Collected Animals

Hahahahahahahash

Lol so PW is definitively their "kids album"

Didnt panda say somewhere that they wrote gnip Gnop for their kids?

lol dammit

check out was so funny, here on page 2 of the Painting With thread

These synths have so much texture I feel like I'm holding them in my mouth. I probably play this album the most out of any of them, nothing else sounds like it

I'm a Painting With fanboy. Love the production. All of the songs are super sugary and shiny. It sounds like a panic attack but the anxiety is positive? I don't know... I just dig it.

Happy 5th anniversary to the most fun I've ever had on this board

I remember it sounding fun as in good textures? don't think I can recall any part of the songs other than the floridada chorus (which is bad)

gonna continue posting based on vague recollections of this album

lol I like that

tstshhdoydyatwshyeysyhwyysysjofjisthereadreamercjjudststaattwesthehvgwtsshoerudjddusy
WELLLIDNEVDNOEHERTOBEGINORHOWISHOULDSTART THESE DAYS

floridafloridafloridafloridafloridafloridafloridaflorida flo rida da flo rida da

i like the hyphy nod in kindabonkers "wer a fire w heat EEDEYAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEAN"

bat youll fly reminds me of twin peaks n im not saying why

and if its above meeeee

I remember it sounding fun as in good textures? don't think I can recall any part of the songs other than the floridada chorus (which is bad)

gonna continue posting based on vague recollections of this album

you could like spend a half hour and listen to it

comin up on four years since i first heard floridada & fell into the anco rabbit hole <3

i love PW to death but it blows my mind that this is even an anco album when looking at its context in their discography. conceptually it makes sense but i can't handle the thought of panda sitting down one day and writing Spilling Guts

imo painting with and also centipede hz fit in because they are both based around an interesting concept with like fast complex dry electronic songs were written with the idea of being fast get in get out electronic pop songs and centipede hz was also based around that whole alien radio station garage rock thing which might've been them wanting to play a more traditional rock set-up after merriwether for 4 or so years of samplers and shit. but animal collective is always pretty conceptual in their music like w campfire songs being exactly that and done in one take outside and shits. i know u said conceptually it makes sense but u cant imagine him sitting down to write guts but he was having a gay old time with the hocketing shits

The progression from Chz to PW tracks for me after seeing them incessantly on the ChZ tour. Super ravey, danceable jams and reworks that were the high points of those shows for me.

At the time it was a pipe dream to imagine an entire set of AnCo tripping down a technicolor vortex of kinetic ecstasy. Sometimes, dreams do come true.

but i can't handle the thought of panda sitting down one day and writing Spilling Guts

this made me realize how much i love this song. i probably didnt think of it enough since its so short

my cat sitting on the receiver as we listen to pw c 2016

i listened to my vinyl copy for the first time last night and was truly blown away by how good it sounded. the liner notes said chris bellman did the mastering for wax; i've seen his name on high-profile releases before, and all i can say is that he did this album justice and then some. the bass is warm and smothering, the mids jump out and come alive, and the high end shines crystal clear. just a fantastic presentation. one to have for the collection for sure. and yeah, painting with is slowly becoming a top 5 album of theirs for me. so much fun, so many good vibes

Seconding and thirding the PW production love. Quick context before offering my proclamation: I remember reading an interview with PB where he said his little packet of strawberry jam on an airplane became the textural inspiration for the sound of the SJ album. This tidbit highlights one of my favorite qualities about AC--the boys' synesthetic ability to match the mental-visual aesthetic of a song with the resulting aural aesthetic. Time and again, AC albums "sound" like they "look" in the mind's eye. (And the album covers generally reflect this as well).

Now to the grand proclamation: To me, PW is AC's "best produced" record--the sonic textures /landscapes/signatures most completely evoke the songwriting and vice versa. captainlunatic's description of the eq spread in the post above is spot on. The low-end is so powerful and thumping and there's a crystalline clarity in the high end that is never harsh. Avey and PB's vocals are so warm and crispy without sounding distorted. In addition, the treatment of the instruments sound gloriously organic and primordial: gloppy, sticky, gelatinous, undulating... all adjectives that conveniently describe properties of paint itself. The arrangements are also at turns playful, simple, chaotic, and orderly: much like variable brushwork and color composition that occurs in the process of painting. PB's hocketing throughout evens sounds cubist to me, especially after a smidge of

Whether this is all too 'literal' or not is a matter of opinion. Though it isn't my favorite AC lp overall, PW does the synesthetic translation of image to sound better than any of the other records, which is saying a lot, because most of the other records do this very well. Hence the brilliance of the production and mastering that makes PW drip and swash out of the speakers. (FBK would be my close runner-up in the "best produced" category, but that's for another thread.)

Seconding and thirding the PW production love. Quick context before offering my proclamation: I remember reading an interview with PB where he said his little packet of strawberry jam on an airplane became the textural inspiration for the sound of the SJ album. This tidbit highlights one of my favorite qualities about AC--the boys' synesthetic ability to match the mental-visual aesthetic of a song with the resulting aural aesthetic. Time and again, AC albums "sound" like they "look" in the mind's eye. (And the album covers generally reflect this as well).

Now to the grand proclamation: To me, PW is AC's "best produced" record--the sonic textures /landscapes/signatures most completely evoke the songwriting and vice versa. captainlunatic's description of the eq spread in the post above is spot on. The low-end is so powerful and thumping and there's a crystalline clarity in the high end that is never harsh. Avey and PB's vocals are so warm and crispy without sounding distorted. In addition, the treatment of the instruments sound gloriously organic and primordial: gloppy, sticky, gelatinous, undulating... all adjectives that conveniently describe properties of paint itself. The arrangements are also at turns playful, simple, chaotic, and orderly: much like variable brushwork and color composition that occurs in the process of painting. PB's hocketing throughout evens sounds cubist to me, especially after a smidge of

Whether this is all too 'literal' or not is a matter of opinion. Though it isn't my favorite AC lp overall, PW does the synesthetic translation of image to sound better than any of the other records, which is saying a lot, because most of the other records do this very well. Hence the brilliance of the production and mastering that makes PW drip and swash out of the speakers. (FBK would be my close runner-up in the "best produced" category, but that's for another thread.)

beautifully put! the "painting" concept is subtle but present in almost every aspect, it's unlikely but i wouldn't be surprised if they built the album from the ground up with it in mind

Excellent post, and a really interesting read, albeit the album is as emotionally resonant as a plastic beaker.

we've had this discussion before, but cannot one have an emotional response to the wildly, phantasmagorically realized verisimilitude of the sound design's replication of the aesthetics of Fisher Price-style kinder-tainment, and the synesthetic realization of a digital painting software designed for children in pyche-pop form? like conceptually it sounds like that? and it makes me emotional cuz of how synthetically realized it all is ?

I see its emotional resonance like a cubist painting. It challenges you to find feeling in it.

It presents shapes and colours in vivid detail. Aesthetically driven with sharp lines, displacement and abstraction of form etc. Then it asks you to construct something from the abstraction.

Feels is like a Caravaggio or Van Gogh self-portrait that just slaps you with emotion

Ark is visceral and spontaneous like a Pollock.

MPP is vibrant and evocative like a Hockney.

I could go on with the comparisons.

But yeh, PW is like a Gleizes or Léger.

Seriously, tell me shit like this doesn't work with Painting With:

Oh yeah buddy! PW is def those or else Kandinsky or even strait up Mondrian. Tongs, SJ synthetic jam sheen and PW are all kind of post cubist, graphic design style production, with bold silhouettes and thick lines, rhythmic repetition and industrial sheen in some cases. Graphic and bold.

Feels is twee Pissarro or Manet and MPP is impressionist take on millennial pop art design. When they apply reverb things freebird impressionist and when production is dry and high-mixed-vocals their doing post cubist/dada pop art industrialism

Skiffs is kinda impressionistic prog-lite with pastiche sprinkled in (referentially collagist vibe, vibe-wise and not process-wise [not many actual samples])

I loved Painting With from the get go and was sort of confused why people didn't like it. I'm guessing because it lacked ambient flow-y sections / the songs were shorter. The shit rips

The dizzying joy they exude in On Delay is so good, one of my fondest memories is dancing myself silly singing along to this at Camping With, on acid but

to re to sentiments expressed by a few of u, I too have my ears massaged by this albums production/mixing/concept/process more than most of theirs.

and I also agree w/ Fov that On Delay is a great one.. also curiously one of the few with reverb/delay... so that Panda has to sing about it. Their most 4th-wall-breaking lyrics on this.

On D and Spilling Guts ended up being my favorite. On Delay has that insane background and piano runs at end but Spilling is just fucking big, dumb, beautifully synthed and produced psych pop. Feels so visceral and satisfying.

so much of PW's aesthetic seems to be that huge, dry but rich sound of the Teenage Engineering OP-1 synth, no? Know theirs plenty of Moog and Buchla too but I feel like a lot of this is this shiny, bass-y, visceral electronics

So much synth on Time Skiffs too but I don't always know what Deak is playing... a Roland? something controlling Moog? Whatever there pre-set/modular synth on Cherokee is, I want it bad. If PW is Fisher Price, then the climax of Cherokee is F.A.O. Schwartz

Feels is twee Pissarro or Manet

Ha! Love this.

awesome painting selection those pw picks are very accurate and savory

too lazy to do this, but "Evil Sonic Boom be like: [Stanshant post]"

lol

i don't know, different strokes and all that, but the emotional resonance is definitely there for me

bagels in kiev, you've got avey singing about his grandfather... on delay, there's that soaring bridge imploring us to hold on... and lying in the grass tackles some heavy issues like feeling stuck and repeating mistakes. that's just three examples off the top of my head that can go toe-to-toe with their more serious, emotionally profound albums

so much of PW's aesthetic seems to be that huge, dry but rich sound of the Teenage Engineering OP-1 synth

not to be downer but this is actually what I found most offputting about PW at the time, lots of sounds so immediately recognisable to me as being OP-1. I guess I usually don't recognise specific synths so it really stuck out to me.

Enjoying the painting chat. For me, the album personally evokes the richness and profundity of this artist's oeuvre.

Yes my daughter was consulted re her finger painting as inspiration for the album, what of it

Painting With is the rare (see: only) AC album where I feel the first and last tracks are the weakest on the album. The middle stretch from Vertical through Spilling Guts nails it though.

Floridada is up there with one of my most-listened to tracks EVER. One of the all-time stunning singles/openers that serves as a brilliant proof of concept for the record. I think it's a perfect pop song.

Yeah Floridada is perfect. Got me so amped for the album. Prester is great but I think it will work better on the album vs as a single, unlike floridada

Floridada was a huge blast to listen to initially, that bridge still slaps the f outta my ears/feels. I do wish the last chorus didn't happen or like happened differently, cuz I'm with the song right up until the chorus feels like it's happened too many times at the end. Only complaint.

Chorus is my only issue with the song, and it's also what I don't like about the live version. When Avey slows down how he sings but the music around it is at the original tempo.

floridada on 100 ugs was an utterly incredible experience, it had me dancing around the living room with headphones on and grinning like an idiot. if the album has one fault it's that no other song on it can really match the opener, despite how consistently good they all are

I loved Painting With from the get go and was sort of confused why people didn't like it. I'm guessing because it lacked ambient flow-y sections / the songs were shorter. The shit rips

I'm with you. I thought this was the record that would get the MPP fans back on board

Chorus is my only issue with the song, and it's also what I don't like about the live version. When Avey slows down how he sings but the music around it is at the original tempo.

agree re:live floridada. the colbert version is hilarious for this reason https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4a8qd5