Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

Dunno Tim. I mean, music: it's good or it isn't, isn't it? And there's nothing much new about this whole thing, it's just what Pitchfork is talking about. I fail to see a massive difference between most of these acts and, say, early Boards of Canada, or as mentioned above early Seefeel. I mean some of this sounds like Land of the Loops, guys. These acts are exploring the same territory with less resources and different conceptual pretensions. Having the bliss without the gothy/gothic and pretty forced obtuseness of those geometric days (something M83 has tried to purge with his flowery images but is so inextricably tied to musically it's a lost cause) is refreshing, but it's new clothes, not new ideas or expressions. "Crazy For You" x infinity.

or alternately, im slightly too young for the references to hit me emotionally, & w/ very few of these artists is there something else to grab on to (but then, you should be too young too haa)

when i heard neon indian some of the traxx def seemed to stand out more to me

I like the Ducktails stuff well enough, though it doesn't compel me to investigate deep glo-wave scene knowledge. Plus it makes my GF call me a hippie. Agree that the more this becomes a thing, the less interesting any given example of it becomes, and the more mystifying it'll all seem in a few years.

OTOH, Ducktails, specifically, get a pass cuz it's really just stoner wall-gaze soundtracks with zero commercial prospects, and that shit's eternal.

Deej and Cott, I agree with your last two points absolutely - and this stuff will totally date in the sense of "lol we were into that, how could we swallow the hype hook line and sinker" (ftr I'm not really, every band i've checked out described in these terms just sounds like post-rock crossed with drone to me, but maybe i'm checking the wrong stuff? I haven't listened to Ducktails or Neon Indian).

I just tend to think of "dated vs not dated", "good vs bad" and "duly hyped vs overhyped" as different conceptual categories - i.e. gated snare drums became "dated" but lots of amazing music has gated snare drums and often the drums sound fantastic. Warm, simple analogue recording techniques can't "date" anymore but a lot of bad or boring music is made in that fashion.

The whole sidechain/DSP hard compression shortcut to sounding better-than-indie is one of the most painful developments in audio history. This Neon Indian record sounds like moments of Disco Inferno records played through a Distressor.

painful indeed, the ducktails stuff i listened to had some nice things going on but it was too unplesantly harsh sounding for me to handle. i have no problem with lo-fi shit but DUDE FIX YR LEVELS

yah thats fair -- i think whats 'dating' to me is the conceptual pretense

when i heard neon indian some of the traxx def seemed to stand out more to me

― i got nothin (deej), Tuesday, 13 October 2009 23:50 (Yesterday)

probably because there is only one good neon indian song. i really like hypnagogic pop in theory, and i imagine there's a lot of good stuff i haven't heard yet and i'm just not keeping up with but much of it it seems is high on cool production and low on good melodies.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6f/Animal_Collective_Fall_Be_Kind.jpg

Fall Be Kind is an upcoming EP by Animal Collective, to be released on November 23rd 2009 (digitally) and 14th December (physically).
Recorded by Ben Allen at Sweet Tea in Oxford, MS in February 2008 and at Mission Sound in Brooklyn, NY August 2009, Fall Be Kind includes recent live favorites "Graze" and "What Would I Want? Sky" (featuring the first ever licensed Grateful Dead sample).

1. Graze
2. What Would I Want? Sky
3. Bleed
4. On A Highway
5. I Think I Can

I finally got around to listening to this and only really liked "My Girls".

i like this band and enjoyed 'sung tongs' and 'feels' but something keeps me from really getting to them. i've prob listened to MPP like twice. 'my girls' is kind of annoying

love the panda bear album tho. prob my favorite AC-related thing

i tried hard with this, but it is not good imo

"My Girls" is the standout, I think - it seems to have a little more swing in it - elsewhere on the album the rhythms tend to be a bit too ploddingly mid-tempo. But I think this is still one of the more interesting indie albums of recent times - one of the few that seems to inhabit the same contemporary musical universe that includes techno-futurist R&B like Beyonce.

imo if you want to hear stuff in this general vein that isn't squarely at the worst possible midpoint between aimless ambient noodling and overearnest whining, pick up Moderat

"What Would I Want? Sky" (featuring the first ever licensed Grateful Dead sample)"

which is from Unbroken Chanin taking from The Mars Hotel album.maybe the only decent song from that record.

would never think of the moderat as an equivalent but it is a much better album. Ur all mad tho brothersport is the highlight

there's a mediafire link out there for this with a bunch of crap 80s songs rickrolled in, but i don't have the heart to post it here.

still feels weird to be in the pro-MPP camp (tho i wasn't much of a fan before), rate this over Moderat even

would never think of the moderat as an equivalent but it is a much better album

In truth that comparison came about because I encountered "My Girls" on the Modeselektor Body Language mix, which ends with "A New Error"; in the context of that mix, they both inhabit a similar vibe. I recognize that one isn't a direct substitute for the other.

also the cover art is prob the shittiest of the decade

new animal collector ;-)

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs258.snc1/10535_279983485371_694900371_9330911_6411022_n.jpg

there's a mediafire link out there for this with a bunch of crap 80s songs rickrolled in, but i don't have the heart to post it here.

― YOUR MOMS SPOT HERON WITH NO HANDS I'M SMACKIN HER (Beatrix Kiddo), Tuesday, 10 November 2009 21:49 (Yesterday) Bookmark

something tells me this should already be somewhere on this thread.

What Would I Want? Sky is great (at least the live version I heard).

Agree with what others said that "My Girls" is the standout. I like AC, and Panda Bear, when they're incorporating those sunshine pop influences and harmonies. The other, more noodling, songs aren't always bad but it's just not worth returning to.

i hope what would i want? sounds a little less like moby than i remember

not a fan of the vocals in "what would i want sky" judging from live bootlegs i've heard. to me what's great about MPP is that avey tare grew out of alot of what made his vocals so awkward and unpleasant to listen to on strawberry jam. it's not quite a return to the greatness of the vocals on feels but alot of beautiful crooning. and yeah, "what would i want" sounds like it could've been on strawberry jam.

*but a lot of beautiful crooning nonetheless.

*but a lot of beautiful crooning nonetheless.

at this point i'm more pro-bro sport than pro-MPP, but it's still a better album than strawberry jam was imo

because idolator readers DEMAND IT:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ytmxc4k2qzm

behold!

Nobody has ever sampled the Grateful Dead before??????

I guess Phish get by on a technicality.

Fall Be Kind is now leaking!

this is really, really good. i think Animal Collective are possibly hitting their peak right now as this is so much better than it's suppose to be.

the harmonies on 'what would i want? sky', absent from the npr/live versions, is very pleasing!

the last track ,Noah's I Think I Can, might be the best track in this EP, and it's not surprising.

Looking forward to hearing this. I even have my AC team uniform on (four day beard, a hoodie and jeans).

What Would I want? Sky is pretty awesome. Way better than the live version I had.

^^^first a.c. song i have actually wanted to listen to again.

I've listened to "What Would I Want? Sky" about 5 times since downloading this, and I've got to say I'd put this in my top 5 of their stuff. Incredibly pleasing and warm.

^^^first a.c. song i have actually wanted to listen to again.

otm

what would i want? sky is about a thousand times better than any other song on the ep imo. think it'll head to my top 25 played pretty quick

I Think I Can gets played repeatedly around these parts. Those drums are relentlessly exciting.

Finally got round to listening to this, and my first impression is that it's great! AC were starting to stray into serious/formulaic territory on the last couple of albums and EPs - not bad music, but maybe lacking that little sense of esprit you can hear coming through on tracks like "Sweet Road" off Sung Tongs. I love the panpipe section on Graze - a very different sound to what I'm used to hearing from AC. Similarly, "Sky" which I saw em play at Glasto is a lovely airy, almost Boards-Of-Canadaish piece. Nice one.

Animal Collective's "Fall be Kind"

a dedicated thread as it deserves it !

whoah, pithfork AND mojo's favorite album of the year. strange cred bedfellows

there's a band called golden girls now

There's a venue called Merriweather Post Pavilion now.