POW POW, poll NOW - the Animal Collective albums poll

didn't even have time to listen to Painting, I will listen to it before I cast my vote but so far I'm leaning Sung Tongs

I think I'll vote for Painting With. I heard it a couple times and it was dope. I would be OK saying 'new one best one' for each stage of this band, I think.

this is one band i'd be excited to see ilm poll of

this is easily Feels, followed by Spirit and MPP I guess.

easy for me. it's still sung tongs. although it would have been great to have included the EPs and solo albums in this poll cos some of those are their own worlds

This is def Feels

xp yeah i probably should've at least included the EP's. i guess vote for the album if you're inclined toward its EP. i hated ODDSAC though, that was a real turning point, the first thing the AC put out that i actively disliked.

of these, Water Curses is easily my favorite:

Prospect Hummer (2005) (with Vashti Bunyan)
People (2006)
Water Curses (2008)
Animal Crack Box (2009)
Fall Be Kind (2009)
ODDSAC (2010)
Keep + Animal Collective (2011)
Transverse Temporal Gyrus (2012)
Monkey Been to Burn Town (2013)

Jam

Animal Crack Box is fantastic too, wish I could've gotten a copy of it before it sold out. Lots of amazing stuff in there, all 2003 and before: "Do the Nurse," "Ice Cream Factory," "Hey Friend," live "Mouth Wooed Her," and the lost classic "Covered in Frogs"!

It's funny hearing Powell talk about no one in the South knowing about Feels when Sung Tongs felt very much in the fabric of Brooklyn of the time. I have a vivid memory of going to some rooftop thing (maybe a movie?) and someone was just playing the record and feeling like it was a very "now" moment

They're playing their first show since 2013 tonight. Eager to see what old songs they've brought out and re-arranged.

Also, I think Centipede Hz is a really underrated record in the grand scheme of things.

I put this monster together for SPIN
http://www.spin.com/2012/08/the-animal-collective-centipedia/

And I was obviously thinking a lot about all the different strains of avant-garde and body music that entered their sound, and I felt like CH was maybe one of the better combos: horror/musique concrete textures, library music touches and dance music (right when EDM was really taking off in America too!).

Centipede will be re-evaluated. It was just the moment when the wave crested. For the first time, it felt like they had repeated themselves and hadn't moved upward. It's still a great record. The Live at 9:30 album is really helpful in unpacking all the stuff going on. There's a lot more space.

Show in Philly tonight streaming on YouTube starting at 7pm EST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7ujUws8dSs&feature=youtu.be

TONGS

of those EP's I have a soft spot for PEOOPLLLEEEEEEEEEEEAAHGHGH

feels is the one where everything works

always got to wash them at their ends (true)

love the Strawberry Jam

Spirit. They've never topped "Alvin Row."

debut is the only pre-tongs one i found listenable, but it's really good. still feels though

Strawberry Jam.

the only ac records i ever connected with were sung tongs (which, iirc, i forced myself to like in high school) and strawberry jam (horrifyingly broken pop record)

Prospect Hummer is my favourite song by them. I had the honour of chatting with Vashti Bunyan and Deakin on its tenth anniversary http://thequietus.com/articles/17672-vashti-bunyan-animal-collective-conversation-interview

It's funny hearing Powell talk about no one in the South knowing about Feels when Sung Tongs felt very much in the fabric of Brooklyn of the time. I have a vivid memory of going to some rooftop thing (maybe a movie?) and someone was just playing the record and feeling like it was a very "now" moment

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Friday, 19 February 2016 19:48 (1 hour ago) Permalink

The use of bits Sung Tongs in Shortbus is both "lol mid 00s" and kinda awesome despite/because of that.

Feels followed by MPP I think. Danse Manatee was the first one I got and I actually didn't like it at all, maybe worth revisiting now.

Strawberry Jam but the whole run from Sung Tongs to MPP is really great.

1) Here Comes the Indian
2) Strawberry Jam
3) Centipede Hz
4) Fall Be Kind
5) Prob Sung Tongs?

Quite honestly I feel they're quite hit and miss for me. I get that they're 'important', but I never really wanted to listen to Sung Tongs and Feels and MPP.

Indian would be my #2. Not sure what you mean by "'important'" tho.

Very influential... a lot of shit bands singing through delay and playing Joe Meek samples out of SP-404s...

and the whole snare drum & floor tom thing

this is one band i'd be excited to see ilm poll of

i was thinking about adding it to the queue but i'm pretty booked. i vote flappy bird to run the ILM poll.

it'd be my pleasure, whenever it's an appropriate time

Feels

Strawberry Jam, mostly because Fireworks is such an incredible song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIkU5VmRFag

Sung Tongs for me, especially the bits that sound like Inuit prog.

Wish I could vote for my double CD of Spirt and Manatee. I think of them as all one album.

I like Sung Tongs as a complete-album experience more than any of their other records, although most of my favorite songs come from elsewhere in their discography. I like Panda Bear's 2nd and 3rd albums better than Sung Tongs though.

also a while back I tried to put together a single-disc best-of-Animal Collective playlist (including worthy stuff from their solo releases too). I tried to limit it to one song per release (I caved for Sung Tongs but "College" is slight enough to justify inclusion) and it needs to be short enough to be burnable onto a single CD. listen here:

https://open.spotify.com/user/trdn89/playlist/5nxG7xZIxv4TJX9C1AsSNZ

1. Animal Collective, College
2. Animal Collective, Peacebone
3. Animal Collective, Brothersport
4. Animal Collective, Honeycomb
5. Panda Bear, Last Night At The Jetty
6. Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks, Little Fang
7. Panda Bear, Bros
8. Animal Collective, Kids On Holiday
9. Animal Collective, What Would I Want? Sky
10. Panda Bear, Tropic Of Cancer
11. Panda Bear, Faces In The Crowd
12. Animal Collective, Crimson
13. Animal Collective, FloriDada
14. Panda Bear, The Preakness
15. Animal Collective, Amanita

Bitch I'm busting at em

This poll reminds me that the one thing I always really wanted from AC and which they have never made and probably never will make is an album of floating pseudo-balearic in the space between "Banshee Beat", "Safer" and "What Would I Want? Sky".

I suppose you could say "that album is basically Person Pitch", but I feel like the AC tunes in the above vein had a different vibe about them, especially live.

yeah that would have been the ideal direction for them to go after MPP & Fall Be Kind

mpp

Danse Manatee was the first one I got and I actually didn't like it at all, maybe worth revisiting now.

my first AnCo disc was the double with this and Spirit They've Gone...; my first impression were that they were perhaps the most irritating band on the planet. Spirit eventually intrigued me enough to give them another shot, but I still for the life of me cannot figure out the appeal of Danse Manatee, the whole thing sounds like hearing your grandkids play with obnoxious toys while your hearing aid violently malfunctions. "Essplode" is kinda cool though

That's a great mix, jamescobo. 'Kids on Holiday' is an interesting Sung Tongs choice. Not that it's a bad song, but def one of their droniest/least melodic on there, 'Visiting Friends' aside.

TIm F, have you heard 'Tomboy' by Panda Bear? I think that's as close as you're gonna get. I agree, a sort of ambient/balearic album would be better welcomed from these guys than the main Skittle-quaffings stuff on Painting With.

cannot figure out the appeal of Danse Manatee, the whole thing sounds like hearing your grandkids play with obnoxious toys while your hearing aid violently malfunctions

Genuine lols at this description.

The one I don't get is 'Here Comes The Indian'. A lot of that album genuinely hurts my ears.

Campfire Songs is so good. More people should listen to that one.

Dance Manatee is the one I've listened to the least. That one hurts my ears. They set out to experiment with extreme frequencies, and succeeded... some great songs on there though (besides Essplode)... In the Singing Box is fantastic.

perhaps they seemed more alluring languishing in their cool trough but I’ve been going back to listen to the first records lately. still think there's a lot to love in the first six records, each good in their own way, but feels was an abomination, and nothing from the next few tempted me.

with the early records there was a lot of space as well as noise, lulls & sudden expulsions of intensity. it allowed for some of the fruitier notes; avey tare could sing like a children’s tv presenter and you could hear it as exuberance. but later it all felt suffocating and grand and even bombastic at times.

more concise than Strawberry Jam? Both are 15 minutes longer than SJ or PW. Or Here Comes the Indian.

Person Pitch obviously classic. Should do an AC solo projects poll at some point. "Little Fang" was my favorite song of 2014 but I thought the album was really patchy. "Modern Days E" was another killer song. My friend told me it's pretty much just the theme song from "The Adventures of Pete & Pete."

Listened to Person Pitch again to see if it had grown on me. It hasn't. I genuinely dislike it. Ugly, sloppy and wispy in every way.

Apart from the last track, Ponytail, which is quite pretty.

what sounds like campfire songs? it seems too obvious a style to be unique but I'm drawing a blank

xp And it sucks that hardly anyone ever mentions Tomboy which to me is better than any of the last three AC albums.

The only precedent I can think of to Campfire Songs is the Holy Modal Rounders.

I'm listening to SJ for the first time in ages and I agree with Flappy Bird. It's a really trying listen. There's a fair bit to like, and the two singles are among their best songs. At the same time I have to work quite hard to pick out the bits of what I like about the other songs. This is one of the inherent problems with AC. When they're on form they're able to transcend their craft, and the psychedelic experience they're trying to induce more or less pans out fine. But from SJ onwards, I found I was increasingly having to do the work myself. It's very hard to just zone out and vibe when you're trying so hard to overcome so many sonic obstacles. It's like trying to enjoy a particularly boney piece of fish - very tasty except for the fear of choking.
With more recent AC I'm too busy thinking about the craft and the people making it. I'm constantly being reminded: 'YOU ARE LISTENING TO ANIMAL COLLECTIVE, YOU ARE LISTENING TO ANIMAL COLLECTIVE' which in the context of some acts would be fine. But with this kind of music, psychedelic music, you should be able to blot out the ego and let the id take over. That's probably why a lot of people prefer Person Pitch. It's a lot more attached. Fewer grating lyrics about daughters and family pets; fewer deliberately abstruse musical moments.

The drums sound in particular sound awful on SJ. Listen to the crash cymbals on Fireworks. They sound like paper.

ah, knock out that first 'sound.' no edits...

I only like the Vashti Bunyan thing.

you might like this then, never recorded in a studio, similar in a way to 'Visiting Friends'

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

Strawberry Jam is my favorite album of all time. Nine brilliant takes on textured, psych-pop. To my ears, it's the sound of a band perfecting their vision.

Close at #2 would be Feels, which creates and sustains such an incredible atmosphere and sound the entire way through.

I'd consider both SJ and Feels to be 5/5 albums.

Coming in at #3 would be Painting With. I've played it twenty + times already, and it's such a creative, positive album: unabashed joy... few artists are able to make JOYFUL and childlike music like AC without sounding contrived. AC are just happy wonderstruck innovators who are very zoned into their craft--not really a band that's chasing "the freshest wave" ("My Girls") but just locked into doing what they want to do.

They're my favorite band, and also some of the most inspiring and laid back dudes.

I think the most disappointing thing about the reaction to Painting With is the complete lack of mention that this thing is just so FUN & HAPPY. It's like listeners aren't allowing themselves to just get swept up in the spirit of these songs. I guess to me because AC is so tied to a childlike spirit of creation, I'd never respond to a child's work with a critical eye, but rather just an awe and appreciation for what's been made. They joy on this album contagious!

I'm listening to SJ for the first time in ages and I agree with Flappy Bird. It's a really trying listen. There's a fair bit to like, and the two singles are among their best songs. At the same time I have to work quite hard to pick out the bits of what I like about the other songs. This is one of the inherent problems with AC. When they're on form they're able to transcend their craft, and the psychedelic experience they're trying to induce more or less pans out fine. But from SJ onwards, I found I was increasingly having to do the work myself. It's very hard to just zone out and vibe when you're trying so hard to overcome so many sonic obstacles. It's like trying to enjoy a particularly boney piece of fish - very tasty except for the fear of choking.
With more recent AC I'm too busy thinking about the craft and the people making it. I'm constantly being reminded: 'YOU ARE LISTENING TO ANIMAL COLLECTIVE, YOU ARE LISTENING TO ANIMAL COLLECTIVE' which in the context of some acts would be fine. But with this kind of music, psychedelic music, you should be able to blot out the ego and let the id take over. That's probably why a lot of people prefer Person Pitch. It's a lot more attached. Fewer grating lyrics about daughters and family pets; fewer deliberately abstruse musical moments.

― draxx them sklounst (dog latin), Friday, February 26, 2016 10:08 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is the most OTM post on this thread

ty, although I meant 'detached' not 'attached' in reference to Person Pitch.

Tomboy really is underrated and overlooked. Had the impossible job of following up Person Pitch. "Alsatian Darn" is one of Lennox's best songs in or out of AC.

love that panda bear quote about the genesis of strawberry jam, such a perfect musical realization of a visual/textural idea

One thing I thought recently is how much AC borrowed from sacred harp singing. I don't think it goes much beyond pure appropriation, but even if the cultural/spiritual links are minimal, the tonal/sonic similarities are interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWmCplTgflA

whoa that's great

I'm not considering solo projects and maybe noone cares or agrees but here's my personal ranking of AnCo releases and a 'best of' compilation:

1. Feels
2. Sung Tongs
3. Fall Be Kind EP
4. Painting With
5. Strawberry Jam
6. Spirit They're Gone Spirit They've Vanished
7. Merriweather Post Pavilion
8. Campfire Songs
9. Prospect Hummer EP
10. Here Comes the Indian
11. Water Curses EP
12. People EP
13. Centipede Hz
14. Danse Manatee

Best of AnCo

01. Leaf House
02. The Purple Bottle
03. Fireworks
04. What Would I Want? Sky
05. Daily Routine
06. April and the Phantom
07. Prospect Hummer
08. New Town Burnout
09. Winters Love
10. Peacebone
11. Golden Gal
12. Banshee Beat

I think I'd actually put Campfire Songs below Prospect Hummer and Here Comes the Indian

I'd be interested if anyone votes for Danse Manatee what's their take on it because I think it's the only album of them without redeeming qualities, it just sounds weird for the sake of being weird. A friend of mine actually rates it as one of their best records and describes it as Throbbing Gristle doing Pow Pow music remixes... it's actually an accurate description. Open these two videos in different tabs and play them at the same time, it sounds like Danse Manatee only better.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbtCvbJ4rGA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8klW9trVTQ

I think there's like 20 seconds of interesting ideas per song but after those 20 seconds I start getting stressed.

daily routine is an interesting MPP choice. it's the only one I can't remember off the top of my head.

there are things i like about danse manatee and i think the approach of making music that's v concerned with the extremities of sound is a perfectly fine thing to do but yeh in this case it often doesn't make for easy or enjoyable or otherwise satisfying listening. i imagine there's a similar impetus behind the dayglo ugliness of strawberry jam and centipede hz, which imo mostly works on the former and mostly doesn't on the latter.

i voted spirit they're gone because it's really really good and also may not get too much attention. it's a weird concoction of very disparate ideas that somehow hold together very well, which is somewhat true of all of their best stuff but here it all grinds together in i think a particularly interesting way

I've been listening to Danse Manatee a lot more lately and it's finally starting to click. I can finally see why some people (including Geologist) rank it as AC's best album.

daily routine is an interesting MPP choice. it's the only one I can't remember off the top of my head.

― draxx them sklounst (dog latin), martes 1 de marzo de 2016 10:39 (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's the most PB sounding song in there, chorus kind of sounds like 'doin it right pt. 2'. There's a great remix of it too by phaseone

when i saw him on the person pitch tour in 2007, he played daily routine and guys eyes (then called 'Song for Ariel')

panda bear is grumpy and passive aggressive towards deakin and a car crash happens off camera in this 2004 interview. also, "Bees" live!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rASISwur9gs

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Feels > Sung Tongs > Here Comes the Indian > Merriweather Post Pavilion > Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished > Campfire Songs > Danse Manatee > Hollinndagain > Strawberry Jam > Painting With > Centipede Hz

The tour between Sung Tongs & Feels was really great. Voted Feels.

really enjoyed that interview flappy posted

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

in retrospect I'm not sure why I didn't vote for Campfire Songs except that I straight-up forgot about it

these results just seem right. every album got a vote!

Painting With will surely get more votes if this poll is done again a couple years from now.

or fewer, who knows?

i've already forgotten about it...

calstars - still waiting for my single in the mail, i've heard good things...

never did say what i voted for, it was Feels with Strawberry Jam being second. still have not heard Sung Tongs

i very much like Painting With.

listening to Strawberry Jam for the first time in an age. the non highlight tracks (unsolved mysteries, chores, winter wonderland) are all better than i remember. they were very much mid-hotstreak when they put this out.

This has been a really fascinating thread to read through - I used to be obsessed with AnCo but haven't really liked anything any of them have done since Tomboy (which I agree is really underrated) and I suppose I haven't thought about them much since, even though I still listen to the older stuff occasionally. But I've realised I never really did think about them much, at least not in terms of how the albums were made or who wrote what. I've got the urge to revisit everything now.

Bee OK you absolutely MUST listen to Sung Tongs right away.

... interesting, because I got Sung Tongs in a sale of CDs in a library and hated it so much I felt like physically attacking it. This band is not for me.

it's not for everyone. especially in 2016.

I'd be interested in seeing the results of an AC solo albums poll.

(That said, the results of this one are about what I expected.)

Actually, I'm surprised SJ did better than MPP!!!

It's okay, Tom, I don't get what the big deal is with this lot either.

haven't listened to painting with since february, but i'm seeing them next week so i guess is should BRUSH up on it

It's not a wonderful record but I'm surprised to see zero mention / discussion of Tangerine Reef on ILX. Are AC completely sub-rosa now?
At least the coral is often pretty.
https://tangerinereef.myanimalhome.net