animal collective - centipede hz

http://pitchfork.com/news/46495-animal-collective-announce-new-album/

hey markers

Can't wait for the animated gif album cover.

Pitchfork: "The video also offers a list of words and phrases that may or may not make up the tracklist on the album."

Stereogum: "The video contains a dozen phrases that … may be song titles?"

this is all really fascinatinghttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sVKDhQNnTDk/SWQk0pWMOGI/AAAAAAAABiw/u3364BvHzCo/s400/WayneAndGarth.jpg

can't wait for them to be on the cover of Spin this year.

01 Moonjock
02 Today's Supernatural
03 Rosie Oh
04 Applesauce
05 Wide Eyed
06 Father Time
07 New Town Burnout
08 Monkey Riches
09 Mercury Man
10 Pulleys
11 Amanita

those 2 new songs are not there

YAY for anyone who missed Dario G

everybody hz

ilx pre-covers?

YES.

Fuck it, I will start a thread.

ILX pre-covers Animal Collective's "Centipede Hz"

the actual tracklist just hit the web:

01 akikan
02 sleeping with hinako
03 lucky star
04 midori days
05 samurai pizza cats
06 qwaser of stigmata
07 unko-san
08 kiss x sis
09 puni puni poemy
10 excel saga
11 ebichu the housekeeping hamster

more like centipede hzzzzzzzzzz ....

i pede, it hz

centipede humanz

http://myanimalhome.net/centipede_hz0.jpg

That's fucking horrible.

Just like everything else about them.

HIYOOOOOOO!!!!

please centipede, dont hz 'em

bet it sounds like dario g with crap singing

or

the beach boys

that really is phenomenally ugly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6cWumQwCqA&feature=youtu.be

i dig.

mm doesn't seem to be working

http://www.youtube.com/embed/f6cWumQwCqA

sounds good to me

sounds http://www.stonewylde.com/smilies/puke.gif to me

Today's Supernatural is great. I hope the rest of the album has this sort of energy. They sort of lost it in between Sung Tongs and Feels.

He sounds a little like Zinc Alloy era Bolan in parts. I love it!

sounds good, BUT for a band that more or less reinvent themselves each record - it sounds very familiar. somewhere between Feels and Spirit Theyve Gone

after being struck by it on my first few listens i'm not so sure now, as a song i like what it's doing but i don't know that the sonic palette they're using is really working for me. a bit of an ugly mush, which is something they've made work before but here the mush doesn't really seem to be attaining any consistency. maybe an album's worth of said ugly mush will indoctrinate me.

as a pre-album sigle - it's probably their worst since 2004

The 'ugly mush' factor is what's been the problem for their last two albums, but strangely not things like the Fall Be Kind EP which is pretty good, and the last Panda Bear which was acers.

Really like Today's Superman on first listen though - not actually too mushy sounding, and I like the fact they seem to be revisiting earlier styles (I hear elements of Sung Tongs in the drumming and also long-ago co-conspirators Black Dice's 'Repo' album in there). Sounds like they're having fun again after having nearly lost themselves in granular fuzz on MPP

I did not like that

I'm a fan of almost everything they've done up to this point but I dunno, something is off there

i don't know that the sonic palette they're using is really working for me. a bit of an ugly mush

seems otm. maybe it will grow on me, I hated Strawberry Jam at first but kinda came around.

those heavy guitar crashes on the stop-start part, ugh

cmon let let let let let let let go

bionic hee haw

I seriously can't have enough of this song. Catchiest song I've heard from them since Purple Bottle.

album's gonna be streaming on http://radio.myanimalhome.net/ soon. (currently we have a mix by geologist.)

(apryl fool playing at the moment, word.)

just tuned in.. how much did i miss?

this is the fourth song now.

who's singing this song... deakin?

this deakin song is nice (xp!). hoping that lo-ish-fi stream is a particularly bad format for this album, tho, cuz i'm continuing to dig the songs qua songs but finding it all a bit muddily busy.

ya that was good. tho i am a major stan, i admit. the sonics became more appealing, though i'll wait until i have the proper version before listening again.

the website now has all the tracks available to stream, btw.

where do you see that/how can i get to it? i've been failing at this thing all evening.

nm found it

Can't get past the "ugly mush" production. Sounds terrible.

Not enough Noah.

the deakin track is the only one that grabs me so far

i'm listening to a vbr copy and it's much clearer than the stuff i heard on the stream, or at least it sounds good on my speakers, which are middling. lots of good stuff on here. more like strawberry jam on the sound end, but the songwriting and melodies (even if they are a bit buried,) are as strong as the more recent stuff. the "new town burnout"/"monkey riches"/"mercury man" run is my favorite bit. some of the best music of their career. definitely an avey-heavy record, but when was the last time one wasn't really?

the deakin one's alright, but his voice just sounds kind of ill-formed (or at least not distinctive enough) compared to either of the other guys'.

have to say i'm taking to this album as a whole a lot more quickly than i have any other animal collective. sometimes it takes me a while to figure out their stuff, if i ever do, but nearly every song on this thing has something for me to latch onto. it's not the drastic leap away that merriweather was, but it applies the good things learned on that album to their older, more dynamic sound.

kinda disappointing (for the first listen at least)

Right now I'm totally stuck on "Applesauce," at the risk of burning myself put on it. But the rear of the album's gnarly too. Not sure whether this has more staying power than MPP yet (I hope it does)

Rest not rear, yikes

Wire review reckons the opening 4 tracks are potentially the greatest front-run on an album EVA btw

The density of earlier records w/ the instinctual "first thought / best thought" approach replaced by precision. This record is an amateur musicologists dream.

this is really terrible sounding to my ears and also makes my stomach feel ill

Staying power is not one of AC's strong points.

Like a burrito on the windsheild, so beautiful

most of the tracks on here sound like a band trying to play multiple songs at once

the burrito soundbite was inspired

disappointing, like nostormo said, it doesn't grab me because it's just sort of more of the same, with a less appealing varnish. whole aesthetic of the thing feels really limp compared to all their past records, which stood alone. But I bought the vinyl so fuck

I haven't heard this yet, although I have a feeling this will be a crossroads for me - either it'll reconfirm how much and why I like this band so much or it'll put me off ever listening again.

this is really terrible sounding to my ears and also makes my stomach feel ill

― Mordy, Tuesday, 4 September 2012 23:36 (Yesterday)

Comments like this make me suspect I'll never listen to Centipede Hz.

From what I could hear of Honeycomb/Gotham it sounds like they're going through their "Repo" stage (might be interesting to look at AC vs Black Dice's career to see if there are parallels, but I can't be fucked).

repo >>>> chz

Listening to it now, like it so far but I haven't kept up much with them... their music always reminded me of something you'd hear in a hybrid car commercial where two early 20-somethings in matching mustard-yellow wool hats can somehow afford a $60,000 machine.

*Sigh* I don't know why that description always gets bandied around by people when any advertiser wouldn't dream of touching AC music with a stick. It's a lazy lumping of this band in with the defanged Brooklyn twee/hipster scene that burgeoned well after AC had established their sound. There's a clear difference between the kind of hip Pamplemoussian indie guff that gets peddled out on ads and what AC have ever done, save for maybe a single or two off the last album and that's only because of a modicum of catchy lyricism ("I want to hang around with you/Adobe slabs for my girls")....

Pretty sure there's no risk of songs from this album being used in any advertising whatsoever.

Also, this is 2012, can we stop using "ad music" as a blanket dismissal of any music?

Yeah, you get Clinic on adverts thesedays!

Fair enough, it's probably my too-associative memory ... I still think of Burger King's flame broiled whopper whenever I hear "I Melt With You" or two burgers spinning in unison when Double Vision pops up on the radio. AC might have influenced the Brooklyn indie sound, so it makes me think of some scraggly bearded guy in a v-neck t-shirt sitting in a kiddie pool while zoey deschanel lookalike #3 dances around with an aspirational piece of consumer electronics. Maybe I just watch too much TV.

Anyway, I like this new album.

I still think of Burger King's flame broiled whopper whenever I hear "I Melt With You" or two burgers spinning in unison when Double Vision pops up on the radio.

How much history did you have with these songs before they were used in commercials?

The only time a commercial might dictate my perception of a song is if it's something new I've never heard (or old, if I've likewise never heard it). But even in those cases, I can usually shake the commercial association if I get a copy of the track or album almost immediately and listen to it in a different setting.

Volkswagen absolutely introduced me to Nick Drake, but most of the time I can successfully hear "Pink Moon" without thinking of Golfs.

I'm just kind of sick of seeing how often advertising gets brought up whenever anybody talks about indie rock.

AC are victims of their own success in that way. There's obviously a degree of connection/crossover between AC and the kind of music Spectrum mentions, but it frustrates me when I read such bromides. Despite their success and subsequent influence on the yuckier end of the indie spectrum, AC aren't all that twee (when people start going on about their purported "childlike" qualities that's when I know the person hasn't bothered to listen to em properly) nor has their music ever been accessible enough to warrant a car advert.

How much history did you have with these songs before they were used in commercials?

Normally I would listen to Foreigner on my boombox while lifting weights in my garage with the door open so the neighbors could see ... now I just think about hamburgers all the time. So maybe it's just a coincidence that song makes me think of Burger King.

It's prob just my own quirk. But when you do see this stuff in ads, it takes a little effort to shake the associations. Took me a while to get back to Lust for Life, but only after I took several cruise vacations.

Trainspotting did more visual damage to Lust for Life to me than the cruise commercials did.

Anyway, as for Centipede Hz, I listened to it last night. I don't know if I like it or not, but it seems more immediate, less aimless, than a lot of AC I've heard in the past. They're sharpening their skills for sure.

*Sigh* I don't know why that description always gets bandied around by people when any advertiser wouldn't dream of touching AC music with a stick. It's a lazy lumping of this band in with the defanged Brooklyn twee/hipster scene that burgeoned well after AC had established their sound.

Their music was used in an ad for Crayola. Which is about as twee as it gets.

So, was MPP their "New Jersey" or is it this one?

Yeah, but thats a case of context making it twee, not content.

(xpost)

xxpost haha, seriously? what song may i ask? note I am Britishers so I therefore have an admittedly distanced viewpoint.

MPP was their New Jersey, definitely.

it was "Sweet Road"

I tried whittling that album down to the best bits a little while ago and honestly, for a supposed breakthrough album it's got a shitload of duds. The two singles (Summertime Clothes and My Girls) do nothing to protect them from accusations of tweeness and verge on self parody. Guy's Eyes and Taste are completely forgettable. And several tracks are just excruciatingly unpleasant to listen to. I'd keep Bluish, No More Runnings, Brother Sport and maybe Lion In A Coma. The Fall Be Kind EP that came out after is a much better set of songs.

Sweet Road is fairly twee/childlike I guess, at least it has some BOC-ish kid noises and stuff yeah.

this was probably my favorite song from the centipede live shows. was always the closer, didn't make it on the album
http://soundcloud.com/kcrw/animal-collective-crimson-live

Strawberry Jam is still the best.

Listening to the samples of this album made me really very sad

http://www.spin.com/sites/all/files/styles/style620_413/public/animal-collective-centipedia.png
http://www.spin.com/lists/animal-collective-centipedia

:)

Click each entry to read more!

Nah.

I'm not sure if its just IE (which I'm stuck with here at work), but if I do click on an item, it keeps doing this weird refresh thing that reloads the page, briefly returning it to the main home page before loading up the page I was on again. Super annoying.

thst's def an IE issue

Not surprised. Looks like a pretty cool list though, I'll check it out at home when I can use a real browser.

"Xtro -

Avey Tare: I think one of the reasons I really like horror is kind of once you go there all boundaries are broken. It's kind of like anything can happen, it doesn't really matter. A little magician midget can appear suddenly and no questions asked."

Isn't that Deep red?

haven't looked at the centipedia thing yet, but i assume WOOKIEFOOT is in there?

The centipedia is a lovely idea. Now if it was only applied to a band I actively enjoyed.

No surprise, the actual release sounds way better than the muddy stream they had on their website. The songs really benefit from the added clarity.

The mp3 overcompression textures are apparently intentional. They make for interesting sonics when they're just another element in the mix, and not a limitation of the whole recording.

It's early on but the songs feel very overloaded, which I can totally get into.

cool list, though no surprises with the music picked

They forgot the Sonic the Hedgehog Soundtrack, "Meshes of the Afternoon", and Twin Peaks. Also, the hazy dreamy nostalgia of polaroids/VHS tapes. j/k

Awesome list, but I'd rather read it all in one page than click on a million links.

Also, where's the Beach Boys?

Whiney, spin is losing out on a very important market by not having a mobile version of its site.

Address this and I'll touch your body

A list of cool stuff, yes, and some interesting reference points I wouldn't necessarily associate with AC (Todd Terje?)...

Hardcore Serious Old school Committed Animal Collective fans moaning about MPP as if its some kind of awful commercial sell-out or hideous tuneless dirge compared to all their other albums amuse me no end.

Why? You're allowed to dislike a particular release by a favoured band. Especially if they're the kind of band who change a fair bit from release to release.

whiney is this the 20,000 word thing you mentioned on twitter you were psyched to be running? i mean okay ~what the market will bear~ and all that, but it's a little sad that the best way for spin to get people to read is by expending so much time and effort on an animal collective feature

also, someone tell me what the first few words to the single are, because i keep hearing it as

let, let, let, let, let go
erotic seesaw
(...)
let, let, let, let, let's go
bionic keytar

i find, like the cocteaus, that AC is best appreciated without knowing the lyrics. Apart from Two Corvettes cos those are great.

frightened babies poo

xposts to DL.

Because butthurt fandom is a very weird psychological state and massively amusing to people who are at a slightly dispassionate remove. I should know, I'm the most butthurt fan ever!

For the sake of lols, and because I'm alone in the office and bored on my lunchbreak, I'm gonna dissect an earlier post you made. Please don't take offence at this; I'm not snarking, just amused, and I've done all of the things I'm about to outline an embarassing number of times myself, and with a band far less acclaimed / cool / etc etc than Animal Collective.

I tried whittling that album down to the best bits a little while ago and honestly, for a supposed breakthrough album it's got a shitload of duds.

There's nothing "supposed" about MPP being a breakthrough; it got massive critical acclaim, sold way more than previous records, and broke them to whole new audiences. "Shitload" and "duds" are both really loaded, pejorative terms, but they're also incredibly vague, and without further explanation don't reveal anything about the record, only your feelings towards it. How many is a shitload, proportionally? 1? 2? Half the record? What's qualifies as a dud, and in what context?

The two singles (Summertime Clothes and My Girls) do nothing to protect them from accusations of tweeness and verge on self parody.

Why should their songs "protect" them? What do they need "protecting" from? When I've made these kind of comments in the past it's been because I've been upset at the idea of being associated with the "unwashed masses" or "supermarket fans" or whatever who've been guided into a band by a big hit single. Only a butthurt fan would be able to recognise self-parody (or be concerned about it).

Guy's Eyes and Taste are completely forgettable.

I remember them both very well, thanks; in fact, the memorability of tunes on MPP compared to previous records was, for me, the big selling point; at last it seemed as if their melodies were strong enough to sustain the onslaught of their sonic context.

And several tracks are just excruciatingly unpleasant to listen to. I'd keep Bluish, No More Runnings, Brother Sport and maybe Lion In A Coma. The Fall Be Kind EP that came out after is a much better set of songs.

How many is several? Literally excruciating? Which ones? By not naming them of explaining why, it seems like hand-waving dismissal rather than cogent reasons. (Ironically, Lion In A Coma is about the only track I didn't like.) (Also, I found Strawberry Jam head-ache inducing from start to finish, so could say the same about that. But my wife much prefers it to MPP. Horses for courses/)

It is, of course, totally OK to dislike a release by a band you love, particularly if its something utterly sui generis from the rest of their catalogue, which you're almost saying here; at the same time, though, you're also saying that some of it is self-parodic, suggesting it's not that far removed from the stuff by them that you DO like.

Butthurt fandom often seems to me to strive for some kind of objective criteria to justify its butthurtness, but it seldom actually manages to find objective objections instead of subjective dislikes. And that's also OK, but the language of the butthurt fan is about universals and absolutes, probably in order to try and persuade others that butthurtness is the right response here.

I like MPP; it stands out to me as the strongest, most accessible album I've heard by AC (not heard the new one or some of the very early stuff), but I still think of it as being, compared to your common or garden indie rock and popular rock and mainstream rock etc etc etc as being wildly strange and experimental and out-there. Imagine a butthurt Kaiser Chiefs fan being presented with this. Or a Scouting For Girls fan; someone who'd self-identify as beuing into 'indie music' in the UK. Their brane would melt. But you're saying it's awful, accessible, tuneless, twee, self-parodic nonsense, and I just find that juxtaposition, that subcultural micropolitiking, really amusing and funny.

i'm going to dissect this post by adding the phrase 'your mum' wherever relevant. one sec

No, YOUR mum.

Because butthurt fandom is a very weird psychological state and massively amusing to people who are at a slightly dispassionate remove. I should know, I'm the most butthurt fan ever!

{your mum is in} a very weird psychological state and massively amusing to people who are at a slightly dispassionate remove

For the sake of lols, and because I'm alone in the office and bored on my lunchbreak, I'm gonna dissect an earlier post you made. Please don't take offence at this; I'm not snarking, just amused, and I've done all of the things I'm about to outline , and with a band far less acclaimed / cool / etc etc than Animal Collective.

i've done {your mum} an embarassing number of times myself

There's nothing "supposed" about MPP being a breakthrough; it got massive critical acclaim, sold way more than previous records, and broke them to whole new audiences.

i broke {your mum} to whole new audiences

I like MPP; it stands out to me as the strongest, most accessible album I've heard by AC (not heard the new one or some of the very early stuff), but I still think of it as being, compared to your common or garden indie rock and popular rock and mainstream rock etc etc etc as being wildly strange and experimental and out-there. Imagine a butthurt Kaiser Chiefs fan being presented with this. Or a Scouting For Girls fan; someone who'd self-identify as beuing into 'indie music' in the UK. Their brane would melt. But you're saying it's awful, accessible, tuneless, twee, self-parodic nonsense, and I just find that juxtaposition, that subcultural micropolitiking, really amusing and funny.

i find {your mum} really amusing and funny

Love curly brackets.

Hey Nick, I distinctly remember you saying you didn't like MPP when it came out - something about a pixelated butterfly flapping its wings way close to your face <--this = perfect description of why I dislike a number of the tracks.

That's very true, I hated it and think I did say something like that; it took me literally months (and the arrival of summer / falling in love with my hi-fi again) for me to get it.

Ha, great piece by SR from back when MPP was released - http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/feb/06/simon-reynolds-animal-collective

I like MPP; it stands out to me as the strongest, most accessible album I've heard by AC (not heard the new one or some of the very early stuff), but I still think of it as being, compared to your common or garden indie rock and popular rock and mainstream rock etc etc etc as being wildly strange and experimental and out-there. Imagine a butthurt Kaiser Chiefs fan being presented with this. Or a Scouting For Girls fan; someone who'd self-identify as beuing into 'indie music' in the UK. Their brane would melt. But you're saying it's awful, accessible, tuneless, twee, self-parodic nonsense, and I just find that juxtaposition, that subcultural micropolitiking, really amusing and funny.

I'm not comparing MPP to Scouting for Girls, I'm comparing it with their previous albums which I believe to be stronger, more accessible, tuneful, less obviously 'twee' or in-line with the kind of accusations this band seems to shoulder all too often. I don't think the album's nonsense - there are good bits on it and I do listen to it occasionally. But as a longtime fan it confounds me that this had to be their breakthrough (yes yes, timing, good PR etc play a part in this), but in terms of overall quality I hear it as their 'New Jersey' - a bloated record with no more going for it than 'Strawberry Jam'
I'm not 'butthurt' about it. This isn't a "they've gone shit since their old stuff" rant - I love 'Tomboy' and I really like 'Fall Be Kind' too - I think those are among their best releases as a collective. However I do resent in quite a big way just how popular MPP has become, to the point where many casual listeners see it as their definitive work. For this reason I can imagine a lot of people stopping at MPP and writing off AC as this smeary, squelchy, messy, mid-range, claustrophobic, overstuffed and granulated to fuck sound - when really an album like Sung Tongs, or even Feels might have them change their mind over it.

x-post; SR's off in his last 2 paras, though - I think there's a lot of sex in MPP, especially Bluish and Guy's Eyes.

Thing is, if

many casual listeners see it as their definitive work.

I hope I am not too forward in thinking the juxtaposing of "sex" with "Animal Collective" makes me think of cotton candy vomit and/or brony cosplay.

MPP sounds very much like a Panda Bear album to me, and I've always been an Avey Tare fan (though Person Pitch is the best AnCo-related solo-album). Strawberry Jam and Centipede HZ are very much Avey Tare-albums, which is why I prefer them. Panda Bear is very much the twee one, while Avey Tare is the one who screams a lot. The perfect AnCo album is a mix of these two poles, with a surplus of Avey Tare-ness.

I love Centipede HZ, and I don't get why the reviews have been so bad.

They're not bad, though; average score of 74. http://www.metacritic.com/music/centipede-hz/animal-collective

73!

Frederik - See, I kind of object to most descriptions of AC as 'twee'. I think it's an incorrect

Thing is, if

many casual listeners see it as their definitive work.
then that means that it IS their definitive work, that's how these things get decided.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 7 September 2012 14:43 (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This isn't necessarily true. It just means it's their most ubiquitous. On the whole I think you're being particularly picky about the phrasing of my sentences here. I don't see what the problem with me saying that I think this album is hugely overrated in the context of their other work and that it saddens me to think a lot of people will be put-off or misled by its shortcomings.

But it's massive and much-loved! No one seems put off at all; it came 8th in the p4k people's list thing. That's my point; you're worried people will be put off by its shortcomings but you're one of a small group who perceives any shortcomings, everyone else who's concerned seems to love it.

Are you serious?

You could apply this logic to Scouting For Girls (They had massive hits! Everyone else seems to love them!)

There are plenty of AC haters on this very board, many of whom I'm pretty sure checked out MPP due to hype, thought 'what's the big deal about this?' and proceeded no further.

From LA Weekly's list of worst bands ever, as number 5: I really wanted to like Merriweather Post Pavilion, even going far out of my way to appreciate the record as it was surely intended: super-stoned, miles from civilization in the northern California woods. Still, no dice. The problem is that Animal Collective are a special kind of unlistenable; their albums don't reward active engagement, but they don't make good background music, either. Their brand of twee is cloying and grating like an attention-starved, sugar-crashing eight-year-old who wants you to admire his finger painting, while you're trying to wash the dishes. -Ben Westhoff

http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2012/02/top_20_worst_bands_ever_complete_list.php?page=6

People like him should listen more to Here Comes the Indian. As should everyone else, for that matter.

and Sung Tongs.

Funny you say Noah is the twee one Frederik. If there's any twee member of the band I always figured it was Avey. His screeching and bawling can sometimes come off a little like a toddler in a high chair having a tantrum whereas Panda seems more placid, more restrained although his voice is sweeter.

And then Panda Bear is the big brother who tells the little brother to calm down. Directly, in Brother Sport. And also the mother, in Take Pills. Well, perhaps twee is the wrong word, but he annoys me...

I try to ignore AC lyrics as much as possible - particularly on the newer material. I prefer to let the syllables wash past with certain key phrases looming out, so "frightened babies poo" doesn't even register to me and I feel better off for it. Again, AC singing is a kind of Liz Fraser thing for me so I don't generally get too hung up about the message.

That said I think what a lot of people construe as "twee" or "childlike" is slightly off. There is a running theme about childhood, about family, about memories, pets etc, but I don't think this represents a wish to "return to childhood" any more than Fever Ray is championing domesticity with her lyrics.

MPP is stronger, more accessible, tuneful than their earlier albums imo. Except for 'Fireworks' and 'Rev Green'.

almost everything that ever got called 'twee' was being called that unhelpfully and inaccurately tbh, except maybe 'a midsummer night's happening' by the sallyangie

that record's pretty fucking twee

also if i were to make a list of 'reasons why i might listen to animal collective', their ability to write melodies is not going to be high on that list, it's going to be nesting in place 109 or so between 'always liked bands who have a flashlight on stage with them' 'deakin seems like the kind of guy who'd make surprisingly tasty oatmeal'

agree^

let, let, let, let, let go
erotic seesaw
(...)
let, let, let, let, let's go
bionic keytar

― thomp, Friday, September 7, 2012 7:35 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i hear erratic seasaw and bionic hee haw, which are just funny

Kinda cool that noted ilm poster Bee OK got their user name on this album at the end of the Deakin song.

The two singles (Summertime Clothes and My Girls) do nothing to protect them from accusations of tweeness and verge on self parody.

In what way? Taking pride in being a traditional provider for your wife and kids doesn't strike me as a twee sentiment.

Animal Collective fans moaning about MPP as if its some kind of awful commercial sell-out or hideous tuneless dirge compared to all their other albums amuse me no end.

It's the lack of perspective that (sometimes) comes with fandom - the way some Nirvana fans talk about Nevermind as if it had children's choirs, gated reverb on the drums, and Perry Como spoken word sections.

Love curly brackets.

C++

MPP doesn't really seem all that different from "Strawberry Jam" to me, at least sound-wise. As far as a sell-out i haven't read anything about that but then i don't go on AC message boards. I'm sure it's full of "Oh the early stuff was WAYYY better", but what band doesn't have those fans?

As for twee-ness, I think it's mainly in the singing: the higher pitch, the shakiness. Sometimes the singing sounds like a little kid who isn't getting their way or is otherwise upset, super emotional, super manic with the cadences, etc. Like the first day of school you get in a fight with your friend and are crying to your mom about it, that's what some of AC vocals sound like, to me. Not completely, but if someone to accuse them of being twee, this is what i would think most of that criticism is directed towards.

For me the biggest problem of this record after the poor song writing is the production and incessant desire to constantly throw noises into songs. that DOTH NOT make a song 'interesting', in this case it's really actually a very painful listen, especially with the way it was mixed and mastered. It's got no dynamics and it just one long barrage of semi painful noise. Hi I'm new and I guess a grandma.

Hi I'm new and I guess a grandma.

new board descrip

idk when i listen to this band they've been throwing noises into songs basically forever and it's really annoying but at least on this record it seems like "the point"

so far the noises thrown on top of Rosie Oh are kind of ruining it for me, but it's the type of thing I need to hear a bunch before I decide

the way some Nirvana fans talk about Nevermind as if it had children's choirs, gated reverb on the drums, and Perry Como spoken word sections.

ahah. I would love to hear that ! Nevermind... Naked !

also, someone tell me what the first few words to the single are, because i keep hearing it as

let, let, let, let, let go
erotic seesaw
(...)
let, let, let, let, let's go
bionic keytar

lyric sheet says 'erratic see saw' and 'bionic hee haw'. obv.

the spin centipedia thing is great, i guess the massive overlap with stuff i like goes some way to explaining my anco fanboydom.

haha same here

same

This might be the best AC since Feels.

the four opening songs at least are. Nothing like the one-two punch of did you see the words and grass, tho.

so basically anyone who at least likes this album can neck themselves

i'm being quite reasonable in my opinion this time around btw

I loved MPP and doubt I will love this one as much. At first, found it pretty meh but it's growing on me with every listen so I might end up liking it.
"Amanita" is pretty good (which is fun since it's the track I covered for the ILX comp !).

the first 2 songs are pretty dope. "amanita" rules. theres good stuff to be found.

I'm liking it, not sure I fully grasp people's expectations with this record. Animal Collective (still) release experimental music, some of it works, some it doesn't. In general, most of their records are consistently interesting...

So it's growing fast : now I begin to really like almost all the songs !
Actually, I begin to really like some parts in all the songs.
very interesting and catchy bits here and there.
"Amanita" is definitely great. the final is so fun.
Over the album, it seems there are less vocal harmonies/interactions between Avey Tare and Panda Bear than on MPP. Not too sure about that impression and will have to listen to the whole thing attentively though.

yeah, it's def one or the other this time around. the guys complement one another so well it's sort of a shame, and i really can't figure why they figured it wouldn't be part of this latest release - almost thinking panda bear's last solo release really distinguished himself to point that the other band members thought they'd either botch any song PB was in, didn't want to compete, or just rather liked his own single voice presiding above all. for an album that's so rife with shit poking you in the head and subtly interrupting every second before it, maybe they wanted just one vocal to make for at least a sense of clarity and relief from the mush?

Avey and Panda should ditch the other two and make another Sung Tongs. I've also noticed their voices rarely interact together this time which is one of the few complaints I have about it right now. Kelpolaris does have a point tho, maybe having vocal harmonies on top of this heavily saturated soundscapes was a little too much.

I'd love to hear a new take on the stripped back sung tongs sound - since then they just seem to be adding more and more layers of mess

funny you mention that
http://pitchfork.com/news/47800-listen-acoustic-versions-of-animal-collectives-wide-eyed-and-pulleys/

lol i hadn't listened to it. they're acoustic but still with annoying noises thrown on top

‘Centipede Hz’ is growing on me big time. I was underwhelmed (or rather; sonically overwhelmed) by it on first listed but I found myself going back to ‘Today’s Supernatural’ again and again in time it’s almost helped me find an accessible porthole into the album as a whole.

It still sounds unnecessarily cluttered at points but with each listen I’m finding it easier to see through the haze to the melodies at the core of each track. I’m not particularly fond of the wet and watery sounding effects applied to a lot of the vocals, it’s a dangerous move when than sound has become synonymous for so many as a hallmark of poorly encoded MP3’s.

It’ll take time to love ‘Centipede Hz’ as a whole I think but I can see it coming, and not though dogged determination to want to like it either. Despite adoring everything the band has done since ‘Sung Tongs’ I’m not closed to the idea of them making an average album. I came to this one on the back of being soured by their wholly alienating live set at Primavera in 2011 as well so I don’t feel personally like I was wanting to like ‘Centipede Hz’ in any kind of fanboy way.

Lyrically the album is very strong. I was thinking that from what I can make out so far myself but this article helped me along the way and is worth a read. http://www.prefixmag.com/features/animal-collective/the-10-best-lyrics-on-animal-collectives-centipede/68500/

Clearly ‘Centipede Hz’ is destined to disappoint a lot of people who came to the band via MPP and while I can understand their frustrations somewhat I think that in the end it was MPP that was uncharacteristic of Animal Collective as opposed to ‘Centipede Hz’ being so.

I saw them live back in March and these songs sounded just as strong as the stuff from Merriweather and Feels. I didn't understand the lukewarm reception this album received at first.... has it begun to be reevaluated yet? I think this album sounds so texturally rich... it cranks and churns like an organic machine... idk, it seems like a really highly developed form of what has always been an interest for them: injecting an earnest, often uncomfortable, pre-sexual kind of sensuality into electronic music.

I really love this album and pretty much loved it at first blush, I think its very accomplished. I doubt it would turn anyone who was skeptical but if you're already a fan this is surely one of their strongest records.

MPP = Rumours

Centipede Hz =/= Tusk

listened to this again today. idgaf what anyone says, i think it's a really enjoyable listen.

It obviously rules, it was just releases during a low point in their hype cycle so people had to pretend to dislike it.

no, a lot of genuine fans were disappointed by this record, nothing to do with hype cycle. probably would've been cool to start hating by strawberry jam anyway

I <3 centipede hz a great deal. The criticisms mostly didnt make sense to me bc i still think its at least as "immediately enjoyable" as MPP and has more replay value. I understand ppl have different experiences though... for me this is an important album.

i was mad hyped for it and even though i had misgivings on my first listen i thought i'd get over them with repeated listens, but nop, they came to dominate my feelings about it. but that's fine, it happens, i'll eagerly anticipate their next album anyway.

Their live show with this album is good... They incorporate video montage in a way that makes sense for the vibe if the album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYdhNkwu2JU

Hah

hahah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5ilYn_UqCQ

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpZlEb9uva0&feature=kp

there are just as many transcendent moments here as there were on merriweather. america just didn't want to spend time with another animal collective record and, i mean, i get it. i don't blame america or its critical establishment.

http://www.nraila.org/media/2433425/CWCmh609.jpg

lol

you should have photoshopped it so it said NRA-ILM Executive director

too many cooks in the kitchen

Kinda cool that noted ilm poster Bee OK got their user name on this album at the end of the Deakin song.

― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, September 7, 2012 8:49 AM (1 year ago)

lol, never seen this before.

user name comes from a Boo Radleys song.

this was the first animal collective album i heard. i always wrote them off as a twee brooklyn deep v-neck/curly mustache band, but this album got me into them. i was actually just listening to this again a couple of days ago.

there are just as many transcendent moments here as there were on merriweather. america just didn't want to spend time with another animal collective record and, i mean, i get it. i don't blame america or its critical establishment.

― Treeship,

I think I"m inclined to agree with this, it seemed like people weren't as ready to receive this as MPP. Their new live album caused me to rethink the kind of band they've been becoming. I guess time will tell, but I wouldn't be surprised if centipede hz ends up being one of the high points of their collective powers.

Hate this band and especially Merriweather Post Pavilion with cringing disgust. But I remember hearing Centipede HZ when I was working in a record store and it sounded great after a couple pot brownies. I mean, I went home and listened to it on Spotify and everything. I considered buying it, even.

I think the Treeship comment is totally otm. In fact, MPP is one of those records that people might shy away from because of how big it was when it came out. It was definitely part of some kind of zeitgeist, and when that moment was over, it was very much a "morning after" kind of thing. Centipede Hz (which I'd say is more interesting, song-wise, production-wise) was more than unwelcome, it was like being reminded of a particularly embarrassing one night stand.

i don't think it makes much sense to claim this was just a matter of timing or fatigue. centipede is a sonically challenging record even if you like it (i do) and much less accessible than mpp.

Y'see, the thing about Animal Collective is that I don't think they were much cop to begin with.

well they're no oasis

I followed them up through Sung Tones, really fun inventive stuff. Then they sounded like the Arcade Fire for a couple albums and I wrote them off. When MPP came around I couldn't stand it, it was like my ears has moved on to other realms. Person Pitch is GREAT, however, probably my favorite thing of theirs.

ears has = ears had

as a diehard AC fan (and yeah, not 'AnCo' - that stupid abbreviation that hipster runoff started as a joke and fans actually started using seriously) ... centipede hz sounded overcooked and confused for a long time after it came out. for the first time in *12 years*, the AC made a record that didn't make a near complete break with the past, and it sounded like they were treading water and coming off like a parody of themselves, especially lyrically. but as time goes on, i like it more and more. it was a victim of impossible expectations after MPP, and yeah the live album made me appreciate its songs and all of the textures that took forever to untangle. as they release more albums, i think CHZ will hold up really hell within the context of their body of work.

monkey riches is a fun song. that's all i remember about this album.

this album rules, sorry it took ~4 years for me to appreciate all of it. 'moon jock' is absolutely one of the best things they've ever done... explosive, angry, panicked, sad... a perfect intro to an 'alien band' album, 'moonjock' is insane from the start and manages to build gradually into that thrilling 'then we run out again run out gain' ending.

http://www.arranalexander.co.uk/ekmps/shops/macduffdave/images/the-emperor-s-new-clothes-ladybird-book-favourite-tales-gloss-hardback-1999-738-p.jpg

Come on le le le le le le let's go

Scrolling down, saw that picture, thought '10 to 1 it's from Turrican', and there ya go!

Yeah, Moonjock is absolutely fantastic. Listening to it now, one of the details that make the song, and by extension the album, is the little drum fill in the massive post chorus.

My favorite album of 2012, but I haven't heard it that much since. Haven't heard a lot of music from 2012, though. Skipping through it, and it's still fantastic.

Yeah, did a complete relisten, this album rules! I found it weird how so few people talked about the rhythms on this album, when really most of the noises are part of this completely weird polyrhythmic cacophony. So many tuplets, triplets, counter-melodies weaving in and out of the mix. A lot of it has an implied dancehall/baile funk lilt, but in the harshest digitized version possible.

Meeting of the Waters is good! Always preferred Anco at their least hyperactive.

Yeah, I kind of love it. Man of Oil the best song they've done in a very long time, and it anchors the abstraction of the rest perfectly.

I like it a lot, they haven't done something this wide-open and textural since Campfire Songs/HCTI. Centipede was much more dense than this - I like how it breathes.

I originally misread the title as "Meeting of the Waiters" which I still laugh at

🎶 from sugar teas to honey best / bulimic vegetarian wins weight contest 🎶

This album has all the appeal of a children's science fair project except made by adults and with an expectation that you'll pay for it

Yeah. It's wonderful :)

speaking as someone who loves a lot of their work, I think this is their worst/most unlistenable record (other than Animal Crack Box, dear god that's even worse)

whoa come on don’t be mean to the crack box

you misspelled 'band'

Children's science fair projects are kind of endearing, no? Or have I misunderstood this analogy?

well they're not something you want to spend a lot of time with

this album has grown on me though, "Moonjock" is one of their best. "Mercury Man" is overlooked

If you can’t spare some time for “Wide Eyed” at least then idk

these live videos are awesome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa-4FgWUp44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0h_4cSuzek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VesIkXdWrsw

wonder if this album is gonna get critically evaluated at any point. seems like it came at a time where the new fans wanted another MPP-like pop album and the old fans were getting kinda sick of them. but despite being kind of a headache its probably my favorite from them right now. I think its one of the most solid albums they've done track-for-track and I keep hearing new things every time I listen to it. the live renditions of these tracks are amazing too. I'm pretty bowled over by Aveys ability to sing like that live