Collected Animals

I NEED TO BE CRUNCHITIZED!

Joe Biden gave sleep cycle a solid review and above-average score:


hope it gets more people listening to this fantastic release!

I do think this is good in that a lot of people genuinely listen to him for some reason, but he is such a boring and insubstantial music reviewer. It's incredible how little he says in as much time as he does. he almost exclusively only ever describes the sounds of the music

inkspot wrote:

Sonic Broom is the YOKO (Oh Dear God No!) of the groop troupe!

I'd give my right arm to have written this :




Plastic Ono Band are pure ore & Yoko is the bees knees in my book...
The stuff Delia Derbyshire did with her for the wrapping of the lions in leicester square is the goldilox too....

Yes agreed! Yoko's got soul for days...

Really love the short tunes she did for Aspen Mag. In fact...I really love Aspen Mag! Haha

http://www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen7/audio7B.html

I do think this is good in that a lot of people genuinely listen to him for some reason, but he is such a boring and insubstantial music reviewer. It's incredible how little he says in as much time as he does. he almost exclusively only ever describes the sounds of the music

this is true (at least in non-hip hop releases). i wish he had touched on some of the great lyrical themes that sleep cycle has to offer.

Hey Deakin,

I heard you sometimes visit the board so I just wanted to thank you.

Love the album, absolutely my favorite thing I've heard from the AnCo camp since Fall Be Kind. I'm especially a fan of 'Good House', first time listening to it I couldn't help but try to sing along even though I didn't know the words. I cannot wait to hear where you go from here, you made a fan today.

So again, from the bottom of my music loving soul, thanks for revitalizing my interest in the music of you and your friends.

I still think Kria's more the Yoko and Pullhair's their Two Virgins... and Glasslands 2008 is their Cambridge 1969?? Or maybe their Revolution 9 since George was on there too.

Sorry Boom.

SB might be their Phil Spector, or maybe that's Ben Allen.


This post is so dumb lol

Ben Allen is George Martin lol

SB is like panda's personal George Martin lately.. and that's rlly cool...

did anyone ever split that boot

he almost exclusively only ever describes the sounds of the music

This is ALL music reviews SHOULD talk about. I absolutely hate when a review just waffles on about the life of the artist, or the reviewer, or scenes, or cultural trends, or history/philosophy blah blah without ever actually talking about the music on the album, i.e. what people actually care about. See the painting with pfork review for example

I think his point is that Joe Biden only talks about the SOUNDS of the music. As in, he only describes it, he doesn't actually talk about the themes or the greater meaning of it.

I definitely agree that more reviews need to focus on the actual music though. I think the p4k review of sleep cycle made a few good observations when they actually stayed on subject, but the other 2/3 of the review ruined it.

footy that it wont grow

Mütterlein wrote:

he almost exclusively only ever describes the sounds of the music

This is ALL music reviews SHOULD talk about. I absolutely hate when a review just waffles on about the life of the artist, or the reviewer, or scenes, or cultural trends, or history/philosophy blah blah without ever actually talking about the music on the album, i.e. what people actually care about. See the painting with pfork review for example

No, that's ridiculous. Music is more than just sounds. Albums and songs have meaning and value and purposes outside of aesthetics. Music is not just 'music.' This is comparable to a film reviewer describing a movie in terms of its plot or 'enjoyability' on the most basic level -- essentially evaluating in terms of entertainment value. If you're interested in a description of the music, read a press release.

My particular issue with Joe Biden is that he seems to be entirely non-critical about anything other than the, you know, technical aspects of the music and its more conventional enjoyability. I believe that he doesn't really grasp the greater significances of the music that he reviews

All reviews need some context, and many records are more important given their context

the review of the music should be the majority of a review, but any review that excludes description of the band and the background of the album is lacking

^nailed it

I guess I have a pretty extreme view on how to appreciate art, and I wouldn't expect most to agree with me. I think it's best appreciated/evaluated as removed from context as possible. Music IS just sound, objectively, and acknowledging this is how I'm able to enjoy Justin Bieber and SUNN O))) and not in a lame 'look how diverse my tastes are ' way. I enjoy music most when I'm drifting off to sleep, when I stop thinking and it becomes just enveloping SOUND and sound alone.

I'm also a firm believer in the death of the author, and so by extension the death of the critic. I avoid reviews and don't read the plaques beside art in galleries. But Joe Biden's reviews are at least better than most in that they give me a good idea of what an album sounds like, and if I'll enjoy it. Creative writing/gossip-mag/theory-lite 'reviews' are the worst form of journalism going now. What's that Elvis Costello quote?

I'm surprised any AC fan would be a fan of this style of reviewing. Literally every review of Painting With was written with the angle 'this is a band that is not as acclaimed or popular as they were in 2009' and that's about the extent of the engagement with the actual music on the record. An overemphasis on context and cultural theory is the death of art to me. But I know I'm in the minority.

^^ Roland Barthes fan, I take it?

I agree with a lot of what GF has to say, the reason Anthony Joe Biden annoys me isn't anything to do with him focusing on the sound of the music and I wish more people would do that. I don't have a lot of musical theory knowledge but I hate it when the reviewer doesn't seem like they have the faintest idea of how to describe something or what's significant or interesting about a sound or a song.

Case in point whoever reviewed Jungle's album ALMOST touched on the fact that the vocalist(s) is/are singing in octaves on every single song but all they said was "high grating register" and apparently that the vocals are out of Pharrell's range??? Like no, they are not that high. Why do people say things about music that are just wrong.

is there a thread in the music subforum about music reviews and such

I guess I have a pretty extreme view on how to appreciate art, and I wouldn't expect most to agree with me. I think it's best appreciated/evaluated as removed from context as possible. Music IS just sound, objectively, and acknowledging this is how I'm able to enjoy Justin Bieber and SUNN O))) and not in a lame 'look how diverse my tastes are ' way. I enjoy music most when I'm drifting off to sleep, when I stop thinking and it becomes just enveloping SOUND and sound alone.

I'm also a firm believer in the death of the author, and so by extension the death of the critic. I avoid reviews and don't read the plaques beside art in galleries. But Joe Biden's reviews are at least better than most in that they give me a good idea of what an album sounds like, and if I'll enjoy it. Creative writing/gossip-mag/theory-lite 'reviews' are the worst form of journalism going now. What's that Elvis Costello quote?

I'm surprised any AC fan would be a fan of this style of reviewing. Literally every review of Painting With was written with the angle 'this is a band that is not as acclaimed or popular as they were in 2009' and that's about the extent of the engagement with the actual music on the record. An overemphasis on context and cultural theory is the death of art to me. But I know I'm in the minority.

I think you have the right mindset to enjoy music on more of a sonic level. It allows for more surprises and fun discoveries in life. That's how I've started to approach Jazz, by focusing more on the melodies that speak to me rather than the cultural or critical significance of the music, which I find to be very intimidating

However I also don't agree with the death of the author mindset. Art does not exist in a vacuum. It's all derivative of both it's creator and the culture that surrounds and predates it's creator. If the work is great, I definitely agree that one does not need context to appreciate the art or music, however once I decide I truly love the work, then I always become curious to find out about more about the who, what, where and why. If I become obsessed with the work, from there I will go on to reviews, theories and critiques, which frequently can be cringeworthy and overwrought with elitist and pretentious language, but at the same time I normally do retain something new that I did I think of or realize beforehand. But I find the best critiques are done in person as a casual dialogue. That way one can work out any confusions and really get a feel for whether they think the critic is well informed or not.

I guess what I'm saying is that discussion of the art we like and it's background information can be very enjoyable and informative. That's why this forum exists. It provides us fans with useful info and a place where we can share and argue opinions, but above all connect with eachother through a common appreciation of Animal Collective and their amazing music.

I think you have the right mindset to enjoy music on more of a sonic level. It allows for more surprises and fun discoveries in life. That's how I've started to approach Jazz, by focusing more on the melodies that speak to me rather than the cultural or critical significance of the music, which I find to be very intimidating

However I also don't agree with the death of the author mindset. Art does not exist in a vacuum. It's all derivative of both it's creator and the culture that surrounds and predates it's creator. If the work is great, I definitely agree that one does not need context to appreciate the art or music, however once I decide I truly love the work, then I always become curious to find out about more about the who, what, where and why. If I become obsessed with the work, from there I will go on to reviews, theories and critiques, which frequently can be cringeworthy and overwrought with elitist and pretentious language, but at the same time I normally do retain something new that I did I think of or realize beforehand. But I find the best critiques are done in person as a casual dialogue. That way one can work out any confusions and really get a feel for whether they think the critic is well informed or not.

I guess what I'm saying is that discussion of the art we like and it's background information can be very enjoyable and informative. That's why this forum exists. It provides us fans with useful info and a place where we can share and argue opinions, but above all connect with eachother through a common appreciation of Animal Collective and their amazing music.

I sympathise with a lot of what you say. As said, I presented an extreme ideal of music appreciation, one I myself fail to live up to a lot of the time. I love shooting the shit about music in person with friends, or on the internet, and it will often descend into trivialities. It's when these discussions become enshrined in criticism that I dislike the outcomes.
For a prominent example, The Beatles. One of my favourite bands, but I can't stand any discussion about them, because it's just cliches about their historical importance that have no relation to the actual music. A billion articles about the significance of 'sgt pepper' but no one mentions the unsettling melody of Fixing a Hole or how beautiful those first 10 seconds of Lovely Rita are.

And since this is getting very off topic, to relate back to Sleep Cycle: Discussion of this album seems to be centred around the kickstarter and Deakin's reputation. But when I'm listening to it, those things are very far from my mind. It's just 4 very lovely songs/soundscapes to me

is there a thread in the music subforum about music reviews and such

http://collectedanimals.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3487

sorry to bring up p4k again but they just named "golden chords" best new track

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/181 ... en-chords/

hey, that's pretty cool!

the rym charts updated, and sleep cycle is now the #2 rated record of 2016. well-deserved!!

You're my golden chords. You're the ones I've chosen, chords. You're 24k. You make it bright when it's grey.

the rym charts updated, and sleep cycle is now the #2 rated record of 2016. well-deserved!!

Ah sweet. I was gonna ask on here how long they usually take to update.

Thank god we have reviews/rankings to validate our opinion I mean get the word out about our favorite artists I mean piss us off and be the equivalent of a YouTube comments section so that we can comment on them commenting. Not trying to b edgy/obnoxious but this thread got way detailed. There's a reason music isn't the same as sports statistics and like numbers and lists and rankings are fun but also pretty banal when it comes to music. Iike now im further derailing. A mod should move all relevant posts to a different thread

Thank god we have reviews/rankings to validate our opinion I mean get the word out about our favorite artists I mean piss us off and be the equivalent of a YouTube comments section so that we can comment on them commenting. Not trying to b edgy/obnoxious but this thread got way detailed. There's a reason music isn't the same as sports statistics and like numbers and lists and rankings are fun but also pretty banal when it comes to music. Iike now im further derailing. A mom should move all relevant posts to a different thread

more like thank god people are listening to and enjoying the record! thank god the good press will bring deakin more fans! i definitely don't need anything to validate a record as fantastic as this one; i just want people to hear this thing, dammit.

moron like thank god for GIRLS!

guh!

just a word about deakin some might find of interest:

he's SINGLE, ladies ... b)

just a word about deakin some might find of interest:

he's SINGLE, ladies ... b)

oh shit

is he single? i thought wide eyed was directed towards some special person, but i guess it's been almost four years

is he single? i thought wide eyed was directed towards some special person

Uh yeah. It was me.

sorry to bring up p4k again but they just named "golden chords" best new track

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/181 ... en-chords/

Excellent review

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azj9WD4sU0M&sns=em[/youtube]

Excellent birds

this is bansheebeaten posting:

this album is amazing

as adjust your insides said to me just now, "he was just waiting for the band to drop a dookie"

painting with pales in comparison to this. good job deakin

Actually I think he was waiting for the band to drop their Dookie






And when that didn't happen he sent them a link to his finished album along with this video

First post on CA, hooray! Anyways, I reviewed and pushed Sleep Cycle onto our college radio station for others to enjoy the wonderful sounds that Deakin has blessed upon us. I've seriously been listening to the album at least twice a day since release... it helped that SC was released during quite a changing point of my life.

Here's an Instagram post of Deakin replying to my IG post, to which I fangirled excessively: