Are you anticipating Panda Bear's 2010 album Tomboy?

Single out in July, album date TBD

"The rhythms are really basic and kind of raw and simple and are electronic. It's not live instrumentation, I've been playing guitar but I feed it through the same thing that the sequences are on. It's a very electronic sound and very voice heavy. A simple arrangement of drums, the guitar and singing. Really there are only two or three elements to every song. It's pretty raw sounding for better for (sic) worse. The tone is a lot darker and it sounds sort of dramatic or romantic to me.”

yeah, i'm curious (tho panda bear/animal collective are hardly my favorite act).

He set the bar too high with Person Pitch and frankly speaking, his past solo efforts weren't that good. But yes, I'm anticipating madly. Not too excited about the artwork:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd120/hipsterrunoff/photographs/hro/8bff00af.jpg

Oh yeah, this. I am anticipating. But what's with the artwork? A diver being attacked by a giant squid? Superman getting electrocuted?

Anticipating the album: yes.

Anticipating the hype cycle, blog leaks, online frenzy, rave reviews, end-of-year list domination: fucking hell no.

Artwork is mediocre at best, specially when compared to the gorgeous set of collages for Person Pitch and its singles.

i predict songs about NOSTALGIA and YOUTH

more songs about Roche Bros, please

the newer stuff (after person pitch) i heard live was gr8 so yes

^^^^^^^^^^^

Anticipating the hype cycle, blog leaks, online frenzy, rave reviews, end-of-year list domination: fucking hell no.

"chillwave pioneer"

Never understood the hype around Person Pitch (and yes I like AC), but I'm still anticipating.

all the hype-related stuff does becoming tiring after a while, but I'd rather have people be that excited about music rather than not

ya otm, i never got people complaining about hype as if there's something harmful or it's anything but people just being giddy. like ilxor would you rather they were really nonchalant about it "oh hey the panda bear album came out yesterday wonder if its any good," this the followup to an album that was top 10 on their decade list you realize

i just don't understand why you get so many people saying "i hate AC but Person Pitch is amazing". To me, they're not really all that different, and I found Person Pitch to be quite frankly a bit of a drag.

if you stop reading pitchfork and indie blogs you will not even notice the hype.

and i'd imagine you read indie blogs because you want that hype, right? or do some people think stereogum has good writing..?

dog latin: it has a lot to do with the fact that avey tare is often a painfully embarassing and bad singer, he goes for cringey childish tantrum style vocals way too often and just general doesn't sound cool. "my girls" was maybe next level corniness but generally panda bear's vocals are bold in their simplicity, avey tare on strawberry jam is just smh after smh.

also "person pitch" is much less of a mess, for people who don't like big messes

like ilxor would you rather they were really nonchalant about it "oh hey the panda bear album came out yesterday wonder if its any good," this the followup to an album that was top 10 on their decade list you realize

I'd rather they fall in between the two extremes.

agreed w samosa, i have almost no time for new AC stuff, but i really enjoyed person pitch, and i wkiw TOMBOY

I'm looking forward to it. Virtually all of the Animal Collective/Avey Tare/etc. things have been very interesting, 'Person Pitch' included.

Do you feel that way about Pullhair Rubeye?

"Animal Collective" is a horrible name for a music group

xp apparently if you download the re-reversed version it's just normal anco psych folk

Pullhair Rubeye... Wasn't that the thing with Kria Brekken...? I'm not sure about that one.

Yes it was. I quite liked it.

samosa - that's the explanation I've heard, and yeah, I prefer Panda's vocals (it's why I prefer Young Prayer to Person Pitch). PP sounds like a dreadful mess to me. For all the lauded "dance influence" on that record, I find the beats repetitive yet sloppy and ungroovy. Not even trance-like, just "gah this sounds annoying". It's all the boring bits of AC stretched out to 10 minutes per track. Comparing it to Strawberry Jam - they are both ugly records but I think SJ is kind of trying to sound ugly while I'm just not sure what Person Pitch was trying to do. It's just not a cohesive record to my ears, but maybe a lot of this comes from the fact that it's a hotchpotch singles compilation that's somehow reached classic status.

still think Strawberry Jam & Feels are the best AnCo records

of the ones i've listened to enough to have an opinion on, which are Spirit, ST, Feels, SJ, & MPP

have a heart have a heart

"Search For Delicious" is probably one of my favorite ambient tracks ever.

xpost

got my A machines on the table, got my C machines in the drawer

the only explanation is that we have very different brains because i can't fucking stand young prayer and hate its guts

i was actually thinking that while typing it out, "hrm, well pp is a mess in its own way too." i guess i just like that mess better, or it has more unified vision in its messiness. sometimes anco sounds like four dudes making an overwhelming amount of sound, like i want to block out one dude's synth/sampler skronk to actually hear another dude. i love how person pitch is so organic, and even though there's a big throb of sound going at once there's always a focal point, and the flagellum is sort of this warm homogenous blob that blends together. anco add way more heterogeneous noise to their trancey synth pop.

why do you hate Panda's dad

i don't think they'll ever top sung tongs for me. it's the last of their albums before they settled on a particular sound and could be described as by far the best of the freakfolk records that came out in the mid-00s - that and prospect hummer ep are the most unified and satisfying for me, and arguably the least messy too.

but yeah, back to what you were saying samosa, i think sometimes anco shot themselves in the foot with strawberry jam as it's a very pointy album with lots of weird noises that purposefully don't sit well with each other (I'm thinking of tracks like #1 here), yet they released it at a time when they were getting a lot of media attention. so i guess i see why there's been a big backlash with animal collective since that album came out. they only just reeled it in on MPP.

There are parts of Person Pitch that really remind me of Song Cycle by Van Dyke Parks - in a good way, of course. I wonder if it was an influence at the time (surely it was?).

so i guess i see why there's been a big backlash with animal collective since that album came out. they only just reeled it in on MPP.

I'm not sure the people backlashing against SJ and the people not backlashing against MPP are the same crowd.

"Search For Delicious" is probably one of my favorite ambient tracks ever.

^^this

the one i like best is the understated soft-house track "poneytail".

i'm a bit ambivalent in my anco fanboyism, i love "feels" and "person pitch," pretty much like "merriweather post pavilion" and am a bit repulsed by "sung tongs" and very repulsed by "strawberry jam." but even the shit i don't like, i really admire their imagination and ambition. like that panda bear quote about wanting to make an album that sounds like a strawberry jam container you get served on an airplane--it's amazing to me how successfully they pulled it off. i guess i'm part of the backlash against it, but i can still admire it in that regard.

an album that sounds like a strawberry jam container you get served on an airplane

What the fuck does this even mean?

In an inexplicable way, it makes total sense to me.

I like the album art because it looks like it says TOMBOT

No.... it says Tomboy pretty clearly.

OK, maybe more like TOMBO.

some chillwave band named tomboy is gonna be pissed

This guy? http://www.myspace.com/tomasbarfod

Oh he won't mind.

The dutch aren't people. Hence lack of capitalization.

No.... it says Tomboy pretty clearly.

yeah but my brain is so used to seeing TOMBO followed by a T, and the Y is faded

i'll fire off an email to Noah and see if he can change it

WHAT DAS CRAZY U KNOW NOAH LENNUK?

ah yeah, i regret making such a generalist statement. but nobody has picked up that AC is near a rite of initiation for the college crowd? remember how many times was "my girls" played on your local college radio? all those fans p much translate to the most accessible and (relative, but here goes:) best looking member of the group. iono about you guys but every girl i know even mildly into indie-rock has anticipated this album like the 2nd coming or something.

I live in North Hertfordshire and work in a sales office in Kings Cross, so I can only understand this vicariously. Basically I don't know anyone IRL who has more than a peripheral awareness of Animal Collective, let alone this album coming out. I'm starting to understand why so many people of a certain generation and geography have a problem with them though.

Had to reread - problem with AC or problem w/ those unaware of AC? The former is admittedly more imaginable, but I can also see reason for the latter: I mean the band was given an Album of the Year award, for MPP, by Entertainment Weekly. Which is, iirc, in the top 5 selling magazines in the nation.

If I like this record and sorta like MPP where is the next place to go?

i really like ac's feels and strawberry jam and panda bear's person pitch

if you like this then obv panda's last album -- also straw jam has some choice panda cuts

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

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

^yes

Calstars get Person Pitch for sure, then just move backwards through AC's catalogue until you hit an album you hate.

Yeah that was a nice piece Nick, I wish I could *like* it, wish you were on Tumblr.

Calstars, go for Person Pitch, Feels, and the Fall Be Kind EP. I don't like Srrawberry Jam much.

Yeah that was a nice piece Nick, I wish I could *like* it, wish you were on Tumblr.

You def can add an fb button on wordpress nick.

Calstars, my favourite ac releases other than the ones you mention are sung tongs and the prospect hummer ep, although they're very different in style.

Kelpolaris, what I meant was that ac just aren't as ubiquitous in my world as a 30yo englisher as they might be if I were a 20yo us college student. Tbh I knew they were bigger in the US than over here, but I didn't realise they were as overexposed as you make out. Here they're still fairly obscure outside alt music / underground circles. Then again I don't even come from a very hip part of the UK so maybe in our colleges it's the same. I doubt it somehow.

MPP was also album of the year in Mojo *and* Uncut magazines in the UK, and they've sold out every single show they've ever played here - they're not fairly obscure! I think in many ways they're bigger in the UK than in the US.

They're not Kings Of Leon though. MPP was the most obscure AOTY in those kind of publications probably since Spiritualized in 1997.

Yeah, Mojo Schmojo to be honest. UK college-age people are far more likely to be into Magnetic Man or Get Cape Wear Cape Fly or KoL or Katy Perry or any number of acts above AC. They might be getting plaudits and achieve a certain cache among urbanite hipsters, but they're no phenomenon over here.

Get Cape Wear Cape Fly?! It's all Crystal Tips & Alistair round here, or whatever they're called. Crystal Wolves. Crystal Parade. Crystal Panda. Something.

Shhh... You'll wake Whiney...

GCWCF might well be an anomaly in my area as their drummer comes from Hitchin.

remember how many times was "my girls" played on your local college radio?

jesus christ I'm old

Hehehe, this reminds me of ages ago when a Canadian poster (was her name Cecile?) berrated a bunch of Ilxors about our lack of ragga knowledge, saying "'Just go to your local dancehall specialist and listen to what they're playing!" and I was all "my what now?"

My local Animal Collective enthusiast is actually my direct line manager.

I live in a nice world.

this record is decent enough, pleasant.

Bought the LP today... ridiculously good deal.Just $14, $2 more than the CD, and you get both the record and a card to redeem the mp3 files. Plus it surprised me by including a live set as well.

Came on clear vinyl, which is pretty neat but makes this bizarre cracking noise (like the needle-on-dust sound, if it exploded on contact)... it's wiggin me out.

A bit fanboyish, but has anyone bought the CD version yet? PP rather impressed me w/ how much work went into the packaging
http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljmb6ura5w1qifoodo1_500.jpg
which no, isn't worthy of being a collector's item but when the last dozen CD's I bought before contained nothing but a single sheet for artwork and a black backing behind the CD it was a nice relief to see there was actual care being put into presentation.

Tomboy on CD just looks like a standard digipak @ the record store, or a small-scale version of the vinyl (which has no lyrical inserts or anything. I don't have PP on vinyl, tho, so wouldn't know how to compare it)

So are you saying the crackling sound is there all the time? Like the pressing is bad? Always heard colored vinyl could be a problem sound-wise, not sure if that is true.

It was only on Side A, but I'm still trying to diagnose what's up. The thing that makes me wonder whether it's dust tho is that there's no hiss or the usual sounds one associates with dust... it's more like KAK KAK KAK once every 7 seconds or so.

i think you have a tucan in your room somewhere

I've never bought a poorly pressed record... is that what it usually sounds like? xpost

lol'd irl @ Jordan

I've never bought a poorly pressed record... is that what it usually sounds like? xpost

lol'd irl @ Jordan

Well, I'm not sure technically, but sometimes new records can be crackly, which they really shouldn't be, and I've bought some 7"s where the sound was pinched and kind of warbly b/c the pressing wasn't done right. Every few seconds like that would seem to indicate some kind of scratch, but seems like it shouldn't last through a whole side.

Tomboy on CD is packaged the same as MPP and In Rainbows, and has the download card too.

Sounds like a scratch on your vinyl to me too; this is why I prefer CD.

Surfers Hymn 7" is a v. nice pressing thanks to Kompakt i guess.

Still not sold on this weird sound happening in the LP version of Slow Motion. I don't see why it's needed, other than to make it sound worse. Makes me kinda not want to listen tbh.

^Sound totally, totally ruins it. The product is top-notch elsewhere so I'm surprised this is allowed to have such dominance on the song. It is and sounds like an obnoxious fly you just want to get outta the way.

Just noticed these tiny little inscriptions on my vinyl... side A says "can i call you a car?" whereas side b says "i'm a notorious coat wearer". i want to think that maybe these are things his son has said (considering the gate-fold "fatherly" imagery and the "for fern" on the sleeve-note) but i'm not exactly sure he's even old yet enough to talk...? let alone use the word "notorious".

so this is a good lp but it's pretty much exactly what I was expecting. i'm kind of surprised to see that nobody's mentioned here comes the indian or danse manatee as those are totally their best albums, along w/ campfire songs. person pitch was brilliant but i though that young prayer far surpassed it, just such a beautiful tribute to his father. re person pitch on vinyl: it had an insert that was all the pages from the cd booklet on one doublesided sheet. had the whole list of everyone he sampled.

it's not a list of samples, it's artists he considers influences.

i thought it was a mix of both? he talked about sampling some sounds off the radio without knowing where they came from, so I wasn't entirely clear about it.

he may have sampled some of the artists on the list, but it wasn't put together to be a list of artists sampled.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_rUNAr4XL1h4/Sv76Ui2EFuI/AAAAAAAAAFw/YYHZshB11Wo/large_boring-highway-sign.jpg

My old roommate just made this

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

My review of this is up on the Quietus now for those interested

i'm sure you expected this criticism, but your review contradicts itself rather awkwardly. there seems to be some disdain from appreciating this record *too much* as it gives fault for you to be taken seriously in the future. mostly, i just find it weird that you find so many merits in the album, take the time to enthuse over these merits, but precede it all cautiously with a "but just so you know, i didn't like it".

Err - isn't it preceded by criticism of Person Pitch, not of this album?

i've reread it and i think you're right - this is my bad and a post i shouldn't have made with such knee-jerk reactionism. reviews typically introduce themselves w/ a historical context which i don't ever really give my utmost attention to - so I DIDNT skim, but i was thrown off when the review transitions with a "i didn't care for this much" and much that preceded this line i forgot about.

i guess this is where my qualm lies - i find this unnecessary information. it should be up to the listener as to whether they consider a sonically regressive album still inherently good... but the fault more lies with me, and makes me glad quietus doesn't subscribe to the point-system of grading. otherwise that essential ambiguity of quality, seen here, would be amiss.

i guess, long story short, is that "I didn't care much for this album" served as sort of a red-flag and a line that could've been edited out to great effect. it gives the rest of a review an ominous "but" after every appraisal, a sort of "this part of the song is cathartic [but it does nothing new for me].... these melodies are absorbing [but it does nothing new for me]". the whole removal of "me" is, i realize, an essential part of criticism. but sometimes it doesn't do much for reader-write trust.

haha, fair dos. i think there was a sentence or two that had been edited between the transition from me talking about Person Pitch and Tomboy. Also I wrote it about 3 weeks ago before the album came out etc..

You're right that it's good they don't have a points system.

yeah i just read back, and there's an edit of a sentence in there that makes it clearer I'm saying I didn't like Person Pitch. Too bad.

so no one cares about this anymore ?
listening to "afterburner" right now : somehow I find a 80s miami vice feeling to it (which for me is great, btw !).
I listen to the album quite often and really like some tracks ("count on me", "jetty", "alsatian", "benfica") but don't LOVE it as a whole as much as I did MPP (my favourite AC related release so far).
hard to say if I prefer it to PP. they're so different (although very alike in some ways !).
I think I prefer the "classic" construction of the songs in tomboy to the long samples/jams of PP but there are less radiating/spiritual/endless summer moments in the former.
I like how "count on me" makes me think of sakamoto. and "benfica" of moz's "we'll let you know" !