Collected Animals

Visiting Friends' placement is legendary and works really well obvs...

this is honestly worth this level of discussion since they really haven't had a longer track like this since their like first 5 albums. like not only is it like as emotionally heavy as one of the ancient old god classics like Alvin Row, but like they literally focused on pretty tight pop song lengths post-Feels/Safer for an entire decade after that. It's been a long time and it feels good they finally came back to a long format (not a) Suite. I'm predicting..... 15 min. We truly don't know a song from them more than 12 right? This is uncharted territory.

and for the record thinks like Michael Remember and oddities like that don't count.

you're mostly right of course, but just to get the pedantry out of the way...

"Blue Noses" is maybe the longest AC song i guess? and then of course there are several terrestrial tones and jane tracks in the 20-30 minute range, the solo geo tracks are long, and abyss song is around that same length. the NPA releases feel like multiple songs apiece to me, and yeah the modular tape jams don't feel like "songs" either

Holy shit never noticed Blue Noses was that long. I honestly never return to that one.

been reading this thread again the past few days and decided to spin the boots for the first time this winter.... seeing them pull kings out at desert daze was one of the most magical moments of my life, no cap

i have a weird hunch that one of these songs is going to be cut in the studio though. i don't know which one, but between the music box set and this mini tour, they put together a lot of stuff and i think at least one song isn't surviving the recording process.

Y'all acting like you don't already know Dragon Slayer is CUT

^lol.

out of all of the Avey tracks, which skew god-level, that's the one I'd be most okay with if I had to pick. But um, the verses are lit, so I kinda need it. Plus that title tho.

My tracklist prediction

1. Cherokee
2. Gem and I
3. Bolder
4. Dragon Slayer
5. Strangers
6. Passerby
7. 24
8. Down Down Down
9. Prester John
10. Defeat

A lighter/more fun first half and a darker/more emotional second half. I think this tracklist could flow pretty well. Definetly can't see Gem and I not transitioning into Bolder with how perfect it sounds live.

h8 to say, but pretty sure defeat won't be on the LP
it's too long to be an album track
i imagine it'll go on an EP or maybe even be like it's own single which i'm fine with, because honestly the song deserves its own artwork

I think we could have a short album track-listing wise of like Defeat + just like 5 other ones (Cherokee, Passerby, Bolder and like one Panda and Deakin one) but it would still obviously be 40+ min.

OR they could do a really long 2xLP (not actually a full "double album" tho?) with like everything, and Defeat gets all of D-Side. Even if it was a like 70 min album I mean that's not that long and it would be more than enough time for a full Defeat and almost everything else. I mean you could honestly do that in an hour, the other ones are pretty concise. Would love to see them have some good extended endings/transitions but not getting my hopes up.

only way i'm marginally content with defeat not being on the LP is if its released ahead of the album.

really starting to dig the more subtler jams from this batch, initially i was primarily into cherokee, defeat, passerby, 24 etc, but now stuff like kings, stride right, dragon slayer, prester john and out there have really crept up on me and i'm digging everything quite a lot! think the only jam at this point that i haven't totally vibed to/had a moment with is gem and i

Listened to some boots for the first time yesterday. It started with just wanting to see how Prester John sounded since Music Box, as since I'd already heard it I figured I wasn't committing a demoitis sin. Ended up also listening to Dragon Slayer, Passerby, and new Defeat, but I think I'll resist listening to the rest until the album is released.

And far out I'm obsessed with Prester John atm, such a simple but godly tune. Loving the vocals, and hearing Panda and Avey overlap is just pure bliss as always. Been playing it on repeat. Dragon Slayer and Passerby are also mad tunes but I'm resisting listening to them too much.

Passerby is pissing me off though cause I swear the verse vocal melody is almost EXACTLY like something else I've heard (some more upbeat, angsty, 2000s popular song I think) but can't for the life of me recall. It's probably just one of those simple melodies that feels like it's existed before because of its brilliance. And I won't say anything about Defeat because that has been debated at length. Keeping my expectations low for it in the studio, but hopefully the lads deliver.

I think what I'm really liking about the songs I've heard so far is the space and the patience of them. They feel far more natural, melodically, than what came out of Centipede Hz and Painting With, although maybe that's a shit comment. Like some others, I'm feeling some of the magic of 2004-2010, although I've still loved just about everything they've put out post MPP.

Sorry for the long rambling post!

^I agree with the last paragraph a lot and it's super exciting. cool you haven't even heard Cherokee and Bolder, which both have their own really wild vibe, but flow with the rest well.

Yeah I’ve heard so many good things. Gonna be a hell of a wait for the album.

Dragon slayer slowly became my favorite. Boulder from desert daze is my alarm tone, i try to get up before the hi mark

Dragon slayer slowly became my favorite. Boulder from desert daze is my alarm tone, i try to get up before the hi mark

Using a song you like for an alarm tone is dangerous! I had the intro to Daily Routine as mine for awhile, and now it stresses me out. I suppose that's what they were going for though...

agree with boomcheese about melodies so spectacular in their simplicity that they feel old... I think you're right that they haven't quite nailed that since before CHz, but here they've done it on multiple tracks. and space and patience are prefect descriptors for these tracks.

I'm most excited fo prester john and passerby

h8 to say, but pretty sure defeat won't be on the LP
it's too long to be an album track

tell that to sufjan!

stash wrote:

Dragon slayer slowly became my favorite. Boulder from desert daze is my alarm tone, i try to get up before the hi mark

Using a song you like for an alarm tone is dangerous! I had the intro to Daily Routine as mine for awhile, and now it stresses me out. I suppose that's what they were going for though...

Its just the first 30 seconds with some hi hats and twinkly synth

Sum thots

A while back, someone on here or on the sub, I am not sure, spoke about their 'dingy' sound of the past being gone. They talked about Loch Raven specifically, and by dingy meant the twinkly, ethereal vibe they were so good at capturing in eras bygone. I feel when people talk about AC's magic, that's one of the things they're referring to,and I also feel it's back in a big way with this batch of songs. Prester John probably evokes this quality best, but generally their use of keys and bass sounds really calming and magical, for want of a better word.

These songs are bright. Like, people talk about certain colours evoked through music, and to me a lot of these sound like white light. There was some dissent a while back about this batch not sounding all that experimental, and that Geo wasn't really doing much. I strongly disagree. I think Buoys has had more of an influence on this album than just autotune. I think they're really playing with space again, like they haven't in a long time, maybe ever before. The nearest comparison to another AC album I can make in this sense would be Spirit. The band are distilling their strongest qualities down to a threadbare minimum. At the heart of this is Geo laying down the ambiance. While some of the songs themselves might sound kinda 'basic', I think this is experimentation for them all its own (separate entirely from what they did with Painting With, which was like a kind of simplicity maxed out, taken to its extremes).

The songwriting feels huge once again. Songs like Defeat, Cherokee, DownDown, Kings have that almost religious feel to them.This is AC's gospel record. Compounding this feeling are the harmonies. Long have harmonies been a staple of their musical identity, but here we're finally getting those three-parters I think a lot of us have wanted for so long. They will debut this record in a church with a choir.

Have no idea what way they'll tracklist this stuff but the balance between the aforementioned classic, huge AC tracks and the jammier, more fun ones is perfect. I predict (and hope) this release sees some of the barest instrumentals and the clearest, most up-front vocals they've put to record yet.
**Disclaimer: I haven't heard Passerby, Out There, Dragon Slayer, Stride Right. Thank you for your time

great post tropic, definitely am hearing the 'brightness'

transcribed the lyrics of the new songs, only one that i felt wasn't clear enough to do justice was 24 so left that one off
the biggest takeaways from doing this was that not only does that middle section of defeat have a medieval vibe, but that seems to be a major theme of many of these songs. the passage of time in general also seems to be a big theme


KINGS
STRIDE RIGHT
[APPRECIATE/OUT THERE]
PASSERBY
BOLDER
CHEROKEE


DEFEAT
PRESTER JOHN
DRAGON SLAYER
GEM AND I
STRANGERS
24
DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN

Great job! Tentatively putting forward these Cherokee amendments



Wait for its arrival
My mind’s begun to find
Early peculiarities, how it spends its time
And there’s turkeys out my window
There’s Jesus on a plate
There’s plastic on a barge somewhere
It’s got no dock today
And on a trip I saw ??? (fogacci? Focaccia?)
But treat it like it’s Jake
And someone in the lobby dressed down just like me
An infant won the lottery, but really it was he
With a pocket full of roofies, a pocket full of teeth
Some people call that pleasure and some people call that grief
At the Exxon they were confused that I was American

And so I left offended with a pack of maltesers

I like the weirdo Americana energy of Cherokee's lyrics. its a weird juxtaposition between the kinda freak-folk folksy verses with lounge/jazz vibes and then that beautiful euphoric build. The middle part/climax of that song gives me crazy Brave Little Toaster vibes?

was painting my house yesterday with my brother and we put on some dave matthews....... after some ruminating im kind of getting some dave matthews vibes from the new material???

Great job! Tentatively putting forward these Cherokee amendments



Wait for its arrival
My mind’s begun to find
Early peculiarities, how it spends its time
And there’s turkeys out my window
There’s Jesus on a plate
There’s plastic on a barge somewhere
It’s got no dock today
And on a trip I saw ??? (fogacci? Focaccia?)
But treat it like it’s Jake
And someone in the lobby dressed down just like me
An infant won the lottery, but really it was he
With a pocket full of roofies, a pocket full of teeth
Some people call that pleasure and some people call that grief
At the Exxon they were confused that I was American

And so I left offended with a pack of maltesers

LOL yes

thanks for the edits! gonna put em in. hearing 'jake' and 'fogacci' as well but didn't pick them in initially cause didn't really make sense to me. spot on w barge and dock. couldn't decide between turkeys/churches. turches

I think the line in the chorus of Strangers is "getting mixed up in the pot among the vapors"

treat it like its jade

ooo will add those fixes, thanks guys

been absolutely destroying these new songs, gonna have early onset demoitits, i'll get demoitis just from reading the tracklist and looking at the album cover i bet

i really enjoy that little moment in dragon slayer where avey sings 'well i dont caAAAaare'

also after listening to the oct 19 boots a billion times it's really interesting to go back and listen to the 2018 music box versions of defeat, downdowndowndown, and prester john. i love the super laid back, hypnotic, minimalist vibe of the new downdowndowndown a lot more than the crowded, sample driven, drifty music box one. but i gotta say, definitely really like the old defeat significantly more than the new one, which isn't to say i don't like the new one for what it is. but regardless of that opinion, it's crazy how different the vibes of the old vs the new are. the first 2 parts of the music box defeat sound so magical and uplifting, and the last part is nostalgic but in a really uplifting, life-affirming way. the new version of defeat has this poignant, bleaker, more 'defeated' wistful yearning-nostalgia to it. and as for prester john, the old one has this twinkly, haunting, timeless beauty, whereas that new one seems like a more straightforward, songwriting-focused tune. interesting directions to go with all 3 of those tracks

Getting addicted to these boots again. Every song is incredible. Whatever comes out of this genuinely has potential to be their best album.

so no news is probably good news right... means things are happening... maybe...

The last type of update is from January 27th from Asheville studios saying that the guys were there a week prior to the Instagram post and to “keep an eye out for their new album”.

I’m praying by June or July they will make the announcement. You gotta figure at least 6 months gap from the time they finished recording until they start promoting it. I want a summer tour soo bad! I’m saving my vacation days for this tour so I can travel to a few shows. Something I haven’t been able to cross off my bucket list yet.

on Strangers me and my roommate always sing it as
"with the sweat on the back
from a goat, zodiac"
not sure if it makes sense, but it fits in with their astrology references that have been kinda prevalent in the newer stuff

they got me fucked up

The last type of update is from January 27th from Asheville studios saying that the guys were there a week prior to the Instagram post and to “keep an eye out for their new album”.

I’m praying by June or July they will make the announcement. You gotta figure at least 6 months gap from the time they finished recording until they start promoting it. I want a summer tour soo bad! I’m saving my vacation days for this tour so I can travel to a few shows. Something I haven’t been able to cross off my bucket list yet.

the studio guy said they were writing not recording so don't expect anything in june.

I hope their next albun is called

The Adventures of Animal Collective

Saferintheflowers wrote:

The last type of update is from January 27th from Asheville studios saying that the guys were there a week prior to the Instagram post and to “keep an eye out for their new album”.

I’m praying by June or July they will make the announcement. You gotta figure at least 6 months gap from the time they finished recording until they start promoting it. I want a summer tour soo bad! I’m saving my vacation days for this tour so I can travel to a few shows. Something I haven’t been able to cross off my bucket list yet.

the studio guy said they were writing not recording so don't expect anything in june.

FUCK!!!!! They are sure putting a lot into this album it seems like! They got together last year, then toured a little bit with the songs and then went back to just getting together to write some more!
Ya you are totally right. There’s no way we will get anything in June... now we can only hope for a fall announcement. I’m really hoping this turns out to a legendary masterpiece

Frankly, the demos and all the excitement are more than enough (for me) to sustain excitement. They can hide out and work all year if they have to - I'm really, really psyched for this album.

When Album?


:negatory:

In life and baseball you can get further with love than you can with hate

imagine we're all quarantined in our homes bored out of our minds and this bad boy drops out of nowhere, that'd be godly

The question on everyone's mind: Will Covid delay the recording of the new album?

Yes deakin just said on IG live that they had plans to be recording rn but they had to be put on hold until it makes sense for panda to go back to an airport. They’re reassessing the situation but have an engineer picked out and everything