if writing about music is so pointless then how come you all are here writing about music
"oh that's different" no it isn't
I don't get paid to do it smart guy!!
neither do I but I still do it. I understand taking issue with the low quality stuff, but please don't trash the whole thing, it makes me sad.
I'm talking to the site itself right now. It's so odd. I understand how forum accounts work but I enjoy this fantasy of a sentient website talking to me about music criticism.
I took Time Skiffs to the coast of the Pacific Ocean on a sunny and blustery afternoon for my first listen. I walked along the rocks and gazed out at the rippling waves, watching sunbeams bob along the water as I allowed a new AC World into my ears.
Transcendent music. I'm satisfied, overwhelmed, moved to tears. Such incredible pacing, emotion, musicality.
"Passer-by" went from a low-tier AC song to an absolute stunner. The way Avey sings the chorus brought me to tears. That was probably the biggest surprise on the album. I BLASTED "Cherokee" and let the back end of that song just wreck me. "Strung With Everything" reinvigorates me every time... it gives me the kind of chills mid-2000s AC gives me. A new anthem. In another world, like MPP, they would've closed the album with that amount of bombast, right after a beautiful slow number (NMR, R&D).
"Royal and Desire" ... when this song came on, I had to stand absolutely still. I let my eyes go blurry as I zoned out at the waves and the mountains, and let this song... yes, pass through me. The surprise extra vocals, the auto-tune, the instrumentation... this is god-tier music, and it left me shattered in awe.
What an album. Hard to pick favorites -- the whole thing is strong. "Walker" is the weakest track, by some margin, I'd say, but it's also the slightest. I wish it hadn't been a single. I think it's meant to be a little mid-album glue track.
If I had to pick an early top 3, I think it's quite easily Strung, Cherokee, and R&D right now.
I'm talking to the site itself right now. It's so odd. I understand how forum accounts work but I enjoy this fantasy of a sentient website talking to me about music criticism.
lol I've been staying logged in on this account so that I can approve new accounts (anyone unregistered who's reading this, you can make a new account and post a thread in the hidden introduction forum and then I will manually approve you)
but yeah don't want to get too far off topic. I'm also finding it difficult to resist the freebird, it sounds like this is gonna be a real good one! Not too long to wait now tho..
The final four songs are so weird, I had very little exposure to these boots and these babies hit me at an odd angle, I totally don’t understand this album after first listen. I do know that the second half of Cherokee is monumental, and I wish dragon slayer had a three minute intro
It kind of warms my heart a bit that an album can still freebird in the streaming era
it seems like you pretty much need the passionate fanbase for it. things don't seem to freebird much anymore, and it seems like this one only did because a fan bothered enough to buy the record, rip it, and had a community of fellow fans to share it with.
The final four songs are so weird, I had very little exposure to these boots and these babies hit me at an odd angle, I totally don’t understand this album after first listen. I do know that the second half of Cherokee is monumental, and I wish dragon slayer had a three minute intro
the final four is what I care about so far. I'm kinda lukewarm on DS and CK and sick of the middle chunk already and final four contains what is supposed to be my favorite.
I think it turned out pretty good but I fr need to wait til 320 digital to really know.
It kind of warms my heart a bit that an album can still freebird in the streaming era
it seems like you pretty much need the passionate fanbase for it. things don't seem to freebird much anymore, and it seems like this one only did because a fan bothered enough to buy the record, rip it, and had a community of fellow fans to share it with.
The final four songs are so weird, I had very little exposure to these boots and these babies hit me at an odd angle, I totally don’t understand this album after first listen. I do know that the second half of Cherokee is monumental, and I wish dragon slayer had a three minute intro
same! it lends itself so well to extended intro and a nice entry point to the album, idk why it just drops so quick. maybe someone could make a tomboiled type edit sometime down the line with a build up/ease in......
-Cherokee is pretty damn great but I feel like I really need to hear climax in 320 digital because its so deeply layered. I think I like it a lot tho. I feel like they sorta really needed to figure out a good audible phrase for that chorus, though I could grow to be okay with "the stoop that you love is finding/for meaning"
the synth could almost be more like it is live. Its my favorite thing ever live, so I am set up for failure there.
Also does the synth start to get out of tune during the climax-y part?
-Passer-by is only tru demoitis moment for me. Just like literally every change bothers me but who cares, this is life. I think it'll grow. Only think I str8 up dont like is "TY PASSER-BY ^_^;;;;;" at the end
-WGB- maybe best track on album. I didn't abuse it on the boots so that might help. This is literally perfect.
-R&D- not my fave, but it is huge and beautiful and a very different kind of closer for them.
I took Time Skiffs to the coast of the Pacific Ocean on a sunny and blustery afternoon for my first listen. I walked along the rocks and gazed out at the rippling waves, watching sunbeams bob along the water as I allowed a new AC World into my ears.
Transcendent music. I'm satisfied, overwhelmed, moved to tears. Such incredible pacing, emotion, musicality.
"Passer-by" went from a low-tier AC song to an absolute stunner. The way Avey sings the chorus brought me to tears. That was probably the biggest surprise on the album. I BLASTED "Cherokee" and let the back end of that song just wreck me. "Strung With Everything" reinvigorates me every time... it gives me the kind of chills mid-2000s AC gives me. A new anthem. In another world, like MPP, they would've closed the album with that amount of bombast, right after a beautiful slow number (NMR, R&D).
"Royal and Desire" ... when this song came on, I had to stand absolutely still. I let my eyes go blurry as I zoned out at the waves and the mountains, and let this song... yes, pass through me. The surprise extra vocals, the auto-tune, the instrumentation... this is god-tier music, and it left me shattered in awe.
What an album. Hard to pick favorites -- the whole thing is strong. "Walker" is the weakest track, by some margin, I'd say, but it's also the slightest. I wish it hadn't been a single. I think it's meant to be a little mid-album glue track.
If I had to pick an early top 3, I think it's quite easily Strung, Cherokee, and R&D right now.
I haven't even been able to listen yet but you and I just seem to experience music in a very similar way. Whenever I read your thoughts and experiences with music I relate so hard. I'm heading to a big lake this afternoon to finally give the album my first listen.
Fucking love reading your thoughts blindmowing. So excited for this to totally floor me.
"A succession of EPs and solo projects vividly plugged the gaps of our impatience, while charitable ‘audio-visual’ releases oozed from Baltimore’s psychedelic sewage systems, as if philanthropy was their rationale for making less interesting music"
The fuck? What a piece of shit. God forbid musicians actually care about something and apply their art towards something beyond music criticism. Jesus what a joke
Music journalism is garbage these days.
(1) tangerine reefs is some of their least interesting music though; I don't necessarily think its fair to write it off because of its philanthropic components but it definitely isn't exactly in the top half of their catalogue.
(2) caring about something or applying one's art to a cause doesn't automatically make it "good." if we moralized art as "good" or "bad" all those dumbass christian movies would be incredible not pieces of shit.
(3) there's actually tons of music journalism that isn't garbage, including a lot of the reviews posted in this long thread
Idk, the author went into the review with a (very incorrect) preconceived notion of what the band has been trying to do since MPP? If they wanted to make a MPP pt2, they would have. A lot of these reviewers either ignore or miss the entire spirit/idea behind animal collective being a COLLECTIVE, with many branches of projects and lots of different material. They are always too quick to/reliant on comparing the bands work now to the bands work in the 2000s instead of embracing it as a new project with a new ethos.
Also- why do people always talk about Animal collective not being experimental enough post 2000s. When they go ahead and do something experimental and out of the boundaries of what they were working on before, it gets panned/hate. Buoys? Painting with? Tangerine Reef? All albums that were doing something different/new, but often panned/hated on by "fans" and critics, and described by this shithead as "psychedelic sewage".
Psychedelic sewage, well it doesn't matter because "We're all dietys
Washed up in a sewage freebird" anyway.
perfect balance of providing some history/context, being sensitive to the artist and their lives, analysing and appreciating the music and digging into the lyrics. this woman really gets what makes them special and articulates it beautifully.
We Go Back
Cherokee
Royal n Desire
Dragon Slayer
Car Keys
Strung
Walker
Passerby
Prester John
Totally cursory still, certain to change but I think PJ will always bottom it out. I love the song as a weird fulcrum on the album. I understand why people don't love love Walker, but man those are some of my favorite lyrics of an AC song. Just so reassuring.
Passerby might explode into one of my favorites soon, I really enjoy it and it feels so antiquated, like hanging around the Pyramids, but I think I need the full quality to allow it to seep in fully.
awesome wrote:
these are my rankings based on the order of the track listing
1. Dragon Slayer
2. Car Keys
3. Prester John
4. Strung With Everything
5. Walker
6. Cherokee
7. Passer-by
8. We Go Back
9. Royal and Desire
I actually love the fact that people are generally saying that Walker is the weakest link because that song is small but fucking rad.
Yeah it's at the bottom for me but I still think it's a great lil song. No real weak spots on this album. It's really a shame that they couldn't make Gem and I work for this album cause I think it would have fit in perfectly/made a stronger single. But yeah my list is pretty dumb, not much thought went into it. Will definitely be a while before I really know how the rest of the tracks stack up against the singles.
you guys are really making me want to well.. go back (Haha) and give WGB some more listens because i really feel like its the weakest link on the album. Im the kinda guy who loves Car Keys though, so maybe that says something about my mental health. Im not big into ranking shit, but i would definltey put WGB as my least favorite. Other than that I really love the album, Walker feels a bit out of place or ehh maybe, but those 3 part harmonies at the end just justify its entire existence for me.
I am in love with passerby almost as much as the day I first heard it in 2019. So many moments in this album that bring a tear to the eye. Something about passerby though that is just haunting
having a hard time recontextualizing the full album. Really feels like 4 distinct pieces to me. Dragon Keys, Pester Strung Walker, Avey's McCartney trio and then Deakin ends the album with their best song since What Would I want Sky?
1. Royal and Desire. Hands down. Round round round... and I'm suddenly in tears
2. Cherokee. Intro and outro are both pretty similar which nicely bookends the track. Outro specifically gives me Hereditary OST vibes (shoutout to Mr. Stetson)
3. Walker. Outro feels like a warm hug
4. Prester John. I got to a point last month where I would put this song on and skip to the very end just to hear that weird thumpy kick/synth line, and that smooooth hurdy
5. Strung With Everything. Intro goes on a bit too long for my taste. Love how the guitar line plays 3 times, gently guiding us into the song which just freaking explodes out of nowhere
6. Car Keys. Scraping metal. Its cool. Not too hot on the new outro but whatever
7. We Go Back. Literally just two measures of the bass line but its fun. I don't count this song as having an outro sorry
8. Passerby. Tapping metal. Its slightly less cool than Car Keys's intro
9. Dragon Slayer. 2 seconds of some string instrument. The album could've opened way more spectacularly but I still like how they handled things here
Edit: Reading over this, I'm realizing that this list is highly likely to change within the next 24 hours and then again every day after that
Last edited by BORCHENKO?? on Mon Jan 31, 2022 11:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The boys did it again. Truly impressed with this. The soundscapes just work and all of the singles are much better in context. As with every release of theirs, it's only going to get better.
Dragon Slayer - wish the buildup intro was still present. I think the subtleties of the background noise will serve better on the digital full release. this track sets the tone for the whole record.
Car Keys - might be the minority but I love the changes here. I feel like this should have been a single over Walker. at first Panda's vocal delivery threw me off but I'm come around to it. It's a bop.
Prestor - I overplayed this upon release so it doesn't hit as hard. still a solid track and better within the album. ironically my favorite from the boots but closer to the middle on the record.
Strung - with most of the record being mid-tempo and chill, I feel like this is the peak of the mountain. surprised this isn't ranked higher with you guys. absolutely love the energy and hope to hear it live. one of their best in years
Walker - might be the one I'm least jazzed on but I feel like it serves a purpose
Cherokee - felt underwhelming at first but the peak of this track is fantastic. has grown on me a lot. bass it tasty. will be a blast live. tom hanks
Passer-by - the change in melody threw me off for sure, but I think it works. feels very genuine. that last minute or so was the best surprise. love it
We Go Back - this one might be the most ear-wormy on the whole record. the use of autotune is nailed. such a fun song. definitely agree it has CHZ vibes
Royal and Desire - awh man. this hit so hard. the harmonies swallowed me into my couch and the goosebumps were real. love you deak. this is top tier AC
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