I think I Like Animal Collective....?

I think I like the Animal Collective. I have to admit, I've been a hater for a while. I just found it really hard to get into. I think its one of those things where I'd heard so much about them, and really only heard one or two songs that sounded like jumbled noisy mess. The title of the new album: "Merriweather Post Pavillion" didn't exactly put them on my good side either. I mean all I can help but think when I hear that name is annoying hippies from my freshman dorm ramping up for two days of Phish, and the lot and how its lame now because you can't smoke on the lawn anymore. But my troubled past aside, I gave this album a listen and finally figured this band out.

The intro to the track "My Girls", is all drawn-out and spacey and trippy sounding and shit, like they're about to break into some in your face ecstacy induced techno jam. But instead, they pleasantly get into a laid back electro folk groove with an amazingly catchy hook that shows serious restraint and creativity. I still find the rest of the album rather inaccessible but there a lot of really beautiful noise blends that come from samples, synthesizers, drum machines and often tapping the rim or side of a tomtom.

There's an obvious Beach Boys reference in the vocals that really needn't be pointed out, but I might sound completely dense if I left it out so there you go, jerks. The band calls its musical style: "freeform, electronic, horror, gospel, hip-hop, soul, pop madness", which is pretty accurate but I don't really hear any hip-hop. Sure they use samplers, but there's an entire Bjork album made with vocal samples (including a guest appearance by Razel) that I wouldn't exactly call hip-hop. I like the experimental nature of this group, usually when some youngsters get together with the intention of "challenging musical norms" it invloves a lot of reefer, and some annoying egotism, but I don't see that here. I think they know their stuff pretty well.

These guys have a daunting European tour coming up everynight from March 4 - 29 with one night off. I hope Dave doesn't lose his voice and couse the band to have to cancel any of these shows, like he did in LA tonight.

This video is pretty sweet by the way: http://myanimalhome.net/