Collected Animals
https://collectedanimals.org/
I think I kinda wish Feels had a different cover and was a little gnarlier. or the back cover was the front. I think I need to listen to those first Feels boots cuz I kinda wonder what it'd sound like with even a drop of Ark vibes added back in
FEEL ON1NE!!! wrote:Ima write something scathing for people EP. The only misstep in the entire animal collective catalog, even though all of the songs are great, especially tikwid, which is one of the best of the era.
We would live in a perfect world if the People EP ended with 206 or Sponge Luke instead of the live People
Vashti: I met them for dinner and it was a great night… How do you remember it?
Josh Dibb: I remember it kind of as being magic. The impact that record [Just Another Diamond Day] had on me. There've been many records in my life which have had a huge impact but yours is definitely in a very, very elite few. I mean, I was such a young kid back then in comparison to how I feel now. I think we'd come across your record through the fact Dave and Noah had been working on other music in New York and at the time it was such a hub of people unearthing new stuff. Literally today I was texting with Brian… We both realised we'd started listening to your records again more recently having given it a break, and it was like being stunned again for the first time… And at the time being told that there was an opportunity to be able to meet you? You seemed like a myth. It was one of the first times I'd gotten to meet someone that had made something in my life. To meet you, and have you be so real and so down-to-earth and at the same time still have this incredible voice and this incredible sensibility with music; that continues to be very meaningful for me.
VB: That's so great. Thank you, thank you! I didn't know I had a voice really, until you all just pushed me… I thought that I was going to be doing backing vocals. But actually it was a bit more than that. 'You do this bit!' [laughs] 'Okay, okay I'll have a go'. I didn't know if I was going to sing at all, but you all made me sing like I didn't know I could. You made me really enjoy singing again which I hadn't done for many many years.
Fuck me there are some write ups here that get me a bit aroused. You’ve out done yourselves CA.
Sung Tongs: i'll be honest, i used to think this album was just... alright. i liked Leaf House cause it was the first song, i liked Who Could Win a Rabbit cause it was the single, i liked Winters Love cause it was in that one simpsons episode (that's a lie, i liked it before i watched that one simpsons episode, but it probably helped some), i liked Kids on Holiday cause it was a bop... and that was about it
nine words: Animal Collective perform Sung Tongs at Pitchfork's 21st Anniversary. in something that might become a bit of a recurring theme going forward, i never really appreciated this album until i heard it live, and when i discovered that wonderful youtube video in mid-2018, oh boy, you bet i appreciated it
from the primal, manic energy of Leaf House, Who Could Win a Rabbit, and We Tigers, to the slow burn ambience of The Softest Voice and Visiting Friends, to everything in-between, there's a lot to love on Sung Tongs, and while i feel like it loses a bit of energy near the end (not to say i'm on #TeamWhadditIDoneIsAnAffrontToGod), i have no qualms about calling this one of their best
Prospect Hummer: hey, a new EP from Campfire Songs! i love this band!
okay, seriously though, time for a little more honesty - apart from the title track (see above), i never really paid this EP much mind, which, as has been proven many times in this thread and will probably be proven many more times in the future, was a mistake on my part. Vashti Bunyan adds so much to the vocal songs, which certainly weren't thin on the ground to begin with, and Baleen Sample is a very nice instrumental as well. all in all, a very good companion piece to Sung Tongs
i don't know if i really wanna call this a bonus because it's one song but
Baby Day: pretty good. i don't think i've heard enough live versions to determine if this is worse or better than those, but i think they did a pretty good job translating it to the studio
I will never listen to Feels, it's one of my least favorite in terms of conceptually the idea of listening to it front to back. Too saccharine. I would need 2 be in a whole other place in my life emotionally to do that.
I think you might be the first person I have ever encountered who speaks about Feels this way. Certainly the first fan. Feels is incredibly special to me. I don't see it as saccharine at all. That implies that it is overly sentimental. I think of it as dizzying and carnal. Full of love and warmth but never sickly sweet or cheesy. Anyway, I'll rant about Feels in a bit. Totally shocked at this take though. Anyway, Tongs I've always listened to thru out the years... and basically all their albums did this for their first 10 years, but who would have seen Tongs coming after Indian. Or even after Campfire honestly?
Up until MPP they're just constantly rounding out what an AC track could even sound like, picking all these different colors and vibes... Melodically maybe there's a bit of the first few albums in Sung Tongs and there's that whole *tribal* energy that showed up on Ark and sorta Danse (but interestingly not Spirit at all really) and there's the acoustics of Campfire of course, but up til then the Beach Boys vibes weren't really there at all. And the peppiness of Spirit's melodies that had kinda been eroded for 3 albums re-emerges brighter and poppier than ever.
I think I kinda wish Feels had a different cover and was a little gnarlier. or the back cover was the front. I think I need to listen to those first Feels boots cuz I kinda wonder what it'd sound like with even a drop of Ark vibes added back in
yeah, if i had one complaint about the album it's that it could've been a little bit more experimental. i actually remember when it first came out i had the same thought... like, "damn, this sounds so tame compared to sung tongs" and especially compared to ark. but over time i've really come to appreciate the sequencing and the almost wall-of-sound production style (which they dropped for sj but brought it back with mpp). and the songs themselves are of course masterpieces. so many all-time classics on that one... grass, purple bottle, banshee beat. those three alone are almost too good to be on the same album together
Sung tongs:
Probably my favorite AC record in terms of production. Everything sounds full, crunchy, warm and natural, even with some sounds being pretty out there and weird. It's one of the best examples of merging electronic and acoustic sounds IMHO.
I initially thought that the album is rather front heavy with the good songs, but after repeated listens the second half also starts to unfold. Good lovin outside is probably my favorite. This and mouth water are just baffling from a rhythmic perspective, I don't even know how to count them, it's basically all just feeling and flowing.
Prospect hummer:
I like the EP a lot and I like vashtis vocals but it's really hard not to think about how great it could have been when listening to the boots of that time. So many gems didn't make the cut or didn't turn out so well in the studio, IMHO. Learning how to dive is so nice and energetic on the other music boot, the studio version doesn't even come close. Imagine it with a sort of production as on WCWAR, it would be glorious (they also completely butchered baby day in the studio). I also like prospect hummer much more with pandas lead vocals. They could have glued together baleen sample and always you and just make it an epic 20 minute meditation in the style of visiting friends. It doesn't make any sense to think about all these "what ifs", but they could have done a sung tongs 1.5 with all the material they were sitting on. I'm glad we at least have some decent boots though!
^From a Beach exists in a no-space b/w Water Curses and FBK and its tragic as hell.
Good Lovin is my favorite far and away. Certainly was not initially... that would be Leaf's/Love and Soft Voice. But damn Good Lovin. It's gorgeous.... and like... romantic. I like how it sounds like someone is hushing avey sometimes. And Panda has some of the most insane back-up Vox oat on it.
Good Lovin >>>>>>>> most music
listened to Prospect Hummer and Berserker. Prospect is not only their best EP but possibly my favorite EP of all time? the story behind it is so incredible, bringing a legendary folk singer out of retirement through a mutual appreciation of each other's music. and then she went on to release two more great albums! I get the sentiment that these songs could've also been great with traditional Avey/Panda vocals but I think Vashti's presence just makes it so much more special. her voice also matches the childlike nature of the songs/tongs just as well
Berserker sounds like Young Prayer stretched out with really inventive ambient techno beats placed underneath it. I love that style of Panda's vocal delivery, no discernible lyrics but just really emotional/yearning/longing sounds in his moaning. "Swan" really goes places over its 25 minutes, that segment in the middle with the extreme vocal processing is slightly terrifying but just goes so well with what the rest of the track is doing. I'm usually not a fan of ambient techno but Jane manages to make it so interesting, I lost count of how many times the loops changed and beneath the surface there's just so much going on
Prospect also might be my favorite EP of all time. it's so easily digestible, the three actual songs are great, and baleen sample is a nice soundscape to lose yourself in.
i probably listen to it 2 times a month, it's become very meditative and comforting to me. immense calm. i'll throw it or just another diamond day on when im feeling rough and snuggle up in some blankets or something. not to mention the title track, which is a top 5 ac song imo
I am crying and you are also crying
We've entered the period of AC music that has a strangle hold on me. Sung Tongs-MPP is the greatest 4-album run in the history of music, constant companions in my life
each of which is considered my favorite album of all time given the season:
Winter = MPP
Spring/early summer = Sung Tongs
Late Summer = Feels
Autumn = Strawberry Jam
Sung Tongs, when set in the context of the indie music landscape, is an anomaly for how it ended up connected to the freak folk movement Devendra Banhart-Joanna Newsom were heading up in SF. While the band denies any correlation to the scene or the label, it's undeniable that the music fits in as a psych-y, experimental deviation to the sound coming from the west. This is notable to me because so much of their music before this was much more connected to the New York sound/east coast bands/vibes. This is the first album where I say they begin to take over TERRITORY, sonically. This is when their pilgrimage really takes them far away from home, and I'd argue every album since Sung Tongs sees them exuding a different portion of land within America. This album was recorded in Colorado, but it sounds a lot more like New Mexico or something more southwest.
ST perfectly encapsulates my childhood experience, the wonder and curiosity and mania of my pre-teen days wandering around drinking the sun and sword-fighting imaginary animals. They have moved on from forest children to holidaying hooligans, galivanting through campgrounds and lakeside resorts, darting into obscure forests and emerging into the serene countryside with a trunk of electronic gadgetry to go along with their acoustic guitars and floor tom. It's perfectly boisterous, uncouth, wide-eyed and imaginative. Lyrically, they have distilled the spirit of Animal Collective's early years perfectly on this record...capturing the essence of their joy and free-spiritedness. Sonically it is such a treat, little electronic sounds pinging and ponging, fragments of field recordings twisting and twirling and tumbling and seeping through the songs. Vocally, they're going gangbusters, using every kind of voice and inflection they can think of, from elated hollers to garbled mouth experiments to whispers to chants. These songs showcase the greatest mix of a straight song being warped just enough. Songs for daydreaming, hoola-hooping, wandering, driving, anything you'd do on a summer's day... oh man, and I'm just touching the surface.
Feels: perfect. a masterpiece in every way. i've loved this album since the day i first heard it, and there's always something new to discover when i hear it again (like i think this listen was the first time i ever really paid attention to the backing harmonies on the bridge of Grass. gorgeous stuff. also it took me this long to realize both Young Prayer 6 and Loch Raven have "i will not give up on you" in the lyrics. funny that)
just about every song on this album is an S-tier AC song in my eyes. i've even come to appreciate Flesh Canoe. no, really, i went into this thinking "oh man, this is gonna be great. this album would be perfect if it wasn't for Flesh Canoe" and then the album was like "oh, would it? BOOM" and a switch got flipped in my brain
People: (Bandcamp version cause that's the one i have) this thing is a Tikwid sandwich on stale bread. okay, maybe it's not that bad, but when you put a song like Tikwid next to People and My Favorite Colors... y'know? like they definitely could've made something better with some of the other outtakes they had in the Feels era
Fickle Cycle: now this is what i'm talking about. this song is a certified banger for sure. could've easily been on Feels
foxtrot you're like the main one writing beautiful paragraphs getting me embarrassingly pumped about albums i hadn't had on my mind recently.
all of you are straight up better than pitchfork, if there was a journal that just had like all of you not hating on albums, but just describing why you liked them, i'd read it.
And the childhood-y/Darger esque art actually massively bums me out. Nasty, nasty color palette. Still love early live Feels and Loch Raven tho.
Bunyan says she fell in love with the group’s music “instantly”, captivated by its “inventiveness and humour”. Hummer isn’t a fully-fledged collaboration, though: it’s billed as an Animal Collective release and Bunyan is singing songs written by Portner and Lennox. Nonetheless, it feels like the EP’s beatific radiance emanates from the singer as much as the songs.
“My daughter says she can hear me smiling on the title track,” says the singer, “and I was. I loved having the freedom to sing as I wanted. I was still finding my voice after burying it for years.” The experience has encouraged Bunyan to embark on her first album in more than 30 years
most of the music is Mou spinning records made by other people. “It’s like a mix CD with toasting over the top,” says Lennox, who is confident that despite the music consisting mostly of “other people’s backing tracks and rhythms, we make the songs our own because the way we move from track to track is unique.” When I tell him his cloud-drift vocals remind me of Robert Wyatt’s scattier excursions such as Matching Mole’s “Instant Pussy”, Lennox says he’s honoured by the comparison, then pre-empts the next flattering reference point I had lined up. “Do you know Arthur Russell? I first heard that guy’s records a year or so ago, after we did the Jane stuff, but I was like, ‘wooah, I sound like this dude.’ I felt sort of bad!”
thanks fov, how do you find this stuff?
I’m glad they left my favorite colours off of feels personally, it’s a little too goofy sounding. Still a unique listen
Feels
the crystal palace visceral sensual love album. the Doctess special (she named the album). the most quintessential AC guitars. "THAT" chord change on Banshee Beat. "THAT" synth-piano combo daydream on Loch Raven. all the instruments out of tune. the beginning of the clicky railroad sounds.
the first AC album i had a spiritual experience with...falling asleep on a hot day with the back half of the album soaking up my reality and squeezing out all my dreams, left to swim in hazy visions of swimming in a lake of clouds. Daffy Duck's bleary eyes. Loch Raven's meditative hypnotic twirl into the loops of innocent, romantic reverie. the rave up wake up romp of Turn Into Something.
the last album where AC sound young to me. the last AC album to sound raw, analog, primal. if i were to make a cut off of their "early years," it would end in 2006 after the People EP, this being their last big statement as a "new" band. by Strawberry Jam, at least in my eyes, they were a well-known entity, hyped to the sky, and essentially leading the Brooklyn indie scene with their inventive sounds... so, R.I.P teenage AC, R.I.P. innocence and young love and being underground favorites. you're about to hit the big screen.
Berserker: same stuff, different album, figuratively AND literally considering Slipping Away makes a return with minimal changes. of the new tracks, Agg Report and Pop (thanks scrambledgreggs!) draw my interest the most, the title track is an alright ambient opener and, if i'm honest, i really don't think Swan needs to be 24 minutes long. if i had to rank all the Jane releases, i think i'd put this between above Coconuts and below Paradise
Oboroed / Circus Lives: i was right, these long-form tracks really allow the particular Terrestrial Tones brand of tape music to shine... well, at least more than they did on Blasted. the way these tracks sort of shapeshift over time makes way for some pretty good noise. i feel very much the same as foxtrot, except i don't think it'll take me 5 years to revisit this because i quite liked it
also something i've realized recently, somewhat related to this whole relistening project: man, there are a lot of AC-related albums that i just straight up haven't listened to, especially out of the ones released in the past decade or so. i've already had quite a few (including two in this post lol), but i'll get to have a lot more discoveries in the coming weeks, and i think that's a bit exciting
with the exception of TT Gyrus and the Geo solo live thing.