Collected Animals

"Opposite Wavelengths" seems like it would be a Panda song title

Because I'm selfish, I'm missing Panda Bear mixes of other songs in this era. An excellent EP will have to suffice.

Lacrimosa wrote:

I think this is the least inspired Panda has ever sounded to be fair.
Nod To The Folks and Sunset are actually quite good, ST is okay but especially Flight and POTM are the worst things he's ever done.

There's hardly anything surprising about most of it, there are almost no interesting melodies / melody shifts, no interesting song-structures, the sounds and textures are bland and even the drums/beats aren't interesting.

This is all for his standarts ofcourse, it's still okay, but I can't imagine anyone here thinking that this is some of his best work?

Bruh we are on opposite wavelengths

Yeah same here. This ranks right underneath person pitch and young prayer for me. Everything about it is fantastic, I’m in love. The sounds of it is exactly what I want from AC right now. Minimal and without too much swirly psychedelic sounds all over the place that have felt a bit tacked on and unnecessary on a lot of their recent releases. And all the vocal melodies are all so strong especially Flight and sunset. .

^very much agreed but it's probably my favorite thing overall that he's done solo. Unless you count Greaper live boots

Flight is tight as hell. Sunset is the only one that I can't get 100% into but it's still great

I think this is the least inspired Panda has ever sounded to be fair.
Nod To The Folks and Sunset are actually quite good, ST is okay but especially Flight and POTM are the worst things he's ever done.

There's hardly anything surprising about most of it, there are almost no interesting melodies / melody shifts, no interesting song-structures, the sounds and textures are bland and even the drums/beats aren't interesting.

This is all for his standarts ofcourse, it's still okay, but I can't imagine anyone here thinking that this is some of his best work?

I agree... I find this EP a little boring. This is the first time on a Panda Bear's release that the melodies don't stick in my head. Nod To The Folks is the worst to me, and Flight is my "favorite" though (especially the second part, after 2:37).

The sounds are interesting but not put together in a really interesting way. It's minimalistic but in the negative sense of the word, the songs structures go nowhere.
This isn't too bad either but Grim Reaper's melodies were much better. I won't listen to it on repeat like previous records

Lacrimosa wrote:

I think this is the least inspired Panda has ever sounded to be fair.
Nod To The Folks and Sunset are actually quite good, ST is okay but especially Flight and POTM are the worst things he's ever done.

There's hardly anything surprising about most of it, there are almost no interesting melodies / melody shifts, no interesting song-structures, the sounds and textures are bland and even the drums/beats aren't interesting.

This is all for his standarts ofcourse, it's still okay, but I can't imagine anyone here thinking that this is some of his best work?

I agree... I find this EP a little boring. This is the first time on a Panda Bear's release that the melodies don't stick in my head. Nod To The Folks is the worst to me, and Flight is my "favorite" though (especially the second part, after 2:37).

The sounds are interesting but not put together in a really interesting way. It's minimalistic but in the negative sense of the word, the songs structures go nowhere.
This isn't too bad either but Grim Reaper's melodies were much better. I won't listen to it on repeat like previous records

Honestly, I couldn't agree more. I have loved every single release to come out of the Collective and think they've been on a roll recently, but this EP kind of bores me. It's certainly not bad, it's enjoyable enough to listen to, but it's totally lacking that transcendent quality that puts their music over the top for me. It doesn't feel very experimental or unique for Panda Bear and I am really turned off by the muddiness of the mix. I was really surprised to see all the love it's getting on this board and have kept waiting for it to grow on me, but unfortunately it hasn't. I'm glad others are getting something from it though.

Hard disagree but that's cool. I think the lyrics and melodies of nod and sunset are my like top 5 songs from him nearly. First 3 songs aren't quite as good but I still feel this emotional connection to the whole thing even if only the chorus of nod and all of sunset truly cut me deep. Melodica and that bass break in the middle of sunset make me almost tear up ;_;

Actually, I agree with you about Sunset - forgot to mention that's the only track that really connected with me. I like it significantly more than the rest. I thought the other tracks, including Nod to the Folks sounded much better live.

I'm with you MrFingers in saying that they've been on a roll recently. The only disappointment for me is Painting With as a whole... if Vertical, Nat Selection, Bagels, and Spilling were replaced with The Painters EP + Hounds of Bairro it may have been my favorite AC record.

And I kind of agree about the lack of "transcendence" on this EP. But I think its function is closer to that of a dance album. When I play it real loud and turn up the subwoofer it becomes one of my favorite Panda releases.

And I kind of agree about the lack of "transcendence" on this EP.

listening to POTM/Shephard Tone this one time walking home... ...

Whenever I'm feeling a little down or anxious, I love putting on (the part of) Part of the Math where it's like "and we're off again, comes out of nowhere, like a rope wrapping tighter and tighter 'round the throat. I guess when it's on it's on... I mean I guess I'm saying probably happens to everyone", cause even though the song seems more about death than depression/anxiety it's a totally chill and relatable way of looking at things.

And then when I'm drinking with the boys or just feeling love for my homies, putting on Flight and chanting a bit of "we got the good crew" is bloody beautiful cause it's like boys we HAVE the fuckin good crew amirite?

We are the good crew

Been listening to this bad boy again and its grown on me a lot. Awesome release IMO

anyone got a link to a good rip they could pm me please? Finally got the chance to listen to my record at my friend's place and wow night and day difference to the initial rip I had been listening to!

Really feeling this release. I feel like it fills out its own really nice niche in Panda's body of work and I'm super stoked on the direction he went on this one.

Damn, can't believe I remembered my password to this place. Been a while since I've gotten super into an AC release but I just listened to samples of this and it sounds good as hell. Gonna buy it when I get paid but does anyone have a rip they wouldn't mind sharing so I can listen to it in my car?

I'm definitely enjoying this EP, but jesus christ can we have a moment of silence for the neglected Nod To The Folks chorus melody he does live instead? So cathartic!

I was at the Desert Daze show and that higher vocal melody was the one part I remembered being most excited by.

I understand that but I'd also say that it's almost too 'big'. I feel the same way about 'I know I know' from Last Night At The Jetty. I prefer the low key version because it's a bit more complex, harmonically, and doesn't tower over the rest of the song so much. I understand that my point here is quite weak.

I definitely prefer the studio version melody, probably just because I only listened to the boot once so I'm way more used to the studio melody

I understand that but I'd also say that it's almost too 'big'. I feel the same way about 'I know I know' from Last Night At The Jetty. I prefer the low key version because it's a bit more complex, harmonically, and doesn't tower over the rest of the song so much. I understand that my point here is quite weak.

he does this cool thing with "i know" where he shifts the emphasis in each line, same trick as the end of derek

Stanshant wrote:

I understand that but I'd also say that it's almost too 'big'. I feel the same way about 'I know I know' from Last Night At The Jetty. I prefer the low key version because it's a bit more complex, harmonically, and doesn't tower over the rest of the song so much. I understand that my point here is quite weak.

he does this cool thing with "i know" where he shifts the emphasis in each line, same trick as the end of derek

I think he's talking about the harmony, not the timing. Comparing the live version to the studio

he does this cool thing with "i know" where he shifts the emphasis in each line, same trick as the end of derek

I know I know I know I know
I Know I Know I Know I Know
I Know I Know I Know I Know
I Know I know I know I know I know

I think he's talking about the harmony, not the timing. Comparing the live version to the studio

yeah but the vocal part whips sack and should override any wimpy criticism of the harmony

roopn wrote:

I think he's talking about the harmony, not the timing. Comparing the live version to the studio

yeah but the vocal part whips sack and should override any wimpy criticism of the harmony

Very true

Laughing at 'wimpy'.

That rhythmic shift is pretty cool but kind of pointless, too. It's the ne plus ultra example of his 'moving syllables around the beat' idea for Tomboy.

what is buoy!

Toumbouy

I just realized "A Day with the Homies" is a J Dilla song, and Panda's mentioned J Dilla before. Cool. Maybe everyone already knew that.

i did not know that

a little obscure but surely related?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRBcU02lDkU

"big up the good crew' .....or am I wrong?

can a homie crunchitize me capn

This is so great and came at a perfect time. Prefer it over Eucalyptus which was amazing but also emotionally devastating to me. I wish it was a full album, would probably overtake every panda project since Person Pitch for me. Random as fuck but I spent a lot of time listening to this while playing Gravity rush remastered and just man, such good vibes. The freedom of flying/falling/launching myself in every direction combined with the colorful graphics and Homies bouyancy made for some really fun memories.

Are u a homie

Totally addicted to Homies. I think it’s an incredible work. So rich of influences, so dense, so beautiful. Every stop in nod to the folks take my breath away. I think it’s a very intimate work. Incredible how it’s underrated and so under the radar. I love Part of math and the lyrics with Twin Peaks reference. A true gem of Panda in my opinion. Can’t wait to see him at Primavera.

what's the Twin Peaks reference?

a wrapper in a plastic bag?

not exactly, "wrapped in plastic"

I too usually think about Noah's relationship to religion. I'm guessing he's agnostic or even atheistic about religious teachings and dogma, but probably finds the archetypes useful. The fact that I know he follows Sam Harris on Twitter and is probably familiar with Richard Dawkins also influences how I interpret these lyrics.

this is a tangential response to an old post but

you think he's familiar with dawkins? he has a song called selfish gene.

Yea it’s extremly likely he’s well-versed in Dawkins or at least has read The Selfish Gene, given that he also wrote a song called Natural Selection that seems to deal with topics discussed in that book

We know Panda used a Digitakt for ADWTH from the little teaser video where he renamed a pattern to 'Flight'. He also wrote that he likes to have it a more punchy (almost mono) in the EP announcement text. Since I know that there is no option for getting individual outs from the Digitakt at the moment and the record sounds really crisp and fuzzy, I assume that Panda simply ran the L/R out of the Digitakt into the Elektron Analog Heat and called it a day (with the homies).
Thoughts?

thoughts r maybe the rhythms at least def sound like strait outta an elektron box but not sure about analog heat. hard to know if that in digtakt (distortion on filter on elektron boxes) or even in waves plugins . could b tho

Flight is probably the Panda Bear song I listen to the most right now. There's something about it's emotive qualities that pulls me in, want to chill with the good crew all day but gotta say see ya later sometimes.

So a lot of this ep is about how he's taking a break from AC right? Just look at the AC lineup for their upcoming shows