Tag Archives: animal collective

#1388: Animal Collective – Today’s Supernatural

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At the time of writing this, my old laptop on which I listened to Animal Collective’s Centipede Hz for the first time is on the fritz. Looks like a black-screen-of death situation going on, it might be game over. I’d like to be accurate with these things and give the exact date I saved all the files to it. I’ve done that before. But for now, I’ll have to go by memory. What I’m pretty sure of is that the listening-through would have happened in 2014, during a time when I was really getting into Animal Collective, and I was either in my room at university or at home during the summer. Not my favourite album by the group, I will say. I do appreciate it for being the 180-move in production and sound from Merriweather Post Pavilion and maybe alienating bandwagoners who started following AnCo ’cause of that album just to be cool. But I only really like four songs on it. Three of those four are at the beginning of the album. It starts strongly. ‘Today’s Supernatural’ is the second song on Centipede… and was the first single from it too, getting a music video to boot.

I sort of remember seeing the title and thinking, “Today’s supernatural… what?” My feeling was it was probably an incomplete thought, some kind of wordplay that wasn’t unusual when it came to Animal Collective song titles. No, it very much means ‘Today Is Supernatural’, and it was a nice surprise to find out when the song name’s sort of stated eventually. Just something I thought was worth sharing. When it comes to the song’s content, I’ve always been impressed with how it sounds like it’s taking place on some warped, demented ride at a carnival. I think it’s the arpeggiated organ throughout that adds to the feeling. Another thing that attracted me to the song was how the rhythm was constantly shifting. It begins as a fast waltz, before abruptly moving into a stomping, syncopated rhythm in 4/4 before going back again. Always switching between the waltzing and the stomping, it is. But what got me the most was Avey Tare’s vocal performance. They were somewhat restrained on Merriweather…, but definitely had their excitable moments. None of them though compare in the wild “Come on and le-le-le-le-le-le-le-le-le-let go”s that begin each verse here or the scream he produces as the instrumentation and soundscape fall into each other at the song’s finish. Those are some vocal tics that’ll get you shakin’.

Even now, I’m not sure I have the song’s meaning all figured out. I did think it was about embracing the world outside and undergoing new experiences, without really digging deep. But actually looking at the lyrics and reading them, ‘Today’s Supernatural’ appears to be about a love interest who Tare, or the narrator, feels they’re not good enough for. At least that’s what I’m seeing. Taking out the ‘bionic hee haw’ / ‘erratic see saw’ phrases, ’cause they could literally mean anything, the song’s narrator expresses an admiration for this subject of interest and proceeds to say all the things they wish they could say to this person. Everything however is summed up in the final lines, “I made a shadow with my hand and made it like your heart / But they will never be the same”. Whatever hopes of a relationship the narrator is thinking could happen, it’s all wishful thinking. Maybe that’s why the song ends with that abrupt descent into madness the way it does, they just can’t handle this admission. It’s a tale as old as time. An obvious highlight on this album, got a lot of love for it.

#1337: Animal Collective – Taste

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“Am I really all the things that are outside of me?” is the first and last line of the song ‘Taste’ by Animal Collective. From my recollection, it was the only thing about the track I could remember after listening to Merriweather Post Pavilion for the first time in 2012 and being bewildered by the whole experience. I’ve written before about how I really had no context regarding Animal Collective before heading straight into hearing Merriweather…, how their live setup confused me, how it eventually became a favourite of mine etc. etc. It’s a story I won’t have to repeat again because ‘Taste’ marks the last time a song from the album will appear on here. But you get the idea, I once heard an album, didn’t get it, heard it again a couple more times, I began to understand it. And then I went into a whole Animal Collective phase that doesn’t need to be dug into here. What’s more important is the song at hand. So after Panda Bear opens the second half of Merriweather… with something of an ode to masturbation with ‘Guys Eyes’, Avey Tare takes things back to the more existential self-analysing route rather than a sexual one with ‘Taste’ straight after. The former merges into the latter with a sampled wind(?) of some kind before giving way to the looping, hypnotizing rhythm that anchors ‘Taste’ right up till its end.

I look at Genius, and it looks like ‘Taste’ goes way deeper than I thought it ever did. I kind of got the idea that it was about the topic of image. Being concerned by how the way we act, dress, look is perceived by other people. But then there are metaphors involving clothes in the song that adds a whole other level. What I’ve really appreciated about the song, though, is how, essentially from the first chorus onward, Panda Bear joins Tare on the vocals and sings an entirely different melody over the top. Not in a backup, harmonizing kind of way either, they really act as co-lead vocals. But, you know, you’ll see Tare’s lyrics everywhere because he is the “main” singer for this one. It’s just so fascinating how both vocalists diverge with their vocals, which then come together for the repeats of the final line as the song comes to its end. I always get lost in that moreso than the message. Not that that isn’t important. It’s kind of along the lines of, “Image is something we all think about. It’s just nature. But don’t go changing yourself to please other people.” And that’s pretty solid advice.

So, yeah, not the end of Animal Collective on here, but it’s the end for Merriweather Post Pavilion. It had its time. On some days, it’s my favourite by the group, but the majority of the time that title goes to Strawberry Jam. That is some good listening right there. Only four songs from MPP I managed to write about on here, and had the axes aligned and I’d gotten my act together, at least a couple posts for ‘Also Frightened’ and ‘Brother Sport’ would be found on this place too. Just use your imagination as to how those ones would go. I’m looking at this post for ‘Taste’ now and I’m thinking maybe I could have written a little more about it. I do think it’s a great song, but it came along as more a part of the package that MPP is rather than one I had a grand experience with that I needed to share, which you might in some other posts around the place. But I do appreciate it a lot, and really the song should do all the talking rather than these paragraphs underneath. When the group started playing ‘Taste’ live in 2007, it originally sounded very different. And you’ll find some people saying they prefer this earlier version. I’ll leave it to you.

#1310: Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes

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When I first heard Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion in 2012/13, I really didn’t know what to make of it. It was an album unlike any other I’d heard before. At that time, I was firmly into standard band outfit, guitar, drums, bass guitar, rock music. There was none of that on the LP. And then I’d see MPP-era live performances on YouTube where members Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist were onstage with these massive desks covered in wires and pads and other electronics. To the people who knew the band, it probably wasn’t so unusual. But from having no idea who the band was to then listening to the LP as a gateway, there was something overwhelming about it all. But I gave it another try when I was in my first year of uni, and I got my head around it then and there. It’s considered basic to say the album’s your favourite by the group. Personally, mine is Strawberry Jam. But MPP is a damn good album. Sounds like it was made in some outer Avatar-type universe rather than a studio somewhere in Mississippi.

‘Summertime Clothes’ is the fourth song on there, a very obvious single choice even if ‘My Girls’ was chosen to be the first one released from the album. In 12/8, or 4/4 time with a swing feel, the track has an infectious bounce reinforced by the kick drum and pulsing bass synthesizer. Avey Tare sings it, detailing a scene where the narrator’s twisting and turning in their bed at night, unable to sleep because it’s too darn hot in the room. They’ve gotta get out of the place. And so the narrators calls up a friend or partner, I guess you can assume the latter. Luckily, they pick up the phone and they agree to go walk around in the cool of the outside, grab a bite to eat and indulge in other activities you’d do when going out. Basically the track conveys a huge sense of happiness and comfort of being in the company of someone whose presence is very much appreciated. And, you know, that’s pretty wholesome stuff. A very simple topic to write about, but the production and delivery makes it sound a lot more glorious than it should.

Merriweather… marked a moment where vocal duties between Avey Tare and Panda Bear were somewhat equally split between the two. While predecessor Strawberry Jam was a mostly Tare-led record with Panda Bear contributing two songs and providing backing vocals here and there, MPP provided a larger Panda Bear presence throughout, with an abundance of harmonies and countermelodies to boot. And there are those aplenty just in this song alone. Yeah, Avey Tare starts the song off by himself, with a subtle warbly effect going on with his vocal, but then Panda Bear comes in on a harmony here and there, before the chorus kicks in and the two of them sing together. Always nice when the two sing in unison. During the rushing “When the sun goes down, we’ll go out again” bridge, there are some “Oh-oh” backing vocals by Panda that are buried in the mix and pan all over the place. I thought that was a cool little feature. And I also like the lone ‘paarp’ that occurs after Avey Tare sings “Don’t cool off”. It doesn’t need to be there, but it’s also a nice extra touch. There’s small odd moments like that sprinkled throughout the album that my odd self appreciates thoroughly. But this is a good song. Definitely worth 4-and-a-half minutes of your time.

#1142: Animal Collective – Rosie Oh

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The first few times I’d be playing through Animal Collective’s Centipede Hz when I was getting into the group all those years ago, I’ve gotta say its third song ‘Rosie Oh’ passed me by without much of a second thought on my part. It gets a bit of a raw deal with is position in the tracklisting. The album’s hyped up with its charging first track, which in turn is followed by the unpredictably hyper second (also the first single). You wonder how this hectic momentum built by these two numbers will be carried on. Then ‘Rosie Oh’ comes into the frame, and it sounds like a stroll in the park compared to them – albeit containing the same loaded production choices that have been established in the opening tracks. But somewhere along the way, I came to appreciate it a lot more. And now I can write three paragraphs about it with that appreciation.

After playing a huge part in the direction of the sample-heavy, neo-psychedelia of Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox aka Panda Bear took more of a backseat for Centipede. Quite literally too, as he resumed drumming duties as the four members decided to make their music as more of a typical rock band unit again. Lennox provides two tracks on the album that he takes the lead vocal. One of them I’ve discussed already. ‘Rosie Oh’ isn’t quite as large and swooping as ‘New Town Burnout’, but it certainly surprises you in terms of its structure. There’s a bridge, which you’d think would return back to the melody of the beginning verses, but it goes into another section that in turn goes into a somewhat sudden and unexpected ending after a simmering instrumental break.

The track seems to be an account of someone who has no place to go after being forced out of wherever they once used to live, carrying nothing but a backpack on their person. They’re offered a ride by a stranger and a place to stay by another, but the narrator refuses these and opts to go on their merry way. Maybe the ‘stroll in the park’ feeling of the music is something that’s very much intentional. It’s literally what’s described in the words. Still, being on their own raises the question of whether their lone experiences are essentially worth it without at least having someone their to accompany them. Someone who can be invested in their feelings and bring some relief when things get too heavy. The narrator has an existential crisis at the song’s end: Did they forge this path in life, or did they just let it happen to them? It’s left unresolved, and the album continues onto the next track. But ‘Rosie…’ is definitely an interesting one. More interesting than I think people give it credit. Thumbs up from me.

#1103: Animal Collective – Recycling

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It was 19th February 2016, and it was finally here. Animal Collective’s new album Painting With. I’ve gotta tell you, I was very exciting for that record’s arrival. Having caught up on the majority of the group’s discography through 2013/14, Painting With was the first record of theirs that I was waiting for as a proper fan of their music. ‘FloriDada’ was revealed as its first single in November of the previous year, around the same time that Ween announced they were getting back together (that’s a whole other topic.) I joined the AnCo subreddit to witness the hype and clamouring among fans. Before I could blink, February arrived. I was working at a music magazine, so I could get away with having Spotify open all the time on the desktop. At some point, I went on there, pressed play, let the whole album play out, an by the end… I thought it was okay.

Painting With didn’t leave too much of a big impression, I’m sorry to say. Not to say I was disappointed in it, though. The majority of the songs just didn’t latch onto me that securely. Well, except for two big exceptions. Those being ‘Bagels in Kiev’ and ‘Recycling’, today’s topic of conversation, the track that closes the album out altogether. That track takes a while to get going. A lot of synthesizer work goes on until a stomping rhythm sets in and Panda Bear and Avey Tare trade vocals in the polarizing hocketing technique that is present throughout the album. The hocketing was something I recall fans having hot debates about in those first few days after the release. A lot just weren’t feeling it from the getgo. On some tracks, it does feel a bit egregious. ‘Summing the Wretch’, in my opinion, the worst offender. On ‘Recycling’, the hocketing makes Panda Bear and Avey Tare’s respective vocals somewhat interchangeable. Though the former is the lead vocalist here, you can easily sing the latter’s vocal part and notice that it, in its own way, could also act as the main melody too. Props to hocketing in this instance.

So, what’s ‘Recycling’ about? In Panda Bear’s words, it’s about “being a creative person and about making things that are shared with others.” And I can see it. It addresses the different questions that bands/artists ask others/themselves and decisions they make when creating their work. Fancy instruments aren’t needed to make something original. Sometimes it’s best to address your problems with your peers rather than bottle them inside and feel resentment. Smoke some weed, it’ll help you relax. Soak up the unpredictability and embrace it instead of resisting and pushing it away. All some little nuggets of wisdom to pass on, which bring a sense of closure to the album that’s unravelled before your ears. The song’s instrumental rides out for the last 50 seconds, a lot of rhythmic interplay goes on between various keyboard melodies, and it ends with an almost spooky blooping synth that echoes into silence. Sure, Painting With isn’t my favourite Animal Collective project. But I appreciate it for providing ‘Recycling’, it was an instant favourite of mine from that first listen. This thing’s almost 10 years old, lord save us all.