POW POW, poll NOW - the Animal Collective albums poll

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.

am I alone here or does it all seem much of a muchness to everyone else, fans and haters alike?

am I alone here? or does it all s

Feels was the point where I was basically ushered out of the Animal Collective den, unceremoniously, like I was never there. That record came completely out of nowhere for me -- how could *this* band turn out to be just some indie band? Were there signs I'd missed? Maybe it would have made sense if I'd started from the beginning instead of picking up their thread with Here Comes the Indian.

I revisited Here Comes the Indian the other day - I'd never really gotten into it before but it was much better than I remembered. Panic especially is fantastic. Spirit is definitely my favourite of the early albums though

I pretty much agree with you, ogmor, although I wouldn't call Feels an abomination - it's got plenty of classics on it. That said, after Prospect Hummer it felt like they tried harder to consolidate their sound and work on coherent 12x 3' 'pop' albums.

Feels was the tipping point for me - it's where they achieved some kind of equilibrium, out of which came some of their most steadily beautiful moments (Banshee Beat, Loch Raven and Daffy Duck are like aural opiates to me), but also where they seemed to run out of ideas, or at least reach some kind of logical conclusion. It's the record I go back to most often.

So many AC albums (Feels onwards) have a saggy bit towards the end. In fact I'm really trying to remember which songs off Strawberry Jam I really liked and which ones I simply tolerated.

You could create a fantastic 'greatest hits' album out of Feels through MPP and not even include the EPs (or even some of the best deep cuts)

Did You See the Words
Grass
The Purple Bottle
Banshee Beat
Peacebone
Fireworks
My Girls
Summertime Clothes
Brothersport

Strawberry Jam is such an odd one for me. In many ways, it's a failure. For the only time in their history, the AC used the same lineup and instrumentation for two albums in a row, Feels and SJ. I saw them in early 2006 and they played mostly SJ songs. It was incredible, the gauzy, swampy sound of Feels applied to darker, spikier songs. Avey called Feels their "love record," and SJ was the shadow twin. I love the songs on SJ, but it was produced and mixed like a dry pop record. They've admitted as much in recent interviews for Painting With, that they tried the whole Ramones/early Beatles record sort of style and approach with SJ and it didn't quite work. SJ sounds like a radio session! Totally dead, flat sound. That's something that can't be fixed or redeemed with a remix or a remaster - those songs are frozen in amber in an improper form. It still bugs the shit out of me. Imagine if SJ had the immersive sound of Feels... it might've been my favorite. It just makes me sad. The songs on Painting With are perfectly suited for that direct and dry kind of production, but SJ... man, it just makes me sad.

Feels and Sung Tongs are the most concise of them all.

But, Person Pitch is better than any.

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

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