Avey Tare - Down There

pitchfork

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The yelping member of Animal Collective, Avey Tare aka Dave Portner, is coming out with a solo album called Down There on October 26 via AnCo's own Paw Tracks imprint. The nine-song record is his first totally solo affair and was recorded by AnCo member Josh Dibb aka Deakin.

 

According to a press release, Avey's "favorite animals are the otter and crocodile [and] the latter has played a big role in his newest record.
" I guess that explains the swampy promo pic above and the album's cover

http://pitchfork.com/news/39603-animal-collectives-avey-tare-to-release-first-solo-album

01 Laughing Hieroglyphic

02 3 Umbrellas

03 Oliver Twist

04 Glass Bottom Boat

05 Ghost of Books

06 Cemeteries

07 Heads Hammock

08 Heather in the Hospital

09 Lucky 1

unless its unlistenably weird i could see it being much better than pandabears album. i liked the backwards album he did with his mum wife ALOT

woooo

Down There is a world of nine new songs from Animal Collective's Avey Tare. His first official solo full length carries you through a murky world of sound, an alien death world of soul grooves that is both honest and otherworldly. Wait for sundown and turn it up loud. Take a ride on this haunted boat and let yourself be guided through deep sloshy rhythms, waterlogged bass, and moonlit breaks in the canopy that reveal a crisp crystalline pop buzz. Down There was recorded in the month of June by old friend Josh Dibb (Deakin) at the Good House, an old church in upstate New York, surrounded by The Great Swamp and visited regularly by monks, white widows, and groan toads.

i hope there are vocals.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

will be awesome or weird guaranteed.

alright!

potentially amazing

potentially awful

  On 7/31/2010 at 11:51 AM, jules said:

potentially amazing

 

 

 

 

 

potentially awful

true

potentially awful HA

dont make me chortle.

Yeah it's definitely gonna be weird... Spirit they've gone, Spirit they've vanished is pretty much an Avey Tare solo album and it meets that balance of weirdness and actual good song writing perfectly... I don't expect this to sound anything like that, but if it can meet that balance again it'll be awesome.

I'm certainly way more excited about this than the new Panda Bear.

gonna be an awfully potential record, that's for sure

decent interview

http://m.spin.com/articles/qa-avey-tare-animal-collective

pitchfork interview:

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Over the past decade, Dave Portner, aka Avey Tare, has released a bunch of records as a member of Animal Collective, as well as an album of (literally) backwards lullabies, Pullhair Rubeye, with his wife and former Múm member Kría Brekken. However, Avey Tare steps out completely on his own with his solo debut, the marshy, crocodile-inspired Down There. Animal Collective's own Paw Tracks label will release it on October 26.

 

Pitchfork recently caught up with Avey to talk about a wide variety of topics, including his creative process, how his personal life affected the new record, Animal Collective's future, and what, exactly, is up with the whole crocodile thing.

 

Pitchfork: When did you start working on Down There?

 

Avey Tare: Mostly in my head, just for a while. Maybe, like, two years.

 

Pitchfork: What does that mean? Were you writing melodies in your head?

 

AT: Yeah, just melodies. Sometimes it's ideas I have in terms of progressions of songs. I haven't really done that much stuff on my own, but when I'm doing stuff with Animal Collective, too, it's just thinking about song structures-- just because I'm so used to wanting to do new structures or stuff I've never really done before.

 

The first initial ideas I had were, "Oh, just a song that would have this kind of progression that would go and change subtly." Anything like that. It's been a constant work in progress. For a while it seemed [like] a pastime sort of thing. All the songs, I wrote in my apartment, and I even started recording it at home as well.

 

Pitchfork: What instruments did you write them on initially? It's a very electronic record.

 

AT: One song, "Heather in the Hospital", I wrote on guitar, but I didn't record it on guitar. I tried to and it just didn't sound right, so I recorded it on something else. I used a lot of weird oscillators and some drum machines for the programming. Once we were in the studio, I used different live percussion, some guitar, and a lot of vocal samples and snippets-- but none of the music is sampled. It's all created by me.

 

Pitchfork: Was the overall creative process similar to when you and Kria worked on Pullhair Rubeye?

 

AT: It was totally different. [That record's] a lot more having to do with playing with somebody, and coming up with stuff as you jam. [This record] was definitely more machine-oriented, I'd say-- just tweaking sounds and working that way. I love electronic music as much as I love something that sounds like Pullhair Rubeye, or something a little bit more organic than that. So it was really crucial for me to keep it in that realm. That's what I wanted it to be right at this moment.

 

Pitchfork: Do you think that you and Kria will work together again at any point?

 

AT: We've talked about it, but I don't know. It's hard to say. Timing and everything is so crucial, it's hard to say.

 

Pitchfork: I remember you saying in an old interview that the original reversed version of Pullhair Rubeye sounded to you like old horror movies and The Shining. There seems to be a visual element, whether or not it's overt, in your music. Did you have any non-sonic influences in mind when working on Down There?

 

AT: I guess I'm trying to get it out there that it's really swamp-influenced. Kind of like a haunted swamp, I envisioned. Or hell. In a way, hell is a swamp, to me-- not as something fiery, but as something dank, moist, and wet. It's sort of a spooky record to me and that's why I want to release it near Halloween. There are a lot of ghosts in there, hiding behind everything.

 

Since I was younger, coming from stuff Brian [Weitz, aka Geologist] and I were really into in high school, there are some horror films that are these Southern swampy horror films, like Eaten Alive by Tobe Hooper. Even something like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has this hot, Southern vibe-- although I wouldn't classify that as something that inspired this record. But something like that.

 

There's a crocodile involved in Eaten Alive. I had this really crappy VHS copy of it when I was younger and the print was so bad, you couldn't see what was going on in the dark. I like that hazy feel of an old VHS cassette that's kind of warble-y and the picture gets fucked up sometimes. That's sort of what I'm going for.

 

Pitchfork: Crocodiles seem to play a pretty big part in this record. There's a crocodile's head on the cover and you're wearing one in the press photo. Can you explain that?

 

AT: I went to Peru in January and [the album cover is] based off a photo of a skull I took down there. I gave it to my sister and was like, "Can you draw this on some cheesecloth and make the cover out of it?"

 

I've always really liked crocodiles. For me, the record is more the vision of the swamp and not so much an animal, like a crocodile or an alligator. I guess more alligators than crocodiles live in that swampy environment. Crocodiles live in the rivers too or the caimans in South America. But calling [the record] Down There, there's a lot of reasons for calling it that but one thing that comes to mind is the fact that I went down to Peru and it's kind of the Southern hemisphere down there. That ties into it a little bit.

 

Pitchfork: It seems like under every track there are a lot of things going on, very watery, swampy sounds. Does that tie into the title as well?

 

AT: Yeah, definitely.

 

Pitchfork: There are a lot of beats on this record, too. Some of the songs sound like very dark dubstep. Did you go into the studio with any sort of rhythmic influence in mind?

 

AT: I do like a lot of dubstep and British electronic music. Since [creating the record] was over such a long period of time, it wasn't like, "Oh, I want to make a dubstep record" or anything like that-- I wouldn't do that anyway, regardless. I've always loved techno, and I've listened to a lot of dubstep music these days. A lot of old 1960s electronic, compositional music where there's a lot of oscillators inspired me, too.

 

Pitchfork: Anything specific that you've been listening to lately that's in that vein?

 

AT: I got that Kode9 [DJ-Kicks] mix. I really liked that. There's a good Zomby track on that jam, and a lot of the tracks are good. I like a lot of the newer Joy Orbison stuff that's come out, and Floating Points a lot. Kyle Hall's stuff.

 

Pitchfork: Did you record any other material that didn't make it onto the album?

 

AT: Yeah, I have at least four or five other jams. Either rough sketches, or sequenced beats, or oscillated sounds and that kind of thing that I could do stuff with. Definitely melodies, they're not just in my head, but I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do with them.

 

Pitchfork: It's a concise record but it also seems very dense lyrically. Was any of this informed by personal experience? "Heather in the Hospital", especially, sounds like it could have come from a personal place.

 

AT: Yeah, definitely. I think, for better or for worse, [the record] primarily comes from being bummed out-- which, I felt like in the past two years, I've had a darker time. And "Heather in the Hospital", my sister got cancer and spent a lot of time in the hospital. She got a rare form of cancer in her tear ducts. She's okay. It wasn't terminal cancer or anything, but I spent a lot of time in the hospital, so that whole experience definitely rubbed off on me. My whole songwriting process in the past couple of years has been really influenced-- I mean, it's always influenced by what's going on in my life, but that's why this record is a little bit darker than especially something like the last Animal Collective stuff, which predates this.

 

Pitchfork: Would you say that this is as personal of a statement as your previous music, or more so?

 

AT: I'd say as personal. I think some of the early stuff that we did, or I did, is still personal to me. It doesn't come off as concisely lyrical-- maybe more dreamy or fictional or something like that. But it's still based on personal feelings that I have. I think as I've gotten older I wanted to hone in my lyrics a little bit more to bring them more to the surface in terms of what's happening in them. I still like a surreal moment. I still like playing with words in an interesting way, and it's not all very clear-cut because I think people should make their own interpretations for things too. I wouldn't want to be totally soul-bearing on all my songs. Music isn't really about that to me.

 

Pitchfork: Over every Animal Collective-related release, the lyrics seem to have become more important. Is that another part of an organic process, or is that something you've consciously thought about?

 

AT: As we've played more and more, I've certainly gotten more comfortable with my singing and my voice's place in the music. I think when I was younger, I definitely wanted to tuck my voice further back in the mix. It wasn't the lyrics-- I find the lyrics an important part of what's going on, just in terms of hearing certain words and creating the visual part of the song. But I think I've definitely become more comfortable with the voice being on top.

 

With Down There, I didn't want the voice as on top as it's been on some of the past Animal Collective stuff, like on "What Would I Want? Sky". That's definitely just a different kind of song and I didn't think any of these songs were that type of song. But it's hard for me to know sometimes if the voice is loud enough or isn't loud enough. When you know what all your lyrics are it's like, "Oh, I can hear my lyrics," but then you play it for somebody and it's like, "I wish I could hear what you're saying a little bit more."

 

I definitely didn't want [the lyrics] to step out of the environment at all. A lot of times, with pop music, the vocals are obviously the loudest thing. When you hear it in a supermarket, you hear the voice and that's the whole purpose. I wasn't going for that vibe at all. I definitely wanted it to feel more like somebody walking around this weird hell or swamp.

 

Pitchfork: You're managing to make very dark-sounding music with an element of light that doesn't seem forced. It sounds like a very melodic record, especially songs like "3 Umbrellas" or "Lucky 1". Has the thought of going in a poppier direction something that's been in your mind for the past few years?

 

AT: I think it's just my response to the emotions that I feel. That's really where the songs come from. I'll sit down to write a melody or I'll get a melody in my head, and for me it's more whether it's good or bad, you know? That's the most deciphering that goes into it. There are some songs that I'll think, "That's a really catchy jam. That's one that's really gonna stand out to people." But then people will latch themselves to something else, or some other song that I hadn't really felt like-- "Heather in the Hospital", I wouldn't really think would stand out to a lot of people. I don't know why, but to me it's just a little more convoluted and dark. But if it's stands out to you, maybe-- It's hard to say.

 

Pitchfork: Do you have any touring plans behind this record?

 

AT: Not right now. I've thought about it. I definitely don't want to play by myself. I don't relate to playing music that way. I like interacting with people. Since this record is so electronic, these definitely aren't the kind of songs I can just pick up and play on an acoustic guitar-- not right now. I thought about putting a band together for a little while, but since the music comes from a darker place for me, it's not really something I'd want to revisit every night on tour.

 

Pitchfork: Deakin [Josh Dibb] helped you produce Down There, and I saw you guys DJ at [Queens art museum] PS1 earlier this summer. It seems like he's coming back into the fold with Animal Collective.

 

AT: He's been doing a lot with us the past few years, especially working on Oddsac, honing his recording skills a lot. It's always a "time and place" thing for us. We don't really have a lot of concrete plans right now for what we're doing next. We know we wanna start working on new material early next year. Josh has definitely been out of touring for a while, but we're taking a break from touring right now and really don't have any plans as to when we're gonna tour next, so it's hard to say if he will or won't be on it. It's up to him too. [laughs]

 

Pitchfork: It's been a little vague, but can you explain why Josh took off time from the band, or is that a personal thing?

 

AT: It's not that it's hard to talk about. I don't think it's really my place. I think it would be more his decision. It was his decision and it was a group decision. It was just, recording post-Feels into Strawberry Jam-- it was a very transitional time for all of us, with Noah [Lennox, Panda Bear] having a kid and us working on having to travel around to start writing a lot in Lisbon and the U.S. I think it was just harder for Josh to really keep his feet on the ground. He just wanted to step away for a while. That's the best way I could put it.

 

Pitchfork: Animal Collective's rise has been pretty meteoric in the past three years. Is that part of the reason why you guys are taking a little time off from touring right now? Was it all too much at one point?

 

AT: It wasn't really a strain. We all talk a lot about how we miss touring right now. We love playing live, but primarily we enjoy hanging out with each other, we enjoy hanging out with our crew, the people who go on tour with us. We're old friends, like a tight knit community. For our personality types, and the fact that we're essentially homebodies, we just felt like we were getting pulled away too much from being grounded and being able to move forward and think about new stuff. Brian just had a kid, actually, last week. Noah just had a baby recently. We knew that was coming. The most touring we've ever done for a record was for Merriweather. I don't think we'll ever be a band that will just tour and tour and tour. We'll probably tour less now, honestly.

 

Pitchfork: On previous tours, you guys were playing a lot of new material in advance. This past tour was the first time in a while that you guys hadn't really done that. Is the next record going to be a product of just hunkering down in the studio and seeing how it goes?

 

AT: I think we'd ultimately like to hunker down in the studio and try. Just get together for a longer period of time and come out with something, or have something set, before we tour this time. It just seems like an interesting way to do it now. We've never done anything that way, so it's hard to say if it'll work or not. We've been getting more into recording our own stuff, and we are capable of doing it-- the possibility of doing our own record is more and more appealing to us. It also affords us to be able to work on it for longer and not have to feel like, "Oh, we have a month in the studio."

 

Pitchfork: Will you be trying a much different creative style for the next record?

 

AT: It's hard to say, since we don't really have plans. It's weird with the internet being such a factor these days, and how people digest music from the moment they hear it. With Down There, it's been really crucial for me to just get the record out. That's another reason I wouldn't want to play any shows before it comes out.

 

I feel [like] people hear Noah's songs live that he's gonna put out on his record, and they come up with an opinion about the songs before the record comes out. There was a time when a record came out and it would have such an impact. It would be good or negative, but people would base their ideas on songs. Bands have always played songs live before, but with the Internet, it goes around and people download it on their computer. It might be interesting to put [our next] record out before we ever tour. But at the same time, if we came up with a sweet set, we'd say, "We're jamming. This sounds great live. Let's just go out on the road now before the record comes out." That would be cool too.

 

Pitchfork: Do you have any ideas or jumping off points for what you'd like the next Animal Collective record to sound like?

 

AT: No. I think we've talked a little, just in terms of live shows, [about how] we want to sweat a little bit more. We've gotten a little bit mellower on stage than we used to be, just because of the nature of the music, which is fine. We've been totally into having to use more electronic means to play music. It's always just about the members of Animal Collective. We've never really wanted to ask other people to help us, which would have been an alternative way of doing Merriweather [live]. There was so much sound involved, but we opted to stick with samplers just to do what we want to do. We like to keep it the three of us, or the four of us, or the two of us. In that sense, we want to get to a point where we feel like we're moving around a little bit more and exerting a little bit more energy on stage. That's as much as I can say.

 

Pitchfork: Do you think Panda Bear's Person Pitch follow-up, Tomboy, is going to come out this year?

 

AT: I can't say. I have no idea. I think the reason I held back so long on saying anything about my record coming out is just, I know sometimes when you're like, "Okay." You just jump the gun. You're like, "All right, I'm gonna have this record ready and this is when it should come out." I always want to be really, really sure. I've always wanted to be that way with Animal Collective stuff. It's been like, "Let's not say this record's gonna come out until I'm out of the studio." You know what I mean? In the case of Noah's record, as far as I know, he's not even done recording.

 

Pitchfork: There seem to be a lot of "bedroom" artists that have taken Merriweather as a sort of jumping-off point for their own ideas. Have you investigated that scene at all? I guess the rough term for it would be "chillwave," but the music obviously is a little more broader and less easy to corral than that. Do you have any thoughts about that scene? Anybody in particular you listen to?

 

AT: I don't really know a lot of it. I don't know what goes under the "chillwave" moniker. Sometimes I hear that it's stuff Ariel Pink influenced. When I hear stuff that's supposed to be "chillwave," it sounds really like 80s or new balearic, Italian prog, Goblin soundtrack kind of stuff. I try and listen to a lot of stuff that's out there right now. I feel like I heard a lot of sweet tracks this year. In terms of what feels to me like "bedroom," homegrown stuff, Teengirl Fantasy to me right now stands out as something I'm really super psyched on. I'd gotten their EP last year online and just jammed it a lot. Totally feeling that.

a pitchfork article/interview mentioning dubstep? gasp.

thing that sucks is this is going to leak long before halloween which sucks. will i be able to restrain myself? i doubt it considering how amazing i think the music is for oddsac.

i am officially excited. avey tare strikes me as a real cool dude from this interview!

traces of mouse on mars in "brothersport."

new song

http://pitchfork.com/news/40276-listen-new-single-from-animal-collectives-avey-tare/

ya i just finished listening to that.... theyre doing the whole 'hide the vocals in the back of the mix' thing again...

i hope the rest of this album isnt like that...

Well that was alright... sounds unfinished I reckon... I hope it works better in context than by itself.

I can see the swamp kind of

this song is MUCH better

http://www.magicrpm.com/son-du-jour

the one on pitchfork is the last track so its probably not a perfect indication of the meat of the album. i do like both songs however

leaked

yea i just got it, its on demonoid. gonna listen to it tonight in a l4d swamp session.

its fantastic, just a bit short

wow this is great.

yea, im really enjoying this a lot. i wish it was longer but it really plays as one big narrative. very cool.