[tdegenaro]

Cooper wrote:

Magicians kind of sounds like a fleshed our Crimson

woah! this has really opened up Magicians for me, though I don't think Crimson is lacking, I kind of hear Magicians as a sonic sequel to that song. nice pull!

[scrambledgreggs]

like others have said I think this really opens up as a full album around the 4th or so listen. it really is something special

but also even though I've only listened to the whole thing 4 times, I keep waking up with a different track in my head and then playing it on repeat. so the songs really stand on their own as well. today it's Stride

[awesome]

another brief review in a british music mag — this time mojo

[Slippi's Applesauce]

They also gave PW 3 stars… time skiffs got 4/5

[awesome]

Slippi's Applesauce wrote:

They also gave PW 3 stars… time skiffs got 4/5

reset in dub review is right next to IIN and is 4 stars

[Cooper]

bullseye wrote:

Cooper wrote:

Magicians kind of sounds like a fleshed our Crimson

Crimson already sounds like a fleshed out Crimson.

Yeah of course it does. Magicians is obviously more fleshy than crimson lol

[dervish]

tay's tee games wrote:

Right time to dig in.

Alt tracklist:
1. King's Walk (cut out the last two "this whole world"s and just end at 4:21)
2. Soul Capturer (single version)
3. Broke Zodiac
4. Magicians From Baltimore
5. All The Clubs Are Broken
6. Stride Rite
7. Gem & I
8. Defeat
9. Genie's Open

This works so well. I am never a fan of reordering the tracklist of an artist I love (especially) but I dont know if i will ever feel good about this album as released. Ive never had a complaint about an AC album structure until almost 18 years of being a fan lol. Id say that's a good run.

Anyway, awesome post btw!

[tdegenaro]

awesome wrote:

Slippi's Applesauce wrote:

They also gave PW 3 stars… time skiffs got 4/5

reset in dub review is right next to IIN and is 4 stars

can we get the dub review?

[awesome]

tdegenaro wrote:

awesome wrote:

Slippi's Applesauce wrote:

They also gave PW 3 stars… time skiffs got 4/5

reset in dub review is right next to IIN and is 4 stars

can we get the dub review?

[Alcohol]

scrambledgreggs wrote:

like others have said I think this really opens up as a full album around the 4th or so listen. it really is something special

but also even though I've only listened to the whole thing 4 times, I keep waking up with a different track in my head and then playing it on repeat. so the songs really stand on their own as well. today it's Stride

Same here. Same song today. Goosebumps.

[tay's tee games]

awesome wrote:

great list but it’s wild to me that it’s missing my favorite brazilian/mpb albums (and one of my fave albums ever) — acabou chorare by novos baianos. just banger after banger after banger, an absolute perfect 10/10 album. one of my most played of the last few years. anyone who hasn’t heard this — doo so immediately!!

Lol sorry about a month late to this but this is a stonking great album. Fucking loving it.

[tay's tee games]

dervish wrote:

tay's tee games wrote:

Right time to dig in.

Alt tracklist:
1. King's Walk (cut out the last two "this whole world"s and just end at 4:21)
2. Soul Capturer (single version)
3. Broke Zodiac
4. Magicians From Baltimore
5. All The Clubs Are Broken
6. Stride Rite
7. Gem & I
8. Defeat
9. Genie's Open

This works so well. I am never a fan of reordering the tracklist of an artist I love (especially) but I dont know if i will ever feel good about this album as released. Ive never had a complaint about an AC album structure until almost 18 years of being a fan lol. Id say that's a good run.

Anyway, awesome post btw!

Thanks bud. I also don't like the whole reordering thing and haven't had any real gripes with tracklists over the past 15 years or so, but I also haven't been anywhere near as invested in the songs pre-release as in this case. I've bought the vinyl with the Q&A ticket so I'll inevitably sink into the proper tracklist over time but for the time being this is kinda how I'm running with it.

[rohcti]

Are the Instagram snippets supposed to sound like something? Sounds terrible and like deepfried or something on my end

[tay's tee games]

Agreed. More kinda lazy promo.

[foxtrot]

Both those reviews are quite good. IIN one reads like a 4 star review.

[unrecordednight]

been abstaining from the freebird so just listened to gem for the first time, first impression:

-the bum bums arent bad, i think theyre just mixed a bit too high
-sort of like car keys: feels like it's played just the tiniest bit too slow? felt mostly in the verses
-the 'changing the name' chorus part sounds SO good. the keys in particular, really nailed this part
-rest of the song, esp verses feels a bit empty and spacious, def saw at least one other poster saying this and agree
-always shy away from the 'every song is about the band' trend of interpretations, but def feels like the song is about the band lol
-over all the chorus is so good, verses are a little bland

never been a big gem fan in the first place so all good (on the other hand super into broke zodiac and extremely hyped for that one), interesting rendition and liking it after several listens now!

[awesome]

tay's tee games wrote:

awesome wrote:

great list but it’s wild to me that it’s missing my favorite brazilian/mpb albums (and one of my fave albums ever) — acabou chorare by novos baianos. just banger after banger after banger, an absolute perfect 10/10 album. one of my most played of the last few years. anyone who hasn’t heard this — doo so immediately!!

Lol sorry about a month late to this but this is a stonking great album. Fucking loving it.

glad to turn people onto it! cheers

[PolarBear]

Apparently Geo is going on a solo tour? Or is that just at the concert with Soccer Mommy and Avey Tare?

[KidEatsKeyboard]

PolarBear wrote:

Apparently Geo is going on a solo tour? Or is that just at the concert with Soccer Mommy and Avey Tare?

think it's referring to the dates where he's opening for Avey

[dapta]

Alright, I can’t wait no more. Is it possible to ask for that sweet link to another heaven?

[BreadBagel]

Murphspree wrote:

My 2 cents

Incredible record. I can agree with everyone else claiming it's an instant classic and works so extremely well with the best of their catalogue...But...I kind of only feel that way for tracks 1-7....8 and 9 are a little up in the air for me and I'm hoping I come around to them soon.

I feel like the entirety of the album happens up to track 7, and it's extraordinary. Then ACAB is like an intermission into a B-side track that they really wanted to include. I can't shake this feeling. But I'm waiting until the official release to go really hard on it and give it a proper listen on a short hike or a bit of edibles. We'll see.

Nonetheless, an easy 9/10 for me in their discography. Glad everyone is enjoying it.

I think of it this way. Tracks 1 to 7 are the actual "film", ACAB is like an end of film montage sequence, then King's is the credits. Thinking of it that way helps the flow I find.

[St. Tub]

Unbelievably late to the party, but would anyone be able to crunch me up? I was going to wait but I’m officially DESPERATE to hear Magicians and Stride in their final forms

[time5sumranch]

yeah I am a fan of Foxtrots thought of soul cap being an intro of someone being sucked into this fantasy world and ACAB is them waking back up in reality. kings is like living with the knowledge of this fantasy in the actual world, but in an optimistic view imo. what’s more optimistic than acknowledging the bad shit in the world and saying we’re tougher than we look?

[Nil_0001]

Cooper wrote:

Magicians kind of sounds like a fleshed our Crimson

Hmm you have a point

[soothsailor]

MANY MILES HAUNTING ME

[soothsailor]

King's Walk is a paean to mother earth, and I'll leave it at that. It's grown on me a lot. Someone here called it "College all grown up" and that strikes me as very accurate. It's AC going full-blown choral chant. A perfect nightcap on a wild ride of an album

[nothingmastered]

ACAB fading in is very appropriate and great choice. It is like the ceaseless drone of day to day life creeping back in. It has always been churning away while you were in the depths of Dreamland.

Kings is the ultimate response to "The Question". I listened to the album while walking around Mt. Tabor park in Portland and came across come chalk drawings of Celtic patterns when Kings came on. I realized that throughout history peoples' worlds have ended and been defeated many times over, history is a repeating cycle of destruction and regrowth. This world is tougher than it looks because it never truly gets destroyed, as long as we keep holding hands it will only change it's form.

[Alcohol]

nothingmastered wrote:

ACAB fading in is very appropriate and great choice. It is like the ceaseless drone of day to day life creeping back in. It has always been churning away while you were in the depths of Dreamland.

Kings is the ultimate response to "The Question". I listened to the album while walking around Mt. Tabor park in Portland and came across come chalk drawings of Celtic patterns when Kings came on. I realized that throughout history peoples' worlds have ended and been defeated many times over, history is a repeating cycle of destruction and regrowth. This world is tougher than it looks because it never truly gets destroyed, as long as we keep holding hands it will only change it's form.

Brilliant—on both accounts!

[augustjsmith]

Regarding the abrupt and somewhat controversial transition from Defeat into Gem & I, something struck me about it during my third full listen.

For starters, as an isolated song and as a single, Gem & I does feel weirdly stilted and sparse. I'd almost describe it as plodding. But when it comes after the droning, amorphous ending sections of Defeat, it sounds downright busy and jaunty, almost overwhelmingly so. It really feels different in context of a fully focused listen and I appreciate that.

There's also a thematic symmetry/lyrical antithesis thing going on. Obviously one can interpret parts of Defeat as being about Avey's experience in Animal Collective: we were the good news, you're on top of your game when you're coming of age, opportunity radicals, underdogs, etc.

Gem & I is also a song about being in the band, and it works like Panda's counterargument. It's almost like his pep talk to Avey. He agrees with Avey's dour reminiscence in the first section (Yeah, we got into a holy sound, now we're falling) but then offers an optimistic perspective in the second verse (Hey man, let's crack a beer and take a minute. We're probably in the golden years right now.)

Also, Defeat has a lyric about gems falling and the following song has those gems in the title. I don't know if that's at all relevant or interesting but it's something.

Anyway, I just noticed those two songs' themes working together in a new way and wanted to share.

[nothingmastered]

Alcohol wrote:

nothingmastered wrote:

ACAB fading in is very appropriate and great choice. It is like the ceaseless drone of day to day life creeping back in. It has always been churning away while you were in the depths of Dreamland.

Kings is the ultimate response to "The Question". I listened to the album while walking around Mt. Tabor park in Portland and came across come chalk drawings of Celtic patterns when Kings came on. I realized that throughout history peoples' worlds have ended and been defeated many times over, history is a repeating cycle of destruction and regrowth. This world is tougher than it looks because it never truly gets destroyed, as long as we keep holding hands it will only change it's form.

Brilliant—on both accounts!

Thanks!

augustjsmith wrote:

Regarding the abrupt and somewhat controversial transition from Defeat into Gem & I, something struck me about it during my third full listen.

For starters, as an isolated song and as a single, Gem & I does feel weirdly stilted and sparse. I'd almost describe it as plodding. But when it comes after the droning, amorphous ending sections of Defeat, it sounds downright busy and jaunty, almost overwhelmingly so. It really feels different in context of a fully focused listen and I appreciate that.

There's also a thematic symmetry/lyrical antithesis thing going on. Obviously one can interpret parts of Defeat as being about Avey's experience in Animal Collective: we were the good news, you're on top of your game when you're coming of age, opportunity radicals, underdogs, etc.

Gem & I is also a song about being in the band, and it works like Panda's counterargument. It's almost like his pep talk to Avey. He agrees with Avey's dour reminiscence in the first section (Yeah, we got into a holy sound, now we're falling) but then offers an optimistic perspective in the second verse (Hey man, let's crack a beer and take a minute. We're probably in the golden years right now.)

Also, Defeat has a lyric about gems falling and the following song has those gems in the title. I don't know if that's at all relevant or interesting but it's something.

Anyway, I just noticed those two songs' themes working together in a new way and wanted to share.

Yes, Gem and Stride are Panda and Deakin's respective responses to Avey in Defeat.

You're spot on about Gem while in Stride is Deakin saying: don't become consumed by sadness, keep moving forward with your head held high and tend to the growing things because love is the repeating, ever-expanding answer to these existential questions.

[Alcohol]

nothingmastered, your post reminded me of Alan Garner’s Red Shift. Mark Fisher dissected it in The Weird and the Eerie. He calls the book “a kind of repetition-without-origin.” Apparently the original inspiration came from some graffiti Garner saw that read, not really now any more. Fisher wonders, “[…] if different historical moments are in some sense synchronous, would this not mean, not that there was no now, but that it is all now?”

Isn’t it now?

[nothingmastered]

In this song (more of a spoken word interlude in an amazing album) the singer has a dialogue with some type of cosmic entity and has these lines:

Entity: Some say being joyful in the present is the best we can be.

Singer: Because forever is an unbroken chain of nows?

Entity: Yes, that's a nice way of seeing it.

[dapta]

Please, i need the link. Does anyone care to send me the link?

[jerry wonder]

dapta wrote:

Please, i need the link. Does anyone care to send me the link?

I had to find it on soulseek

[Allatrobles]

Took shooms and sat in a dark room to listen to Bridge to Quiet, Time Skiffs, and Isn't It Now

For a first listen this album is so beautiful and strange. You can sense the constriction in Skiffs. IIN feels like a giant stretching.

Reminds me a lot of Ark. Not sure why.

Magicians and Defeat alone make this worth the listen, but I love Broke Zodiac, Stride, and King's too. Clubs rules.

Genie's and Gem had the least impact but each have their highlights.

This thing is so much fun to listen to production wise. Cinematic in the way I always imaged the band wanted their music to sound.

Gonna take a break and digest.

[jiraiya]

primarily a lurker but want to share a few thoughts on IIN

i hadn't listened to any of the boots so i've got no demoitis and i'm genuinely surprised at the reaction to Genie's Open. absolutely love it and the final third is one of the highlights of the album for me.

Magicians From Baltimore + Defeat is such a doozy. one of the best one-two punches of their entire career. Defeat is everything I thought it would be and more. probably one of the most emotional tracks they've put out in a while for me. each times floors me.

the pacing of the album was very strange at first, but now i actually think it works in the albums favour. time skiffs is very breezy and easy, whereas IIN seems to be a bit more challenging and sprawling. i did not like Kings initially, but not it has become one of my favourites as a soft and gentle closer.

either way very happy with this album! probably my favourite Animal Collective related release since Tomboy

[Alcohol]

jiraiya wrote:

primarily a lurker but want to share a few thoughts on IIN

i hadn't listened to any of the boots so i've got no demoitis and i'm genuinely surprised at the reaction to Genie's Open. absolutely love it and the final third is one of the highlights of the album for me.

Magicians From Baltimore + Defeat is such a doozy. one of the best one-two punches of their entire career. Defeat is everything I thought it would be and more. probably one of the most emotional tracks they've put out in a while for me. each times floors me.

the pacing of the album was very strange at first, but now i actually think it works in the albums favour. time skiffs is very breezy and easy, whereas IIN seems to be a bit more challenging and sprawling. i did not like Kings initially, but not it has become one of my favourites as a soft and gentle closer.

either way very happy with this album! probably my favourite Animal Collective related release since Tomboy

Thx for coming out of the woodwork to share your take. All lurkers: Come on in, the water’s fine. No boots! Bravo. Did any of the songs come close to your imaginings?

[tay's tee games]

jiraiya wrote:

primarily a lurker but want to share a few thoughts on IIN

i hadn't listened to any of the boots so i've got no demoitis and i'm genuinely surprised at the reaction to Genie's Open. absolutely love it and the final third is one of the highlights of the album for me.

Magicians From Baltimore + Defeat is such a doozy. one of the best one-two punches of their entire career. Defeat is everything I thought it would be and more. probably one of the most emotional tracks they've put out in a while for me. each times floors me.

the pacing of the album was very strange at first, but now i actually think it works in the albums favour. time skiffs is very breezy and easy, whereas IIN seems to be a bit more challenging and sprawling. i did not like Kings initially, but not it has become one of my favourites as a soft and gentle closer.

either way very happy with this album! probably my favourite Animal Collective related release since Tomboy

Cool takes, I love reading stuff like this. I'd also say on Genie's, for me at least, it's still easily one of the best of the era. But perhaps demoitis was so acute - especially because the SiriusXM version is really high quality - that the mix didn't really turn out to be as invigorating as the live version. All other tracks seemed to really match the live energy imo, with the exception of SC, which has really brightened up.

[lhtd]

Never thought I'd say this but IIN makes me hear and appreciate the mixing choices on TS. The murky spatiality of TS has this NyQuil fever dream quality whereas IIN is like stepping in and out of a sauna.

[danksowow13]

First post here after lurking occasionally. I gotta say I really do think this album is on par with their best. I wasn't a big fan of Time Skiffs at all. I liked a lot of it, but it sounded so dull compared to literally anything else they ever did. Despite some of the unified instrumentation and medievalish vibes, it didn't feel like there was a unified psychedelic space that the album was living in. I found Painting With pretty grating overall, but it at least fully absorbed itself in the world it strove to create. That ability to create a fully fleshed out unique sonic land with every album cycle is a huge part of what makes them so special. I'm so happy to find that they pretty much pulled out all the stops for this record.

I liked Soul Capturer as a single, but I was hearing it too much from the lens of a Feels track or something. Hearing it as an intro (and especially followed up by Genies) puts it in an entirely new light. I totally stand with some of the people in this thread who have said it feels like a portal being opened to a new world, warning whoever enters of the dangers that lie within. It maybe doesn't have quite the strangeness or sonic depth of some of their old work with similar instrumentation, but I realize now that it isn't going for the same sense of kaleidoscopic profundity. This is a VIBE record, dripping with 70s analog tones and magical imagery. It also feels centered in escapism, reveling in it through the first half and exploring it's inherent futility in the second.

The first 4 tracks float by like a dream. Genies Open especially does so much for the record. After stepping into the portal opened in the first song, you find yourself dropped into a journey that you've apparently been on already for some time. There is struggle and confusion in this journey, but somehow none of it is overwhelming. You're worn down, but you're determined. Every section of this song was done pretty much perfectly. I was initially put off by the sharp presence of Panda's part in the third section and I still don't love that aspect, but I'm pretty used to it at this point and I don't think it takes away from the song at all.

Eventually, night falls on the paradise found in the last section of Genies and the culture of the local village lights up in bright colors. I wasn't a fan of Broke Zodiac from the boots and far preferred Gem and I, but goddamn this studio version was pulled off perfectly. It's mysterious and full of wonder, perfectly progressing the atmosphere that Genies left off on.
By the time Magicians comes into frame, the people have all gone to bed and the lights have gone out. You're left wandering the empty streets as the loneliness, fatigue, and underlying anxiety begin to intrude on your fantasy world. You begin to think of what you've left behind at home, remembering what you're running from. You refuse to let the anxiety take over your fantasy. You run to the nearest hilltop, reminding yourself that this is your world and you're here to take in the sights. This was my favorite song from the boots, and I feel like there's not much to say about it at this point. It's pulled off absolutely perfectly. The dark and mysterious verses give way to earth-shaking choruses that remind me of Sigur Ros in their () era. The elation that the song eventually builds to is so joyful and affirming, bolstered by some of the most powerful recorded vocals from Avey in the last decade.

You reach the hilltop, and get comfortable. Feeling peaceful and contemplative, you look upwards at the stars. The melancholy starts to set in once again, and this time you surrender yourself to it. Defeat is the ultimate statement of this album and probably this entire era of the band. It's also an exception in that I can actually read the lyrics! It's an examination of the real world that the protagonist (not that there is a literal protagonist to the album, but going along with this narrative I'm constructing) is trying to run from. I agree with those that link a lot of these lyrics to the pandemic, but they can also generally refer to a world in a constant state of transformation and decay. "A little change... just grab something, take hold. The only thing you know. Stay grounded like the spruce." It's unbelievably powerful and relatable. The middle section contains a microcosm of the exotic world that the first half of the album resides in, but the truth is now unavoidable. You haven't escaped, you're merely crawling from the inevitable. This fantasy quickly dissolves again into self reflection once again. I do think the last couple sections of the song reference the state of the band as others have speculated, though I'm only sure of that because of the response that Gem and I provides on the same topic. The conclusion of all the reflection within the song is rather bleak. "Isn't it now? Defeat! Oh no, not now"...repeat. Nothing in life turns out exactly the way you expect. It will tear you down and never let you know when you have something good going. Uncertainty and instability are not temporary obstacles on the way to comfort. they are an integral and perpetual part of the human experience, without which we would have no reason to move forward. Defeat is ultimately a song about weathering the storm. As a generally anxious person, that message speaks to me a lot. It doesn't give me hope, but it does give me a degree of comfort.

I was initially slightly put off by the abrupt transition into Gem and I, but I now see it as one of the most essential parts of the track sequence. It essentially functions as the snap back to reality of the album. You open your eyes, and everything is back to normal. You still have the colors of that world you just left implanted in your mind, and you can't stop dwelling on the profound realizations that the experience left you with. You sit back, crack open a beer, and for once you fully allow yourself to examine where you're life is at with a new pair of eyes. This song references the state of the band a lot more directly, but also notably comes to a much more positive conclusion. There are really no golden years, so why can't they be now? It reminds me of absurdism and how, as a branch of thought, it's essentially the positive/productive answer to nihilism and existentialism. Sure, nothing matters. But instead of wallowing in that, let's make things matter for ourselves regardless. It's the only real defense we have up against such a confounding world.
After clearing your head, you step outside and feel the fresh Autumn air on your skin. The leaves are falling, and it feels like a new day. You take a deep breath and decide that this world is enough. There may be hard days coming and lord knows there have been hard days past, but you're appreciative of the journey for what it is and feel fortunate to be part of it all. Stride Rite is a gorgeous closer to the arch of the album. The cascading harmonies feel so full of life and hope and wonder. I can't ignore how much the timbre of Deak's multitrack vocals remind me of Fleet Foxes. The song as a whole carries a vibe that I don't think any other AnCo songs really do, but it works so perfectly within this album.

The last 2 tracks feel like an epilogue of sorts and I'm not 100% on what they represent to me, but I wouldn't change them or their placement at all and the feelings are changing all the time. Currently I feel like Clubs is a zoom back on the billions of people in the world who are busy living their difficult lives and going through their own personal journeys, many of which have little time for escapism nor existential contemplation. Aside from any personal lore, it's a fun track that I'm glad they kept around even if it's fairly unsubstantial.
King's Walk gives me very rich imagery. It feels like someone at the end of their rope, walking for what feels like ages through sweltering heat. The title says a lot I think. To me this song, following the zoom out on the world the Clubs provides, is a zoom back in on someone who once had power and influence. This is someone who has lived their whole life in the fantasy, who hasn't had any reason to reflect on their relationship with the real world. Now, however, they are lost and afraid. It's the fear and desperation of someone forced to reckon with themselves after all the damage is already done. Following the comfort found in Gem and Stride, I feel like Kings Walk is a lament for those who are doomed to never find that solace, who are forced to begin this journey late in life without a framework for understanding the human condition. All you can do is join hands with your neighbor and hope that through that connection you can find new meaning. I'm not sure of that interpretation at all, but either way it's a wonderful and evocative closer that gives new perspective to the entire journey of the album.

I said a lot about the emotional journey here and not a lot about the music, which is consistently fantastic. I feel like my urge to talk about the album in this way is something I've missed from AnCo for a long time. Ark (and maybe Feels) is probably the only other album of theirs where I feel like making up my own narrative to represent the feelings on display through the tracklist. There's something truly evocative about the world of this album that transcends the relatively (by AnCo standards) minimal and mellow sound palette. I'm just so happy with how it turned out. There are songs from Skiffs that I can imagine being on this album (Passer-by, Dragon Slayer, Prester John, and Royal and Desire specifically), but the more I listen to this the less I care about that. It's a wonderful AnCo album that brings together so much that I love about the band