animal collective

  On 7/6/2009 at 11:58 PM, olson said:

animal collective has put out a lot of shit but they've also got some good stuff. i've seen em live twice (festivals, no way i'd pay to see just them) and was very unimpressed both times. fuck em though i'm sick of all that indie hipster bullshit

i don't think there's any meaningful correlation between gig price and gig quality (let's call the audience/price correlation q, and assume a gig quality of 10, because i couldn't honestly decide between what i list below, so it's an invariant. i'm going to disregard festivals for now, as they fuck the numbers up

(1): nalle, the boat club, sarsfield bridge, limerick. audience: roughly 40. entry price EUR5.00 q=0.125

(1): damo suzuki, the high stool, limerick. audience: roughly 80. entry price EUR5.00 q=0.0625

(1): kraftwerk, the olympia, dublin. audience: roughly 800. entry price EUR40.00 q=0.05

(1): joanna newsom, the olympia, dublin. audience: roughly 1200. entry price EUR36.00 q=0.03

i guess the moral of the story is the live experience is really unquantifiable.

let's say

so say we all

are they the same as Super Furry Animals?

yeh but less welsh

after reading first page:

i find it really sad that AC has been tainted by this "indie hipster" thing. people need to stop listening to music with pre conceived ideas about what it is from what people on the internet are saying is 'hip'. you are just as bad as the people that hate on autechre or aphex or boc calling it videogame music.

  On 7/7/2009 at 9:46 AM, ieafs said:

but it just doesn't sound like anything to me... just sort of musical autopilot.

doesnt sound like anything? musical autopilot?

It's weird how Animal Collective get lumped in with the bands they do get lumped in with...

To me they sound like exactly what they are... a bunch of guys who used to muck around in their bedrooms with instruments and kept doing it till they got good at it. I don't think they fit with any particular "scene", but at the same time I don't think they're ground breaking either, and I think Merriweather is by far one of the least unique albums they've done. I love it, I think it's probably the most solid album they've done, but it's far from unique... it's pretty much just electronic pop...

And even the ones I think are quite original are far from groundbreaking... but I do agree with one previous comment that they mix and mash together different, pre-existing ideas in a way that is unique to them and in that way they have their own original sound.

For me... I never listen to something because of style or sound, cos I get really bored of music that only "sounds" cool. I listen to music that evokes an emotional response. Cos that's the only thing I don't get sick of. A beautiful tune stays beautiful forever. And I personally think Animal Collective write some of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.

  On 7/7/2009 at 10:51 AM, ieafs said:

musical autopilot... in that everything i've heard just sounds (to me IMO IMO) to be sort of a sketch for something that never really takes off. 4/4 beat, a synth arpeggio, a few loops going with two guys doing a kind of faux-counterpoint thing over the top. again, i'm sure i could love music made with those very same ingredients, but with their stuff it just seems bland... just kind of like some vague non-committal jamming done by an ex- rock band. which again, there's actually quite a lot of music i like made in similar circumstances, but here it's doesn't seem to me to be untutored in any creative way. "dude! let's have a screamy bit here and then a weird bit here and then do this total beach boys harmony on the chorus".

This is the opinion I could not coherently articulate earlier. Well put, and I agree 100%.

But I do think they've done a good job of refining their sound on Merriweather. They do something that obviously resonates with a lot of people, and they seem to have fun doing it. I can respect that.

[youtubehd]_c6VKN2oISM[/youtubehd]

i like feels and sung tongs.

earlier stuff is shit.

later stuff is ????

  On 7/7/2009 at 10:51 AM, ieafs said:

well again, i know it's not really constructive criticism, but it is my opinion... trust me, i would really like to like their music and i've (for some reason) read a whole bunch of interviews with them and record reviews and they sound like interesting people and the records sound like they'd be my sort of thing... but it's just not really.

 

musical autopilot... in that everything i've heard just sounds (to me IMO IMO) to be sort of a sketch for something that never really takes off. 4/4 beat, a synth arpeggio, a few loops going with two guys doing a kind of faux-counterpoint thing over the top. again, i'm sure i could love music made with those very same ingredients, but with their stuff it just seems bland... just kind of like some vague non-committal jamming done by an ex- rock band. which again, there's actually quite a lot of music i like made in similar circumstances, but here it's doesn't seem to me to be untutored in any creative way. "dude! let's have a screamy bit here and then a weird bit here and then do this total beach boys harmony on the chorus".

 

and the non-panda bear guy's voice really gets on my nerves which i guess doesn't help.

this is 100% correct, though i really liked merriweather for about two months. now, not as much. AC, to me, are the biggest example of the pitchfork/indie bandwagon effect

so you read pitchfork and jumped on and off the bandwagon?

i don't read/believe hype i listen to music. been a fan since campfire songs.

-real fan

band makes good music and is appreciated by fans shocker

  On 7/7/2009 at 9:45 PM, Adjective said:

so you read pitchfork and jumped on and off the bandwagon?

huh? sure, i've read pitchfork since 2004, since they often have good reviews, and have introduced me to a few bands --- which has nothing to do with the fact that i liked MPP a lot when i first heard it, but then found that it didn't really grow on me. this, in turn, has nothing to do with the (very commonly acknowledged) fact that certain bands are hyped by pitchfork (and stereogum, etc.), for various reasons, which then creates an echo chamber re: those bands.

like any good music, AC takes a while to understand and feel. it took me a few tries to actually get what was happening in their music, over the course of 3 or 4 months when i first discovered them. give it a while. and maybe in a few months when you are over the "i haet hipster musix' thing you will hear an AC song at some point and it will click.

if not then you are going to be missing out on something great.

  On 7/8/2009 at 9:31 PM, MAXIMUS MISCHIEF said:

 

 

if not then you are going to be missing out on something great.

aye but its not great to everyone. so not very good advice really

you like it or you don't. move on. i can only tell you that i like it and if you like it too then lets hold hands and dance

i don't just like it i LOVE IT!

I heard "Brothersport" when it leaked back in Nov/Dec 08, and since then I've been an Animal Collective fanatic. Strawberry Jam and MPP are their masterpieces in my opinion. Sung Tongs and Here Comes the Indian behind somewhere.

erm feels?

feels is an album i've never felt very passionately about. i don't know why. i mean, i like it a ton, but i like strawberry jam much more.

did you see the words... that song is my favorite. up there with the rest of their best songs.

grass, bees, loch raven. i don't know. every song on it is great, it's just missing something for me.

  On 7/7/2009 at 9:06 PM, theSun said:

i like feels and sung tongs.

 

earlier stuff is shit.

 

later stuff is ????

spirit they've gone... is great. (april and the phantom, chocolate girl... lovely!) I'm not too sure about some of the other early noise stuff either, but that is a great album. also the eps people and prospect hummer are quite nice too

  On 7/7/2009 at 10:51 AM, ieafs said:

  On 7/7/2009 at 10:17 AM, 42Orange said:

doesnt sound like anything? musical autopilot?

well again, i know it's not really constructive criticism, but it is my opinion... trust me, i would really like to like their music and i've (for some reason) read a whole bunch of interviews with them and record reviews and they sound like interesting people and the records sound like they'd be my sort of thing... but it's just not really.

 

musical autopilot... in that everything i've heard just sounds (to me IMO IMO) to be sort of a sketch for something that never really takes off. 4/4 beat, a synth arpeggio, a few loops going with two guys doing a kind of faux-counterpoint thing over the top. again, i'm sure i could love music made with those very same ingredients, but with their stuff it just seems bland... just kind of like some vague non-committal jamming done by an ex- rock band. which again, there's actually quite a lot of music i like made in similar circumstances, but here it's doesn't seem to me to be untutored in any creative way. "dude! let's have a screamy bit here and then a weird bit here and then do this total beach boys harmony on the chorus".

 

and the non-panda bear guy's voice really gets on my nerves which i guess doesn't help.

If theyre just not something that clicks with you, i can understand that. But when you ridiculous phrases like "musical autopilot, doesnt sound like anything, non-commital jamming, ex-rock band", its like youre trying to imply a lack of ideas, creativity, inspiration. It seems like a desperate grasping at motifs to justify your juxtaposition to their often rabid fan base, especially when you attempt to suggest their creative process so it best fits what you don't like about them.

Personally, i think their music is brimming with creativity and has been for a long time. It sounds very unlike much of the music being produced today (aside from spinoffs and ripoffs), and yet still manages to be extremely successful and popular. I have little doubt that they will be one of the more memorable bands of this decade (at least of their "kind")

Feels might always be my personal favourite cos it's the first one I heard, and I was sort of introduced to them by seeing them live (although I had heard them mentioned a lot on here before then), if I remember right they played a lot of Feels and Strawberry Jam stuff... that "era" of live shows (from the numerous shows I've downloaded I think that's when they started to get really good live).

Loch Raven was the first thing they played so it'll always have a special place in my heart.

The thing that really annoys me is that some people INSIST that people who like AC ONLY like them because Pitchfork and similar review sites give them good reviews, and as soon as Pitchfork stop raving on about them, then so too will the fans.

Now there might be a lot of people out there like that but I highly doubt that that's the majority. I know that's not the case with me... considering I don't read any of those reviews (well... I follow somethingexcellent.com, formally almostcool.org, but he doesn't always agree with the hype. He didn't like The Knife much, nor did I, but he did give Burial and Fuck Buttons good reviews which kind of bothered me).

Anyway... the point is... I think that most fans are not just fans because they're snooty and have no taste of their own... how could so many people lie to themselves? Why make so much effort for something so stupid?.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_leV7zskgw&feature=PlayList&p=1432A59145E83A74&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=25

bees and banshee beat make the album for me. listening now. banshee beat is such a build up to my favorite bit. love it.

can't get into the early stuff (indian,dance) not sure i heard spirit yet.

The Inside Of My Brain And My Mouth.....

Love you guys...

Now love yourself some Forcefield....

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