new animal collective

in a twisted way,this song reminds me of neutral milk hotel and the elephant 6 movement.and brian eno of course.

xp: Right. but I find it kind of stale. Also the "da da's".

I do like some of the other songs though!!

thre are like 78 different synths on that song!

screw this

lol

pantha du prince mix can be hear in part here
http://www.juno.co.uk/products/278624-02.htm
even though it's listed as the album version
bd mix is wacky.

:(

this continues to not be very good.. (except for "#1" the drums in "Derek")

Agreed. They have grown progressively more boring with every release.

I believe the complete opposite. They've grown progressively more engaging with every release.

"fireworks" is amazing!

NO

Fireworks, Peacebone and For Reverend Green are superb but a lot of the tracks just wash into the background for me. It's their most solid and typically AC album and in a way that detracts from the whole mentalism of the band.

there's something flat, manic, relentless, one-dimensional, and physical about this album. But I'm starting to dig it. The gross out pix full of jam are totally appropriate. I hear elements of Danse Manatee.

it's a great album.
try to listen to it as if it's the first animal collective record you ever heard , and dont compare it with the previous ones.

cukoo cukoo is also great.
the only track i tend to skip is the 3rd.

vocals on this thing are mixed way too loud for my ears...

Avey's yelping is one of my least favorite of their stylistic tics.

I still dont know what I feel about being able to understand their lyrics.

If I love Sung Tongs and that Indian one, hate Feels and People, how does the new one slot in?

try to listen to it as if it's the first animal collective record you ever heard , and dont compare it with the previous ones.

Why? Because it's shite compared to their other albums?

O_o

it's a new direction but youll probably more hate it than love it

yeah prolly.

I don't think it's very much of a new direction at all really. More a collating of all their previous styles - noise, folk, indie, tribal, chanting. It excels and suffers for that reason. Nice to hear a bit more noise on it than the last two, although Sung Tongs'll always be my favourite.

9.3 in pfrk - i think it's the highest score yet in 2007, 4 stars in allmusic.

.........

"The frightened babies poo"

also,great interview with panda bear on pfrk.
makes you appriciate him (and the band) even more.

9.3 in pfrk - i think it's the highest score yet in 2007

Panda Bear's solo disc got a 9.4 this year. I think something else did, too.

The Wire review has made me optimistic. Pointing out that Animal Collective have never made the same album twice makes me optimistic that they'll never make this one again.

it could be also worse you know

Richardson referring to this as a "true pop record" is vortexes beyond ultra-classic.

Font=TimesNewWizardCap Size=MASSIVE

i'm surprised (sort of?) how many people don't like this.

i really enjoy it, although i wish pitchfork didn't point out that "frightened babies poo" line.

The first half of "Fireworks" is great—could have been on <I>The Top</I>, eh Ned?—but this band's inexplicable insistence that repetition equals "spiritual jamming"...[excised baby/bathwater cliche]. The lyrics to that one in particular are so strong; it's a quality meditation on growing up, the death of your dreams, etc., but they have to start trying, rather than trying not to try. There's a composite overconfidence in their sound and identity that's presently galling.

Fireworks is really really good. It's not really that repetitive either as it kind of morphs halfway through. There are some bits on this album that do get a bit annoying after a while though. I still think Sung Tongs is their most interesting album, but then it's probably my favourite album of the decade so Strawberry Jam's not really likely to beat it. Don't know what you mean about "overconfidence", cee-oh-tee-tee - they definitely sound more confident on this album. I found Feels a little sloppy in places. This is a bit of a slew as well, but not without many highlights. I still haven't managed to get into Cuckoo Cuckoo even though the band say it's one of their favourites.

but they have to start trying, rather than trying not to try

please. dudes are anything but "sloppy." every record of theirs is a concerted, often painstaking effort to "try" something new. loops or repetition doesn't equal trying not to try, and i think they ditched the "jamming" awhile ago, for, i dunno, composing dance music. anyway, don't take my word for it.

There's a habit in music at the moment to get things to sound "right"- by that I mean wrong, accidental, sloppy, chaotic- and hope that just enough sticks with just enough hipsters. I think the reason people might seek us out is because we're genuinely interested in perfection. I mean, why aim for anything less?

i personally think that's right on. and i love SJ.

Sloppy is the wrong word maybe as it connotes that the band hasn't practiced or can't play well together or something, which is obviously wrong. I don't know what it is - I still think Sung Tongs is the epitome of non-sloppy, seeing as it just seems so right.

"Not trying" does not equal "sloppy," vmc. It means a lack of effort. Their songs are (still) half-aimless and always overlong.

I liked Sung Tongs a lot. Well, Leaf House (very novel piece of music) in particular and the variety of textures (reminding me of neutral milk hotel) throughout that album. I found Feels to be somewhat boring and a shoddy recording, though the latter half of it is nice. Strawberry Jam has a lot more detail, which I like, and a lot of the textures are bolder, more crisp. Very nicely mixed also. Seems like a very tight record, kind of concise and punchy, though a lot of sounds going on. Kinda psyched to listen to it again.

so, how does everyone feel about Strawberry Jam, 3 months after its release?

for me? it's the first Animal Collective record, as a *whole* entity, that i've really grabbed onto and enjoyed - i'd heard Indian, Sung Tongs, Feels a couple times each before and nothing really stuck, a song or two from each record aside, perhaps. but this is fantastic nearly all the way through.

Some great songs, but on the album they sound weak and tinny (as opposed to live). "Winterwonderland", "Unsolved Mysteries", and "#1" weren't growing on me when I first heard them, and they still aren't.

I came around on this record and got used to the way the vocals are mixed and listened to it a bunch

but I still like Person Pitch better

Apparently they're recording. I'm gonna take the next one as a deciding moment, if it's not as recklessly shite as the last one, then there's hope for them. The video of them riding in a shopping trolley in Paris is terrifying.

i feel the same way...really didn't dig the last one. and it pains me to say it

I didn't dig the last one at all, and it doesn't pain me at all to say it. I don't think it's awful, and I can see why plenty of other people like it, but if this is the new direction, I'm out.

you guys haven't heard the new ep then i suspect

they have finsihed recording the new album.
new ep is a bit of a red herring as it is from the strawberry jam sessions.

xpost

nope. when does it actually come out? Ever since the downfall of OiNK it's been used record city for me.

i don't know when it comes out but it's way more like feels than straw jam

that's not the most reassuring thing anyone's ever said but I'll take it.

if they capture what i heard of the new tracks from their last tour, the next album is going to be a killer. you can hear a few on the NPR podcast..

what is a red herring?

I kind of liked the shopping trolley thing. Wouldn't watch it a second time, but it's clear they have their style of playing together.

I fucking loved the shopping trolley! It is the only thing I'm holding on to as proof of their enduring greatness right now! That and when they did loch raven when I saw them. Cool

red herring:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_herring

I do not like very much from SJ but I love Person Pitch. I'll definitely give the new EP a listen.