Animal Collective doing what Animal Collective have been doing since 'Feels' - watery eliptical psychedelia with interesting melodic and rhythmic textures and varying the level on the tuneful/experimental rock/noise/dance continuum. It's not a 'Kid A' or even a 'Sung Tongs' (which, along with most of the pre-'Feels' era AC, works as an individual album concept in its own right).
I don't see why MPP is any more commercial nor critically worthy than Feels, Strawberry Jam or anything else they've released since 2005, it's just a continuation of the sound they seem to have settled into.

Feels towers above SJ and MPP imo.

Comments on that article way better than the article itself...

catpiano

09 Feb 09, 2:42am

Luckily music critics of the ILM variety are easily ignored, since music blogs have made them outdated (and many are run by much more knowledgeable people, besides). Now all that is left for them are these petty and laughable forays into dumbed-down cultural criticism. In a few years all of this garbage will cease to exist and these people will write for free or be forced to get real jobs.

Ahem.

you know he or she is right.

you know he or she isn't making any sense at all.

http://imgboot.com/images/moullet/acconanwb7.jpg

best closed caption ever?

so sad to admit ilm time somewhere besides ilm

I've decided to start listening to this properly now, and while I don't think it's as interesting and diverse as pre-Feels work, it's definitely the most consistently great of all their later stuff. I think I got about 8 tracks in and realised I'd enjoyed every track so far, while most AC albums no matter how great have a few clunkers.

Did anyone else here manage to order the Animal Crack Box? I think I was just lucky as I saw the e-mail from fusetron popping in and ordered. At least, I think I'm lucky, since I seem to have paid for it already. Their website now says this, not surprisingly:

Artist: ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
Title: Animal Crack Box
Format: 3 LP Box Set
Label: Catsup Plate
Country: USA
Price: $92.00

***DUE TO OVERWHELMING DEMAND WE HAVE SUSPENDED TAKING ORDERS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. IT WILL TAKE A DAY OR TWO TO SORT OUT ALL THE ORDERS UP TO THIS POINT. IF THERE ARE ANY COPIES LEFT WE WILL ANNOUNCE IT ON THE NEXT EMAIL UPDATE. THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THEIR ENTHUSIASM***

"just lucky"

What is on it:

*Artist: ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
Title: Animal Crack Box
Format: 3LP box set
Label: Catsup Plate
Country: USA
Price: $92.00

IF YOU ARE ORDERING JUST THE ANIMAL COLLECTIVE BOX SET GO HERE < http://www.fusetronsound.com/crackBox.html > FOR
AUTOMATED PAYPAL LINKS

***LIMIT ONE PER CUSTOMER***

"After almost three years of planning Catsup Plate is proud to announce the release of Animal Crack Box, a three LP collection of Animal Collective recordings spanning the years 2000 through 2003. These songs were recorded live, at practice sessions and in other non-studio environs and most have never been released in any form whatsoever. And those that have been release sound so markedly different that long-time fans will not be disappointed. Throughout their career, Animal Collective has existed at the crossroads of uncompromising experimentalism, classic song structure and ecstatic expressionism -- a crossroads that this set further underscores. The songs veer from the early percussion/feedback wailings to the Campfire Songs style acoustica to wall of sound forest children vocal chanting. The sonics are rough in places as these were originally recorded more for reference than for an actual release, but the power of the songs and the bands uncompromising intensity are apparent all the way through. Fans of the bands recent work may be surprised by the cacophony at times, but peel away the layers of sound and the essential compositional and performative brilliance is staring you in the face.
Each record jacket is silkscreened in four overprinted colors and housed in a super sturdy four overprinted color silkscreened outer slipcase held together by a two color silkscreened "obi" strip. This thing is a 12 x 12 brick. The recording selections were overseen by Animal Collective themselves, who poured over hundreds of hours of tapes to come up with this tracklisting. The Hieronymus-Bosch-meets-the-early-Looney-Tunes-work-of-Max-Fleischer illustrations were drawn by Jon Vermilyea and the whole package was art directed and designed by Rob Carmichael. This is a single edition of 1000 copies, with no digital or CD version planned." - Catsup Plate.

Tracklisting:

A1. Jimmy Raven
A2. Ahhh Good Country
A3. Iko Ovo

A1 and A2 recorded live to MiniDisc 18 September 2000 at the Cooler, NYC by Avey/Panda. A3 recorded live to MiniDisc fall 2000 at N. 4th Practice Space, Brooklyn by Avey/Panda.

B1. Pumpkin Gets a Snakebite
B2. Pumpkins Hallucination
B3. Pumpkins Funeral

B1 and B3 recorded live to MiniDisc February 2001 at N. 4th Practice Space, Brooklyn by Avey/Panda/Geologist. B2 recorded live to MiniDisc 25 February 2001 at Mercury Lounge, NYC by Avey/Panda/Geologist.

C1. Jungle Heat
C2. Hey Friend
C3. De Soto De Son

C1 and C2 recorded live to MiniDisc winter early 2001 at 67 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn by Avey/Panda. C3 recorded live to MiniDisc August 2000 at Mercury Lounge, NYC by Avey/Panda.

D1. Oh Sweet
D2. Young Prayer #2
D3. Do the Nurse

D1 partly recorded live to MiniDisc summer 2002 at N. 4th Practice Space, Brooklyn by Avey/Deakin and partly recorded live to MiniDisc 18 October 2002 at Warsaw, Brooklyn by Avey. D2 recorded live to MiniDisc fall 2002 at Bard College, NYC by Avey/Panda. D3 recorded live to MiniDisc 18 October 2002 at Warsaw, Brooklyn by Avey.

E1. Ice Cream Factory
E2. Hey Light
E3. Two Sails

E1 and E3 recorded live to MiniDisc March 2002 at Tonic, NYC by Avey/ Panda/Geologist/Deakin. E2 recorded live to MiniDisc winter early 2002 at N. 4th Practice Space, Brooklyn by Avey/Panda/Geologist/Deakin.

F1. Dont Believe the Pilot
F2. Who Could Win a Rabbit
F3. Mouth Wooed Her
F4. Covered in Frogs
F5. We Tigers

F1 and F2 recorded live to MiniDisc July 2003 at New World Brewery, Tampa, FL by Avey/Panda. F3 recorded live to MiniDisc June 2003 at a house party in Brooklyn by Avey/Panda. F4 recorded live to MiniDisc sometime and somewhere in 2003 (recording details are lost) by Avey/Panda. F5 recorded live to MiniDisc October 2003 at Concorde 2, Brighton, UK by Avey/Panda.

xp Haa, I expected that pun to arrive here, yet not as soon as this :)

You could not describe a boxset that I would have less interest in hearing than this one.

i can describe one: a six box CD set of Animal Collective discussing the ins and outs of "Animal Crack Box," their new multiple CD box set

I'm surprised the Lex isn't on this already to declare the very same, yet in more denouncing language.

See, that I'd have about the same lack of interest in hearing, but not necessarily less. I think this boxset hits the lowest possible point on my caring-about scale.

Mr. Que: I'll gladly take it on myself to create that box set for you! It will cost you dearly though. $92 isn't gonna cut it.

The thing is, tho, I like MPP. But this boxset looks like everything I dislike about AC. I'm not just denouncing them in broad terms. I'm saying that they need to shy away from releasing their unfinished live crap and work harder at teh tunez.

F2. Who Could Win a Rabbit
F3. Mouth Wooed Her
F4. Covered in Frogs

B1. Pumpkin Gets a Snakebite
B2. Pumpkins Hallucination
B3. Pumpkins Funeral

Looks like a winner!

"Fans of the bands recent work may be surprised by the cacophony at times, but peel away the layers of sound and the essential compositional and performative brilliance is staring you in the face."

"This might sound to you like it sucks, but trust us. Its performative brilliance is staring you in the face."

I'm not sure: MPP went from brilliant to mediocre to me fast. I'm actually anxious to hear more of the, erhm, 'spontaneous' side of their music-making - like the earlier albums - than the polished sound MPP displays.

xp

The thing is, tho, I like MPP. But this boxset looks like everything I dislike about AC. I'm not just denouncing them in broad terms. I'm saying that they need to shy away from releasing their unfinished live crap and work harder at teh tunez.

I'd rather they spent the rest of their days making handsome box sets if it kept them out of the studio.

hey this only covers till 2003, they've gotta have like 2 more box sets in em by now amirite?

that stuff is pretty widely bootlegged already (maybe not the early showings of the Feels stuff), so perhaps not as much point (laugh if you must) as this one.

As a fairly obsessive fan, I'm glad this sold out before I knew about it, because seeing it available when I really don't have the money would've been plain annoying.

Kinda think animal collective's unreleased crap and live etc.s are their best work fyi

I don't know how i feel about what I assume is a pun on "crack rocks"

So we're saying this 1000 copy only release is of interest to only hardcore fans then?