I think Feels was the era when goofy/nerd rock entered their DNA (I say that lovingly). Fickle Cycle of course, even Turn into Something in parts struck me as The Killers infected by bluegrass. Sung Tongs was playful and had a sense of humor, but more psychedelic and dizzying
Totally. Slippi was the first sign of it but that still leans more toward cool guy garage rock for me. Feels was this huge step toward having more honest and heartfelt meanings behind their music. Not that their earlier stuff didn't, just wasn't communicated as clearly as on Feels and subsequent releases.
Big fat shout to Kria too. They should have mixed her shit higher.
Yeh, I think they just refined their ability to deliver complex yet honest emotions.
Bonus before next week's albums kick off:
WASTERED
Basically like an ODDSAC demo. Great creepy atmosphere. Those bells are like some kind of freaky funeral ritual. I actually really enjoy the more stripped back ambient section in the middle. Just this woozy, foggy early morning kind of feeling. Been many years since I listened to this one so it was nice to take it back.
Can't wait to BLAST THE FUCK OUT OF STRAWBERRY JAM.
Feels:
This is a big one. It's the first AC album I bought and what started the lifetime bond I'll most likely always have to their music. These guys can move me like no other music can, although some records do come close (Peter Gabriel 4, close to the edge by yes, blonde redheads misery is a butterfly, van der graaf generators god bluff, mars voltas comatorium just to name a few).
AC is my absolute favorite band and I like to tell myself that I already realized that after listening to feels a few times about 13 years ago. It must have been spring or early summer of 2008 when I read a review of feels on a german online platform and checked out the video for grass. Wasn't too excited at first, but the screams in the chorus caught me completely off guard and hooked me, so I ordered the CD. While waiting for the delivery, I somehow landed on the Malta live video on YouTube and was completely confused. Wtf was that supposed to be, safer and cuckoo, every band member looks like a complete lunatic in that video, did I just waste my money on that CD?
The album arrived and I listened to it with my discman (lol) and headphones in bed. I remember being completely overwhelmed by did you see the words, grass I already loved, flesh canoe seemed like a jumbled mess. Purple bottle blew me away. After that I remember that I drifted in and out of sleep for the rest of the record and I still associate the second half of feels with an incredibly soothing undertow. You can't help but relax, open up, breath deeper, be vulnerable, smile, don't care, life is not always good but that's completely fine.
The first two minutes of turn into something seem almost out of place at the end, it's like waking up from a dream (loch raven), being afraid you missed the alarm, only to drift back into sweet sleep again.
Tikwid, fickle cycle and people are also top level AC tracks, but I do not care much about the other tracks from that era. Funny to think that they started the trend of releasing some of their greatest songs as B-sides with Tikwid.
After digging through the rest of their discography and being completely baffled how different sung tongs and strawberry jam were compared to feels, I joined the forum and got into the bootleg recordings. It was right around that time when the early MPP shows were happening. I can't think of a better time to get into the band, I was finishing school, recording my first album with a friend on drums, preparing for university, moving out from my parents. Seems so long ago but feels still feels as fresh as ever to me. This may be due to the mix I made back in the day called 'the feeling store', where I combined all the lengthy live transitions with the studio versions of the feels era songs, which is what I still mostly listened to in the past few years when I got a feels itch. Listening back to the proper album was a joy though, as it transported me right back to those times when I first discovered the album and the band. Good times, glad to have AC in my life and also glad to still have a place to share these thoughts with like minded people on here!
Great write up bullseye! Love hearing people's personal connections to the albums. And what an album to launch your fandom with. Also, MPP boots were possibly my favourite AC times ever.
Alright, officially time to launch:
WEEK 4: Dec 17 – Dec 23
Strawberry Jam
Water Curses EP
Pullhair Rubeye
Dead Drunk
I'll also be giving Safer approximately 47 listens because it's Safer.
interesting that you saved Person Pitch to thematically link it with MPP and Down There even though it came out before SJ and Pullhair...
Strawberry Jam was my introduction to AC so it holds a special place in my heart, excited to revisit that and Dead Drunk since I haven't heard that one in awhile. also SJ is a very wintry/christmassy album to me because of Winter Wonder Land obviously but also Derek's instrumentation sounds kinda like "Jingle Bells"
I just spent some time with Avey & Kria Live at First Unitarian Church which I'm starting to think is an even better record of that era than the actual Pullhair album
Let's go. I think my favorite album by the collective. Cuckoo, unsolved, FIREWORKS... they were firing on all cylinders and whats fucked up is that it could've been better. I've gone on about my Rev green - Fireworks - Safer spiel, but dman, that shit could've been fucking massive, but it already is massive, because Rev green Fireworks fking smacks. Water curses is one of their best written songs... ever. Ima listen.. love this
I obviously agree that it was a big miss to hold Safer from the album, but if I had to pick one track to go on SJ... Street Flash is one of the most beautiful reflections on depression and the small reprieves one can find that I have ever heard. It's kind of like the dark (but still hopeful) flipside of Summetime Clothes. I took a walk, and the sights and smells filled me up, at least for a little while. Makes me wanna cry every time.
RE: The SJ season -- Very difficult to pin down. Obviously WWL is on it and i agree that Derek (and Cuckoo Cuckoo) are wintery, but almost everything prior to that is very summery to me, especially Fireworks and the memories I have connected to that. Reverend Green I guess is actually a little Christmasy too. And the Water Curses EP and Safer are very fall. It's year round baby
_________________ Oh lucky me / That sweet horse meat
as mentioned in this thread previously, SJ is a fall album for me. i'm so hyped for this week's albums too. very special to me. thanks again, foxtrot, for all your responses. to have you circle back to all these posts we're making gives this a real round-table community dialogue feeling, and it's a real treat to be a part of this
is it pretty much consensus that people think AC should've found a place for "Safer" on the album? slotting it in after "Fireworks"?
as mentioned in this thread previously, SJ is a fall album for me. i'm so hyped for this week's albums too. very special to me. thanks again, foxtrot, for all your responses. to have you circle back to all these posts we're making gives this a real round-table community dialogue feeling, and it's a real treat to be a part of this
is it pretty much consensus that people think AC should've found a place for "Safer" on the album? slotting it in after "Fireworks"?
Nooo, that's my take, i dont think anyone else be speaking on that. A lot of new ac fans are familiar with Safer just being at the end of the digital version on Spotify, after Derek. it's interesting
is it pretty much consensus that people think AC should've found a place for "Safer" on the album? slotting it in after "Fireworks"?
no! as much as I love Safer I think they rightly chose not to put it on the album. I don't think the sound or the length of it fits with the rest. SJ was the first AC album without a lengthy, slow-burn epic, and I think it actually benefits from that compactness. the zany energy is consistent throughout, with #1 being a bit of a breather but just as disorienting as all the punchy buzzing and whirring on the rest of the album.
I think maybe the first piano-based part of Safer would fit (though would end up being a bit similar to Cuckoo in terms of Avey's vocal delivery) but to me the sample that the second half of the song is based around is too smooth, expansive and euphoric to fit with the tone of what ended up on SJ
Street Flash I could see fitting better, but I think it's still wise they kept it trimmed to just the 9 songs. the sequencing is already flawless so I'm not sure where these would even go
alright cool. i'm also on team "keep Safer independent". agreed SJ is the perfect length. as good as "Safer" is, i think i'd feel a bit saggy if they were to put it on the album. i also think Water Curses is perfect as is, and if one of those tracks were put on SJ that EP would feel too slight.
once again, AC knew how to delegate tracks to get the best of both worlds. i guess the other alternative would've been to put "Safer" on Water Curses...
Sorry to go backwards but I listened to Campfire Songs last night when I couldn't sleep and I do NOT remember avey saying "taking care of business" that many times on Moo Rah Rah Rain. What a brilliant album.
Anyway, the year is 2007, carry on
_________________
I pray deep like
Buuuuuuudhaaaaa
Lots of great chat already. Clearly going to be a popular week! No surprises there I guess.
Keen to respond to a few of these posts but rn just gonna copy and paste my SJ rant!
STRAWBERRY JAM:
Another absolute classic. By the time this album came out I was already a huge fan. This was probably the first AC album where I really anticipated release day. I had spent many months with Person Pitch and absolutely adored it. I knew a bunch of the songs from the boots and I was prepared for a big first listen. Smoked a joint, cracked a beer, popped on my cans and settled into the couch. Within 30 seconds I was off the couch. Peacebone was like getting an intravenous adrenaline hit. Instantly throwing me into a chaotic rapture of arm flailing ecstasy. I was up and dancing around the living room. I thrashed around and played air drums and smiled my guts out that first listen. My favourite band had released another mind blowingly infectious, thrilling, highly original album.
Peacebone is the perfect opener. Like I said, it is just so packed with energy and fun. It is ecstatic and aggressive and psychedelic and awesome. The ‘bonefish’ and dry, messy electronics immediately tell you that this album is going to feel totally different to Feels. I am still amazed at the band’s ability to constantly experiment and explore. The sound on SJ is so punchy and intense. A total shift from Feels’ lush, gauzy atmosphere. I fucking love the bouncy, calculated noise of SJ. Every sound is BIG. Yet, unlike previous albums, there is a real clarity and sense of purpose to every moment. It is tight and intense and bracing in its impact. This album (and this song in particular) also marks the start of Avey doing his crazy, carnival/circus ringleader kind of thing which would start to become an integral part of his style. Not to mention the fact that this album has to be the ultimate Avey screams album. In fact, this board has basically spent the last 15 years asking for more Avey screams as a result of SJ’s visceral, guttural, incredible vocals. Less forest creature and more just straight cathartic human energy. I fucking love it. Geo’s work on this track is top tier. All the growling, belchy sounds are brilliant. Among my favourite AC choruses with the steel drums, classic Avey melody and the compressed screams. The bridge is absolutely electrifying - like the Grass chorus turned up to the extreme. Fuck yes. Another astounding opening track.
Unsolved Mysteries is a brilliant pop song subverted and contorted in that fantastic way that is trademark AC. More sharp, dry, rattling electronics. One of Avey’s best written songs imo. I love what Panda does in the chorus. Just classic Panda drum work. The ‘ah, ah, ah’ stereo-panned backing vocals are always a treat. The ‘wooh ooh eee oooh’ melody gives me tingles. The way this song just builds and effortlessly shifts between sections is brilliant. I love it. 5 stars (like ever other bloody track on this album – well, except Winter Wonderland – we’ll get to that). What I love about SJ is that it is just non-stop bangers. Probably establishes less of an atmosphere than other AC albums. Albums like Feels, Ark, Campfire, Danse really put me in a certain place, evoking strong images in my mind. SJ is almost so primal and energetic and corporeal that it is not about atmosphere. It is just about being lost in yourself and your body. Flailing about like an idiot and loving every sensation it brings. If you’ve ever watched them performing during this era you totally get that too.
I wish Panda had more songs like Chores. He is so good at those high energy songs. I’d love to see him bashing out more in the vein of Chores, fast bratty delivery and a shit ton of energy. The first half of Chores is so much fun. So simple and so electrifying. The second half is thumping yet really beautiful. This is PP level Panda melody.
It is quite incredible to think that an album that opens with three songs that I would consider absolutely perfect, can then move onto to something that reaches even higher peaks. I don’t think I’ve met an AC fan that doesn’t see Rev Green and Fireworks as one of the most unbelievable one/two punches in music history. For Reverend Green is just mind-blowingly good. Like stupidly good. That simple drum beat, just Panda whacking those toms, reminds us of AC’s primal beginnings, but those massive guitars (love the way Avey and Deakin interact in this song) bring us to a totally new realm. AC becoming kings of the castle. A pinnacle of 21st century music. Rock, electronic, pop, experimental all coming together. When I hear this song it just feels like the whole band standing on a mountain peak. It is such a powerful moment. Avey’s verse melody is this unfathomable sorcery. The intensity and conviction of his vocal performance is unmatched. The ‘Now I!!!’ screams are my all-time favourite Avey screams. Love the folky British feel to the guitar section that bridges the first chorus to the second verse. The bridge (‘This one’s for For Reverend Green, forever in green..’) became a total mantra for me and my pot smoking buddies for a while there. Avey’s final screamed, mangled, messy repeat of that line is just peak af. God tier. Presidential.
And then just when you think it couldn’t get any better… Another all-time Panda drum performance. Another all-time Avey vocal performance. What SJ does so well is perfect every element of their sound up until this point. It is like this ultimate distillation of everything they do brilliantly, packed so tight that its overwhelming. This is why it’s the album casual fans love the most. I can totally see why. Fireworks is that rare moment when you feel so completely invigorated and pumped yet still so overwhelmed by emotion. A euphoric, peak experience. The bridge is one of my favourite moments. The high plonky synth/keyboard melody, Geo’s weird bird call noises, and Avey’s passage here is perfect. I still have no idea what it means. SJ lyrics are often full Dada for me (except the last two tracks). Just this stream of conscious, hallucinogenic spray of images and moments. I love that though. So many of them are so beautiful and strange. The wordless chorus on this song makes me want to cry with joy. This is why I can’t stop loving life. Despite the challenges/hard times. The chorus to Fireworks EXISTS fam.
#1 is a great breather track. It is lush and beautiful and melodic. The least ‘Strawberry Jam’ track on the album for me. That said, I love it to bits. It works perfectly in its place. I adore the way the arpeggios immediately change their rhythm/starting point the moment you try and lock into them. And the way the beat slowly comes in and finally gives you some sense of where to place yourself. Noah’s vocals in this song are divine. Avey gives it just enough dry, scratchy weirdness to keep it sounding like a SJ track. This song and the end of Chores are these gorgeous moments of widescreen beauty that work to neatly break up the blasts of pure vigour that the rest of the album provides.
Winter Wonderland is the only song that I wouldn’t call perfect. That said – I like it. It’s a solid 4/5 don’t get me wrong. As a standalone AC song - I like it. I sing along. Its good fun. It is just dwarfed by its company here. I think there are a few people out there who would agree. That said, it definitely contributes to the album’s pace and massive melodic chops. Its great fun and it’s got heaps of great details and parts to pick apart and enjoy.
Cuckoo Cuckoo is easily the most brooding and gloomy track on the album. Its ghostly vibe (musically and lyrically) and brutally dramatic, dynamic choruses are unlike anything else on the album. I love the sequencing again here. This song has so much power BECAUSE of what came before. This and the closer are the two tracks that really tell a story for me. Like the chaos and intensity finally starting to take form. Someone starting to finally process their feelings. Order their thoughts. The piano loop is so spectral. And THAT chorus. Those cute but creepy backing vocals and Avey singing with such passion and purpose. I love the way the messiest parts of the entire album (those post-chorus freak outs) drop away the first time to that haunting piano loop and the second time to that really abrasive insect noise bridge thing. Then the last time its back to that piano loop. This time totally exposed on its own. Brilliant arrangement.
Derek is like being transported away from the crumbling haunted house of Cuckoo onto a beach somewhere in the pacific. The crazy part is that you quickly realise that you’re lying on this beach under the palms, but you can’t get your mind off that poor dog. Such a strange and affecting dichotomy in this song. Blissful tropical vibes set to regret and grief. Panda’s melodies are fantastic again. Beautiful and bouncy yet mournful. The massive final stretch is a moment of acceptance though. A climactic finale to an album full of what feels like constant climax.
I love the lyrics on this album. Feel like I missed that a bit in my ramblings here. Too overcome by the rush that this album delivers! For me, the lyrics on SJ are less directly emotional or personally affecting (I relate them less to my personal life) but they are full of so many great little stories and images. So trippy and fun to explore. Like I said, I see them as very Dadaist, yet they contain so many gorgeous vignettes. Less fully formed stories and more fleeting moments. Just taking in all of life’s incredibly strange, sad and wonderful moments. A constant stream of observations and feelings. Some of my favourite lines include:
“Why must we move on, from such happy lawns, into nostalgia’s palm?”
“Man, it passes right by me, its behind me, now its gone”
“A sacred night, we'll watch the fireworks, the frightened babies poo, they've got two flashing eyes”
“She's spits me out in her surly blood rivers”
“Little kids sliding down the steel park slide, little kids can't play with things that died”
This is the perfect album to play in the car or when you’re doing household Chores. Something so catchy/melodic yet still so idiosyncratic and exhilarating. I love just basking in the noises, the screams, the direct rhythms and the infectious melodies. Their most ‘perfect’ unit of music in a lot of ways.
I think the boys probably made the right choice by leaving Safer off of SJ, but if I had to out it in there I think I'd put it between Chores and Rev
Anyway, without even thinking about this thread I happened to listen to Fireworks for the first time in a long while earlier today and it made me cry. Wasn't even expecting that. Partially just from thinking about how it was the second AC song I ever heard and how its been with me all these years, and with so many other people for comparable amounts of time, and how nothing else feels quite like it.
interesting that you saved Person Pitch to thematically link it with MPP and Down There even though it came out before SJ and Pullhair...
Strawberry Jam was my introduction to AC so it holds a special place in my heart, excited to revisit that and Dead Drunk since I haven't heard that one in awhile. also SJ is a very wintry/christmassy album to me because of Winter Wonder Land obviously but also Derek's instrumentation sounds kinda like "Jingle Bells"
I just spent some time with Avey & Kria Live at First Unitarian Church which I'm starting to think is an even better record of that era than the actual Pullhair album
Yeh, was trying to balance the weeks and also get some sense of cohesion. Tried to mostly stick with chronological but thought this worked.
Interesting take on Derek. I’ve always heard that percussion as sloshing sea shells or something.
I have mixed feelings about Pullhair as many of us do. Still have my ‘forwards’ version sitting around somewhere.
RE: the Safer chat - I adore Safer and think it’s an integral part of that era. It and Street Flash would have completely changed the tone of the record though.
Strawberry Jam: i used to just... not care about, like, half of this album. yeah, i know, berate me all you want, but you know what they say about an obsession with the past
it was only really recently that i learned to appreciate the parts of Strawberry Jam that aren't Peacebone, For Reverend Green, Fireworks, or Winter Wonder Land. i guess i just always saw it as a transition between Feels and MPP and not much else, but that couldn't be further from the truth. sure, you can definitely hear the roots of the electronic jam-fest that is Merriweather Post Pavilion, and there are still a few remnants of the bittersweet lovey-dovey stickiness of Feels, but ultimately, Strawberry Jam stands very tall on its own merits, doesn't sound too much like anything they've made before or since, and is just an amazing experience from front to back
no stories about how i discovered the perfect live show to get me to appreciate this album for what it is, it was really just the result of a lot of repeat listens. hell, even relistening to it just now made it grow on me more, and i think that's the sign of a truly great album
Water Curses: a really good companion piece to a really good album. Street Flash is, ostensibly, the obvious star of this EP, but that's not to disparage the other three tracks, especially the title track, which is a bop
Safer: this is a song i think i discovered either this year or last year, but either way, i fell in love with it immediately, and how could i not? from the intro where the piano loop and choral drone say "calming" but Avey's vocals say "intense" to the iconic "I'M ALRIGHT IF YOU'RE ALRIGHT, I'M ALRIGHT, I'M ALRIIIIGHT" giving way to something that sounds like a Person Pitch outtake where Panda was like "hey Avey do you wanna sing on this one" and Avey was like "hell fucking yes," Safer is a nine minute high and i wouldn't bat an eye if someone told me they thought this was the best song AC ever made, much less the best song of the SJ era
still, i am a defender of them leaving it as a b-side. sometimes you make a masterpiece and it just isn't a perfect fit for your masterpiece of an album. c'est la vie
no! as much as I love Safer I think they rightly chose not to put it on the album. I don't think the sound or the length of it fits with the rest.
Street Flash I could see fitting better, but I think it's still wise they kept it trimmed to just the 9 songs. the sequencing is already flawless so I'm not sure where these would even go
speaking facts. Safer is a great song, but Avey screaming about torture isn't the pretty ending everyon'es making it out to be
I think it's easier to understand safer being off the album because that's just how it happened but it's pretty preposterous it was a b-side to peacebone and not on the album or EP. Atleast w the grass single having treeman and and fickle cycle with it sort've made sense since the songs were a suite in the original performances. Avey screaming about torture would fit perfectly on the Jam. Strawberry Jam is one of AC's darkest albums. It's like a dissociation party/ The album ends with the lyrics "See inside empty eyes..." even if it's groovy. Shits fucked up
instead of trying to find a place for safer on SJ, i would rather slot it in with water curses and make an LP out of that. maybe merge it with fall be kind if ur feeling crazy
instead of trying to find a place for safer on SJ, i would rather slot it in with water curses and make an LP out of that. maybe merge it with fall be kind if ur feeling crazy
Now that would be a doozy. What would i want sky and I think i can work very well in the Jam framework which i think is why they worked on the Chz tour. Would be a fun playlist
if CHz is avey's angry album, SJ is where he's most tortured. I didn't appreciate this until listening to an '06 show (the corner, melbourne) - cuckoo cuckoo, already an intense song, is actually frightening and tragic in a dizzying, queasy way - "where's my wife I wanna hold her tight" - it brings tears to your eyes. Even chores is angry in this show, noah snarles like a dog. the studio version is quite surprising after hearing how they performed it earlier
maybe a big call but is SJ their most emotionally complex work? It could've been a straightforward-ly abrasive and dark album, but it seems to me that they deliberately brightened up a lot of things in the studio. makes for a more accessible and fun listening experience but also makes the darker elements all the more disturbing when you realise they're there
_________________
I pray deep like
Buuuuuuudhaaaaa
I'd also like to second that Unsolved Mysteries is brilliant, a genuis piece of songwriting. And probably one of all time favourite vocal performances from Avey. I love how sharp he sings those long held notes "it's not growing in the wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiild"
_________________
I pray deep like
Buuuuuuudhaaaaa
Listening to this boot, didn't realize it had one of my favorite AC boot moments (This ones for that fucker stevie wonder!!!) LOL. Great boot. They actually rip purple bottle harder nowadays then they used to. Although 2013 purple bottles were insane. The one at bonaroo sounds like an all-time animal collective experience. My brother was there, from me telling he should see them. Told me it was otherworldy. He had the experience. Police academy guy coming out and then going into Moonjock. He listened to Moonjock and told me he thought the song ended and started 4 different times. He loves them now. I saw him post Always you on his facebook around 7 years ago and it got me really happy.
2006 boot are so interesting. I'm listening to this boot then listening to the album. Knowing the album went through two different mixes (Maybe rough to describe it like this, but a "lush" mix that sounded more like Feels and the "dry" mix we got) which give a lot of context to the album and why they sequenced it the way they did. Some songs work so much better given the dry production (Forever Green, fireworks) and some seem kinda made for that production but can falter a bit (Chores, #1, i still LOVE both of these songs though and they still sound great in studio) I can understand there being demoitis around the time, because it is 2 different experiences. Let's get in it
So interesting the way people interpret this stuff. For me, SJ is one of the albums where the studio versions get the closest to the way it felt live. I also saw them in Australia in 2006. My first AC show!!
Just listened to Dead Drunk:
Perfume’s opening piano loop is super agitating and really launches things immediately into this high alert state of disturbing, chaotic alarm. The vocals are garbled nonsense, being spat from the mouth a psychotic poet on a street corner soap box. This whole album is scary and exhausting. Myriad noises pummelling you with their merciless repetition. Perfume’s quieter finishing section does nothing to allay the sense of alarm.
The Sailor is probably the most song-like. I often find it to feel a bit like when you drive past a horrific accident. You know that something terrible has happened, but you can't look way. You're curious and disturbed at the same time. Strangely attracted and repelled at the same time. The sense of rhythm and melody in this one is so different to the rest of their material. I really dig it. I wish they had done more of this kind of filthy, garbage-can electro-pop stuff. Still full of gnarly, grotesque sounds but with some semblance of song form.
Gargoyle is less horrific car accident and more insect infestation in your brain. Love the swampy acoustic guitar rooting the insane murderous insect noises.
Plowman is a homeless man, breaking out in sores, rabbling at you on the subway. Like The Sailor, I think the vocals really add to the replay value and give things this awesome festering scab organic quality. Like rotting, broken pop music set over a malfunctioning piece of machinery.
Magic Trick feels much more playful than the rest of the album. Still disquieting but with a wry smile.
Future Train is an absolutely terrifying, chaotic mess. It’s like some kind of evil clown robot following you down a dark alley. It sends a chill down my spine every time. I think Dead Drunk does such a great job of this creepy, diseased atmosphere.
This Weekend Now finishes things well enough. The noises here don’t quite scratch at you in the same way as earlier tracks but the vocals are super cool and weird af. Also, love the way the song/album finishes by being slowly dragged into some vortex.
Overall, I remember Dead Drunk scaring the crap out of me the first time I heard it. I love that their broader discography contains albums like this. By far my favourite TT record. So awesome to think that Avey released this only a year or so before writing songs like Bluish. These guys definitely give us plenty of variety.
The steel drum on Peacebone is one of the funniest animal collective moments. It's so fucking good but also so absurd in the context of the song. That's their happy place
Love that part! You’re right. It’s totally absurd and totally awesome at the same time.
Just listened to Pullhair Rubeye.
Despite the shit this gets it is really quite listenable. Many of the tracks have this graceful, slow, oscillating beauty to them. Like watching a babbling stream. I particularly love the opening two tracks. They really pull you into this gorgeous, elven psychedelic utopia.
Also, when ‘flipped’ this is great acoustic AC stuff. Haven’t relistened to it flipped yet but the fact that there are a range of different flipped versions out there only increases the interactive nature of the album. I think part of the intent was to make this something that people could question and play with. A bit like Zaireeka. An album that can be experienced in multiple ways. The only real loser with the backwards thing is Sasong. That song is one of my absolute favourites and the album (backwards) version is a travesty! Otherwise, Pullhair isn’t just a joke. There’s a lot of beauty in it.
1. Safer
2. Graze
3. What Would I Want? Sky
4. Cobwebs
5. Water Curses
6. Bleed
7. Seal Eyeing
8. On a Highway
9. Street Flash
10. I Think I Can
10 songs / 54 minutes, would rival any AC album.
edit: WWIWS into Cobwebs is actually legendary. I think I'm in love with this fantasy album.
BUT LETS GET BACK ON TOPIC
Have to also mention that this is a pretty fucking incredible tracklist considering that every song is a b-side and all written within the space of a few years. Damn these fellas got jams
The steel drum on Peacebone is one of the funniest animal collective moments. It's so fucking good but also so absurd in the context of the song. That's their happy place
love the steel drum bit and also love how the black dice remix really highlights it. after hearing that remix it stood out even more in the original
Pullhair Rubeye: my first ever listen of this album is the "fixed version", so sue me. and my first impression is "wow, this is a really nice folk album that fits really neatly in the Animal Collective extended discography... so why did they not release it like this?"
Opís Helpus and Sasong are some top-tier Avey tracks (though, really, all the tracks are great - special mention to Palenka, with a guitar arpeggio i find to be almost hypnotizing), and any time Kría decides to grace the recording with her voice, it's magical. i'm just firmly of the opinion that it was extremely goofy for them to release it the way they did
i shall now attempt to make David Lynch sick by thinking mean thoughts about him
the steel drum in street flash is one of the most effective musical moments in their whole catalogue for me. just those 4 sweet notes against avey's scream. crushes me every time
Strawberry Jam:
This was the second AC album I got into after having discovered feels in 2008. The cover image perfectly captures the vibe of the record, which, to me would be 'intense' if I had to summarize it in a word. I love all the songs individually, but as an album, it's doesn't work as well. Peacebone is relentlessly great, aveys vocals are top notch, as they are on the rest of the record. Fireworks and reverend green are massive! Cuckoo is, again, for the lack of a better word, as intense as it gets.
However, the sequencing is a bit weird to me. Most fans love the 2 hit combo of rev green and fireworks but I think the simple fade in of the snare loop is one of the laziest transitions they ever put on a record. Also, the songs are a bit too similar to me to come right after one another. Reverend green ends with aveys wordless melody and fireworks starts with another wordless melody delivered in the same manner.
This is maybe blasphemy to some, but I think #1 would be a better song without the main arpeggiated synth loop. It's a nice effect in the beginning and serves as a nice pallete cleanser after the first half of the record, but it messes up the rest of the song for me. It's mixed too loud to ignore and my brain can't decide which rhythm to a attach to, the synth loop or the rest of the song. It works better in the outro as it's mixed more subtlely and the whole song is a bit looser.
The first half of the record is very consistent, while the latter half seems like such a mixed bag, stylistically. If the songs weren't as strong, the sequencing would fall apart for me. I can understand why they had lengthy discussions about the tracklisting and I take geos side of having safer as a closer. It is probably my favorite AC song, it is quintessential AC to me. I'd have winter wonderland as a bside for peacebone instead. This would also make the second half of the LP flow much nicer, imagine #1s spacy outro transitioning into the intro of cuckoo. Weirdly, as much as I dislike the fading transitions on SJ, the abrubt ones (chores>rev, cuckoo>derek) work really well.
I don't want to sound too negative, this is all nitpicking on a very high level and I still really enjoy it!
Water Curses:
Perfect EP, 10/10.
Pullhair Rubeye:
I'm still baffled that they released these beautiful songs in such a weird manner. Sasong, lay lay off, opis, who wellses are all just beautiful. I wish we had a studio version of fetus noman with vocals as well as recordings of some kria tracks they played live. Shout outs again to angelic chaoses stellar job on the unitarian church boot, which basically replaces the studio album for me.
The name Strawberry Jam came from singer and drummer Panda Bear as he and the band were on a plane headed to Greece for a show. Upon receiving his complimentary tray of food, he opened up the packet of strawberry jam that had been provided for the bread. As he removed the cover of the packet, he was drawn to the look of the glistening jam, and he expressed his desire for the production of their new album to sound like the jam looked, "that is to say, something that's really synthetic and sharp and futuristic looking," but also "tangy and sweet, almost in a kind of aggressive way in terms of the way it tastes".
they really nailed everything Noah described, especially the "sweet in an aggressive way"
Am I the only person in the entire world to listen to official pullhair rubeye and enjoy it? Everyone is so firm in the idea that it was some kind of lazy gimmicky idea… Avey and Kria most definitely listened to the official version before they signed off on it, it actually does sound amazing, especially if you can listen in a conceptual vacuum. Imagine how incredible it was for them to try the idea out and discover that hidden beauty. By no means would every album sound good this way. And also we get two great albums because of their discovery/decision.
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