Indie lovers, I think we have a problem here. It appears that Animal Collective and its constituents are trying to monopolize the indie world. First, they control the hipster elitists...Pitchfork is already firmly under their spell. Then, with the backing of hipsters they will come to take hold of popular music. All the hipsters (led by P4k, of course) will smother anyone who disagrees with the aesthetic of their dreamy/neo-psychedelic pop. Then they will overcome the media, and as everybody knows, once you control the media, you control the masses. Soon enough they will spread their hegemony beyond the U.S. and Europe and will have commie Vietnamese dancing around with their hands held high to "Who Could Win a Rabbit". Then they will tackle the conformists in Asia, and everybody from Ichiro to Kim Jong Il will soon sport their I Love Avey Tare T-shits. And Bam! Before you know it, Animal Collective will have taken over the world.

Be weary, indie hipsters. You are the only sector puissant enough to stop this dominoe-effect.

But, damn their records are good.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Vypa,

I really doubt they'll ever get too popular. The majority of music listeners don't like anything too experimental or weird, which is exactly what they are.

That said, if I had to choose a band with a creepy aesthetic that could possibly be a cult, Animal Collective would be right behind the Polyphonic Spree.

I don't think you got the joke, Chamberk.

Anyway, this is one of the more interesting lead offs into a band discussion I've heard. I've never been able to enjoy one of their albums all the way through, though I think the first two songs off "Sung Tungs" are really good. And I used "Did You See the Words" in a Spanish presentation last year.

I'm a big fan of Feels, and I love the new Panda Bear record.

For me though, in terms of neo-folk (or freak-folk or whatever), I actually prefer Akron/Family.

Nothing against Animal Collective, though. I really really like Feels, and am starting to get into Sung Tongs.

Feels is a top ten of the decade type of album to me. "Purple Bottle" and "Banshee Beat" are so freaking good. Have you guys seen this? Make sure you watch to the end. Thats some crazy shit.

quote:

Originally posted by Hophead:
Feels is a top ten of the decade type of album to me. "Purple Bottle" and "Banshee Beat" are so freaking good. Have you guys seen this? Make sure you watch to the end. Thats some crazy shit.

I agree Feels is an absolutely stunning album. And thanks for the link, that is brilliantly mad

I liked Sung Tongs, but I found Feels to be a disappointment. ST was good because it was weird without losing its charm, but I found Feels to be too bizarre.
Panda Bear is weird too.

quote:

I liked Sung Tongs, but I found Feels to be a disappointment. ST was good because it was weird without losing its charm, but I found Feels to be too bizarre

Whoa, really? I found Sung Tungs to be the stranger of the two, and I frankly found most of it to be annoying. I thought Feels was nice because many of the songs still had relatively simple structures, and they cut out most of the grating vocals from Sung Tongs. I do think "Leaf House" and "Winter's Love" are nice songs, though. I find Animal Collective to be best at their most conventional, personally.

quote:

Originally posted by less_success:

quote:

I liked Sung Tongs, but I found Feels to be a disappointment. ST was good because it was weird without losing its charm, but I found Feels to be too bizarre

Whoa, really? I found Sung Tungs to be the stranger of the two, and I frankly found most of it to be annoying. I thought Feels was nice because many of the songs still had relatively simple structures, and they cut out most of the grating vocals from Sung Tongs. I do think "Leaf House" and "Winter's Love" are nice songs, though. I find Animal Collective to be best at their most conventional, personally.

For me Feels is definitely better than sung tongs as i found it more consistent. Yes it is probably more conventional but still suitably weird. However my favourite track from the two albums still has to be Who Could Win a Rabbit.

To be fair, Animal Collective do have more than two albums.

I haven't heard any of their others? Enlighten me.

'Here Comes the Indian' is really good. It's a bit more out there than the most recent two, but it's gooood.

I'll check it out. If it's weird enough, I'll like it.
(I like music that's either not weird, or really weird.)

Definetely check out Here Comes the Indian if you don't mind something a bit weird. Also definetely check out Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished. I'd say it's there best cd (though it was recorded under the names Avey Tare and Panda Bear). A lot of really great acoustic pop songs with syths running throughout, and just a bit of noise in between. Campfire songs is another good one worth a listen. It's really laid back and has a similar aesthetic to the longer, slower songs on Sung Tongs.
On Animal Collective, they are one of my favorite bands around. I like their older, wierder stuff a bit more, but still love the last two newer, poppier cd's. They pull of plenty of different styles very well and deserve all the attention they are getting.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: grabblegarrr,

Animal Collective is the soundtrack to insanity; I have trouble listening to them for any sustained amount of time because they are so bizarre (and not "good" bizarre, but rather "unhinged" bizarre). If someone like me has trouble really getting into them, I doubt they'll ever even make it to mainstream, let alone take over the world.

They are amazing live though.

They were in my town but it was already sold out by the time I got there.

I wish I could have seen them, everyone says they're so good live.

Really looking forward to Strawberry Jam this September either way.