[blindmowing]

first listen of Ark in a few years.

this isn't an album i can play often. i've gotta be in the right headspace, and the environment has to be just right. there were periods of my listen tonight where i felt like i was having a bad trip, and was reminded why i have a tough time with this album sometimes. it evokes the chaotic/manic in me. i hear the art, the forest, the energy, the vision, but i also hear -- almost too clearly -- the demons inside of me when i listen to this record.

it was a fantastic and thrilling listen though; what's incredible about AC is that they create Experiences, not just a set of songs. it's so easy to fall into the worlds they have built and come away from the listen feeling like you just came back from a trip to another galaxy. that's a special trait AC has, and why they're my favorite band. i have transcendent and deep experiences listening to their music -- moreso than any other artist.

it hit me while listening to this that i don't give Avey enough credit as a vocalist. his vocals on this record are mind-boggling, and i'd argue on the whole Ark contains his best vocal performances on any record of his/AC's. if i were to mention only one element of Ark, the highest of highlights, it would be the vocals, and that's not something i've ever thought before when listening to the record. the vocal effects on this are wild, piercing, ear-splitting.

scraping, scratching, peeling, tearing. these are the kinds of verbs that come to mind when i hear these songs. it's artistic violence. what i always remember most when i think about this record is the NOISE, so what surprised me most when i listened tonight was how much quiet there is too -- the patience of Infant Dressing Table and Two Sails... or when Hey Light is reduced to just clapping and voice. AC balanced this record out really well... the pacing is kind. we are beholden to an onslaught to begin with, but that's a rite of passage into a more contemplative mid-section.

i was struck again with the idea "the best AC album is the one you're currently listening to" while halfway through the album. i think that'll be true for any album from the 2000s i listen to.

i'm curious about who contributes what sounds to this record. i've read that Avey is the only guitar player on the record. does Noah add anything other than drums to the record? what's Deakin doing aside from piano? but sometimes when i'd hear a certain sound effect, i'd get curious which of the four came up with the sound and played it. on later records, it becomes a bit easier to say, "that's a panda sound" or "that's a geo sound," etc.

interesting to realize in hindsight this is their last dark/noisy record for awhile. they'll stay pretty raw and primal for Sung Tongs, but the next time they convene as a four-piece they'll have left the deep&dark middle of the forest and will be heading towards a different kind of land...

[nothingmaster]

blindmowing wrote:

i was struck again with the idea "the best AC album is the one you're currently listening to" while halfway through the album. i think that'll be true for any album from the 2000s i listen to.

Had this exact thought while listening to Ark some months back

I think Ark is their most interesting and mysterious band set up. The way they all were live mixing each other makes it hard to tell who's doing what. I'd imagine several sounds are products of more than one of their modulations. Their audio expression was all literally wired with each other like a fungus.

[Slippi's Applesauce]

Popped on Campfire Songs this evening and… wow. It’s probably been a few years since I really paid attention to it, having usually put it on in the background while doing other things. Of course I knew doggy was great, but Queen in my Pictures and especially De Soto De Sun blew me away. Also it was nice to finally pick Deak’s voice out on the two middle songs

The whole record drew me in. Don’t have much else to say that hasn’t been already said but the atmosphere and vocals are on another level. Can’t wait for ARK!

[foxtrot]

Thanks for the kind words about my write ups! I have been having so much fun really digging into these albums and falling in love with them all over again. Awesome that people are enjoying my ramblings. Its been great to get stuff down and have a bit of a record. And I’ve loved reading other people’s thoughts and interpretations so much.

Haven't listened to Blasted yet. Have only listened once in the past and it did very little for me so I'm curious to see how I respond this time around.

blindmowing wrote:

first listen of Ark in a few years.

this isn't an album i can play often. i've gotta be in the right headspace, and the environment has to be just right.

Agree that this albums needs the right headspace and focus. It totally inhabits you. I think I've found the right times reasoanbly often because my love for it runs deep. None have ever matched the other day though!

blindmowing wrote:

there were periods of my listen tonight where i felt like i was having a bad trip, and was reminded why i have a tough time with this album sometimes. it evokes the chaotic/manic in me. i hear the art, the forest, the energy, the vision, but i also hear -- almost too clearly -- the demons inside of me when i listen to this record.

I think I love this album most when I submit to its feral nature. Like I said in my write-up, I BECOME the animal. Become nature. If I feel like I am the dirt, the guts, the THREAT... then the album is fucking religious. Those demons are just the chaos in me/you and in nature. Chaos is the only god we truly know.

blindmowing wrote:

it was a fantastic and thrilling listen though; what's incredible about AC is that they create Experiences, not just a set of songs. it's so easy to fall into the worlds they have built and come away from the listen feeling like you just came back from a trip to another galaxy. that's a special trait AC has, and why they're my favorite band. i have transcendent and deep experiences listening to their music -- moreso than any other artist.

Yes! Every album builds its own unique, captivating world. I find myself more 'lost' in their albums than any other artist.

blindmowing wrote:

it hit me while listening to this that i don't give Avey enough credit as a vocalist. his vocals on this record are mind-boggling, and i'd argue on the whole Ark contains his best vocal performances on any record of his/AC's. if i were to mention only one element of Ark, the highest of highlights, it would be the vocals, and that's not something i've ever thought before when listening to the record. the vocal effects on this are wild, piercing, ear-splitting.

Avey's best vocals have to be Feels for me. That album really shows off his breadth and incredible emotionality. That said, I agree that this album has so many amazing vocal moments. Many of which you don't even realise are vocals for the first few listens. This was actually the first AC album I heard. It didn’t really click at the time (I wasn't ready!). Then when Sung Tongs came out, I really got into it and went back to this. I had in my head that it was basically an instrumental album! Apart from some obvious exceptions. Totally changed my tune on that after revisiting and getting into it. Bit of a tangent, but I remember going to a friend's house. He was a total nutter: only dressed in yellow, ate bananas all the time (he used to take them to gigs) and called himself 'Oz'. Anyway, we laid on the floor at his place and blasted it. It was then I realised that this album is drenched in all kinds of incredible vocals.

blindmowing wrote:

scraping, scratching, peeling, tearing. these are the kinds of verbs that come to mind when i hear these songs. it's artistic violence. what i always remember most when i think about this record is the NOISE, so what surprised me most when i listened tonight was how much quiet there is too -- the patience of Infant Dressing Table and Two Sails... or when Hey Light is reduced to just clapping and voice. AC balanced this record out really well... the pacing is kind. we are beholden to an onslaught to begin with, but that's a rite of passage into a more contemplative mid-section.

This album is so well balanced. I feel like it goes through these amazingly visceral phases of like, feeling hunted and then being the hunter.

blindmowing wrote:

i'm curious about who contributes what sounds to this record. i've read that Avey is the only guitar player on the record. does Noah add anything other than drums to the record? what's Deakin doing aside from piano? but sometimes when i'd hear a certain sound effect, i'd get curious which of the four came up with the sound and played it. on later records, it becomes a bit easier to say, "that's a panda sound" or "that's a geo sound," etc.

interesting to realize in hindsight this is their last dark/noisy record for awhile. they'll stay pretty raw and primal for Sung Tongs, but the next time they convene as a four-piece they'll have left the deep&dark middle of the forest and will be heading towards a different kind of land...

Panda definitely does a bunch of vocals. I can hear him in quite a few different parts. Part of the his album is definitely the mystery about how the sounds were made and who is doing what. Like when you hear a sound at night and you can't immediately identify it and then you're on total high alert. Hyper-sensitive to every sound. This album pulls you in like that. It has you in high alert in the best possible way.

[foxtrot]

nothingmaster wrote:

Their audio expression was all literally wired with each other like a fungus.

Fucking love this!

Slippi's Applesauce wrote:

Popped on Campfire Songs this evening and… wow. It’s probably been a few years since I really paid attention to it, having usually put it on in the background while doing other things. Of course I knew doggy was great, but Queen in my Pictures and especially De Soto De Sun blew me away. Also it was nice to finally pick Deak’s voice out on the two middle songs

The whole record drew me in. Don’t have much else to say that hasn’t been already said but the atmosphere and vocals are on another level. Can’t wait for ARK!

Awesome that it commanded your attention more so than in the past. Its a lot of fun to pick out the Deaks now that we know his voice so much better.

[madameghostly]

Campfire Songs: this was another album i never really paid much attention to before (at least i'm not alone in that) but hey, that's what this whole retrospective thing is for, right? anyway, this thing is awesome. just 42 minutes of pure vibes. it feels like the prequel to Sung Tongs, and i mean that in the best possible way. and it lives up to its name; despite staring at a screen pretty much the whole time i was listening to it (i'm lazy, sue me), it made me feel like i was at the chillest campfire party ever

speaking of things i never really paid much attention to before, how about those lyrics, huh? god, they're depressing! i know Doggy being about the narrator's dog falling out of a tree and dying is the example most people use, but the song about a car crash, the song about a drought, the song about colonialism, and the song about having to break up with your girlfriend because she used so many psychedelics she went insane all deserve to be mentioned too

maybe not in the middle of a normal conversation but, like, you know what i mean

[s]also when are we doing the first two Jane EPs[/s]

[foxtrot]

madameghostly wrote:

Campfire Songs: this was another album i never really paid much attention to before (at least i'm not alone in that) but hey, that's what this whole retrospective thing is for, right?

Totally! I'm glad people are being reminded of some of these early records. There is so much to discover in them.

madameghostly wrote:

anyway, this thing is awesome. just 42 minutes of pure vibes. it feels like the prequel to Sung Tongs, and i mean that in the best possible way. and it lives up to its name; despite staring at a screen pretty much the whole time i was listening to it (i'm lazy, sue me), it made me feel like i was at the chillest campfire party ever

I always imagined it as the offspring of Sung Tongs and Danse but after listening to this and Ark together a lot over the last few days I'm seeing the commonalities between them more and more.

madameghostly wrote:

speaking of things i never really paid much attention to before, how about those lyrics, huh? god, they're depressing! i know Doggy being about the narrator's dog falling out of a tree and dying is the example most people use, but the song about a car crash, the song about a drought, the song about colonialism, and the song about having to break up with your girlfriend because she used so many psychedelics she went insane all deserve to be mentioned too

Yeh, the lyrics add a whole new layer of feeling to this album. I reckon I went about 10 years of listening to this before I really took any notice of the lyrics to anything other than Doggy. Now, the album's feeling has totally shifted because of it.

madameghostly wrote:

also when are we doing the first two Jane EPs

It was hard for me to know where to draw the line with what to include in the schedule. When I put it all together I decided that singles, live albums, boots and side projects (apart from solo) wouldn't go in. Even though I'll probably informally listen to them during the given week. I mean, you don't spend a week with SJ and not listen to Safer. But then people asked for the Jane and TT records. So I included albums only. As always though, just chuck on whatever you wanna listen to really!

[foxtrot]

Had my ‘out in the woods’ listen to Ark, today is my ‘close headphone’ listen.

Native Belle: Love the way the voices during the intro are just creeping in the distance. Various animal noises flashing around from amongst the foliage. The stop start verse is so fucking cool. It always reminds me of when you hear a sound behind you at night and you just turn and freeze for a moment. The melody in this song is fascinatingly obscured but super catchy. I really think this song, with a different arrangement, could have been a Feels track or something. The chorus reminds me of Grass with one part repetitive and aggressively delivered/shouted while the backing vocals sing this really melodic counter. Panda’s drumming in this song is some of my favourite ever.

Hey Light: The intro to this song is just incredible. That warped talking vocal bit and those crash hits from Panda. Then the screaming. I just get filled with such energy and ferocity every time. I love how Panda’s snare hits are a bit inconsistent. Has this human, live feel. Like he was so caught up in the shouting and the energy that the precision of the drumming didn’t matter. And then the way this huge verse comes in, massive droning guitars and massive vocals. One of my favourite little details is the way there are these quiet vocals in the right channel mimicking Panda’s drum hits with this awesome little ascending ‘gunna gunna gunna gunna’ thing. I love how when the verse ends the shouting is right there. Like they had just been shouting and going mental in the background the whole time. ‘Liiiiiiiiiigghhhht!’ – mental. The chant and claps at the end are like the anti-Campfire Song. No blissful atmosphere. Just this creepy, slower than it should be chant with these high frequencies making everything just a bit unsettling. Awesomely eerie come down from the pure adrenaline rush of the first two tracks. The sequencing on this album is brilliant. This section leads beautifully into the enormous, atmospheric intensity of the album’s middle stretch.

Infant Dressing Table – probably my favourite track on the album. I still marvel at how that ping pong sound was made. This one is also probably the most ‘Ark’ track on the album. This is the one most intensely evokes the creatures deep in the forest. I love the textures in this track. The pulsing bass notes are especially satisfying. The way the guitar slowly rises, getting more and more intense and giving the whole thing this ‘post-rock but in the woods and made by primitive mammals’ feel. Another Ark track that obfuscates a relatively simple and beautiful melody with these wonderfully disorienting vocals effects. I love how slowly that main vocal (if you could call it that) emerges. Like a creature taking its time to assessing you before it feels safe enough to come forward. I’m pretty sure Panda does a lot of the crazy growling and bleating stuff. I fucking love it. The most ‘animal’ they’ve ever sounded (this and Panic). As the song grows, Panda harks back to Danse’s new-born, feral energy with the jerky drum work. I love the layers of vocals in the final minutes of this one. Just so powerful. I feel like the first man.

Panic – fucking hell. We’ve done one of those shifts – we were once the hunter and how, on a dime, we have become the hunted. This track is just thrilling. The sense of threat and primeval energy is just incredible here. There is nothing like this track. It’s a brilliant piece of modern art speaking to the unsettling fact that beauty and violence are often the same thing. Nature doesn’t exist without brutality. We can’t feel alive unless we also feel at risk. Fear and euphoria are co-dependent. The layers of vocals here are doing so many chilling, thrilling, extraordinary things. I’ve heard people dismiss this track which just baffles me. It is so intense and immersive.

Two Sails – is a real breather after Panic (and the whole first half really). The threat has passed. I often imagine Panic as an unsettling night and the start of Two Sails as the sounds of early morning. A light breeze, the sun (the droning piano) rising, creatures sleepily moaning and announcing the new day. Even the melody here feels brighter than the first half of the album. I’ve always wanted to cover this song with clean vocals. It has this languid melody that I find quite soothing. Which makes this track all the more brilliant as it evolves and slowly shifts into something more and more cluttered and fecund. I love the insect noises in this track. Lots of samples and manipulations that sound like cicadas and other insects. The vocals always feel amphibian to me. Infant and Panic are really mammalian - teeth and hair and claws. Two Sails (and Too Soon) are much more swampy. Mosquitos and crickets and frogs. The 12 minutes fly by every time. There is so much going on. Its like anti-Eno ambient. Ambient music that demands your engagement. Full of textures and layers to get lost it. At around 7 minutes in I can hear: drums, droning synth, rattling percussion, sighing sounds, the piano, warped vocals, surging whispery insect noises, scratching sounds… there is SO MUCH happening. I love it. Unlike the rest of the album, this song never feels threatening to me. Its busy and richly textured but never something to fear.

Slippi – and SLAM! Back to the unhinged chaos! Slippi brings big melody and big guitars. I think its placement is perfect. After a long stretch of engrossing yet intense stuff, this track just kicks the dirt and snaps a few branches for fun. The screams in the second verse are awesome. Where the screams in the first two tracks were angry and powerful, here they’re more spirited and fun. The chant at the end is absolutely classic. Always wish it went longer. My favourite detail is the little rim hits Panda throws in.
Too Soon – hugely underrated and absolutely mind bending and blissful. One of their most psychedelic songs. Like taking acid underwater. I adore the stop start nature. The surging waves of sound. Every piece of is warbling and wavering and bending into these luscious folds of ecstasy. The ascending ‘eeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiii’ bit during the ‘chorus’ is just transcendental. The watery dripping effects and samples giving some early signs towards Feels and MPP. The ‘lah lay lah’ whatever bit in the middle is short but incredibly fun. I love the way so much of this song seems to just flitter past you like watching a whole bunch of different insect wings. I think the ‘Two Sails/Too Soon’ word play thing is not a coincidence. Both of these tracks feel like they’re set on some psychedelic stream brimming with amphibian and bug life. And that outro where Avey sings the song title, so languorous and at peace. The guitars gently ebbing away. Panda tap tap tapping into nothing. We’ve hunted. We’ve been hunted. And now we rest.

This has to be among their best. It so incredibly powerful and evocative. I’d also say it is their most experimental. Danse/Hollind was them finding their feet and this was pushing that vision into a whole new world. I have never heard an album like this in my life. Boredoms and Black Dice come close but there are sounds on here unlike anything else. And AC certainly bring more feeling than either of the above. Ark is a fucking masterpiece.

[foxtrot]

Also did Young Prayer over the weekend:

YOUNG PRAYER

Has always been about the feeling and less about the lyrics for me. I really have no idea what he is singing for almost all of it. Yet he still communicates something incredibly vulnerable and precious and heart breaking.

1. Always found this first track really compelling. His vocals are so beatific and tender. Full of loss and longing. The melodies are incredibly gorgeous. Especially the section in the middle of the song. The electronic elements are used sparingly but add a certain complexity to the feelings expressed.

2. This one has some strong Prospect Hummer and Sung Tongs vibes. A really forlorn, grief-stricken version of that era.

3. Such a sweet little interlude. Probably the track from his career that is most like his self-titled record. It‘s positively buoyant yet still has this underlying feeling of loss. Maybe only due to the context in which it sits? The way the piano throws in these oddly timed notes every now and then is such a clever and fun little detail.

4. Love the synth drone that sits under this one. It gives the song a certain weight that I enjoy. It really drives home the sense of loss in some of the quieter moments. Also love how much Noah just bashes at that chord halfway through, then soothes himself back into the beautiful vocalising. The falsetto stuff at the end is just spine tingling.

5. Cue second ‘breather’ track. This one definitely recalls the stuff he and Avey explored on Sung Tongs. Maybe it was a leftover? I really enjoy the fact that this chant has lots of time to really build that trance like feel. Some of the chant tracks in the previous era (Danse etc.) were very brief and wrapped up just as they got going. This one really rides the repetition and draws you into its meditative state. It feels like a moment of release or acceptance in the context of the record. He sings about ‘showing’ his Dad his grandchildren. It’s an incredibly poignant moment of accepting death, vowing to go on and thrive, yet never wanting to let your loved one go.

6. Love the rattling percussion that comes in at the start. I like how often Noah changes up the ways he is making noises with the guitar in this song. Also, the ‘I will not give up on you’ section floors me every time. The gentle, streaming piano in the background really adds to the potency and majesty of this gorgeous section of music. Also reminds me of some of the ambient stuff they would do with Kria on Feels.

7. Have always found it interesting that he decided to make this one sound like its under a blanket. It’s like Young Prayer’s ‘Search For Delicious’ to me. Similar sonic feel but with the very different feel of mourning that obviously fits the record. It almost breaks the surface a couple of times before receding back under. It’s almost like Noah is so consumed by grief here that he can barely find the energy to play. To get up and shake off that blanket.

8. Another beautiful, tidal track that ebbs and flows with picked or strummed guitars and these elegant rising and falling vocal lines. The repeated ‘his joy’ is another sublime moment of sadness that really guts me. Though the pieces on this record don’t have a lot of defining features, their unity of sound and feeling are powerful enough to keep me captivated.

9. Using piano as the primary instrument on the closer was a great choice. Right when a shift in the palette was needed. Noah stills sings with that devastating heaviness to his voice with an even greater sense of despair. And those stereo phased pianos carry a sense of the weight he now carries.

It’s a hard album to listen to often. But it’s starkly beautiful. It’s raw and pure like the best AC. But it does lack variety. I find myself listening less actively and more passively to set a mood. It was nice to really focus closely on it today. Though unlike a bunch of other AC albums (including some I’ve already ranted and raved about a fair bit!) I don’t think I’d gain as much out of listening that closely often.


Blasted is the only one left on this week's list that I haven't listened to yet. Also the only one on the entire schedule that I've only listened to once before. Have been deliberately saving it til last.

[madameghostly]

foxtrot you make this thread even more fun than it already is

Ark: yet another album i hadn't given a full listen to in a good long while, and yep, it's just as great as i remembered it. Ark just has so much energy coursing through it, it's hard not to get excited when you listen to it. if you'll excuse me making comparisons again, the juxtaposition of pure chaos, calms between the storms, and gorgeous ambient soundscapes almost make it feel like Danse/Hollinndagain 2, and i doubt i'll upset anyone by saying the sequel's better than the original. as good a "first album" to bear the animal collective title as any

also i've joked once or twice that this album is the best aural representation of my default mental state but i guess that says a lot more about me than it does about this album

bonus 3
(the a-side of) 2 Nights: uhhh yeah, great recording of a pretty good Ark-era performance. these don't sound too different from the studio versions, but still worth checking out imo

[Slippi's Applesauce]

listened to ark yesterday morning. tbh i love what it's going for but in execution, i like campfire songs a lot more.

I really do enjoy the higher energy songs, Native Belle to Hey Light is a personal favorite 1-2 opening punch for me. Slippi obviously is another super fun track. For the rest of the album, I either find myself enthralled, like during Panic's mad chaos (especially that gorgeous ending), or kind of ambivalent. I love love love the imagery that songs like Two Sails on a Sound conjure, but I sometimes find myself losing interest in it in a way that their other more droney pieces usually don't. Maybe it's because of the length? Idk.

I was also always confused as to why people complain about Whaddit I Done but love Infant Dressing Table, they've always sounded like the same vocal effect to me. I suppose it does fit better in Infant Dressing Table, which for the record I do enjoy a bit, but I'm just surprised that I never see it brought up. As for Too Soon, I feel like it should be this gorgeous ending piece to me, but I've never been able to get there. I don't particularly enjoy the stops and starts and wish it had more to it than the ascending glissando eeeeee, which is my favorite part!

Anyways, this is an album that I enjoy, especially while being occupied with something else. But at this point in my life, I guess I just don't have the attention for 12 minutes of noodles on one chord. Maybe I just haven't found the right immersive situation to listen to it, or maybe those parts just aren't for me. Glad that so many people love it though!

[destiny]

now ark - one of their if not their best sequenced album, captures their live show flow perfectly with an extremely tight group of songs that sound like the ultimate evolution of their sound from danse to ark. Live, to me, from danse era to ark era, is all Ark. When I hear stuff like, Jimmy Raven from Crack Box, or Pride and Fight, it instantly reminds me of the Ark-ish drones and rock sensibilities, but they became kind've their own thing on Danse, since the album was mixed so uniquely. From beginning to end, the album plays off it's energy, a bad vibe, for sure, but a welcoming one, reflecting a bunch of country boys at odds with eachother. Everybody always talks abt panda leaving the band, the band being over, but this shit will never be done, cuz if it was gonna end, it was gonna end right here. There's some venom in these songs for sure, but it seems pointed inwards rather than some of the bad vibes in stuff like strawberry Jam, where it is facilitated a little more healthily. The tracklisting, is perfect. These guys know how to fucking sequence alright. The one two punch of Bell to Daylight leading us into the core of the album Infinite - Panic - Two Sails, with Slippi adding levity and Too Soon capping off this album with ac's most genuinely sad and slept on songs ever. The song cries out, wallows in its own shit, dances and celebrates, until finally winding down into avey's coos of "toooo sooooon...". i wanna know just wtf he's saying under all that vocal effect. I always tried to understand the meaning of the song when I was yougner, but it wasn't until i had grown a bit, and gotten beaten down my self to learn what respect and privacy is. Maybe there is no direct meaning, but the calls of too soon, around all the chaos and death in the city at the time, the tragic passing of their friend nathan from gang gang dance around the time they were writing the songs, or the feeling that maybe their time playing music together was up just haunts this song, and this group of songs. The foundation for animal collective, one of their most revealing works, and to truly understand ac's composition it's worth to listen to studio versions and lvie versions of two sails and infinite dressing table, the way they weave sounds around the piano sample and synth sample respectively, is so unique to them, while still wearing their influences on their sleeve, sounds to me like beaches and canyons by black dice, but mroe focused on a pop/rock sensibility that they had. This way the album came out also changed their continuity for good, with the Tongs coming out of it and eventually, this ark sound somehow evolving RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR EYES into the enchanting feels sound... the musical magicians

[foxtrot]

madameghostly wrote:

foxtrot you make this thread even more fun than it already is

Ha! Thanks. I'm just fucking buzzing about my favourite band over here.

madameghostly wrote:

Ark: yet another album i hadn't given a full listen to in a good long while, and yep, it's just as great as i remembered it. Ark just has so much energy coursing through it, it's hard not to get excited when you listen to it. if you'll excuse me making comparisons again, the juxtaposition of pure chaos, calms between the storms, and gorgeous ambient soundscapes almost make it feel like Danse/Hollinndagain 2, and i doubt i'll upset anyone by saying the sequel's better than the original. as good a "first album" to bear the animal collective title as any

Totally agree. It is the culmination of this early era. I think people often label it as a 'transition' album because it also hints at a bunch of future styles (mostly Feels). I don't see it that way. There are some awesome hints of what was to come but this stands on its own as an absolute masterpiece and the pinnacle of this era.

madameghostly wrote:

also i've joked once or twice that this album is the best aural representation of my default mental state but i guess that says a lot more about me than it does about this album

wow, I feel for you! Breathe deep my friend!

madameghostly wrote:

bonus 3
(the a-side of) 2 Nights: uhhh yeah, great recording of a pretty good Ark-era performance. these don't sound too different from the studio versions, but still worth checking out imo

Tonic is probably my favourite show from this era. Wish we had more

Slippi's Applesauce wrote:

listened to ark yesterday morning. tbh i love what it's going for but in execution, i like campfire songs a lot more.

I really do enjoy the higher energy songs, Native Belle to Hey Light is a personal favorite 1-2 opening punch for me. Slippi obviously is another super fun track. For the rest of the album, I either find myself enthralled, like during Panic's mad chaos (especially that gorgeous ending), or kind of ambivalent. I love love love the imagery that songs like Two Sails on a Sound conjure, but I sometimes find myself losing interest in it in a way that their other more droney pieces usually don't. Maybe it's because of the length? Idk.

I was also always confused as to why people complain about Whaddit I Done but love Infant Dressing Table, they've always sounded like the same vocal effect to me. I suppose it does fit better in Infant Dressing Table, which for the record I do enjoy a bit, but I'm just surprised that I never see it brought up. As for Too Soon, I feel like it should be this gorgeous ending piece to me, but I've never been able to get there. I don't particularly enjoy the stops and starts and wish it had more to it than the ascending glissando eeeeee, which is my favorite part!

Anyways, this is an album that I enjoy, especially while being occupied with something else. But at this point in my life, I guess I just don't have the attention for 12 minutes of noodles on one chord. Maybe I just haven't found the right immersive situation to listen to it, or maybe those parts just aren't for me. Glad that so many people love it though!

I think we see this one quite differently. I am totally enthralled every time with this album. It is so commanding. I think the difference between Infant and Whaddit is the speed of the effect and the resulting feel it gives. On Infant it is slow and adds this strange, sermon-like vibe for me. On Whaddit it is much quicker and adds a certain silly, juvenile, comical vibe. Some people see that as a criticism but I love it. Sung Tongs is funny in a number of different places so that feeling is totally in keeping and I think its great. I personally love both.

FEEL ON1NE!!! wrote:

now ark - one of their if not their best sequenced album, captures their live show flow perfectly with an extremely tight group of songs that sound like the ultimate evolution of their sound from danse to ark. Live, to me, from danse era to ark era, is all Ark. When I hear stuff like, Jimmy Raven from Crack Box, or Pride and Fight, it instantly reminds me of the Ark-ish drones and rock sensibilities, but they became kind've their own thing on Danse, since the album was mixed so uniquely. From beginning to end, the album plays off it's energy, a bad vibe, for sure, but a welcoming one, reflecting a bunch of country boys at odds with eachother.

I feel like all three of them orbit a similar sound world but communicate very quite things. Danse is crude and playful, Hollinnd is tense and foreboding, Ark is cluttered and feral yet beautiful.

FEEL ON1NE!!! wrote:

Everybody always talks abt panda leaving the band, the band being over, but this shit will never be done, cuz if it was gonna end, it was gonna end right here. There's some venom in these songs for sure, but it seems pointed inwards rather than some of the bad vibes in stuff like strawberry Jam, where it is facilitated a little more healthily.

I think the tension within the band is overplayed. I think they were all struggling with their own personal stuff and that, like you said, points the venom inward. The way it manifests is this gloriously cathartic expression of humanity though.

FEEL ON1NE!!! wrote:

The tracklisting, is perfect. These guys know how to fucking sequence alright. The one two punch of Bell to Daylight leading us into the core of the album Infinite - Panic - Two Sails, with Slippi adding levity and Too Soon capping off this album with ac's most genuinely sad and slept on songs ever. The song cries out, wallows in its own shit, dances and celebrates, until finally winding down into avey's coos of "toooo sooooon...". i wanna know just wtf he's saying under all that vocal effect. I always tried to understand the meaning of the song when I was yougner, but it wasn't until i had grown a bit, and gotten beaten down my self to learn what respect and privacy is. Maybe there is no direct meaning, but the calls of too soon, around all the chaos and death in the city at the time, the tragic passing of their friend nathan from gang gang dance around the time they were writing the songs, or the feeling that maybe their time playing music together was up just haunts this song, and this group of songs.

I get more peace and resolution out of it personally. Interesting to read your take though. Probably more in line with what the band were experiencing. But for me, Two sails and Too Soon both feel like moments of beauty and acceptance.

FEEL ON1NE!!! wrote:

this ark sound somehow evolving RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR EYES into the enchanting feels sound... the musical magicians

Fuck. Yes.

I think next week might be the biggest week on the schedule. Sung Tongs AND Feels (plus a bunch of other gold).

Also, I did Blasted. Fucking hell

Only my second ever listen to this one. I quite like Dead Drunk and am looking forward to that in a couple of weeks. Anyway, have virtually no memory of this one.

Gorilla In The Woods started things fun with the ‘heeeyyyyyy’ bit. I felt like it set things up as relaxed and playful. Just two flat mates making some crazy sounds (I was wrong). The sound at the start here is like a little blob monster bouncing down a dark hallway. Its pretty slight but I like the way it morphed and became more menacing as the sharp insect sounds joined it. There is a cool little quacking melodic loop. Some birds squark, some dudes laugh and chat, the duck gets strangled and then suddenly we’re thrown into:

Heavy Angel - I really dig the intensity of the pulse here but wow, this thing is hard work. A refreshing tonal shift after the first track for about 30 seconds. Lots of murky bass and this clipped (possibly backwards) woody tom sound. ‘Vocals’ come in and they’re predictably fucked up. Sounding something like a more muffled, savage version of Thom Yorke’s effect on ‘Pulk/Pull’. Gorilla was pretty light and fun but this one is fucking heavy and it gets exhausting fast. As the track goes on it is getting kinda nauseating. Intensely corporeal, unsettling. Feels like someone has planted bugs in my stomach. These squelchy, splatting noises emerge – like projectile vomit hitting the carpet. Meanwhile those bugs have eaten their way out and have grown to the size of watermelons. Metal and glass scrape. Fuck me this track is horrifying. And I thought this was just gonna be two dudes making silly sounds in their apartment. Halfway through the songs starts to gain a much clearer pulse. It does nothing to calm my queasiness. I’m amazed I made it through tbh.

After barely surviving Heavy Angel, the following short, sharp experiments are a relief. Less stomach-churning bass and more sharp clinks, clanks and whirrs. Most of the tracks from here on out are untitled and super short but all contained a similar collection of proto-AC/Black Dice warped mechanical fucked-up ness. Some fun sounds but nothing here to hang onto really.

Our Single stood out for its twinkling, bell like samples. Like hearing all the wind chimes at some east Asian market stall. Serious respite after the earlier onslaught!

It might have been the start of West Indian Day Parade that reminded me a lot of some of the stuff on Load Blown and Broken Ear Record. It had a semblance of melody and a certain liveliness to it. Other parts of West Indian Day Parade were also pretty cool. These Indian cymbal type instruments sampled then twisted and contorted into this collection of zipping, scratching noises. Then some warped vocal chatter came in over this droning synth. I felt like this section has the most intriguing sound design. Creepy yet oddly intriguing.

Overall, I think this will be my second and final listen to Blasted. A curiosity that revealed a few little ideas in genesis that were developed much further later. And Heavy Angel almost made me throw up.

[scrambledgreggs]

Young Prayer is so similar to Campfire Songs, beautifully tragic lullaby sounds except even more amorphous. without tangible lyrics it's just pure raw emotion. Untitled 4 is so cinematic, the strumming in that middle segment gets so intense it's like a sob getting caught in your throat

[Slippi's Applesauce]

yeah i just finished up a listen to young prayer. i completely forgot about untitled 7. very cool change of pace imo. the whole thing is super pretty and i'm glad it exists but it makes me p sad. feels like floating around in a space with only brief moments of release and pleasure, but a large sense of memory and remembering running beneath it all

[foxtrot]

Yeh, Young Prayer is pretty heavy but also really beautiful.

I can't believe we're only two weeks into this and we've already had so many incredible albums.
These guys have created so much magic. Even if their career ended here, Spirit, Danse, Hollinnd, Campfire and Ark are an amazing collection of records for one group to have made. All in less than 3 years.

Blows my mind to think that we've hardly even begun. I mean, holy fucking flaming testicles of a bison, next week we have Sung Tongs AND Feels (and more) and even then we're still only just scratching the surface.

[madameghostly]

it's almost like we're talking about one of the best bands of the 2000s here

Young Prayer: honestly not much i can say about this album that hasn't already been said. funnily enough, my first listen to this album was a matter of weeks ago (when i was going through a Painting With-induced AC phase - more on that later, maybe) and already, it's claimed a spot in my top 5 albums about death. i could say it's like a solo Campfire Songs/Sung Tongs, but it's also its own thing, and i love it for that. my only complaint is it can feel a little samey at points, but it's still an enjoyable listen

my personal favorites include track 5, which might have my favorite lyrics on the album and, while we're making Campfire Songs comparisons, seems like the song i could most feasibly get a group of people to sing around a campfire, and track 6, especially the "i will not give up on you" section. also special mention to track 7, which sounds so distant and vague, it almost feels like we're hearing Noah's mourning from the perspective of his dad in the afterlife

bonus 4
Coconuts: first impressions: it's fine i guess. i don't know if it needs to be 50 minutes long, but it's fine. just Panda and friend making weird noises for 50 minutes, with maybe 30 of those minutes having a techno beat underlying everything. maybe Paradise will be better

bonus 5
Paradise: first impressions: okay yeah this is better. on the first two tracks, i think the weird noises AND the techno beats are better on this one, plus they're put together in a more... cohesive way? i dunno, but it's good. and Solid Gold Wall, my god, it's just gorgeous. seriously, if you only end up listening to one song from either of these EPs, make it Solid Gold Wall

[Jam]

Very little fat on Ark. Even though it has such a loose and chaotic energy the execution is really tight. Campfire Songs is beautiful and I haven't given it enough due. Doggy is literally the most moving song ever written and I cannot listen to it without tearing up at least a little. Hits different too after getting my first OWN/non-family dog in August of 2020.

[foxtrot]

madameghostly wrote:

Young Prayer: honestly not much i can say about this album that hasn't already been said. funnily enough, my first listen to this album was a matter of weeks ago (when i was going through a Painting With-induced AC phase - more on that later, maybe) and already, it's claimed a spot in my top 5 albums about death. i could say it's like a solo Campfire Songs/Sung Tongs, but it's also its own thing, and i love it for that. my only complaint is it can feel a little samey at points, but it's still an enjoyable listen

It's a beautiful album and packed with emotion but I agree it is a little samey. Which holds it back from being top tier AC for me.

madameghostly wrote:

special mention to track 7, which sounds so distant and vague, it almost feels like we're hearing Noah's mourning from the perspective of his dad in the afterlife

Oh wow, I like this idea.

madameghostly wrote:

bonus 4
Coconuts: first impressions: it's fine i guess. i don't know if it needs to be 50 minutes long, but it's fine. just Panda and friend making weird noises for 50 minutes, with maybe 30 of those minutes having a techno beat underlying everything. maybe Paradise will be better

bonus 5
Paradise: first impressions: okay yeah this is better. on the first two tracks, i think the weird noises AND the techno beats are better on this one, plus they're put together in a more... cohesive way? i dunno, but it's good. and Solid Gold Wall, my god, it's just gorgeous. seriously, if you only end up listening to one song from either of these EPs, make it Solid Gold Wall

Giving these a spin now. Haven't listened in about 15 years!

Jam wrote:

Very little fat on Ark. Even though it has such a loose and chaotic energy the execution is really tight.

Completely agree. Where Danse feels free and exploratory, this one, for all its grand scope and feral sprawl still comes across as very carefully constructed. Not a wasted moment.

Jam wrote:

Campfire Songs is beautiful and I haven't given it enough due. Doggy is literally the most moving song ever written and I cannot listen to it without tearing up at least a little. Hits different too after getting my first OWN/non-family dog in August of 2020.

Yeh, that'd give it more weight for sure. I feel like this album has been massively ripped off. Deserves way more praise.

[scrambledgreggs]

relistening to Crack Box and wishing the band had recorded the Pumpkin trilogy in studio, such an interesting and bizarre set of songs

also for anyone who's been recently hyped on Campfire Songs, "Jungle Heat" and "Hey Friend" are two wonderful outtakes from that era that would've fit perfectly on it

[foxtrot]

It would have been awesome to get a few of those on another studio album.

Iko Ovo, Pumpkin Trilogy, Do The Nurse, Oh Sweet, Ice Cream Factory could have made a pretty interesting collection.

[scrambledgreggs]

oh sweet!!

I hadn't gotten that far yet when I posted but wow the last 2 minutes of that song

[foxtrot]

That song is awesome. Another forgotten gem.

I listened to the first two Jane records as a bit of a bonus round for this week:

Jane – Coconuts

Haven’t heard these in about 15 years. I did own the vinyl for Coconuts at one point but sold it a long time ago.

Coconuts does establish a nice trancey groove. Ambient Techno but with a gritty, muddy feel. The synths are suitably murky too. Not something that ever demands super close listening, but I do enjoy the vibe. The sharp blasting sounds that come and go are cool. Noah’s vibing out vocals give things a certain dissociative, faraway feeling.

The plinky-plonky piano/keyboard stuff that comes in halfway through totally shifts the feeling. Suddenly much chirpier and more unimposing. I like this track but it does go for a loooong time. As they both do. Nice vibe but yeh, doesn’t really warrant close listening. Love the way it ends though. Feel like that kind of disordered variation would have given it a lift halfway through and broken up the insistent beat nicely.

Ossie’s first half doesn’t do a lot for me. I find the scratchy, rustling noises a bit unsatisfying. Its not brutal enough to get a physical reaction, not synthetic enough to evoke something alien and not organic enough to feel convincingly natural. So yeh, this whole section lacks impact for me. This kind of ambient noise stuff needs to illicit some strong images in my mind to get me carried along for the journey.

The unsettling bass drum hits and reverb heavy, alien vocal stuff definitely add to the feel but there was a good 4 or 5 minutes wasted at the start. The second half of the track is the most interesting for me. Reprising the grubby, spooky Ambient Techno vibes of the first track. Noah’s vocal improvisations are fun to listen to and the tracks 4/4 thump gives things more momentum. Also lots of cool mechanical sounds in mix giving everything a bit more depth and fill things out nicely.

So an uneven album that has some nice stretches of murky, atmospheric, spacey experimental techno.


Jane – Paradise

Slipping Away sets a scene much more effectively than either of the ‘Coconuts’ tracks. I really dig the warping in the intro noises, Noah introducing his Jane-style (drenched in reverb and slightly distant) vocal improvisations early on. The crunchy beat provides a great contrast to the spacey, detached feel of Noah’s vocals. I dig how this track builds, the beat is becoming more and more intense and two different layers of Noah’s vocals emerging. When the vocals drop out and things shift into crunchy, straight Techno it’s a welcome and satisfying shift. I get some strong Autechre vibes from the second half of this track.

The start of Wait is so fresh after Slipping Away. I love the sense of space. Clean, unassuming 4/4 thump and these sharp vocals leaping in and out. The ambient stretch is nice enough though does feel a bit aimless. There is no clear mood or scene that it seems to be communicating. That said, it does transition nicely into the next section (the bulk of the track) which, to me, feels more AC than anything else on these early Jane records. Noah’s vocals have a chant like feel, there is some more noise floating around, and the beat has a certain primal stomp to it. Lots of momentum and variation whilst still maintaining the feel of a long form trance track.

Solid Gold Wall – love the piano loop. Panda’s vocals over that piano recalls some of the stuff on Young Prayer. There is a tenderness to his vocals here that I don’t really feel on the rest of these early Jane tracks. It has that incredibly arresting, angelic, otherworldly quality of his. The repeating ‘me me me me’ stretch in the middle is awesome. An early version of some of the incredible looping vocal lines he’d master on later solo albums. I just wish it didn’t have all the distortion/blow out. I feel like it pulls you out of the beauty of the track and obscures the emotion it’s trying to convey.

It’s pretty cool to think that Noah was working on this really detached, spacey techno stuff at the same time as just bashing the fuck out of some drums and shouting like a maniac with the intensity of a savage carnivore on Ark.

[roopn]

foxtrot wrote:

Haven’t heard these in about 15 years. I did own the vinyl for Coconuts at one point but sold it a long time ago.

sorry to be pedantic but you must be thinking of beserker. coconuts and paradise only ever got CD releases

[foxtrot]

Did the CD come in a 7 inch sized sleeve or something? I swear it was that size

[roopn]

yup! pretty weird

https://www.discogs.com/release/681300-JA-NE-Coconuts

same label that put out TT's blasted too

[foxtrot]

Weird. Glad my memory didn't totally fail me though!

One day left with this week's records people.

Get in a listen to Campfire Songs, Ark, Young Prayer (or Blasted if you're keen on some serious self-flagellation) before we move to week 3 (which I am unreasonably excited for despite how well I know these albums already).

[Slippi's Applesauce]

blasted was cool. put it on while doing a project and was very nice in the background. not too much to say about it

[foxtrot]

seriously? maybe it was the headphones but holy shit that heavy angel track was like drinking off milk

[Slippi's Applesauce]

i had it on speakers so maybe that helped? again i didn't pay too much attention

[foxtrot]

It's Friday in Australia and time for:

WEEK 3: Dec 10 – Dec 16
Sung Tongs
Prospect Hummer
Feels
People
Berserker
Oboroed/Circus Lives

Fuck yes!

Sung Tongs going on for me rn.

[destiny]

Ima write something scathing for people EP. The only misstep in the entire animal collective catalog, even though all of the songs are great, especially tikwid, which is one of the best of the era.

[Dusty]

FEEL ON1NE!!! wrote:

Ima write something scathing for people EP. The only misstep in the entire animal collective catalog, even though all of the songs are great, especially tikwid, which is one of the best of the era.

We would live in a perfect world if the People EP ended with 206 or Sponge Luke instead of the live People

[foxtrot]

SUNG TONGS:

I hope you guys don’t mind a little backstory/context here. This was the first AC album I fell in love with back in 2004. I had heard Ark the year before but really wasn’t quite ready for it. I’d grow to love it deeply later, but not at that time. A friend who worked at a radio station gave me a copy of Sung Tongs knowing that I loved a bunch late 60s psychedelic pop stuff. She said the album was like hearing an African tribe cover a Beach Boys album. I was intrigued. Anyway, I fucking loved it from the very first listen and it basically started the journey that has led me here. This band has enriched my life in so many ways and this album was the first one to do it. It’s also the first one that I associate with a very specific time in my life. A time when my then girlfriend (now wife) and I were playing in bands and living in shitty share houses and spending all our time and money on beer, CDs and gigs. It always reminds me of that sense of freedom. Early adulthood and the unrestrained pleasure seeking and recklessness of those times. I had moved out of home but I had no responsibilities. No mortgage, no kids/dependents etc. It was just a time for exploration and joyful abandon. So yeh, that is Sung Tongs for me.

Leaf House absolutely floors me still. What an utterly unique sound world. The primitive energy and the unabashed nature of those vocals just blew me away. Something so outrageous and courageous. It is the song/moment that made me a forever fan. The little bongo hits coupled with the staccato tribal vocals. I mean, fuck. It is still the most unadulterated, wonderful thing imaginable. One of their strongest melodies too.

WCWAR takes Leaf’s gentle energy and throws into a vibrant, messy miasma of psychedelic folk wonder. The Autoharp strums swirling around, the jumpy chords, the upside-down-bucket percussion. Wonderful stuff. The wordless ‘dooooo, doo doo doo doo’ part is just bliss. I always want those bright and energetic claps and the ‘rabbit or habit’ section to go forever. Its just a moment of such purity and fun. But as soon as it has come it disappears and we get another round of joyful ‘dooooo, doo doo doo doo’-ing. I think the power of this song is actually in its brevity. The dynamism and the punchiness just leaping through your heart and dashing away as quickly as it came. Like seeing a brilliant little wren or finch dart over and land right in front of you. And the moment you start to really notice and appreciate it, it darts away to its next fleeting perch. I absolutely love this album and these two songs are the perfect start. Kinetic and exhilarating.

And after that start we get to settle in. The Softest Voice showing us that we can also experience delight by slowly down and smelling the roses. Sung Tongs (like most AC) is brilliantly sequenced. I find The Softest Voice to be like the most rejuvenating and satisfying deep breath. I love the creaking, bouncing sounds that drift along with the song. ‘I found a place that fits tight. Its feels small but I won't get sad about it’. I adore the section where the song just suddenly falls in a puddle. The chimes gently ringing as Avey and Panda swim around and enjoy the feeling of the cool water on their skin. When the acoustic guitar re-enters it is just the most serene and blissful moment. If I could live in a song, I’d build my house in The Softest Voice.

If I had to choose a favourite song, it’d be between Leaf House and Winter’s Love. I think Winter’s Love might have the most beautiful melody I have ever heard in my life. Up there with ‘You Still Believe In Me’. The way this song casually fades in with that timeless, perfect melody is just gorgeous. I love how understated it is. And then the big strumming enters and suddenly we’re thrown back into the shameless, innocent wonder of Leaf House again. This section of the song is just jubilant and thrilling. So many vocal layers to revel in. The acoustic has heaps of pep and the percussion is a blast. But those vocals. I think my all-time favourite moments of Avey and Panda sharing vocals are on this song. Is this also the all-time greatest song about losing your virginity? Gotta be.

Kids On Holiday is one of my favourite AC ‘vamp’ tracks that just ride out a chord for textural effect while all kinds of other stuff happens over the top. Great lyrics in this song. Always find my self following the story. I always giggle at the line is “they ordered a Lincoln and they received a Compact” because it reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where Jerry has issues with a car rental place. The “birthed from their vulvas” line is just awesomely vivid and grotesque. Funny too. There are a couple of good lines in this song. I love the backing vocals during the verses but the obvious highlight is the “Holiday!” section. Especially live. But yeh, another winner that has quite a distinct feel from the rest of the album.

Sweet Road is the perfect little interlude between the droning/vibing feel of Kids and then Visiting Friends. The laughs and kid’s voices at the start are just perfectly Sung Tongs. I bloody love the timing of the solitary hand clap in the verses. Such a fun little tune.

Visiting Friends used to be my litmus test for AC fandom. If a friend liked this track I knew they were as invested as I was. And who wouldn’t be? Anyone who can appreciate mood music that is long, sprawling and formless (not everyone!) should see the beauty here. Those two chords play wonderfully back and forth off each other the whole song. Ebbing and flowing like a gentle breeze through a field. I always see long grass swaying. All the textural details are fascinating to explore. My favourite element is the melody that pops up and repeats quite a bit after Avey stops singing towards the end. I love the little ‘pewww!’ that Avey does at various points. The ‘lead’ guitar is also really pretty. Playing these high, sparse notes that just sparkle like little reflections bouncing of the surface of the song.

College is probably the beginning of the often spoken of Beach Boys comparisons. You can’t deny it. Definitely strong Smile era vibes here. With the usual AC oddness added and a fair bit of tongue-in-cheek. The harmonies are stunning and the lyric is a great example of this album’s humour and feeling of disinhibition.

I love how this middle stretch plays out. Again with the clever sequencing. Short punchy pop song (Sweet Road) sets you up and tops up your cup before the sprawling, evocative mood piece (Visiting Friends). Then another short punchy pop song (College) cleanses the palate and preps you for a return to the exuberance of the opening tracks.

We Tigers is obviously a classic. It’s almost the AC stereotype. Crazy trippers shouting and chanting and banging on shit. Obviously the band are so much more than that but also, fuck yeh! I love that part of their sound! The drum sound is perfect, the tune catchy as hell, the layers of vocals are great fun to dig into, the chorus slaps. Lots of fun and humour here. It’s just this ecstatic, pocket adrenaline hit. A bigger, gnarlier beast live, but on Sung Tongs this song is much more modest. Bouncy, cute and an absolute pleasure every time I hear it.

I hear the odd person, and definitely a few casual fans, claim that the album takes a dip from this point. I disagree. Just listen to the way the guitars and trilled vocal bits zoom around in the intro to Mouth Wooed Her. Another incredibly strong melody. Those inspired dynamic shifts (‘TIME FOR A!’ – ‘AH AH AH AH!’). The ‘I. DON’T. WANT. NO. ONE. NO.’ section is pure insanity. Still so original. I have never heard anyone else construct a song like this. This song is one of the highlights for me. The final ‘I need mouth water’ section is another cheeky Beach Boys nod (Cool, Cool Water). I love the warbled Panda backing vocals and the slightly out of synch claps. Just fucking wholesome and real. That’s what these guys are.

Good Lovin is another perfect Sung Tong. Totally one of a kind guitar work with the odd time shifts, great lyrics (I mean, who doesn’t want to do it outside after this?), the crazy laughs and ‘WAH wah wah!’ bits are just brilliant and a perfect example of how humour doesn’t have to take from a song’s emotional impact. Something ST totally nails. All the samples that float around are just delightful. Young people living in the moment and embracing the simple joys of being alive.

Whaddit is not an epic closer. Is this why it is often criticised? I don’t think an album like ST suits an epic closer. This album is about simple, unabashed pleasure and embracing our most basic urges. Whaddit does this perfectly. The vocal effect is clunky and awkward and FUN. It reflects the song’s lyrics and the album’s overall themes. The melody is another killer. And this album that embraces rest, mindfulness, and gratitude just as much as it embraces excitement, instinct and impulse, finishes with a lovely little sigh that kind of captures the sense of both. “And I need, yaaaaaahhhh”. I absolutely adore it.

[Slippi's Applesauce]

wonderful write up! I took a listen this afternoon too as I cooked dinner. WCWAR was the first AC song I ever heard and I still feel that bolt of adrenaline when it starts. Takes me right back to 2011. Leaf House is a really special opener, and the whole album is an enthralling experience to me.

I'm not one to write a ton but I love revisiting it and can't wait to continue growing old to the sounds of Good Lovin Outside ::-)

[foxtrot]

Slippi's Applesauce wrote:

wonderful write up! I took a listen this afternoon too as I cooked dinner. WCWAR was the first AC song I ever heard and I still feel that bolt of adrenaline when it starts. Takes me right back to 2011. Leaf House is a really special opener, and the whole album is an enthralling experience to me.

I'm not one to write a ton but I love revisiting it and can't wait to continue growing old to the sounds of Good Lovin Outside ::-)

Beautiful words man! You didn't write a ton (sorry!) but I love what you've said here.

Totally agree about WCWAR and Leaf House is truly special. I hope my wife and I are brave enough for some Good Lovin Outside as we grow old!

Such a special album.


Just gave Prospect Hummer a spin:

The opening ‘stayyyy’ from Vashti immediately sets things up here. Number 1: SHE is on this record! Number 2: hang around. Number 3: prepare for the most adorable and gentle music of AC’s career. The Autoharp and guitar waves are heavenly. Her voice is heavenly. When Avey joins her its like two new friends that have immediately found complete peace with each other. The sort of person you’ve only known a couple of months but feel totally at ease with. It’s You is as close to ascending to heaven as music gets. It does so much with so little.

Prospect Hummer sounds very much like a Sung Tong. I love its energetic little bounce after the opening track. The stereo panned guitars are great and all the little percussive vocal noises in the intro. I love the ‘who woo!’ backing vocals in the first verse so much. The chorus is fucking adorable! Its like a freaking plush toy choir singing to you. I have never wanted to hug part of a song as much as the chorus of this song. It’d be such a sweet, warm, life-sustaining hug.

Baleen Sample is the only moment of tension on the EP. The one moment of doubt before ‘diving in’ on the final track. Where the other tracks are pure innocence and beauty, this one builds a sense that innocence and beauty are not without risk. It too is incredibly pretty at times, yet it does carry that slight feeling of apprehension. A child standing at the edge of the diving board deciding whether they’re brave enough to take the plunge. The splashing sounds only add to this for me. You can really tell this track was built around a Geo sample. My favourite section is probably when the east Asian sounding string instrument comes in around halfway through. It gently leads the song away from the worry and towards the resolution. The kid building their resolve to jump.

I Remember… reprises the bouncy, loveable feeling of the title track. The Spanish sounding guitar bit in the chorus is so great. Mirrored by some soft piano. The ‘Wee!’ is just pure goodness. A slight song but one that pulls it off due to the strength of its melody and the conviction of its execution.

I think this might be my favourite AC E.P. I just find myself smiling the whole way through it.

[bullseye]

Whoopsie, I'm a bit late for the previous week, so here's just a few words about the albums:

Campfire songs:
I remember being really turned off by the cover, album title and most song titles when I first read about the album somewhere on the internet. This must have been around 2007/2008, when I first got into AC.
I still checked it out but was turned off even more by the tinny sound and seemingly aimless strumming and singing. But my appreciation for the other AC records (mostly feels and strawberry jam at the time) kept pulling me back to give campfire songs more chances from time to time until doggy really hit me all of a sudden. The other songs took way longer to get into for me, as I was mainly interested in bands like the Mars Volta, Blood Brothers or the locust at the time. But it slowly grew on me and now I consider it almost equal to their other master pieces. I still think it's a shame that it songs so tinny. This album with sung tongs guitar and vocal production would be insane. I still love it from start to finish, though. And I keep waiting for them to rework de Soto de Son for their live shows. I think it would work especially well with the surrent batch of songs.

Young prayer:
I've had a similar experience to get into the album as with campfire songs. But it is just as rewarding when it clicks. I love how stripped back the whole thing is. This makes every little embellishment so effective. I like the songs that are really built on repetition, but the true gems for me are the ones that take you on a journey and barely have any recurring parts (tracks 1, 2, 6 and 8). The cover art is just plain bad and doesn't fit the music at all IMHO.

Ark:
This has been my favorite AC album until CHz came out. I can still get totally lost in it. They really nailed all the ideas that have been brewing since danse manatee and hollindagain and went totally beyond with them. So much to unpack on this album. Just the opening guitar chord and little "whoop" on too soon gives me shivers. My only gripe with the album is the clunky transition from infinite dressing table to panic. I think this is due to IDT being intended as the album closer originally. I also want to get back to listening to the half finished "original" ark version of the album soon, haven't done so in years.

[madameghostly]

Sung Tongs: i'll be honest, i used to think this album was just... alright. i liked Leaf House cause it was the first song, i liked Who Could Win a Rabbit cause it was the single, i liked Winters Love cause it was in that one simpsons episode (that's a lie, i liked it before i watched that one simpsons episode, but it probably helped some), i liked Kids on Holiday cause it was a bop... and that was about it

nine words: Animal Collective perform Sung Tongs at Pitchfork's 21st Anniversary. in something that might become a bit of a recurring theme going forward, i never really appreciated this album until i heard it live, and when i discovered that wonderful youtube video in mid-2018, oh boy, you bet i appreciated it

from the primal, manic energy of Leaf House, Who Could Win a Rabbit, and We Tigers, to the slow burn ambience of The Softest Voice and Visiting Friends, to everything in-between, there's a lot to love on Sung Tongs, and while i feel like it loses a bit of energy near the end (not to say i'm on #TeamWhadditIDoneIsAnAffrontToGod), i have no qualms about calling this one of their best

Prospect Hummer: hey, a new EP from Campfire Songs! i love this band!

okay, seriously though, time for a little more honesty - apart from the title track (see above), i never really paid this EP much mind, which, as has been proven many times in this thread and will probably be proven many more times in the future, was a mistake on my part. Vashti Bunyan adds so much to the vocal songs, which certainly weren't thin on the ground to begin with, and Baleen Sample is a very nice instrumental as well. all in all, a very good companion piece to Sung Tongs

i don't know if i really wanna call this a bonus because it's one song but
Baby Day: pretty good. i don't think i've heard enough live versions to determine if this is worse or better than those, but i think they did a pretty good job translating it to the studio

[dio]

Ok I have not been as ceremonial as I should be, but I've listened to a Ark and some of Danse this week and I'm Lovin it, especially Ark. What an absolute beast of an album. Just so fully realized and delightfully insane. I almost want more of this kind of sound design from them. Like what pedals are they even using goddamn. Absolute monster of an LP.

I also ordered the Spirit/Danse CD cuz I wanna hear Spirit in my car to see if it kills me.

I will never listen to Feels, it's one of my least favorite in terms of conceptually the idea of listening to it front to back. Too saccharine. I would need 2 be in a whole other place in my life emotionally to do that. I do not like the cover at this point in my life, triggers me.

Anyway, Tongs I've always listened to thru out the years... and basically all their albums did this for their first 10 years, but who would have seen Tongs coming after Indian. Or even after Campfire honestly?

Up until MPP they're just constantly rounding out what an AC track could even sound like, picking all these different colors and vibes... Melodically maybe there's a bit of the first few albums in Sung Tongs and there's that whole *tribal* energy that showed up on Ark and sorta Danse (but interestingly not Spirit at all really) and there's the acoustics of Campfire of course, but up til then the Beach Boys vibes weren't really there at all. And the peppiness of Spirit's melodies that had kinda been eroded for 3 albums re-emerges brighter and poppier than ever.

But also the noise on Ark is a totally different kind of noise than on Danse, or Spirit really. It's just so sick how much they kept changing is what I'm saying I guess

*bummer that we often have to come back to the word "tribal" to describe their vibes on like Ark and Tongs. I mean they play that up themselves with Ark's OG title and We Tigers but like, I wish I could think of a better word. "Child-like" is also over-used. Instinctual? Primal? Primal is a little better... eh

[captainlunatic]

the sung tongs/feels era was when i got on the bus, so i should probably do a write-up for one of them

you know, for the longest time i was sure that sung tongs was better than feels, but for the last year or so i've been swinging heavily back in the direction of feels