[Slippi's Applesauce]

also listened to honeycomb/gotham, which are both as perfect today as they were 10 years ago. like the rest of chz, they still sound blown out (especially honeycomb), but maybe not quite as bad as the main album

[nothingmaster]

Entering my mid thirties, CHz really scratches an itch I honestly didn't have when it came out. The expressions of agitation seem a little more pragmatic and less like emotional poetry which is where I feel SJ leans in it's clearer moments. Like going from "my inner child feels lost in this confusing and lonely world" to " I wanna punch this answering machine". The "sometimes you gotta go get mad" lyric is the defining line of the album for sure

Applesauce is a top 5 track for me now. Nothing else gets me moving like that one. Rocking out with chills in my body for every second

[roopn]

Good digging Stan, super interesting stuff

[foxtrot]

madameghostly wrote:

Tomboy: this is a pretty solid follow-up to Person Pitch. while it might not hit some of the high highs of Noah's magnum opus, it's still pretty consistently good. in addition to the album that may or may not overshadow this one, i found myself comparing and contrasting with Down There at times. i like that this is a lot more upbeat overall, but it's still not afraid to go to those dark places at times. the track that stood out the most to me on this first listen was Afterburner, which gives me slight The Field vibes and is just a banger in general, but there wasn't really anything here i didn't like

now all that's left for me to do this week is THE ANIMAL COLLECTIVE MOVIE

So jealous of your endless stream of first listens over the course of this thing. Will be very curious to see what you think of ODDSAC. It's pretty out there!

blindmowing wrote:

still playing catch up:

Strawberry Jam

burnt emotional mudcake lyrics.

nine songs of varied textures, each song a layer cake, oozing creams and jellies (JAMS, duh) but also crunchy chocolates and nuts and squishy candies like sugar worms and Jujubes and marshmallow bananas.


Tomboy

a minimal cinematic experience, angel daydreaming on a white-sand beach, psychedelic in monochrome, triangular stadium band set up. Noah's vocals blasting past the rafters into the blinding heavens. those vocals pure cocaine lacing the aisles of God's ear-drums, those synth drones carving trenches into the veins of space cadets, the reverb of guitars ricocheting off the furthest planets

Catch up smatch up. It's good to have you back. Fucking love these thoughts/images.

FEEL ON1NE!!! wrote:

The biggest strength of Centipede songs is how complex a few of them are, and how their structures go through so many parts in such a short time.

I do love this about CHz. Especially Applesauce.

FEEL ON1NE!!! wrote:

Continuing on my diatribe, i find Chz to be a continuation of some of the themes of anxiety/dissociation/depression on Strawberry Jam, just kind've times'd ten, which is a lot especially bc Jam already had a song like Cuckoo which is times a thousand. Chz is kind've more confrontational about it. Here's what I mean: in a song like Safer, the way the mantra kinda corrupts itself is that of like a panic attack, and the statement itself is kind've yielding and passive which gives it so much weight as it breaks into screaming. "I'm alright if you're alright"... It feels the same on Street Flash or Rev Green, which are kind've like snide musings on shit in a pretty cynical light. Chz is the inverse of that, while both include screaming and noisy sections, Chz songs are much more in your face and almost angry about the pain their feeling. Todays Supernatural Avey yells to deal with it as he warps around the song's snake like structure, eventually ending in a pained scream w "the same." Amanita's anthemic last section rejecting modern bullshit, and my favorite Mercury's desperate howls lay anxieties about distance and separation bare with pretty vulnerable statements not masked by metaphor or anything. "If you could only feel what's wrong". Shit like that, which AC are fucking amazing at. That's why I feel this album has a strong emotional core as any other AC album, it just processes the emotions a little louder

I like this idea. I guess maybe that's part of the reason for the reaction it often gets. People don't want to be bludgeoned in the face with the emotions? Maybe it comes across as a bit graceless or something for some fans?

Slippi's Applesauce wrote:

It just sounds amazing, especially with the thunderous drums. Mr Fingers is enormous, one of their best and most intense sounding tracks.

I wish we could here more AC drums like this. They are fucking HUGE.

Slippi's Applesauce wrote:

Screens is delicious, Panda at his most melodic. Only issue I have with it is that they both feel more like solo songs than ac. i know everyone is contributing but idk, not sure why i feel that way. amazing otherwise!! Avey's Working is amazing, almost like proto-Eucalyptus in his singing. Those blasts of drums and static scare me every time. Tantrum Barb is of course classic Panda, always been one of my personal favorites. super tribal and pretty unique lyrics for him imo.

These are all top tier AC for me. They deserve way more attention. Especially Screens. It floors me every time.

Slippi's Applesauce wrote:

i understand why they never released this audio-only, and i do really dig danny perez's visuals, but this thing is insane. one of their weirdest latter-day releases and i wish more people could be exposed to these fantastic songs.

I have never been particularly interested in AC's visual stuff (Film clips etc.). Oddsac is probably the best of the bunch. But I do really wish this also had an audio-only release. It is such an awesome weird af album.

nothingmaster wrote:

Entering my mid thirties, CHz really scratches an itch I honestly didn't have when it came out. The expressions of agitation seem a little more pragmatic and less like emotional poetry which is where I feel SJ leans in it's clearer moments. Like going from "my inner child feels lost in this confusing and lonely world" to " I wanna punch this answering machine". The "sometimes you gotta go get mad" lyric is the defining line of the album for sure

Yeh, I can relate to this actually. I'm 40 now and I have enjoyed the pure, deliberately unsubtle energy and aggression in this album this week. Have blasted it 3 or 4 times over the last few days and probably enjoyed it more than ever before. Cranky middle aged men!

[bullseye]

I'm a bit late to the discussion as I was sick in bed the last weeks, so I'll try to catch up with my write ups.

Person Pitch:
It's not my favorite panda bear record, even though it is basically flawless. My only gripe would be that no studio version of bonfire of the vanities was recorded. Such a unique song, but at least we've got two pretty decent live recordings of it.
It's crazy to think about how perfectly he used the 303s for this set of songs. I wonder if they are as stoked as me on the new 404mkll. Geo has been rocking his 404 for a very long time now.

MPP/FBK:
What an album! This was the AC record where I had intensively listened to boots and live videos before the record dropped. I remember when the track list was announced and how disappointed I was initially, just because I was so used to the old song names. No house, no bearhug, no grace, what are they doing?? I went on CA and was immediately relieved that my girls was house and bearhug was summertime clothes. No grace was a bummer though and I had some hard demoitis when listening to the studio version of taste initially. Leaving grace for FBK and reworking taste were the right decisions though, as much as I adored the more simple live version.
When I first listened to lion in a coma, I thought the mouth harp loop was really goofy and didn't fit the record at all. The song still sticks out from the rest of the songs a bit, but it's top notch AC nonetheless. The live version is a lot more visceral with the drumming, so I think lion in a coma would have been a good fit for FBK if the drums would sounds like they do on graze.
This would of course leave a bit of room for from a beach to be on MPP. If I think about the transformation of seal eyeing or on a highway from the BBC sessions to the studio versions, it's really hard not to shed a tear about what could have been possible with from a beach. Again, with AC this is complaining on such a ridiculous level, as both MPP and FBK are just so very good. Also in terms of production, they really nailed both records.

Down There:
Another flawless masterpiece. This is maybe the most cohesive AC related experience so far. Perfect flow from start to finish and all the songs seem like they were molded from the same clay. As much as I wish there were studio versions of the additional songs Dave played live, I'm glad they are not on down there, as it's just perfect the way it is. An additional EP with the remaining songs would have been great though, even if they were just HQ live versions.

[curleyswirley]

Honeycomb just absolutely fucking slaps doesn't it

[foxtrot]

Yes! Still a wonder this song. So much fun to listen to. I love the push and pull of it feeling so tight yet so elastic (like Lion In A Coma).

[destiny]

What happened on repeat rn. That's animal collective to me. The energy... the melody... just undeniable. The white family becoming marshmellows. Gotta love it

[madameghostly]

ODDSAC: yeah, this is about what i was expecting from THE ANIMAL COLLECTIVE MOVIE, by which i mean it's a beautiful psychedelic experience with wisps of an overarching plot and a pretty good soundtrack. the horror elements did catch me off guard, but in hindsight, it makes sense. Animal Collective and horror kind of go together, don't they?

visually, between the vignettes and the psychedelic clown vomit, there wasn't anything here i didn't really like. the girl trying to stop the goop coming out of the wall really resonated with me for some reason. as for the music, some parts are definitely better than others, but everything comes together to make a complete experience, and i've shown my appreciation for weird soundscapes before, so again, nothing here i can say i hated, and i would never say something crazy like "this could have been an EP with Mr. Fingers, Screens, Working, Tantrum Barb, and What Happened" out loud

[foxtrot]

If you did, you would be ejected from the venue immediately!

[opposite field]

Really been enjoying a lot of the CHZ posts here. Gonna take a good listen to that record sometime over the next few days. That was the first new album I got to experience from the band and I've had a lot of changing feelings on it over the years. I was 17 when it came out and was traveling and had to pay for hotel wifi in Boston to listen to the premiere stream, different times for sure.

Glad everyone is in consensus that Honeycomb/Gotham is a perfect 7" and a huge highlight from that era. I remember those songs dropping and everyone completely losing it. Looking at the lyrics now they hit harder at this point in my life than they did in the past. In the same way I've really taken to Street Flash again during the pandemic times Honeycomb hits the same way.

[bullseye]

Spent an hour typing down my thoughts on oddsac and chz and was automatically logged out and the text was deleted.


Okay, second try:

ODDSAC:
I pretty much agree with most people that its an enjoyable watch with some very great songs on it. Mr Fingers and Kindle Song are the perfect opening.
Those two also have the perfect match of audio and visuals on the whole disc. All the "proper" songs on ODDSAC are on par with the songs on MPP or strawberry jam for me.
Screens is just beautiful.
Working and Tantrum Barb are awesome, even if I wish that Working wasn't disrupted by the bursts of noise and the deep bass in Tantrum Barb wasn't as disorienting.
The whole camp/vamp segment works nicely with the visuals, but is less interesting musically.
Vamp Deak looks like the first zombie in the first resident evil game on the first playstation.
Urban Creme and Mess Hour House are the low points for me, but What Happened ends it on a high not, even though the song is a bit short.

CHz:
CHz dethroned Ark as my favorite AC record when it was released and has been sitting on the throne ever since.
It was exactly where I wanted AC to go at the time: More agressive, more complex, more prog, for a lack of a better word.
I was getting into The Gates of Delirium by Yes right around the time when the first bootlegs of the early CHz shows started appearing.
Both records feature really high energy, sprawling and chaotic songs and have a similar vibe imo.
The radio shows leading up to the release were so nice, I have to go back and listen to them again soon. I remember watching/listening the stream right when it dropped with a friend.
We were completely floored by Moonjock. I was familiar with the boots and already loved the songs that were played live before the release, but I was entirely unprepared for such a rocking opener.
My friend and I just stared at each other in disbelieve during the transition to TS. TS continues the high energy level, what a great song.
Regarding Rosie Oh and it being "shit", I only remeber an interview with panda, where he says that he had to separate himself from the other guys for a bit in order to figure the song out with an acoutic guitar or something.
Can#t find the interview unfortunately. Whatever the case, I love the song to bits, Deaks guitar lines are very playful, the glitchy vocals, and the "I like to embrace it" part is pure bliss.
Applesauce is another stunner, it feels like a successor to Water Curses. Avey rocking a fuzz guitar on Wide Eyed is so unexpected, but yes, please insert it right into my eardrums.
Wide Eyes always reminded me of the 13th Floor Elevators for some reason. Father Time is not quite as dense as the other tracks so far. Great percussion, weird but awesome guitar sound, wonderful intro.
I can see that the other songs may have benefitted from a less dense production approach, but I also think that it really fits the albums thematically and sonically.
I really enjoy the stimuli overload, but I do think that CHz benefits the most from a nice listening setup. It sounds great on good studio monitors and good headphones, but can sound like complete garbage on cheap ones, moreso than other AC records.
Also, all the transitions on this record are perfect! As were Abbys visuals for the stream.
I wish the full thing would still be available somewhere.

Whenever I listen to CHz I have Crimson>Gotham>Honeycomb inserted at this point, they are a nice extra LP side and are all 10/10 songs for me. Also, all the transitions on this record are perfect! As were Abbys visuals for the stream.
I wish the full thing would still be available somewhere.

I can see why some people do not dig CHz as much as other AC records. AC records are usually pretty demanding and require attention when listening, but I think this is especially true for CHz.
In addtion, the songs are pretty heartwrenching and I think one needs to be in the right mood to appreciate them.
I'm glad that more and more people do eventually get around to "getting" it and liking the album more.

I get a bit sad when I read that NTB is regarded as a mere Tomboy throwaway by some. Its the greatest song on the album imo, what a beast.
Aveys swirling synths, deaks colossal stabs, the choir, so much that makes this a monumental epic. The transition to Monkey Riches is great, but Monkey Riches didn't translate as well in the studio as the other.
Its my least favorite song on CHz, but I still like it.
Mercury Man is another relentless trip. I had the worst case of demoitis when the album dropped and the lyrics were changed but I'm used to it now.
Its probably the most "outer space" song of the bunch. I kinda wish it was swapped with Pulleys in the track order, as it always struck me as a great penultimate track.
Pulleys would also be a nice breather track after Monkey Riches. I wasn't too psyched about Pulleys when first listening to it, but its great, especially when they played it live (which I hope they won't do again any time soon, as they played it really often I'd rather wanna see any other CHz track).
Amanita finishes things off on a high note, although it pales a bit in comparison to their other album closers (Brother Sport, Turn Into Something, Too Soon).

Monkey Been to Burntown:
Let's just forget this ever happened.

Tomboy:
I really loved it when it dropped, but I somehow very rarely returned to it in the past few years. I did enjoy listening to it again though. Slow Motion, Jetty, Alsatian Darn, and Afterburner are among pandas greatest songs.
As an album, it somehow doesn't quite work as well as PP or GR, but I can't really explain why. It's great that there are two versions of the album, I gotta go back and also listen to pandas mixes again.

[foxtrot]

opposite field wrote:

Really been enjoying a lot of the CHZ posts here. Gonna take a good listen to that record sometime over the next few days. That was the first new album I got to experience from the band and I've had a lot of changing feelings on it over the years. I was 17 when it came out and was traveling and had to pay for hotel wifi in Boston to listen to the premiere stream, different times for sure.

Glad everyone is in consensus that Honeycomb/Gotham is a perfect 7" and a huge highlight from that era. I remember those songs dropping and everyone completely losing it. Looking at the lyrics now they hit harder at this point in my life than they did in the past. In the same way I've really taken to Street Flash again during the pandemic times Honeycomb hits the same way.

Yeh, the discussion around CHz has been really interesting and has definitely endeared me to the album more rather than less.

bullseye wrote:

spend an hour typing down my thoughts on oddsac and chz and was automatically logged out and the text was deleted.

Oh shit! That sucks dude! Usually if you click back it'll still be there and you can copy, then log back in, then paste. Or if I know I'm going to be typing for ages I'll just start a doc then paste into CA.

Would love to hear your thoughts if you're willing to summarise.



Friday here in Australia so time to kick off:

WEEK 7: Jan 7 – Jan 13
Slasher House, Sleep Cycle, Grim Reaper (+EPs)

Getting so close now! Mentioned in the other thread that even if they release another single I think I can wait. Really enjoying the idea of soaking up every last bit of this schedule and then getting to enjoy the full glory of TS at the end of it.

It's my birthday tomorrow so I'm going to do some kind of special listen somewhere. Potentially PBVSGR overlooking the beach. Also doing a long drive late tonight so planning to kick off the week with a listen to all three albums in the car.

[foxtrot]

Btw I just realised that this week is pretty unique. It’s the first week that doesn’t include an ‘Animal Collective’ album. It also happens to feature an AC adjacent release (practically solo) from 3 of the 4 members. Pretty cool I thought.

[scrambledgreggs]

I had never heard the PBVSGR ATP rehearsal demos, so figured I'd give that a listen along with this week since Grim Reaper is up

I gotta say, demoitis normally doesn't work in reverse but for some of these songs these original versions sound completely different in a way that really elevates them. on the whole the samples sound so much more noisy, raw and often demented in the demos, and I think this pairs extremely well with Noah's smooth vocals. it's almost like he's singing over Black Dice tracks on some of them. I think the most noticeably different versions are Papadum, Ms Pacman, Gyeah, This Side of Paradise, Miosotis Garage and Cosplay. I now finally understand what most of this board has been talking about for years, I think I would've liked Grim Reaper a lot more if it had kept the edge on most of these instead of smoothing it over

[Fovrodi]

Never heard that. I understand and respect JFW7s embargo on archiving those but I wish they lived somewhere accessible. But no way in hell we're getting another stickied thread in this forum

[wilandhugs]

I've given Greaper a couple listens this week, but I've never actually heard any boots, which shows are the best for the early versions?

[unrecordednight]

before diving into the boots just imagine it being 2013 and knowing that panda is about to play a one off set of brand new music we know nothing about and then afterwards these two videos are the first thing to surface from the show:





then dive into the ATP boot

[wilandhugs]

unrecordednight wrote:

before diving into the boots just imagine it being 2013 and knowing that panda is about to play a one off set of brand new music we know nothing about and then afterwards these two videos are the first thing to surface from the show:





then dive into the ATP boot

beautiful, I will engage with perspective. thank you

[jfw7]

Fovrodi wrote:

Never heard that. I understand and respect JFW7s embargo on archiving those but I wish they lived somewhere accessible. But no way in hell we're getting another stickied thread in this forum

do you mean that i just said they're not "live" enough for the live recordings thread? i guess some of the radio sessions are borderline too (playpen, etc.). it's probably not too much against the spirit of the thread to include them, and they don't really make sense anywhere else.

so what should go there? the blast stuff, ATP demos, Colina practice, PB 2021 practice, random deakin IG stuff...

[Fovrodi]

Maybe live sub could get a separate stickied thread for band rehearsals? CHz Purple Bottle rehearsal video could also go in there, Avey/Bjorn Angeleno Jam (but that makes up most an O'Brien system but hrrm), Rain in Cups? Lotta gray areas I suppose

[Dudders]

Definitely got reverse demoitis listening to ATP Greaper. Glorious chaos and some of the most tantalizingly evil-sounding music Noah has ever made. Someone here called it something along the lines of 'the deranged cousin of Person Pitch' which is so spot on. No doubt would have been on a par with that album if it'd kept that vibe... sadly studio Greaper is so sedate by comparison and it's one of those things where I can't for the life of me wrap my head around why the finished product took the form it did, right down to the weird LP/EP song selection. Like the recordings are perfectly fine (apart from Selfish Gene) and it's a solid set of songs, but idk where the EVIL? Where's the horrible screams at the beginning of Papadum??

[foxtrot]

Have listened to these in years? Where can I find them now?
Definitely think we need a sticky thread in love for all the various demos/sessions type recordings.

[blindmowing]

foxtrot wrote:

Have listened to these in years? Where can I find them now?
Definitely think we need a sticky thread in love for all the various demos/sessions type recordings.

this is ATP rehearsal v1

Code: Select all

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ew9vozofj8s4cde/PANDA_BEAR_ATP_REHEARSAL_V1.zip/file

PBvsGR studio version and the ATP Demo version is the perfect example of having the best of both worlds. two terrific iterations, but vastly different. depending on mood, i'll want to dive into one or the other

as someone who prefers raw n gritty... i'd go with the ATP demo with all the insane and gnarly samples, but the shiny plastic candy and rubber beats n bass of the studio is fun too

[destiny]

i remember first listening to that boot in 2013. it was so good, i thought selfish gene (?) i think when it was called nadir (?) was like the best song, until i heard marijuana make my day with the THX ending and was blown away. i just loved how funny it all was, the wazzup sample, the apocalypse now shit, him just bouncing around all these beats and samples with hi pretty ass voice. ANd then it took like soo long to come out lol shit came out in like 2015

[Stan]

Literally no reason to listen to the studio album when the two ATP rehearsals exist. It's like having this incredibly rich bouillabaisse full of chunks of cod and rockfish and huge fresh prawns and conger eel and even some baby crabs and running it through a sieve and removing everything but the base broth, which you water down by half with skimmed milk. Yes, there's a hint of what once was but you've turned something fresh and bold and unique, an unrepeatable snapshot of a single day's catch, into canned slop.

[roopn]

Slasher Flicks - Listened a bunch when it came out but kinda left it sidelined in recent years. Basically the songs are crazy good but the mix shits me. There is lots of good too, I don't want to be super negative but that's the long and short of it. I'll try to write more when I have some time

Also I think this has my vote for worst AC album art sorry

[Daffy Duck]

Since we’re on the subject of panda bears grim reaper album and the ATP rehearsals, I made a version of the album that includes all of the cool transitions from the live stuff. And I did the EP’s too. Y’all should check it out. I took a lot of time on it and think it turned out really good!
(Grim Reaper) https://www.mediafire.com/file/g5tges7d ... 9.zip/file
(EP’s) https://www.mediafire.com/file/8fr6rqiv ... 9.zip/file

[Cooper]

roopn wrote:

Slasher Flicks - Listened a bunch when it came out but kinda left it sidelined in recent years. Basically the songs are crazy good but the mix shits me. There is lots of good too, I don't want to be super negative but that's the long and short of it. I'll try to write more when I have some time

Also I think this has my vote for worst AC album art sorry

Agree. So much dull loud metallic treble

[wilandhugs]

Alright, so as much as I love Greaper I finally got around to some boots and found v6...

Where was this my whole life? Gonna have to agree with that 'reverse demoitis' for some of these tracks, I honest to God prefer this version of Boys Latin...

Also Daffy I've been jamming to your remix for a few months now, it's awesome, thanks a lot for a great job!!

[madameghostly]

wait, how many versions of PBVSGR are there?

[wilandhugs]

madameghostly wrote:

wait, how many versions of PBVSGR are there?

As many as us loyal Panda Bear fans deem there should be

Jokes aside, Pete supposedly made 6 versions, but only released v1 and v6. This is as far as my knowledge goes, and I only have v6.

[nothingmaster]

v6 is probably my favorite bit of anco content of the 2010's. ms pacman is so viscerally beautiful.

[Stan]

wilandhugs wrote:

madameghostly wrote:

wait, how many versions of PBVSGR are there?

Jokes aside, Pete supposedly made 6 versions, but only released v1 and v6. This is as far as my knowledge goes, and I only have v6.

Fuck, I didn't realise he had anything to do with them. Mad that he heard the ATP rehearsals and still shit out that album

[wilandhugs]

nothingmaster wrote:

v6 is probably my favorite bit of anco content of the 2010's. ms pacman is so viscerally beautiful.

The way Popadum hit my body was like my first listen to of Person Pitch. It's some bone chillingly good stuff(and I love Greaper!)

[roopn]

petek didn't make them, noah records his rehearsals and presumably shared them with him to give an idea of the songs. pete then later shared v1 and v6 with the board

[wilandhugs]

roopn wrote:

petek didn't make them, noah records his rehearsals and presumably shared them with him to give an idea of the songs. pete then later shared v1 and v6 with the board

My mistake, I slipped and meant to say he shared them with the board. I actually didn't know those were purely from Noah though, but honestly it makes way more sense. Feels more in line with the PP->TB->Buoys chronology in that it has such an independent feeling to everything else, what with it being such an acid washed industrial rave.

[denjanenna]

ATP jabberwocky is missing a key synth part that really makes the song for me and studio jabberwocky’s beat just doesn’t hit quite as hard… i can’t truly enjoy either version cause each one is missing a key component for me

[scrambledgreggs]

I only have v6 - is v1 different enough to check out as well?

[Fovrodi]

very muddy this atp rehearsal is not good