Animal Collective: Feels poll

Grass or Banshee Beat

from Wiki:

Recording

Feels is known for its interesting guitar sounds, which were obtained in part by the unique tuning the band used. Geologist explained how they created and used this tuning on the Collected Animals message board:

"All the songs on feels are tuned to our friends piano which was out of tune to begin with. Dave and I made loops from recordings of him playing her piano and we used those loops in the early songwriting process for feels. So since those loops are premade and can't be tuned, the guitars have to be tuned to the loops. it's not out of tune in any tradional whole step/half step kind of way...we're talking microtonally out of tune after years of not being professionally tuned and subtle natural detuning. Kind of like if you played guitar in standard tuning for years but never once re-tuned it to make sure it was right. It would have it's own unique out-of-tune tuning based on what strings you played most often, how hard you played it, the temperature in the room, the humidity, etc... When we went into the studio it ruled over everything we did. Even doctess's live piano playing required us bringing in a professional piano tuner, playing him a minidisc recording of our friend's out of tune piano, and having him try to de-tune the studio's piano in exactly the same way our friend's was. Without those recordings or the loops dave and i made, you wouldn't be able to get it exact unless you tune to the album while it's playing, and even then, you'd have to know which loop in the album we use to tune, which one chord it is, and because of the way we mixed the loop in, it is almost impossible to separate from dave's guitar. I'll never forget when the tuner finished (we had to wait to start recording until he finished) and he stood up from the bench and went 'there you go, the piano's perfectly out of tune.'"

grass easily

Banshee Beat

Then Loch Raven, Bees

i'm listening to grass right now and damn this is such a classic. havent listened to the whole album in a min but iirc banshee beat was my other favorite

Loch Raven is v pretty iirc

Loch Raven is the only Panda song on the entire record, and it kills.

Hard for me to choose between "Grass", "The Purple Bottle", "Banshee Beat", "Loch Raven" and "Turn Into Something". Such a strong record.

Did You See The Words/The Purple Bottle/Loch Raven

Just listened to this again and "Daffy Duck" really stuck out for me this time. I wouldn't have expected that. Though, I don't think I can deny the effect "Turn Into Something".

Banshee Beat by miles. Few songs capture summer the way this one does for me. Solid album but Banshee is the life blood of it.

I'm guessing Banshee Beat is going to take this.

This is without a doubt one of my favourite albums, I just think it's perfect from start to end.

'grass'. love how it sticks to the point. don't care for some of the longer tracks on this album.

the only one i can actually remember is "did you see the words" even though i've heard it a whole bunch of times. the correct answer to this is "prospect hummer".

turn into something has my favorite lyrics of maybe any ac song. very tful-ish

Oh twisted me I came to eat
At the hall where we danced to some duds
my crowd of pals observed my fingers
And prayed for the lunch I had hung
And cheers rolled out and
I thought early of tunas in tennisons tubs.

That should turn into somthing
You should turn into somthing

Oh blissful bleed I came out peaking
And leaked out like a wet clown
My tears rolled down and arms went round
At night I gapped at her gowns
So often green but she held me
My curtains were covered in hounds

She said
Oh my sweet goodess wish you could be here every time
But don't miss me goodness because I rub away everytime
Then groan at the goodness but do you mean not every time
Then gone in the goodness wish I could stay here everytime

A mistful meet with teachers speaking
There muffled by buzzes and hums
So headphone tones do float me home
My chair was begging to come
And im not bummed some works not fun
Then we crawl in the carpet like bugs

Unrestful eve I sipped on leaks
And sat in the room had a grudge
The jummping dust made catfish bust
From corners now dripping with mud
And she knocked twice and we got silly
And noone knew what would come..

easy, cause banshee beat is the best AC song ever.

I voted for Turn Into Something, mainly because it reminds of bright summer days in grade 10, and mainly because its the last song I hear off this album.

So hard to choose. This album was as earth shattering for me musically as Loveless.

i really had no idea this album was so loved. i only really know and love the latest two albums. i do, however, own this album and feel the need to catch up with it.

as pop albums by the AC go, Sung Tongs is the pinnacle imo. It is definitely really addictive and the least sonically ugly (although feels is pretty great sounding imo)

Bee OK, so worth it to spend a significant amount of time with this record. I got into AC in 2005 via Feels, and it's as solid as SJ and MPP.

srsly go one back and then come to this, sung tongs is more immediate and more rewarding

I know, right?: Do you think SJ and/or MPP are "sonically ugly"?

strawberry jam is the only animal collective album I actually can't listen to because of how shitty it sounds (for real, their minidisc live stuff sounds better to me than this arcade fire bs) and mpp sounds like the kind of record that should be really beautifully produced and mastered, but it sounds hella cheap. Sung Tongs is rich and warm though and feels is really interesting and unique sounding, that watery piano sound I have never quite heard anywhere else.

For ages I thought that SJ was just a really shitty album because I couldn't get past this, I still don't ever bother listening to it, so I kinda have to take it as word that it's decent. And for the record I'm not some Nick Southall production aesthete, but I do find the particular sound of this record to be insurmountably hideous.

banshee beat was kinda legendary on NOIZE PICKLE BRD becuz all the west coasters heard that song in infancy and were all like "um... wow?" and i even emailed dave abt it bcz i fell in <3 w/ it from bootz (still have some superior versions on my ipod FWIW).

here is the original thread: SWIMMING POOL

I know, right?: I see what you mean re SJ's production, and it is compressed to hell in a way no other AC album is. (AF's Funeral is a good comparison, production-wise. Neon Bible is a little less compressed, at least to these ears but I think recording the record in a church has something to do with this.) For me, it works in a way the style usually doesn't, but I could see how it'd be unappealing to others. Do you think you'd like it more if it were produced like ST?

Bad production choices can really wreck a record. Capitol wrecked Interpol's third record. It's not as good as the first two, and that's partially because the songwriting is weaker, but the production is brittle as fuck too.

Feels always reminds me of Fiery Furnaces somehow.
Banshee Beat is,as said,is one of the best thing they ever did - it's like their version of krautrock or something,everything about this sonmg is perfect:the whispering/singing,the drums, the "Poooooollll"...
Grass,Purple bottle,Words - all great,though i wish Panda Bear had more songs to balance Avey's songs.

love this acoustic,clear (as oppose to the record) version of flesh canoe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzhv672OEf0

I get how complaining about the production is a pretty bad start with getting into these guys, but the best records have been inventively produced moreso than badly produced. I mean, the sound of Sung Tongs is not one you'd want to emulate, but for that record it is really great and hits the right part of the palette. This is less true for Feels, which really does sound extraordinary IMO and maybe to a more sympathetic ear SJ's compression would be the right solution for that set of songs (you could probably make a point for MPP but there is a weird accumulation of digital junk that builds up over all the surfaces and I feel like they should sparkle). Then again, NS went 180 on MPP when he heard it on the right speakers so who knows.

On the main point, did you see the words is an underappreciated gem in my mind. It's a really good opener, a great example of their harmonies not really being Beach Boys-ey at all (in the wire a while back they said they were more into shapenote singers of folkways, and this has an obvious debt to that and maybe Van Dyke Parks I think) also, the lyrics are better (albeit in a slightly precious indie way) than they usually get credit for, I especially like that "minuets off in the background, drowning out/ blood flies, dip and glide"

Zeno, the Purple Bottle performance from that same session is my favourite AC video I know of.

Also, when I saw them it was a bit disappointing but Loch Raven sounded amazing, its barely even a whisper of a song

Panda Bea gets bonus points for having a New Deal sticker on his guitar.

The way the album is sequenced is also exceptional, it's a very well laid out and emotional journey, which I would say climaxes with banshee beat. By the time they get to the line about "the soldiers in the painting" I just feel funny all over.

Need to spend more time with this. Wish it had more low end. SJ is pretty horrific, can't listen to it enough to tell why; suspect not just pure volume.

i loved this album to pieces in 2005, but now i find AC annoying and can't listen to them at all. idk what happened :( but every once in a while "the bees, the bees, the bees" pops into my head, so i'm going with that.

I wish AC would do another offshoot mini-album (like Campfire Songs for example) that diverts from their current noise/electronica/beach boys routine. I mean, I've enjoyed Feels through MPP just fine, but it would be cool if they made a straight up techno album or something.

Plaxico OTM throughout this thread. The only songs I come back to on SJ are Peacebone and especially Fireworks.

Doesn't Plaxico hate "Fireworks" most of all though?

went 180 on MPP when heard it on the right speakers

the most disappointing thing about SJ's production for me is that all the songs sounded GREAT live in 2006. when i have to construct my own version of an album from live sets in Finland and Poland, it's a fuckin' prob yo

voted for Did You See the Words with Banshee Beat and Loch Raven close behind

Doesn't Plaxico hate "Fireworks" most of all though?

― Tim F, Thursday, August 6, 2009 9:05 AM (3 hours ago)

I hate Fireworks just because it was the single and therefore the first thing I heard off SJ, and I was horribly disappointed b/c I'd been looking forward to it so bad, so its kinda symbolic.

It's really joyous though. Loved hearing the 10 minute version at Glasto.

i think every track except Bees and Daffy Duck (this one plainly sucks) is pretty good. Banshee Beat was the first big crush on this, but i will give a shout for Flesh Canoe

man is this album really beautiful but all i could think of while it was on was Bimble and wondered if he liked this band at all.

RIP

this album truly is beautiful. i ended up voting for "Grass." also have a feeling that when i full digest this album that a song like "Bees" will become my favorite.

is it just me or does the last track on this album seem out of place? this album has a real pretty vibe working throughout and it ends with a song that is quite different then the rest of the album.

"you smell like fruity nuts and good grades" is one of the best lines ever uttered in a song.

that chord progression alone makes banshee beat my pick.

there is no chord progression is that not the point

I don't know what it's called. I suck at describing the technical aspects of music. It's at 2:26 of this vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj-0vMrZJbo

if you don't think there's a chord progression in Banshee Beat, I think you are either are deaf or don't know what a chord progression is.

Grass, how epic. WTF happened to this band?

i don't know about that, both Strawberry Jam and Merriweather Post Pavilion are great. then you are able to add Panda's Person Pitch to that mix and no have NO drop off in quality.

no you

I dunno, it's been discussed to death elsewhere on the board and I don't think I have much to add that hasn't already been said, but Feels was really exciting to me to discover and listen to. I found the last two, with the exception of a couple tracks, incredibly boring.

I think there's a pretty large contingent of ppl who would argue that there has been a huge drop off in quality, and I've gotten stick on this board for saying how extraordinary I think they really were at their peak

if you don't think there's a chord progression in Banshee Beat, I think you are either are deaf or don't know what a chord progression is.

― (*ﾟーﾟ)θ L(。･＿･)　　　°~ヾ(･ε･ *) (Steve Shasta), den 8 augusti 2009 06:00 (11 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what i meant obviously is that what makes it great is how they stay on the one opening chord for so long before moving on

Strawberry Jam was a huge grower for me. Pretty unsatisfying and boring the first listen, excellent fifth.

Amazingly, I still haven't even heard MPP, at all (I don't download/stream it because I know I'm going to buy it, but I've been putting off buying it since it came out).

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"you smell like fruity nuts and good grades" is one of the best lines ever uttered in a song.

i always thought it was "good grains". either way, "Purple Bottle" is love.

'Purple Bottle'. I hardly ever listen to this any more except for that.

xpost

It is good grains, I think. If he's telling his girl she smells like good grades, then AC deserves any derision directed their way.

Ahh, it is good grains. in that case AC is deserving of derision for not saying good grades.

What do good grades smell like?

cotton

http://images.google.com/images?q=strawberry+jam

A++ Google Image search.

bands suck

I listened to "Banshee Beat" about three times again today. Needs a beardo edit.

can't think of a single good ac remix off the top of my head, Mungolian Jetset remix of Brothersport would be awes i think

Yes! It's practically a Mungolian Jetset track already.

I think Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve could have done good things with this album.

Pantha du Prince's (amazing) remix of Peacebone!

^ Was just logging in to post this. Check out the Peacebone single. Besides containing the dark, messy, and long "Safer," it ends with the awesome ten minute Pantha remix of Peacebone, which sounds little like the original.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Wow, there's a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, (7X2), order here.

Daffy Duck

original three part version
https://youtu.be/o7h0S2sgvZk?t=1h5m2s

Thanks!
I used to listen to this boot a lot, great to hear it again.
The shows from around this time were really something else. Something that didn't, to my mind, make it onto the record.
Haven't bought an AC record in a long time but if they put out a live recording from this time I'd get it right away

they did release this soundboard recording of a show a week after the one above, pretty sweet, most of Feels + b-sides + others:

https://soundcloud.com/anmlcollective/cats-cradle-in-chapel-hill-nc-11182004-full-performance

Did You See the Words
Loch Raven
Kids on Holiday
Banshee Beat
Fickle Cycle / Grass
Daffy Duck / My Favorite Colors
People
The Purple Bottle
---
Tikwid
Baby Day

^was gonna say they put that out in October 2015 around the 10th anniversary of Feels' release. I was really hoping for something similar for the 10th anniversary of Strawberry Jam earlier this month, because like you said, I don't think the sound of those late 05 - 06 shows made it onto SJ at all. Feels was my first exposure to the band, so I love it unconditionally, but totally understand how disappointed people must've been after the wooly & raw & rabid sound of those 04 - 05 shows.

Ah cool! I didn't know
Thanx again Flappy
Despite feeling so-so on how Feels turned out, I enjoyed those pre-SJ shows too. Same too, actually, with some of the boots w really early versions of MPP songs.
Maybe I just need to see them live again...
How are they these days?

they just closed out the Painting With era of shows. I saw them 3 times in the past year & a half and those were some of my favorite sets I've ever seen them play. particularly when I saw them a few months ago. besides the first time I saw them in 2006, I think that show in May was the best AC show I've ever seen. they opened with "Taste." PB in top form as a vocalist, really expressive & energetic. also the best sound they've had since mostly excising guitars from their live sets. all the SJ/MPP shows I saw in 2007 - 2009 were great but had pretty wack sound. hearing the album was a revelation...

I recommend the shows they released on Bandcamp last year, as well as this one from May. they've been recording all their shows in multitrack, that's what the Bandcamp shows are from, so expect a treasure trove of soundboard AC recordings in the future...

I recommend listening to these shows instead of the album. I thought it was really cool how they once again did something new & instead of working out the songs live, they played their first show of this era the day the album came out. the album is all blueprints, these songs just blossom live. So much more improv than the MPP/CHz shows.

Great, I'll check those out. Don't think I heard the last couple albums in their entirety, so should be interesting

the 2016 - 2017 shows had no Centipede songs, mostly PW stuff + some really sweet reworks of older songs. off the top of my head, they broke out Loch Raven, Bees, Kids on Holiday, Sweet Road, Alvin Row (!!), Water Curses, + a lot of MPP: Daily Routine, Summertime Clothes, Guys Eyes, Taste...

the coolest thing they did was debut a new version of Pride and Fight in the middle of a tour on election night last November. didn't get to see that one live, but they played it pretty regularly after 11/8/16. Jeremy Hyman (Ponytail, Boredoms, Dan Deacon Ensemble) was their live drummer for this era, he was consistently great. Remarkable improviser too - PB would just send him a click track for each section. you would've thought they'd been playing together for years and years.

20 years next month. Reissue with demos coming out. Grass demo released already.

This is my favourite AnCo instrumentally. The guitar tones, high register piano, drum rim. Shame about the yelping.

Happy to report Banshee Beat is still beautiful

Let’s be real, this is the best Animal Collective LP.

This material was so good live before the LP came out. (Yes, I know I’ve already made variations of this post multiple times on here, it was pointed out the last time.)

"Banshee Beat" would make my shortlist for best songs of the 21st century, so that.

This material was so good live before the LP came out. (Yes, I know I’ve already made variations of this post multiple times on here, it was pointed out the last time.)

― spastic heritage, Friday, September 5, 2025 2:23 PM (forty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://anmlcollectve.bandcamp.com/album/feelslive-04-05

buy it on mini disc!

actually, this live thing doesn't have banshee beat. wtf

I’ll get the digital for sure, wish it had “Banshee Beat” though as that’s the one I remember as being exceptional live.

I was at the Haverford College and Ottobar shows on the new live release. Remember Ariel Pink being mildly disastrous at Haverford?

it's got a handful of their best songs but as an album I find it a touch lackluster compared to Sung Tongs and Campfire Songs. still amazing stuff though

always loved these solo Avey acoustic guitar versions of "The Purple Bottle" and "Grass" ... his singing reminds me of Kurt sometimes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CcJfcaNCXk

also the really minimal car park acoustic version of "Banshee Beat" here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEeMDKT7zcM

Conceptually I really love AX's acoustic impressionist stuff (Prospect Hummer being the pinnacle of thst phase). But yeah, of their next, more production-heavy phase this is the one

Funny that ILM seemed to be generally quite averse to this band back in the day; or at least there was a vocal contingent of the board that actively hated them. Couldn't imagine that sort of behaviour going on today, but i felt a sort of shame for being a fan

I remember it differently in that there was initially a lot of love for basically everything up to and including this album, especially among posters into noisy experimental music (I think it was a noise board post by I wanna say gygax which prompted me to buy Campfire Songs and it remains one of my fav albums of all time. also seem to remember the same poster uploading a live recording of "Banshee Beat" when it was provisionally titled "Swimming Pool" or something like a year before Feels came out and it blowing a lot of peoples' minds). it seems like MPP was when the backlash went full swing here and elsewhere; I suspect that part of it maybe was that there's an aspect of Avey's vocal mannerisms and lyrical content which codes as basically hyper-indie and thus ripe for derision ... it was obscured by the sheer progressiveness of the music prior to the Feels / Strawberry Jam / MPP era but as they got more conventional it became harder to ignore for some listeners. and as "the culture" increasingly turned to cynicism, pessimism and irony in the late-00s/early-10s they were never poised to thrive in such an environment

I agree that early acoustic AC is the best AC, some of the Panda & Avey live boots from around the Sung Tongs period are so wonderful and it's genuinely impressive how innovative their approach to making music with acoustic guitars was; instead of just incorporating the sonorities of electronic music they were attempting to model the forms and structures of like GAS, Basic Channel and Cologne schaffel tracks, the rhythmic instability of the guitars in songs like "Visiting Friends" and "Mouth Wooed Her" resembling the time-domain jitter characteristic of granular synthesis processes ... and then just the general approach to vocal arrangements was so idiosyncratic and unlike what anyone else was doing at the time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YniAgn4ZhjE

maybe the apotheosis of that period ... anyway back to Feels

hey ***,

thanks for the email man. It's nice to know that people are actually
picking up on our songs and not thinking we are just making sounds up as we
go along. Actually if it was the whole 8-10 minute portion you were into
then it was two songs that we played....but maybe you're just feeling the
swimming pool song...actually we've been calling it banshee chaser but that
might change. It is a new song and we will most likely most definitely
record it in march when we begin to work on a new record. i hope that's
enough info. i also hope you are well today. bye now.

Dave

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, October 13, 2004 11:37 AM (twenty years ago) bookmarkflaglink

via SWIMMING POOL

WHY DOES THIS ALBUM SOUND LIKE ARCADE FIRE?

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Wednesday, September 21, 2005 10:53 PM (nineteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I have been falling in love with this album all over again spurred by this 20th anniversary. Probably listened to Banshee Beat hundreds of times over the years but it's been wonderful rediscovering some of the sounds hiding in the other tracks, especially the slower atmospheric ones. The demos included on the rerelease are inessential on their own but they isolate some of the dynamics in ways that illuminate and enrich my hearing of the studio and live versions. These guys' completely open and unassuming approach to creating art in this era remains inspirational for me.

All that said, wow at that track you posted above, missingNO -- never heard that one and yeah have to agree that acoustic sound is the pinnacle. Time to get back into Campfire Songs and Sung Tongs too I guess!

I really like that they are releasing a lot of live albums these days. This one flows really well and paints quite a different picture of the album. They really dug an indiepop album out of a bunch of noise tracks. It reminds me a bit of the Can/Macero method.

Yeah, live album the missing link between HCTI and feels. Love the version of loch raven on the new live album. The ambience/soundscapes of this album have not aged (unlike other elements of the AnCo sound).

*Ark (forgot about the name change)