Animal Collective Poem

Summertime Clothes (Animal Collective)

Never underestimate the 18-24 age group
Solid Souls filled the House of Blues
Squashed together to see
Panda Bear, Avey Tare, and Geologist

Buy the Ticket, take the Ride
A Fervent Fan cried
Fifteen to twenty minutes with my jaw dropped
As the trio bashed out electronic anthems
I pushed my way through a Sea of fans to get closer to the band
The dancing grew Wilder and Wilder than I had expected
Unlike anything else I had encountered before
The crowd was one giant hug fest
With everyone on top of each other
Sweating
At times obnoxious and unnecessary to the point that I was almost
Falling Over
But, Ultimately it was an amazing
Musical, Social and perhaps Spiritual
Experience

CD Review: Crack Box (Animal Collective)

(Part One of Three)

Band: Animal Collective
Release: 2009

Comments:
The first batch of tracks (A Series) were recorded nine years ago. The A Series is choppy, featuring slippery and dizzying beats behind droning vocals. It's not too distant from what the crew would produce years later, though. The 'freak' element is "flaming" (for lack of a better word) in "Jimmy Raven." "Ahhh Good Country" is a mixture of fireworks, crazy alarm-like noises, and a really shitty vocal track of all words unintelligible. "Iko Ovo" is a repetition of "what they don't see" or something like that and has an interesting increasing/decreasing drum beat dynamic. It's really intense actually. Good horror film material.

The Pumpkins (B Series) were recorded in 2001. They aren't much of a departure from what we can hear in A Series. Quite a bit of electronic influence can be heard in "Pumpkin Gets A Snakebite." There is an alienic, cutting-out effect present throughout. The last line "Oooh my pumpkin is dddddd-ddddying" is a great way to end the song. "Pumpkin's Hallucination" is still absolute noisiness, but there is a certain complexity that appears here for the first time in Crack Box. The simplistic pounding bass is still there, don't worry! The ending is freaky. Oh shit not again! That's my first reaction to "Pumpkin's Funeral." Why? Because the freaky ending of "Pumpkin's Hallucination" continues for another minute in this song. The other three minutes are okay.

Concert Review: Animal Collective (HoBo)

Bands: Grouper, Animal Collective
Venue: House of Blues in Boston

Comments (Chris DeCarlo):
As soon as I walked in, I was a tad bit disappointed (though, not surprised) by the sea of Animal Collective fans that had arrived before me. Not being the first to arrive nor the person in the front row is uncommon for me at non-seated shows. Being my height, I couldn't see a thing; if I stepped on my tip toes I could see merely some of the stage. So, initially I simply anticipated hearing great music, but not feeling the whole experience. However, when their new classic "Summertime Clothes," (one of my favorites) emerged, I began pogoing away and with the advice of a female concertgoer, I pushed my way through the crowd so I could see the band. From this point on it was chaotic, but fun and exciting. I must say the dancing and moshing and what not was crazier than I expected and greater than anything I have ever encountered.

It was like one big hugging, sweat fest, which at times became obnoxious and unnecessary to the point that I was almost falling over every other second. One other flaw for me was the lack of personal favorites performed. Don't get me wrong AC put on an amazing and entertaining show and played all great songs. Some of my faves [were played] ("Summertime Clothes" and "My Girls" and technically "Who Could Win a Rabbit," but it was a different version of it and therefore did not achieve the same reaction for me anyway. Since, these guys are one of my top 20 favorite artists, I anticipated them playing more of my favorites than other bands I see.

Finally, I want to mention an additional treat to the band was a gigantic, white ball which served as a screen for random, archive footage of various images including that of race cars, a Native American, and countless others. A fellow fan summed it up perfectly whilst we were hopping and bopping in the pit: "Buy the ticket, take the ride." He, of course, was referencing the famous Hunter S. Thompson quote, which perfectly captures the musical, emotional, and perhaps spiritual trip that is Animal Collective live.

Comments (Glen):
I made the terrible mistake of reading a review of the concert in the Boston Globe this morning. The review was really awesome and captured the concert to a very accurate extent. First, I would like to say (to the dismay of probably a few people reading this) that Grouper was the most boring act ever. It just felt like one forty-five minute song. Animal Collective, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. Offering a small array of tracks, including rarely performed "#1" and "Bleed," Animal Collective decided to go for more electro-pop/dance than freak folk/experimental. That of course meant that the majority of the set featured tracks from Merriweather Post Pavillion. The mosh-pitting and crazy dancing was extremely unexpected, but luckily for me I got pushed from being 12 rows back originally to six feet away from the trio at the very end. I would say the inexperience from the all ages crowd was the principal cause of the raucous. Some songs that definitely contributed to the madness were "Brother Sport" and "Fireworks." Overall, the band performed extremely well. I look forward to seeing them again in the future.

Animal Collective on Letterman

W00T!!!

Animal Collective announced their Spring 2009 tour yesterday. AC released their critically acclaimed record Merriweather Post Pavillion earlier this month. Amongst the tour dates?

05-14 Boston, MA - House of Blues

That just made my day.

CD Review: Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished

Band: Animal Collective
Grade: 9.7 out of 10
Comments: This, Animal Collective's debut album released in 2000, is far less than experimental their later work. The first song, "Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished," is mellow and ambient. "April and the Phantom" might be one of Animal Collective's least freaky songs considering there isn't too much noise other than a buzzing guitar, some drum, and a drippy dub beat. You can tell that the band isn't that polished. That said, it's pretty damn hard to tell if an experimental band is polished given the fickle nature of the genre. "Untitled" is where the fun begins. It sounds like somebody is being sucked into a black hole of noise. They are unrelenting, screaming none stop for help. Nobody helps them, though, and their cries grow louder and more rickety. At the end, it sounds like they are being zapped by some electric current. "Penny Dreadfuls" starts out laggard with a few sparse piano notes segueing into a Dark Side of the Moon esque verse about kids on a bus. I'd hate to call this a piano rock ballad, but it's tough not to. The best damn piano rock ballad ever, might I please add. "Chocolate Girl" is really awesome. It's hella long (8+ minutes) so make sure you have time to spear to listen. It's got this indescribable feel to it. Chill, I guess, works. Talk about a volte-face! "Everyone Whistling" is not really everyone whistling. It's an exactly one minute sampling of a noise you'd expect to hear in the woods behind your house on a midsummer night. "La Rapet" is about some girl named Isabelle. It's another real long one, but very much worth a listen. "Bat You'll Fly" is awesome in that it is more of a combo of jazzy/funk/tropicalismo than any other track on the album. Different fo' sho. A constant repetition of "I'll" and "someday" is the gist of "Someday I'll Grow Up To Be As Tall As The Giant." The instrumentation in this song is present on Merriweather Post Pavillion leading me to think that this song would fit just as well on MPP. "Alvin Row" is a fantastic finish.

Quote of the Day (12/30/08)

Alex Denney from The Quietus on the song "Brothersport," which is the last track on Animal Collective's amazing album Merriweather Post Pavillion.

The one that got Grizzly Bear into lumber when they linked to the track on their blog as their favourite AC song since ‘Leaf House’. They’re not far wrong either, stuttering tribal chants giving way to a techno interlude before the band busts out one of its most instantly memorable vocal melodies to date. Expansive and utterly euphoric, it sounds like Ministry Of Sound doing Graceland. But with more of a tropicalia vibe. And sirens. Fuck me, this is brilliant.

And by instantly memorable vocal melodies, he is talking about:

Dear fully grown
you got a real good shot
do well to all the time
keep it real keep it real shut it out

CD Review: Merriweather Post Pavillion

Artist: Animal Collective
Grade: 10 out of 10
Track Listing:
1. In the Flowers
2. My Girls
3. Also Frightened
4. Summertime Clothes
5. Daily Routine
6. Bluish
7. Guys Eyes
8. Taste
9. Lion in a Coma
10. No More Runnin'
11. Brothersport
Comments: This is the best CD that I've ever heard. I'm usually really hesitant to give out a perfect 10 out of 10 score to an album. But with Merriweather I have come to decide that every single track is amazing. If you aren't into experimental, spacey, and naturey sounding music, you might not dig. If you take into account everything the Animal Collective's puts into one song, you will realize how complex yet simplistic each song is. The great thing about Merriweather is that not all of the songs are upbeat or slow. There is a nice mix of rhythm. Merriweather takes elements of prior Animal Collective albums in producing a most complete and experimental record. Listen up hopeful experimental bands and take note of Merriweather. I'd go as far as to say Merriweather has set the standard for future psychedelic music. A few of my favorites are: "My Girls"; "Also Frightened"; and "Brothersport".