[Stories and Games]

i'm honestly perplexed by the way edge of the edge has been singled out as a somehow undeniably great song. it's too long for what it is, and what it is is an inferior rewrite of part of the math with bizarre mixing

[Hellomark]

A lot of In My Body erasure happening in this thread.

[foxtrot]

Yes! In My Body is a definite highlight. The only one that slightly irks me with the repetition is Go On. Everything else is either good or great.

[KidEatsKeyboard]

Yeah In My Body is really nice, the bridge is so cool. And out of Pete's songs I like Everyday the most, it's really sweet, but I've kinda felt disillusioned after realizing it's just the exact same sequence 3 times lol. Despite my criticisms, I still find Reset really enjoyable, it just doesn't have much replay value and it might be the least interesting AC release ever

[Alcohol]

Loving the Isn’t It Now? stuff so far, but nothing soundtracking summer like The Ballad of Darren. The older I get the more I find myself cueing-up Piccioni and Mancini too.

[soothsailor]

sc could've maybe stood to be a little bit less frenetic in the studio version. i liked the kompakty minimal techno space vibe of just the kick drum. the snare is cute but eh, i don't need it. reminds me too much of purple bottle

[coral lord]

Edge of the Edge, In My Body, Whirlpool, Danger is up there with the greats as far as 4 track runs go. Right up there with A Day With The Homies which is by far Panda's best album (had to get in a contrarian take to fit the thread).

[foxtrot]

soothsailor wrote:

sc could've maybe stood to be a little bit less frenetic in the studio version. i liked the kompakty minimal techno space vibe of just the kick drum. the snare is cute but eh, i don't need it. reminds me too much of purple bottle

Is it opposites day over there or something?!

[williswire]

Isn’t it now cover art is some of my least favorite animal collective album art. The construction paper craft arts culture just does nothing for me. I do love the defeat cover art tho— and I wish the album cover had a similar aesthetic.

[Hellomark]

I like the cover fine, but the title on the other hand... idk, they could have done better imo.

[Stories and Games]

cover art doesn't quite come together for me but i think the inside of the gatefold is pretty stunning, maybe i'll buy the record and just forcefully re-fold it inside out

[Stan]

We overrate a lot of AC music since 2007, because we were so blown away by what they used to be.

[foxtrot]

Stan wrote:

We overrate a lot of AC music since 2007, because we were so blown away by what they used to be.

Classic Stan-ce.

Hard disagree!

[destiny]

I was 9 in 2007!!!

[Slippi's Applesauce]

omg same

[NightlifeMingus]

i was 15 in 2007, which was the year i discovered AC and realized they were my favorite band

[Stan]

I was 26. Just realised I could be some of yours dads.

Wear a rubber Johnny.

[wilandhugs]

I was 7 haha. I had the same thing happen when I was 15 but in 2015 Mingus.

Good thing Stan isnt my dad else I'd have lukewarm AC takes in my genes

[foxtrot]

Stan wrote:

I was 26. Just realised I could be some of yours dads.

Wear a rubber Johnny.

I was also 26




No wonder I am loving their Dad rock phase.

[roopn]

posting on ca is an intergenerational discipline

[Stories and Games]

is this a contrarian take? i don't like the ambientish coda to we go back. i do think it would work better if the bass notes were sustained properly instead of being awkward short plucks or if avey sang some of the melody up the octave like in Bolder, but really i think it would've been best just to chop it all together and make it a thoroughly breezy two minute song

[dio]

This isn't my real take but what if someone vastly preferred panda less works from last 5 years only. Tangerine, Summer Blaze, Fall Rites, Crestone, Music Box Village, Bug Mall.

Most of that is perfect meditation/wim hoff method ac

[foxtrot]

I could see that happening. TR grows on me more and more every time I listen. It’s a real gem. Pandaless AC has a really distinct energy.

[Jam]

Stories and Games wrote:

is this a contrarian take? i don't like the ambientish coda to we go back. i do think it would work better if the bass notes were sustained properly instead of being awkward short plucks or if avey sang some of the melody up the octave like in Bolder, but really i think it would've been best just to chop it all together and make it a thoroughly breezy two minute song

I don’t mind it so much in We Go Back (there are certainly more interesting ways to end a song but I like the sounds that are going on and the use of auto tune), but I fucking hate how he does the same thing on The Musical. It’s already a pretty monotonous and overly long song, so adding on another minute via a slowed down and even sappier repetition of the first verse really makes the song a hard listen for me. HUGE sore thumb on what is otherwise a pretty stellar album.

[roopn]

Jam wrote:

Stories and Games wrote:

is this a contrarian take? i don't like the ambientish coda to we go back. i do think it would work better if the bass notes were sustained properly instead of being awkward short plucks or if avey sang some of the melody up the octave like in Bolder, but really i think it would've been best just to chop it all together and make it a thoroughly breezy two minute song

I don’t mind it so much in We Go Back (there are certainly more interesting ways to end a song but I like the sounds that are going on and the use of auto tune), but I fucking hate how he does the same thing on The Musical. It’s already a pretty monotonous and overly long song, so adding on another minute via a slowed down and even sappier repetition of the first verse really makes the song a hard listen for me. HUGE sore thumb on what is otherwise a pretty stellar album.

agreed, this put me off the musical a lot

WGB minus outro would be cool, I see that working as a super tight 2 mins. like jam said though I think they executed it well enough to justify it

[unrecordednight]

dunno if this is contrarian take or not but i think prospect hummer (song) and learning how to dive are among the best sung tongs era songs and i wish they were on the main album with avey/panda vocals

[coral lord]

While we’re on the We Go Back train I will drop my contrarian take that it’s the worst song on any studio album (a half baked idea, I haven’t really compared it to every album). Hated it when it was Boulder, hate it now. Melody is gibberish to me, chorus is gibberish to me. Don’t understand the appeal at all.

[bullseye]

unrecordednight wrote:

dunno if this is contrarian take or not but i think prospect hummer (song) and learning how to dive are among the best sung tongs era songs and i wish they were on the main album with avey/panda vocals

I completely agree! And while we're at it: other music IRLHTD > studio IRLHTD.

[tay's tee games]

coral lord wrote:

While we’re on the We Go Back train I will drop my contrarian take that it’s the worst song on any studio album (a half baked idea, I haven’t really compared it to every album). Hated it when it was Boulder, hate it now. Melody is gibberish to me, chorus is gibberish to me. Don’t understand the appeal at all.

Out here acting like Penguin Penguin doesn't exist

[Stan]

Or The Burglars

[coral lord]

I was actually thinking about The Burglars while writing that post and I think it does everything better than WGB.

[headroom)))]

bullseye wrote:

unrecordednight wrote:

dunno if this is contrarian take or not but i think prospect hummer (song) and learning how to dive are among the best sung tongs era songs and i wish they were on the main album with avey/panda vocals

I completely agree! And while we're at it: other music IRLHTD > studio IRLHTD.

I would be super excited to hear a Sung Tongs version (Avey/Panda vocals) of the Prospect Hummer tracks. But ultimately, Prospect Hummer EP is perfect and I wouldn't want to change Sung Tongs to lose PH EP. In my view its the most "magical" release by AC and that's hugely in part due to Vashti's voice. Hearing those songs is like being a fly on the wall hearing a master regain her confidence and dusting off decades of whatever it was that prevented her from recording music. Its really beautiful to think of a woman in her early 60's singing songs written by dudes in their mid 20s. She sings so quietly, its like she's in her house just passing time and day dreaming. To juxtapose that voice over these wildly beautiful guitar compositions is a technicolor trip for sure. Vashti really did live that 60's psych life; so the meeting of the two seems too good to be true, as I think of AC as the quintessential psych band.

I gotta say the ranking for me is
studio Learning > Tokyo 2003 super long version of Learning > Other Music Learning

Also, do you y'all listen to S.E. Rogie? I learned about him thru AC interviews back in 05 and def see his influence on some of Panda's ST era song writing. Melodies that feel like you already know them and make you feel good.

[toad]

"i'm still writing songs i can play, how?"

[toad]

also, on the S.E. Rogie tip, i always assumed the PB madrid practice song "S of E" was a nod to him ...

[foxtrot]

coral lord wrote:

While we’re on the We Go Back train I will drop my contrarian take that it’s the worst song on any studio album (a half baked idea, I haven’t really compared it to every album). Hated it when it was Boulder, hate it now. Melody is gibberish to me, chorus is gibberish to me. Don’t understand the appeal at all.

Wow, the chorus melody with all the vocal fragments is one of their most intricate and puzzling and alluring for me. Love how abstract it feels yet how catchy it is.

[tay's tee games]

I'm with ya foxtrot, I think We Go Back and Walker are the only songs that improved from the boots to Skiffs.

Contrarian take incoming but I think R&D is the worst song on TS and one of the band's most boring and safe songs ever. I quite liked Down Down Down Down but I never really listen to R&D anymore.

[spoogn]

My favorite song on time skiffs is Walker

The only skiffs songs I revisit with any frequency are Dragon Slayer, Car Keys, and Walker. Even skip Cherokee a lot even though I do love it. Too long repeating section in the middle, I'm actually starting to get sick of these.

The transitions on time skiffs are ALL skip-worthy. It came off like they tried to bring transitions back because the fans wanted them and they all sound so uninspired.

I really do not like Grim Reaper these days

The best panda bear album is Tomboiled, not even a studio album

Tangerine Reef is my favorite AC of the last 5 years

Peacemaker is the best PW era song (lukewarm take maybe)

Music box defeat is the only defeat that works for me

The band are at their best on these ~30-minute one-offs a la New Psycho Actives, Transverse Temporal Gyrus etc

[williswire]

spoogn wrote:

The best panda bear album is Tomboiled, not even a studio album

..what is Tomboiled

[tay's tee games]

spoogn wrote:

My favorite song on time skiffs is Walker

The only skiffs songs I revisit with any frequency are Dragon Slayer, Car Keys, and Walker. Even skip Cherokee a lot even though I do love it. Too long repeating section in the middle, I'm actually starting to get sick of these.

The transitions on time skiffs are ALL skip-worthy. It came off like they tried to bring transitions back because the fans wanted them and they all sound so uninspired.

I really do not like Grim Reaper these days

The best panda bear album is Tomboiled, not even a studio album

Tangerine Reef is my favorite AC of the last 5 years

Peacemaker is the best PW era song (lukewarm take maybe)

Music box defeat is the only defeat that works for me

The band are at their best on these ~30-minute one-offs a la New Psycho Actives, Transverse Temporal Gyrus etc

Though I don't agree with any of these, none of them seem outside the range of sane thinking so I understand them. Shame about Defeat though.

[spoogn]

williswire wrote:

spoogn wrote:

The best panda bear album is Tomboiled, not even a studio album

..what is Tomboiled

Tomboiled is like a fanmade thing with all of the tomboy songs plus the Preakness and includes all of the transitions between songs from the live shows preceding the album, I think it might use the single mix of Surfer's Hymn and some other small changes. Looks like it's not on YouTube anymore but I or someone else can probably provide a link if you're interested, I like it a lot

I'm remaining hopeful on studio defeat though! Definitely don't hate it nor is it bad, I got way too attached to Music Box as a whole