[Tropic]

Coffee with the big man, damn. How did that come about?

[Sam]

Josh reached out to Kickstarter backers at the time suggesting that if possible he’d love to meet in person to discuss everything that had been going on with the project. The band were about to play some Australian dates in December and so our schedules aligned and I was able to take him up on the offer!

[Curved Hair]

Sam wrote:

Man, looking back on the last decade it’s been nothing but good times:

2011 - posted on CA regarding an Aussie record store that had received Tomboy early which led to another member freebirding the album (beat me to the store by a few hours), saw Panda Bear and Sonic Boom perform at the Hollywood bowl later in the year whilst traveling
2012 - had coffee with Josh / Deakin in Sydney, Australia prior to their show at the Enmore Theatre. He introduced me Noah afterwards.
2013 - saw Animal Collective at the Wiltern in Los Angeles while traveling
2014 - moved to LA (a move I probably never would have made if it weren’t for CA). AC DJ set later that year at Los Globos in Silver Lake, just a short walk from my new apartment.
2015 - Panda Bear @ the Roxy
2016 - Sleep Cycle released, I had backed Deakin’s Kickstarter in 2009 so surreal to finally receive a cassette and listen to this release. Painting With also released, my partner and I travel to Big Sur for the camping weekend.
2017 - Avey + Panda at Desert Daze (debut of Homies), travel to NYC to see Sung Tongs live at P4K’s 21st.
2018 - See Sung Tongs live a couple more times in LA
2019 - Buoys live x2, travel to Big Sur once more to see the band’s last show of the year.

Thank you for making this post.

I cant choose a favorite era, just grateful to be a part of the whole decade.
Infinite love and thanks to you and Saida for being so amazing.

[alvinrowx]

I consider ODDSAC to be their last masterpiece (maybe with TTG), as a band. To me, it's like the last great chapter of a "dark fairytale" trilogy, after STGSTV and Fall be Kind, which also are in my top 5. Screens, in its simplicity, is one of the most perfect and purest melodies they've ever written, Mr Fingers is as hypnotic as any Fall Be Kind song, Working is beautiful and What Happened is an absolute banger. I was a bit disappointed they didn't explore further this period's kind of dark-dub-folk on following albums.
To me, Honeycomb is their last true great song, even if CHz (Applesauce...) was pretty nice overall.

I would say Panda Bear is the only one to have constantly produced great albums, after that. The first Tomboy demos were my favourite period, and Last Night at the Jetty and Alsatian Darn are still 2 of my favourite 2010's songs. I didn't really enjoy Grim Reaper on first listens but it became one of my biggest growers of the decade. I don't think Buoys is as important as these two but it's still really enjoyable. Each time I listen to a new PB album, I have the impression to discover a whole new world of sounds, which perfectly fits to the melodies. It's always the most immersive music with the biggest replay value I listen to.

Imo, Down There is the most cohesive and creative Avey's album but Eucalyptus could have been even better if all the songs had been as complex and beautifully written as Melody Unfair, Ms Secret and Season High... Overall, a really good album but a missed masterpiece. Cows is nice but doesn't have anything as exciting as these ones.

Sometimes, I'm afraid they won't be able to go back to their 2000 - 2010 level, but Tangerine Reef gave me hope. There are fillers but I feel like Palythoa, Inspector Gadget, Buxom or Best of Times are their first songs in years to sound like real AnCo music, in the way they incorporate each sound into the melodies. It's the element I missed the most from their golden era so I'm truly happy to hear it again.

[Tropic]

^ don't agree with it all but great post. Feel like we're in tune with one another. You should give Euc another shot or two if you haven't, the rest is as complex and beautiful as those

[dio]

For a second there, the latter 2 solo eras, including this most recent one were catching up, but yeah this shit is decisively in favor of '10, and now I wanna know if that's cuz of ODDSAC specifically or more for either DT or TB, or if it's literally cause of all 3. It was a fantastic victory lap to their big breakthrough MPP year.

Avey's solo for me is still a bit more consistent since Euc has such a singular vibe and Reaper the album isn't that great for me save for CTYS and Selfish, with the EPs being way better. But yeah Panda put out 3 incredible EPs in addition to his 3 LPs this decade, compared to Dave's 4 LPs, a live EP and a sick EP last month, so they're prolific af..

It kinda sounds like we're all in agreement that this decade couldn't quite fuck with the legendary run of ST to MPP or even strait up Spirit to MPP which is wildly long run of amazing, but that the new live shit sounds more promising than maybe anything.

either way, great band. 2 decades worth of so much of my favorite music of all time. People like Weyes Blood, Vampire Weekend, and Mac Demarco have been great this decade too, but none as prolific or big of a deal for me as AC. it sounds stagnant to still be obsessessed with the same band you loved in high school but fuck it..

anyway idk where I'm going with this. but yeah word, ALL eras win. in the end..

[alvinrowx]

Tropic of Cans wrote:

^ don't agree with it all but great post. Feel like we're in tune with one another. You should give Euc another shot or two if you haven't, the rest is as complex and beautiful as those

Actually, I really love Eucalyptus. I've listened to it a lot and I find most of the songs better than Cows' ones. But I feel like these 3 songs in particular and maybe When You Left me are on another level, worthy (or almost) of his 2000's era.