[Monssoonnss]

I was wondering what everyone thinks about danse manatee and animal crackbox. I know a lot of people hate those albums but I think they're really fascinating at times.

[jfw7]

interesting point op.

[ballparkmanatee]

I think Danse Manatee is great, I think a lot more people would appreciate it if it had better recording/producing/mixing/whatever but I dunno. Meet the Light Child is really awesome. Very unique album, even for Animal Collective. Very otherworldly. I recommend listening to it on speakers rather than headphones if you can get away with it without pissing off neighbors/parents.
I haven't heard much of Animal Crack Box to make an opinion.

[Akaio]

Danse is gr8
cracker box is a bit disjointed but its got some choice cuts

[lettersbyyourstruly]

DONT BELIEVE THE PILOT!

[Tico]

both are very very strong pieces of experimental pop music that stay entertaining with each listen

[New Zealand]

jfw7 wrote:

interesting point op.

lol

[Cussing Bum]

Danse is excellent. I've only heard Crack Box a few times. It was good, but I'm glad I didn't pay 300 bucks or something.

[StrangeClams]

danse is okay. there are good tracks and a considerable amount of filler (runnin the round ball, manatee dance, etc) and if those ideas were fleshed out into songs as long and good as meet the light child or the living toys i would appreciate the album a lot more.
seriously could you imagine an 8-minute runnin the round ball kraut jam?
god damn. also i'm pretty sure we've discussed this but literally no other album sounds like danse.

and crack box is okay too. i prefer the weirder live recordings to the acoustic stuff (hey friend and jungle heart really do sound like campfire songs rejects) but hey, that's my opinion. best tracks are definitely ice cream factory and oh sweet (the little jam at the end is cool)

[El Camino]

The Living Toys is the one track that lets down Danse a little for me. The rest of the album is mainly awesome especially Meet the Light Child and Ahh Good Country which would both make my top 20 AC songs list.

I've only heard all of crack box once, I usually just pick a few of the best tracks to listen to, but even that's extremely rare.

[northernchild]

love both but crackbox is hard to listen to straight through bc:

Akaio wrote:

cracker box is a bit disjointed

[StrangeClams]

Dude....living toys is great. intense vibes

[Dearest]

Slashman wrote:

jfw7 wrote:

interesting point op.

lol

same

[StrangeClams]

sorry for wanting to discuss the band the forum was made for

[MFpotus]

oh no god forbid..

danse is pretty nice. i love lablakely dress. i feel like the only other time they tapped into that dark, otherwordly vibe was on a few of the songs on oddsac. i'd really love an album full of lablakely dresses come to think of it.

[Catnipfairy]

Yea, I didnt listen to enough of Crack Box to really have an opinion. I found the recording quality not up to my standards (Im really picky with live recordings).

Honestly, there is no way you can convince me that Danse isnt shit. How they even thought it was good, especially after making Spirit, is beyond me. If I remember correctly, Avey and Noah were still working on Spirit when they started Danse stuff. Essplode is the only nice thing I can say about Danse, and even then its only good when its being played with Fireworks.

[clayton]

yeah, while danse has its moments, as a whole, i dont listen often.

while a pretty sizable chunk of ac listeners dont like it, i can still appreciate how much the band loves it and that they are proud of it

[Catnipfairy]

Yea, I respect them and think its cool that they did their own thing and are happy with it! Im not going to tell them to stop doing things I dont like, but Im not gonna say its good when I think its not, ya know?

[El Camino]

The only thing that makes Spirit better than Danse for me is Alvin Row. Danse's a great twisted/deranged pop album to me.

[jovian]

they are both kind of hit and miss but have mind blowin moments.

i like how crack box was the first release after mpp and all the new fans at the time were just scratchin they heads.

i havent heard crack box in like 2 yrs definitely want to hear the 2 tracks clam mentioned as soon as i saw em.

[Monssoonnss]

How about Hollindagain?

[Gool Aid]

i love hollindagain so much, more so than danse and crackbox..its one of the most supernatural and intense listens for me..its probably all pretty personal but it really does capture the raw spirit of what makes AC such a great band

[Stanshant]

Catnipfairy wrote:

Yea, I didnt listen to enough of Crack Box to really have an opinion. I found the recording quality not up to my standards (Im really picky with live recordings).

Honestly, there is no way you can convince me that Danse isnt shit. How they even thought it was good, especially after making Spirit, is beyond me. If I remember correctly, Avey and Noah were still working on Spirit when they started Danse stuff. Essplode is the only nice thing I can say about Danse, and even then its only good when its being played with Fireworks.

You're 100% a dickhead.

[iKahn]

Save for the high-pitch noises, I quite like Danse.


Crack Box not as much, but there are some great tracks on there.

[money man]

Both are radical! Crack box is a good time. I don't even know whats going on in oh sweet half the time but it's still the bees knees. In the singing box off danse is one of my fav ac tunes!

[GeckoSushi]

I have to admit I really don't see the point of gathering a bunch of poorly recorded live songs (the bulk of which had much superior live/studio versions) putting them on vinyl which in turn makes the label charge ridiculous prices for it. If anything Crack Box should've been a free download like so many other artists do with their scrapped/alternate material. I mean what's the point of having an awesome turntable set-up and hearing a muddy blown-out We Tigers that even the digital version couldn't give some sonic clarity to? Is there something I'm missing here?

As for Crack Box itself, some of the unreleased jams like Do the Nurse and Ice Cream Factory are awesome and totally make me wish they had done studio versions or at least recorded better live sounding versions, so I kind of find the experience to keep my curiosity piqued and as well as my frustration.

Danse Manatee is pretty sweet. Yea again its a lo-fi recording, I remember Brian saying he had problems raising the mix without the low and high end getting distorted, but I think it's a decent job. Kind of captures that tinny sound that Spirit had. Amazing to think they recorded Danse and Spirit on the same reel-to-reel that Sung Tongs was recorded on, since that record has such a warm sound. And the vibe of kind of having these loose songs that kind of fall apart at times is pretty sweet too.

Hollindagain is a really cool record too, just for the kind of eerie feelings it conjures and the lo-fi recording makes it even more unsettling, like someone field recording some weird ritual in the woods. I think I might prefer this one over the previously mentioned records.

[dance avey dance]

Do you own the Animal Crack Box, Myles? If you actually do/did own it you'd realize that the quality of the packaging and artwork warranted the more expensive price tag.

[GeckoSushi]

No, I don't own it, but I've seen tons of pics of it, so I know it's very ornate. My only question is why even release it on vinyl at all. Aside from the packaging and artwork, which are amazing mind you, pressing vinyl is not a cheap thing to do in general, especially in a limited run. I'm just wondering why they put all of this work into a bunch of discarded (terrible-sounding at times) tunes if putting it on vinyl doesn't really help anything. If something sounds bad initially, whatever set-up you have is not going to make that much of a difference. I'm just saying they should've given them away digitally or for a price if they wanted, to show people "oh this is some early AC material interesting" and move on. Maybe Catsup Plate was doing slow business and AC just wanted to help them out so they planned this thing with them? I don't know. Just snowballing now.

[dance avey dance]

It's a collector's item though and always was intended to be. Releasing the rarities digitally would kind of defeat the purpose. And ACB was planned for years and years, just like ODDSAC.

[jfw7]

Myles_Dunhill wrote:

No, I don't own it, but I've seen tons of pics of it, so I know it's very ornate. My only question is why even release it on vinyl at all. Aside from the packaging and artwork, which are amazing mind you, pressing vinyl is not a cheap thing to do in general, especially in a limited run. I'm just wondering why they put all of this work into a bunch of discarded (terrible-sounding at times) tunes if putting it on vinyl doesn't really help anything. If something sounds bad initially, whatever set-up you have is not going to make that much of a difference. I'm just saying they should've given them away digitally or for a price if they wanted, to show people "oh this is some early AC material interesting" and move on. Maybe Catsup Plate was doing slow business and AC just wanted to help them out so they planned this thing with them? I don't know. Just snowballing now.

lol

[GeckoSushi]

Oh yea it was planned for a while, huh? Did they get it mastered? I'm not sure. Anywho that's fine if they really felt strong enough with that material, but I'm kind of curious since we know now that AC records every live show. How long have they been doing that? You think they could be sitting on a ton of full-length shows from as far back as 2001? I really think it must be something they've only been doing recently.

[dance avey dance]

Myles_Dunhill wrote:

Oh yea it was planned for a while, huh?

Not sure if you are being a dick here or using "huh" as a genuine "oh huh, didn't know that" but yeah, believe it or not it was in the works for 3 years before its release. Compiling all the live recordings and practice space tapes took time and effort. They didn't record (or particularly have the means to) record every show of theirs in super high quality using the best equipment. Remember these were made from 2000-2003, not exactly the height of their careers.

Regardless, at the end of the day it's a collector item for hardcore fans. Putting it on vinyl adds to the appeal (it has little to nothing to do with sound quality in this case). It wasn't targeted towards their mainstream fanbase. Why do super fans of movies, tv shows, video games, books, etc. buy special edition releases that are expensive? Because they're superfans. They want the crazy packaging, they want never before seen/heard bonus footage, they want what is exclusive to that specific edition.

You can't find a live WCWAR from the Sung Tongs era anywhere else but ACB. You can't find Covered in Frogs in the style included on the crack box anywhere else. You can't find the Pumpkin Trilogy, Iko, unreleased Campfire songs, crazy solo tracks, etc. anywhere else but the Animal Crack Box. It's much more than just an attempt to show people old songs and have them say "oh this is some early AC material, interesting" as you said. It's something really special for fans, especially those who have been around a long time and/or appreciate the earlier part of AC's career.

[jfw7]

dance avey dance wrote:

You can't find a live WCWAR from the Sung Tongs era anywhere else but ACB.

2003-??-??
location unknown — "late 2003"
1. Tuvin
2. Who Could Win a Rabbit / Winters Love
3. Good Lovin' Outside / Covered in Frogs / We Tigers
4. Kids on Holiday
http://www.mediafire.com/?jzzjjyvmlzq

e: pumpkin trilogy is also available elsewhere (from houston+hollinndagain+spinning on air) of course but the ACB version is way better.

[GeckoSushi]

C'mon I wouldn't be a dick, I really had forgotten. Hell I have trouble remembering what cars my friends drive sometime. I get what you're saying. I guess for me listening to Crack Box never got me any further than "early AC material, interesting". And I really am obsessed with early AC and was really looking forward to Crack Box, until I listened to it, because I was under the impression it was all going to be songs that were never recorded (man that disappointment that Jimmy Raven was going to be a new song). I'm not attacking it really, just wondering why the decision to put it on vinyl, but I guess you cleared that up. I think there might've been some miscommunication here and there, but it's cool. What's your favorite Crack Box track?

[dance avey dance]

jfw7 wrote:

dance avey dance wrote:

You can't find a live WCWAR from the Sung Tongs era anywhere else but ACB.

2003-??-??
location unknown — "late 2003"
1. Tuvin
2. Who Could Win a Rabbit / Winters Love
3. Good Lovin' Outside / Covered in Frogs / We Tigers
4. Kids on Holiday
http://www.mediafire.com/?jzzjjyvmlzq

how did I miss this/ why in the world did all of us lose our minds over live rabbit with the crackbox when this freaking show existed?

Myles, I think my favorite track is Iko followed closely by the happy birthday De Soto

[Monssoonnss]

I definitely wouldn't buy it on vinyl but I'll listen to it on youtube all day. I'm sure the package is cool though.

[GeckoSushi]

Ice Cream Factory is my favorite. Totally sounds like a demented carnival ride.

[StrangeClams]

Catnipfairy wrote:

I found the recording quality not up to my standards

Honestly, there is no way you can convince me that Danse isnt shit.

Yknow, Clefairy is probably my least favorite pokemon. I really don't appreciate Sugimori's design of it, I found the quality not up to my standards. Honestly, there is no way you can convince me that Clefairy isn't shit, especially since they designed such a bad pokemon after making Magneton (an undisputed masterpiece). The only redeeming quality it has is Meteor Mash, and only if you've invested in attack EVs and have an Eviolite, still though it's basically a shitty Blissey.

[snowtire]

StrangeClams wrote:

Catnipfairy wrote:

I found the recording quality not up to my standards

Honestly, there is no way you can convince me that Danse isnt shit.

Yknow, Clefairy is probably my least favorite pokemon. I really don't appreciate Sugimori's design of it, I found the quality not up to my standards. Honestly, there is no way you can convince me that Clefairy isn't shit, especially since they designed such a bad pokemon after making Magneton (an undisputed masterpiece). The only redeeming quality it has is Meteor Mash, and only if you've invested in attack EVs and have an Eviolite, still though it's basically a shitty Blissey.

I lol'd a lot at this and I don't mean to get further off-topic but is meteor mash even a move outside of the first few generations?? I swear I haven't heard that phrase in years

on-topic: I like a danse a ton when I listen to it but rarely have the urge to do so. I remember liking acb the one or two times I listened to the whole thing and I definitely do a couple tracks every now and then but I should definitely give it a couple more listens when I have the time.
It is a lil weird to me that they'd release pretty low-quality recordings esp. like the crazy distorted we tigers but it still sounds cool I guess

[Tico]

this thread is pissing me off omg.. danse is a masterpiece. and i wouldnt even say that about every ac record anymore. its a perfect listen all the way through, and i think they got exactly the sound they were attempting to make