Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

i've always felt the same way, mark (if I read your comment the right way). The first couple or so I think served (at least for me) as just a way for them to figure out what worked and what didnt. Sometimes the result was forgettable, other times it was beautiful. it wasnt until they became fully formed as a band (around HCTI that those sounds and ideas morphed into fully realized concepts, and most of us can agree the rest is history.

closing parenthesis after HCTI

the first three tracks on Hollindagin are even better, i think, at presenting the early rawness and loose threads balanced with the power of a fully formed band.

better than HCTI, I mean.

People are anti-Feels around here? I could see the Strawberry Jam hate since it was their big album, but I think Feels is not only their good middle point but when they really started to hit their stride. I really can't see much noize-luv around here either.

― skygreenleopard, Thursday, October 9, 2008 11:32 PM (5 days ago) Bookmark

I was just reading through everything after my comment 5 days ago and realized I meant Sung Tongs, not Feels, as their turning point. Which isn't saying much or bringing anything new to the table, other than that I think it's my favorite AC album. I do, though, need to go back and revisit some old AC, Here Comes the Indians really is pretty good. A lot of what people are saying around here, especially Tim and Merdeyeax, make me want to go back and plays some of these albums again. And I do hope that new album has some good stuff on it. The tracklisting doesn't have that "walk around with you" song they played at their show last year - it was really good with the big show bass they had.

*Indian

this is way too much information but if you are interested in the MIX:

http://mixonline.com/recording/mixing/mixing_outside_lines/index3.html

will pull out the Animal Collective part:

While Allen’s discography is decidedly urban—having coming up engineering late-'90s New York City hip-hop and later helping to cultivate the Dirty South crunk movement—his work has attracted more rock bands lately, and most recently the uber-experimental Brooklyn art-rock band Animal Collective. “They hired me to record and mix because they wanted really aggressive low end on their new album,” he shares. “My background being in urban music, managing low end is one of the things I do really well.”

Just prior to hitting Chase Park Transduction Studios to mix the Animal Collective record, Allen describes the highly creative recording and pre-mixing process. “To get the low end they wanted, we set up four different reamping stations in the studio—using a Fender spring reverb, an Ampeg Portaflex bass amp, a little Gibson guitar amp and the huge QSC P.A. system they use for their live shows,” describes Allen. “They’d record things straight out of their samplers through the Neve 80 Series desk into Pro Tools, and then we’d reamp the kick drum or the snare drum or 20 snare drums or bass synth parts through one of those stations, pick the sound we liked best and record that back into the computer.”

Putting up room mics and reamping these low-end elements gives the band the “live” sound they’re after, as Allen explains. “We’re using that setup to create ambience that didn’t exist in the samples themselves, which makes them sound like a band playing in a room.”

Pre-mixing in-the-box throughout the recording process encouraged productive decision-making. “As each part gets recorded, and often triple- or quadruple-tracked, I take all those mics and run them through an aux input in Pro Tools and effect it at that stage, and get a balance,” he explains. “So once I open up the Pro Tools sessions, the rough mixes are all balanced, and in mixing it becomes a question of what will be up front and what will go behind? Also, we’ve left it open enough so that we can make decisions on how much room—or dirt—we want on the sound, or how closed and tight we want it to feel.”

Going into the mix, Allen shares, “The whole vibe is to have this really tight and punchy low end, like a New York hip-hop record, and then this really washy Beach Boys–style vocal approach. We went and bought a bunch of spring reverbs and cheap reverbs on eBay that we’re going to use for vocals, a lot of which are triple- or quadruple-tracked.”

Allen will use his 32 channels of outputs to submix on the Sony MXP-3036 console at Chase Park, and plans to experiment extensively with both outboard and plug-in processing while mixing with Animal Collective. “They’ve booked two weeks to mix 12 songs and they want to experiment as much as possible,” Allen adds. In addition to effects pedals and plate reverbs, Allen talks up some highly creative plug-ins, noting that he plans to use Audio Ease’s Speakerphone plug-in on Animal Collective tracks. “Instead of just EQ'ing a big mid-boost and cutting the low and high end to get a radio effect, with Speakerphone you have 30 to 40 models of all these different devices—walkie-talkies, P.A. systems and megaphones—and all these different environments,” he describes. “It’s infinitely tweakable, an awesome plug-in.”

didn't like Strawberry Jam but am liking the production talk

I like the emphasis on low-end - their show last year had the rumble of a rap concert. Maybe it was just the sound in the Fillmore but it was eerily intense. Combined with the repetiveness of the Strawberry Jam songs and the jammy nature of the songs, it was kind of an endless bass stomp (in a good way). I'm excited to hear the new one.

They’ve booked two weeks to mix 12 songs and they want to experiment as much as possible.

you think?

When I saw them in dublin the low-end was unbearable, it was great! But there was so many people talking really loudly around me (the very front) about having a gang gang dance t-shirt and "being into good music", then they complained that this concert was crap because the sound guy hadn't a clue!

"walk around with you" song = Summertime Clothes

The videos from the midi fest are pretty good too.

http://myanimalhome.net/images/invite.jpg

am probably gonna go to this, having never been to a listening party before. i wonder whether it will be cheese and wine or hushing and reverence.

that clip above's so amazing.

http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/index.php?blog=6&p=992&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#more992

guess I'm the only one who'd like MPP to sound less like Person Pitch

Avey is so hot in that

i remember the first time i saw them being really alarmed that he could actually do that larynx-scream on-cue, not just in the frazzled after-eight-hours-of-singing-twist-and-shout way.

http://myanimalhome.net/images/merriweatherCVR.jpg

http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/badassbuddy_com-slowburner.gif

guess I'm the only one who'd like MPP to sound less like Person Pitch

― sonderangerbot, Thursday, October 23, 2008 12:10 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

ur not btw

i thought the panda songs on strawberry jam that sounded like more refined versions of person pitch songs were great but i wouldn't want all of mpp to sound like that necessarily

is that the cover? it's moving.

i will be mega disappointed if this ends up sounding like person pitch

also that cover is neat and all but i was hoping it would look like the pic in the original post which is gorgeous and actually made me really excited about the music!

yeah i agree

Really? I was desperately hoping that wouldn't be the cover, it's got a kind of wannabe Dave McKean/earnest Tori Amos "goth"-lite ickiness to it. To me, anyway.

I'm expecting something closer to the Panda tracks on Strawberry Jam perhaps crossed with "Safer".

Did I miss something? Is Panda Bear taking the driver's seat this time around?

Personally I'm hoping it takes off from Strawberry Jam. I liked the direction they were going.

the last 2 clips posted totally rule.

"Did I miss something? Is Panda Bear taking the driver's seat this time around?"

Not necessarily, but the tenor of a lot of the live sets has been rather similar to, say, "No #1", for long stretches. Less aggressive and herky-jerky than most of the Avey stuff on Strawberry Jam.

I don't see how anyone could possibly choose the pic in the original post over the fabulous moving one.

Akiyoshi Kitaoka

Not necessarily, but the tenor of a lot of the live sets has been rather similar to, say, "No #1", for long stretches. Less aggressive and herky-jerky than most of the Avey stuff on Strawberry Jam.

Ah, I see. I've been skipping all the live youtubes and mp3s; waiting for the album itself. I like #1, though it took time to grow on me. If they made a whole album that sounded like Person Pitch or the second half of Feels, it wouldn't be the end of the world... but it'd be less interesting to me. I've yet to hear AC do that kind of song many times in a row and keep it interesting from beginning to end. I feel like there's nothing to Person Pitch as a whole that the long version of "Bros" doesn't execute all by itself. And "Banshee Beat" aside, I think most the second half of Feels is self-indulgent.

I was just listening to that song Suspended in Gaffa by Kate Bush and the background vocal stuff she does in it sounds so much like Animal Collective it's insane.

Listen again here:

Wait, is the stoner leaf illusion the actual cover? Crossing fingers, for real.

I don't see how anyone could possibly choose the pic in the original post over the fabulous moving one.

because of colours : D

The blogotheque clips have been floating around forever and I think they predate Strawberry Jam, or its release at least. One of them is Another White Singer from Manatee Danse.

Someone posted Kate Bush on this thread! Oh my god, you've made my night. Thanks.

Wait, is the stoner leaf illusion the actual cover? Crossing fingers, for real.

― z "R" s (Z S), Thursday, October 23, 2008 3:57 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

Yes, if the local Seattle "alternative" weekly paper is to be believed, (and I saw it before this thread was revived) the moving leaf thing is the real sleeve.

Sorry to be too "dudeish",but I think,potentially,that this album might RULE.

I mean...I hope it rules.I think that it could.

holy living shit @ "Brother Sport" live on NPR

if the whole album is this awesome i may be able to just drop everything else and listen to AC all day and all night

i went and heard this tonight, at the listening partly they sweetly and freely arranged. it's a great record: i can't wait to get to know it, hear it on headphones etc. it's got the continuity and otherness of records like loveless, and such a different, full, bold sound - really new-amerykah-beat-driven, and really electrically synthesised and busy. it seems like a lot of the kind of manic eccentricities of ac are slightly sidelined while they do something just straightahead new and strong.

oh man i'm really jealous. can't wait to hear this

OT: does anyone have the new Fredrik record Na Na Ni? I've listened to almost all of the tracks either on their myspace or last.fm, but I cannot find it anywhere (I think it was released today, the 28th). "Alina's Place" is one of the best songs of the year, IMO. anyway, if anyone could help me out, that'd be great :)

hahaha thought you guys were totally kidding about the cover art, that thing was posted on noizeboard a couple years ago but the original image disappeared

― jinx hijinks (sanskrit), Wednesday, April 12, 2006 1:23 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Almonds are noize?

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, April 12, 2006 1:28 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

oh jesus that is awesome

― pssst - badass revolutionary art! (plsmith), Wednesday, April 12, 2006 1:31 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Those almonds are better than acid. At least at this point in my life.

― trees (treesessplode), Monday, April 17, 2006 4:49 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i have seen god and he is an almond

― latebloomer's jazz oddysey brought to you by kellog's corn flakes (latebloomer), Monday, April 17, 2006 4:51 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

whoah, that is cool. how do i shot pulsating gif image?

― dar1a g (daria g), Monday, April 17, 2006 7:58 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark

the postcard they had at the listening party doesn't move as much for me as the internet image. also, the record is crazy and so awesome. i can't belive the quote iheard by them saying they didn't know if it would sound electronic to people or not. it sounds completely electronic.

mizzell, it was a printing issue. that's why it didn't move.

that's funny.

playing nyc the day the lp drops, touring and stuff.