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The rain of praise tumbling down upon Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion has been so grossly effusive it borders upon caricature. One would be forgiven for hating the band outright based on the over-the-top praise already being heaped on the disc, available only on vinyl until January 20. However, do not believe the hype.
Here are the facts: although Animal Collective is nine albums into their career and no one really cared about them until a few years ago when music blogs had just about mined the heck out of all available indie bands to tout. Figuring that Animal Collective's impenetrable musical pastiches must equal greatness, they were held forward as the next great hope for music. We've never really minded their endless loops and sound collages, but we never really cared about them either. Until the set they played last year at Pitchfork music Festival we honestly did not "get" them at all ... but we can now say with great confidence that they are a group for whom the live experience is what it's all about, which is to say they are basically an indie rock Phish. (Don't get us wrong, we think Phish actually produced some fine music here and there, and don't mean this comparison as an insult.)
After that show it became rather apartment to us that it was time for the band to finally put down on record what had been drawing fans in onstage. The music blogs were going to need a "hit" to support their views of the band, and when we heard tracks leaked off Merriweather Post Pavilion we began to think that the group might finally deliver a crossover album to haul in even the most doubtful music fans.
It is not the album of the year, but it may still be the album that broadens their base beyond people who preview promo copies of the band's work gratis. The music is still marked by the same fearless attitude towards building songs of base repetition, but this time the compositions occasionally reach outward instead of nesting in the inner world of the collective cranium. The opening and closing tracks, "In The Flowers" and "Brother Sport" respectively, soar and blossom into shining beacons simultaneously beckoning inward and outward. In fact, they nearly blind with their optimism and exuberant mission statements. Neither height is matched in the music between those two imposing slabs, but where previous offering meandered and squandered much of their emotional promise, the meat of Merriweather Post Pavilion seems to understand that the band must meet their audience half way; they can no longer retreat to the back of the studio with their backs to us. Instead, they make attempts to draw us in.
This is what marks this album separate from the rest of the band's catalog. It's almost as if the members of Animal Collective suddenly realized so many writers were counting on them to prove various predictions of greatness true, so the band went into the studio and built an album with the world outside for once. That doesn't make Merriweather Post Pavilion the best album of 2009, but it does make it the best offering of Animal Collective's career.
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Looking forward to this new AC album. Where can I find the imported vinyl?
Is it just me or is that image moving?!?!
Stare for a second or two at one corner and then shift your gaze to another corner. Creepy!
Or maybe it is just to much coffee.
Sorry, our new Movable Type seems to have reverted to an earlier draft and deleted the link to the vinyl.
You can get the vinyl version of the album here.
Yeah, what is going on with that image... it waves as I read the type!
Im sorry, but AC has to be one of the most ovverated bands out there. Don't even get me started on their live show...a bunch of knob turning wankery with zero stage presence.
The Panda Bear record is pretty great though.
It's called an OPTICAL ILLUSION.
All the hype about Animal Collective makes me want to commit acts of Animal Cruelty on them.
(Agreed on the Panda Bear album Via.)
I enjoyed their set at Pitchfork, though it mostly had to do with the combo of the music and the light show (obviously they needed to play after dark because it would not have been impressive during the day.)
That said, their recorded output still has a disconnect with me. I suppose it's good, I just can't get any attachment to it.
"but we can now say with great confidence that they are a group for whom the live experience is what it's all about"
Im sorry, but I had to address this point directly. You cannot honestly be serious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDuCjiyXK6I
If ^that^ is what its "all about", well you can have it.
Um, as tc3 pointed out, the light show and the whole experience is what it's about.
And, read what I wrote ... one could also argue that with the Grateful Dead "the live experience is what it's all about" and I fucking hate the Grateful Dead.
I don't know about over-hyped. . . but I do understand the frustration with the band. Not the easiest listen but I love the some of the earlier works, it definitely has to grow on you.
Maybe the band gets a little overhyped, but that shouldn't detract from the quality of their music. Sung Tongs, Feels, Strawberry Jam, and Water Curses are all pretty damn great records, and from what I've heard of Merriweather Post Pavillion it sounds like they've got another great release on their hands. The band should at least get props for releasing consistently solid music given the fact that their sound changes so much from record to record.
It's a good record, probably only because they finally figured out how to record/mix bass a scant 8 years into making records. Avey Tare still has an awful voice, and for being "geniuses" their programming/loops are still amateurish; the drums on "Taste" in particular are embarrassing.
Still, a good listen, and, as you can tell, I'm a pretty hardcore hater of all things AC.
It's a really fine listen but don't get carried away and listen to all these kids who are peeing their pants over it.
It's one thing to criticize the perceived simplicity of their drum programming or knock them for looping the same simple chord changes for exceedingly long periods of time if that's not your thing, but to say Avey Tare's voice is awful is not objective musical critique. I happen to be a huge fan of his voice, and more importantly the melodies he comes up with.
Apparently it has become even more trendy to hate on AC based on vague and generally unfounded reasoning than it is to overrate them.
I happen to be a huge fan of Avey not singing, and AC always sounds better with Panda Bear singing or without vocals at all. His melodies are dull and obvious, and he often can't sing in tune.
His voice irritates me and I'd rather not hear it. This is an opinion, and is inherently subjective, just as your positive opinion is.
BTW, I'm often on the other side of the vocalist debate with Dan Bejar/Destroyer.
Vinyl temporarily out of stock. . . Bummer . . I guess they're over-hyped.