[basementvoice]

I was obsessed with The Residents hardcore in early high school so I was open to experimental stuff but I thought there could never be a band as cool as the residents because I was a stuck up dingus in high school (learn from my mistakes don't feel like you're better than somebody just because they don't like the same music as you). But then my pa recorded them performing Summertime Clothes on Letterman and I thought that it was surprisingly weird for being on TV so I bought Merriweather Post Pavilion at Best Buy. I listened to it like 3 times and it clicked and now four year later AC is still my fav band all time and MPP is still my fav thing all time.

[SpiffyGriff]

Around mid 2009 a girl I was talking to got me to download Sung Tongs, Feels, SJ, and MPP. I listened to MPP like once and thought they were cool but I didn't get it really. Fast forward to 2012, a recent ex girlfriend who loves AC sent me the link to the Centipede Hz broadcast randomly, and that's when the magic happened.

[terrestrialjane]

I was and still am a huge fan of the Residents during my first years to experimental music. I feel like they might have a influence on the AC, but yeah the Residents kick buttowski man

[El Camino]

Nice, just started a Residents thread today over in music, definitely see the influence particularly on their early stuff.
The Residents were listed in their 127 influences in the centipedia thing.

[terrestrialjane]

Yeah I remember foggily years ago I read an interview and I believe that Dave listed the Residents as one of their influences, could have also been like Can and another group. It just sounds familiar. I'll also have to stop by your thread their, sir-i-oh... haha get it... cer-e-al ? ahh nvm

[gallowsbird]

Ah, great question! I like hearing these sorts of anecdotes.
For me, I have to blame mtv2 of all places. One afternoon after school (I think I was a HS sophomore at the time) I turned on the tv and saw the video for WCWAR and thought "I need this band in my life." Less than a month later, feels came out and I remember buying it, listening to it, and being very confused. Until Purple Bottle came on, then I "got" what they were doing.
It was all downhill from there.

[snowtire]

I was browsing wikipedia in early 2010 (I remember finding out that FBK had just come out shortly after) for PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC and ended up on the Freak Folk page and ended up on the Animal Collective page and saw the cover of Merriweather Post Pavilion and I was like "Oh I've seen that before, everyone says its good." And I said to my sister I think I'm going to buy this album, do you like this band? And she was like "They're terrible you won't like them" and she had me listen to peacebone and said it was just a buncha screamin. I thought it was fantastic and I impulse-bought MPP for like almost thirty dollars or something ridiculous like that.

[WEEKS LATER]
I decided I liked MPP a lot so the next time I was at my local record i figured i'd pick up whichever AC album was the cheapest and it ended up bein HCTI and the beginning of native belle where everything drops out a couple times blew my mind but the rest of it just kinda scared me but I listened to it more and more and the rest is history

(tldr it was basically just wikipedia)

[Tresilaze]

I first heard them around in the early part of the last decade on the defunct CBC radio experimental music show Brave New Waves. They devoted an hour or two to AC and I was pretty psyched to finally hear this great new psychedelic band. I absolutely hated them! All I remember is hearing a bunch of aimless acoustic songs.

2009 comes around and everyone is going crazy over MMP. I think, "I wonder what happened in the world to drive everyone insane. Did the Joker poison the reservoir yet again?" I listened to it and thought it was ok, but that it was a bit too samey, though In The Flowers, My Girls, and Bluish were all really good. I still didn't think very highly of them though.

In 2011 I hear that Sonic Boom is mixing Panda Bear's new album. I didn't really care one way or the other, but being a big fan of the Spacemen 3 family I had to check it out...and I was blown away. Hearing that record for the first time was one of the greatest musical experiences of my life. My universe expanded. It remains one of my all time favorite albums. I thought that maybe I misjudged AC, so I downloaded everything...and still didn't really like any of it aside from Fall Be Kind, which I thought was genius. I still do. It's probably my favorite AC related release.

I listened to them intermittently from then on, waiting for them to click with me. It didn't make sense that I could like Panda so much but find AC to be weak. Slowly they grew on me. I liked CHz when it came out (my favorite full length now) and I'd listen to MPP while running, but they didn't really hit me until this past winter. It was ODDSAC that did it. It blew my mind and made everything else make sense. The world has felt like a different, better place since I saw ODDSAC.

It took about 10 years, but they're one of my favorite bands. I've still not heard HCTI, Danse Manatee, or Hollinndagain, but everything else is great. The diversity of their catalogue makes them one of the most rewarding groups to ever record music.

And that's my overly long story!

[terrestrialjane]

Tresilaze wrote:

I've still not heard HCTI, Danse Manatee, or Hollinndagain, but everything else is great.

You might wanna get on that good sir, they're some real gems.

[Tresilaze]

I'm really looking forward to getting to them. Indian is next on my list because the LP is only $16. I'm enjoying taking my time with these guys though. They really deserve to have a lot attention lavished on their albums.

[honeyfuckles]

I got into AC in late 2009, last year of high school.

To start from the very beginning, November 2009, I start to get into TV on the Radio and am really digging their songs like Staring at the Sun, Province, Dancing Choose, Golden Age, Halfway Home, etc. And around this time, I started hearing the name Animal Collective thrown around a little bit, but I never checked them out. There was even this one night where I was singing some TVotR lyrics to myself, and a friend asked "whoa, dude is that Animal Collective?" and I said no.

So fast forward two weeks or so, and I'm hanging with the same friend and a few others in this park after school, I get bored of their conversation and ask to borrow the friends iPod. He doesn't have much on there, but he had Animal Collective.

I click on it, and he has 3 songs, Summertime Clothes, My Girls, and Fireworks. I listened to both My Girls and Summertime Clothes first, but I didn't finish either of them since they sound kind of like a blur to me.

So I checked out Fireworks last, and upon those opening 'oohs' I was immediately hooked, and by the time it reached the middle with those whale sounds, I was in a trance. I replayed the song twice I think, it completely blew my mind. It was kinda chilly and overcast outside, so that added to the experience.

Then with that, I continued to learn about more stuff from them such as Winter Wonder Land, Fickle Cycle, Purple Bottle, Leaf House, Also Frightened WCWAR?, etc.

And my love for them has grown and grown ever since (with a short break I took from them in 2011).

I'd probably say this year is the year that I've fully appreciated everything they have, right down to their live rarities.

Spoiler: show

I realize this was way longer than it needed to be.

[thebackdrifter]

Bought Sung Tongs in High School, nothing ever has been the same since. Got Feels the day it came out and smoked weed for the first time in my life, then become super mega fan obsessed throughout college and still to this day cannot think of a band that has permeated my consciousness as much as they have with their music. Richard D. James comes pretty close though.

[johnnyvulpine]

first year of college i was getting really into blogging and networking etc...i started downloading music and talking to people for suggestions. i downloaded mpp via a friend the day it freebirded on xmas (i forgot when this was...2008?) and it was the most amazing thing i ever heard...
i downloaded water curses next and just heard those 2 lp/ep for months before i downloaded the discog.
i obsessed with the albums between sung tongs and mpp from 2008~ until probably 2009 i think? i moved in with my friend and we both watched anco live videos and got high/took hallucinogenics and started a band called Dali (it was really bad and he was terrible at keeping timing. here's the my space anyway https://myspace.com/dalidaliband ) and this is when i first started getting into the albums hcti and etc. they started becoming my favorites.
we ended up parting ways because we just couldn't get along. i was alone most of the time and got into some sort of depression and listened to crack box, campfire songs and young prayer. i met a girl online and moved to new hampshire and my ex roommate had moved to boston (strange because we both lived in tx). we tried the band again but it didn't work.
i've been making music since and it's a lot more fun for me and animal collective is still pretty much the only band i listen to 5+ years later.

[Tico]

Tresilaze wrote:

I'm really looking forward to getting to them. Indian is next on my list because the LP is only $16. I'm enjoying taking my time with these guys though. They really deserve to have a lot attention lavished on their albums.

yeah those are probably their three best albums. youre lucky for not having heard them a million times though

[Bangs]

Some time in 2007 I suppose. I know Strawberry Jam was just about to be released. Liked a few songs off Sung Tongs and Feels but wasn't a major fan. I'm still a pretty casual fan but I love those two albums now.

[Sam]

2007 for me too.
i'd listened to grass a bunch on their myspace which prompted me to download feels. SJ was released shortly after that and i was hooked / began working my way through their earlier discography.

[pants]

I first got into AC around 2 years ago. I had heard My Girls before and liked it a lot actually but I guess I was too lazy to properly listen to anything else by them. During summer 2011 a friend recommended Fall Be Kind to me and I did listen but it sort of did nothing to me (which I really cannot understand now). After that summer I moved in with the same friend and she played some AC to me at some point, and when I heard FBK again it just hit me hard. After that I just started checking out one album after another starting with MPP and was in love pretty soon. I still haven't heard Hollinndagain or Crack Box though... I should really listen to those I guess

Getting into their music was a kind of turning point because it introduced me to a lot of other amazing stuff and I just started 'getting' a lot more different kinds of music. Animal collective is so special to me and is just overall such a unique band. I feel like their music (dunno what about it, maybe the general attitude towards life that you get from the songs) has changed something in me for the best Woah that was emotional.

[piesh]

Pants may I suggest this for an avatar:



Who is it?...

Spoiler: show

[pants]

oh man this is beautiful. i'm considering it

[jeremy]

My ex-girlfriend's ex-boyfriend recommended Sung Tongs and Feels in 2005. I went backwards from there after consuming both albums completely.

[terrestrialjane]

That guy above me has a pretty cool avatar .

[darusalex]

I was in 7th grade and a girl I idolized mentioned them one time, so I checked them out and fell in love.
It is now 5 years later and they are the one group that I have listened to almost every day since then and have not gotten sick of.
That I am very happy about:D

[El Camino]

I remember seeing the video for My Girls on the TV when I was 12/13 and I didn't like it because all the levels were off with pretty much no bass and too much treble so it sounded boring, so it took me a few more years to get into them.

[rampface]

I grew up listening to all of the mainstream 90s/early 00s bands (Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Deadsy, The Mars Volta, Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age, Beck, etc.) but eventually became bored after playing the same albums over and over for 10 years. I needed something new and experimental. In 2006, I went to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs with my ex girlfriend. A band I had never heard of opened the show...that band was Deerhunter. I remember Karen O describing their set as a "religious experience" but I wasn't sure if I liked it at first. Bradford came out in his Cryptograms era dress and they opened with Calvary Scars II. I was so confused. By the end of their set, I recall thinking to myself "this will be my favorite band a year from now". The entire band was hanging out at the merch booth after the show and I regret not talking to them or buying anything.

I didn't immediately download or check out their recordings. It took a few months. I couldn't get them out of my head. I also saw Liars open for the Smashing Pumpkins in 2007 and had the same reaction. I had never heard music like this before. This is what I was looking for. So on September 14th 2007 (according to last.fm) I downloaded Deerhunter - Cryptograms, Liars - self titled, and, another band I had never heard of, Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam. The album had just been released that week and I saw many people on atease praising it.

My initial reaction to Peacebone was "what the fuck is this happy shit?!?" This was very new to me. Most of the music I listened to was sad and depressing and full of angst. I had never felt these emotions. This was pure joy. I felt like a kid at christmas time. I thought the sounds they were using were very interesting and felt fresh to my ears. But I wasn't won over just yet. The first three tracks confused the hell out of me. I couldn't wrap my brain around this overtly happy music. Where are the guitars?! Where are the loud rock drums!? Where are the angsty lyrics?!? Just as I was starting to give up....Reverend Green appeared. Something about this track was so perfect and clicked with me. I got it! This makes sense to me now! I think I'm in love! Then Fireworks started and I felt like I had discovered a brand new world. Strawberry Jam changed my life. It made me realize that I wanted to be happy and I had to start surrounding myself with positivity.

I quickly became obsessed and began to research the band and navigate through their discography. I remember thinking how cool it was that their shows consisted of all new material. I listened to so many of the 2007 bootlegs anticipating what would become Merriweather Post Pavilion. I printed out all of their lyrics and read through them while going over each album. This is when I became a real fan. Avey is underrated as one of the great lyricists of this new wave of music. His poetry is beautiful and vivid and really paints a picture in your head. So because of Strawberry Jam I completely changed my musical tastes and attitude about life. And that is why they are my favorite band.

[Calvin]

I want to say 2007, but that was just when i first heard it. i remember pitchfork rec'd person pitch and it was like the first time i'd ever heard of pitchfork, and just assumed it would be a perfect album for a long drive. well i hated it and really loathed the indie scene for about a week. was like 'why would they do this to me? rec something so highly that's such shit??"

fast forward to 2008 and the same thing happened for strawberry jam. but then i listened to it a second time, i remember exactl ywhere i was, on the bus, heading home from a long day at work. it was my first month into work, maybe less than 1 month after my final summer break had ended. shit hit me hard. the rest is history. i love every album they've ever made

[Gravity]

I heard fireworks for the first time and my brain said "more."
now I'm here.

[Calvin]

seems lots of people got into them through SJ

[terrestrialjane]

I did as well. It was the first AC album I heard .

[crikit]

ya same.
6 years later...
been listening to chores, fireworks, and cuckoo on repeat this week!
also i was thinking about how perfect the cover is too. the little bit of yellow in it is real nice.

[GeckoSushi]

INTRO TO AC:

How: burned CD of Sung Tongs in my car

When: 2004

LOVE FOR AC:

How: burned CD of Feels in my car

When: 2005

oh and I did buy both of those records later

[cody]

SJ was freebirding on blogs so i listened to leaf house on myspace
love at 1st sight

[P nu]

I downloaded the entire AC discography my Junior year of high school, though I didn't get into most of their stuff until Freshman year of college when I met my roommate, Brint. I was listening to a lot of emo/skramz/metal in high school so songs like Reverend Greene really did it for me back then. I also was into a lot of freak folk, like Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom, so I really dug the Prospect Hummer EP. I also really dug the song Bluish when MPP came out, but didn't get into the album until later.

The real turning point in my fandom was listening to Person Pitch, and Fall Be Kind (especially What Would I Want, Sky)

[terrestrialjane]

It's too bad AC and Vashti Bunyan never really played any shows, or any like sets. That would have been sweet.

[JohnRealtime]

A good friend of mine was trying to get me into them pretty hard back in early 2008. I went on their myspace (it was still a thing!) and listened to Peacebone for about 10 seconds and was immediately turned off and told my friend it was noise, not music. (this is pretty much what I thought it was like, just from that brief judgmental sampling : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqTo2XSGqog ) Within 6 months they'd become my favorite band. I gave Feels a try a little while after trying Peacebone and loved it right away. Everything they've put out Sung Tongs and later are some of my fav albums in all music.

I vividly remember the first time I heard Brothersport. I had some live recording and I put it on my computer and laid on the carpet of my apartment bedroom and put my head between the two speakers. Music has never made me feel more euphoric. After listening to it I ran into the other room and excitedly told my friends about it and had them come in and listen. Ironically, the friend who had originally got me into them was initially put off by the screaming in Brothersport.

[thedamnscott]

During my sophomore year of college (08-09) I began my practice of trying to listen to basically any album with an 85 or above on Metacritic, a practice which continues. I listened to a few songs off of MPP but didn't really think much of it, for whatever reason.

My younger brother visited me right before my spring break and told me that I had to listen to the Animal Collective album because it was incredible and sounded like the future of music. We share similar tastes, so I did just that a few times and started to like it. Then two of us visited Morocco over spring break, where my sister was living at the time, and I listened to the album twice on the flight over and then probably twice a day for the duration of the trip, to the extent that even now when I listen to certain songs off of that album (Also Frightened and No More Runnin in particular) I get pretty intense and awesome flashbacks to that trip. That was the best trip I've ever been on and MPP remains my favorite album of all time, so the connection makes me really, really happy.

[onesweetone]

Bonefish - Explosion of electronic sounds - Tribal Drum beat - And I was hooked for life.

So yeah, late 2007, listened to Peacebone, listened to the whole of Strawberry Jam. Spent 2008 listening back through their entire discography including Panda Bear and Avey solos, saw them play MPP stuff live in May 2008 supported by Atlas Sound which got me even more hooked. MPP dropped January 2009 and it was the best first time album listening experience I've ever had.

Prior to that I was really into Radiohead around age 13-14. Later teenage years I got into Arcade Fire and then a whole heap of Indie/ Alternative/ Experimental stuff: Pavement, Fiery Furnaces, Elephant Six, Deerhunter and many more... eventually leading me to Animal Collective who exceded my experience of any band previously and no band has got near since.

[Wilbur]

onesweetone wrote:

MPP dropped January 2009 and it was the best first time album listening experience I've ever had.

Yeah, definitely my experience too. I felt chills on damn near every song, never had such a thing happen since.

[Micah]

read the Pitchfork review of Sung Tongs when it came out. sounded really cool so I bought it later that day solely because Pitchfork gave it a good review (I was 14 and HIGHLY influenced by P4K). I absolutely HATED it, I couldn't wrap my mind around it I guess. about a year later I took it out and put it on, giving it another go (which is something few people do now-a-days, including myself. if you don't invest any money into the album it's easy not to give it a second chance and just delete it. the downside to downloading IMO is you don't give albums the time they might require.) and once the second part of Winters Love came on it just clicked with me. I listened to it non-stop and bought every AC release from that point on. I still play the shit out of all of them cause they're all so damn good.

[gdfkghkfdg]

2006

[terrestrialjane]

^ that was a very good year ...