new animal collective

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.

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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.

what are you guys talking about? Strawberry Jam was GREAT!

i liked SJ fine, but i really hope they go more "#1" and "Derek" and that MAD MAD "Leaf House" remix they've been playing lately and less "Reverend Green"

yes, that. the less Avey Tare yelping the better.

btw I also dug their recent Portland show a lot, although I got totally confused about the lineup.

i think the new ep only sounds like feels in that three of the songs are long, slow and somewhat formless seeming, like some of the songs on feels. but all of their albums, except for strawberry jam, have at least one song like that.

the first song kinda sounds like avey's sister song to derek.
and cobwebs reminds me more of meet the light child off danse manatee than anything off feels.

http://www.dominorecordco.us/resources/images/aniive/aniive_rel_16.jpg

animal collective need to rethink their design approaches. That thing is disgusting, and not in a good way.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00006JLX4.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

http://www.visi.com/fall/discog/pics/heh%20plus%20big.jpg

reminds me of
http://www.discogs.com/image/R-150-431647-1133682336.jpeg

hex enduction hour has a cool cover! Letraset™

I actually really like that Animal Collective EP cover. The grass and trees remind me of playing SimCity for some reason.

I nearly broke up in public when Prospect Feels came up on my shuffle yesterday.

I'm hoping their new album is like the encore of the show I saw them play in Berlin in October, which was like the second half of "Derek" crossed with Primal Scream's "Higher Than The Sun".

But I love Strawberry Jam so I'd be happy with a continuation of that.

is this a joke?

http://dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4276

if not, that might just be the worse review in the history of reviews

to come off like that, and use "genuinely" twice in one sentence . . . it's gotta be deliberately bad, right?

This sounds like these two guys that always hang out in the lounge area of my dorm talking about how revolutionary indie rock is and using terms they just learned that day in class.

Judging from that guy's other reviews, it looks it's his regular review style. Personally, I can barely read more than one paragraph of that 2nd year spring essay shit without getting bored silly. Congrats to anyone who have a crap about what he was saying more than 100 words into the piece.

Agreed. After just a couple sentences, I don't even know what he's talking about.