Collected Animals

Posted: **Fri Oct 20, 2023 12:59 am**

Me Tiger wrote:

The best AC version is when it consists of just three people. Avey, Geo and Deakin.

Yeah that’s actually wild. So is your top 2 releases TTG and Tangerine Reef or is this all based on the Music Box performance

Posted: **Fri Oct 20, 2023 8:41 am**

Dusty wrote:

Me Tiger wrote:
The best AC version is when it consists of just three people. Avey, Geo and Deakin.

Yeah that’s actually wild. So is your top 2 releases TTG and Tangerine Reef or is this all based on the Music Box performance

Hey, I was just kidding, cause at some point I started to feel comedy vibes here. Not that the releases you listed are bad, I love Panda a lot!

Posted: **Fri Oct 20, 2023 9:12 am**

The best AC lineup is Panda and Deak

Posted: **Fri Oct 20, 2023 3:30 pm**

DILWeed wrote:

The best AC lineup is Panda and Deak

Best anco song is the third one they played at the noah's ark show

Posted: **Fri Oct 20, 2023 7:53 pm**

Merriweather is a really good playlist of songs, but one of their weakest albums in terms of flow and narrative

Posted: **Fri Oct 20, 2023 8:34 pm**

I like the way the album flows but I feel like Bluish and Daily could be swapped.

Posted: **Sun Oct 22, 2023 9:24 am**

it always kinda bugged me how the second half of merriweather felt comparatively tactile and dry compared to the lush and watery first half, and it was semi-validating to hear avey say in an interview that that was a conscious sequencing decision. part of me does really wish they'd gone for a more even texture, but then the first six songs of MPP are probably the high point of their career for me and i don't know how much i'd really want that tampered with when it comes down to it

Posted: **Sun Oct 22, 2023 9:24 am**

the only thing i'd change in a heartbeat is just tossing out guys eyes entirely

Posted: **Sun Oct 22, 2023 1:09 pm**

Stories and Games wrote:

the only thing i'd change in a heartbeat is just tossing out guys eyes entirely

WHAT
I know a lot of people here prefer Song for Ariel but honestly Guys Eyes is my favourite on MPP, it's so good.
My Merriweather take is probably more egregious though:
I could never connect with Bluish or No More Runnin. I know it sounds fucked up but they feel a little to schmaltzy for my liking

Posted: **Sun Oct 22, 2023 1:16 pm**

muark wrote:

Stories and Games wrote:
I could never connect with Bluish or No More Runnin. I know it sounds fucked up but they feel a little to schmaltzy for my liking

Incredibly normcore take

Posted: **Sun Oct 22, 2023 3:11 pm**

Tropic wrote:

muark wrote:
Stories and Games wrote:
I could never connect with Bluish or No More Runnin. I know it sounds fucked up but they feel a little to schmaltzy for my liking

Incredibly normcore take

Bluish (lyric-wise anyway) is like this baffling mix of beautiful lines cut with shit that sounds like something someone would try to bang out as poetry for their highschool girlfriend.

It makes me so crazy though I can't say why!!! Yeah, that line makes me crazy too, but I can actually say why.

But then there are lines like "pulling me into another dream - a lucid dream" and the last two lines about blue eyeshadow that are actually incredible. It's not a BAD song, but the way I've always described it is that a lot of that song is like so over the top saccharine that it becomes almost plastic and empty, sort of like a hallmark gift card. That's just my opinion of course, but in terms of lyrics and heart, always felt like a huge step down from a guy that wrote Purple Bottle, Flesh Canoe, and Essplode, etc etc.

Posted: **Tue Oct 24, 2023 5:59 pm**

Taking out Guy's Eyes is crazy, that's one of my favorite tracks. If I had to take out anythjng it's maybe no more runnin'— it's always done the least for me.

Posted: **Tue Oct 24, 2023 10:25 pm**

taking out guys eyes is indeed madness. if anything had to go it'd be bluish

Posted: **Tue Oct 24, 2023 11:08 pm**

this is absolute bananas. daily routine all the way if i had to get rid of one. surprised no one's said lion in a coma, seems like the more obvious choice. glad no one's said it yet tho, that song fucking rips.

Posted: **Tue Oct 24, 2023 11:14 pm**

dansemanatee wrote:

this is absolute bananas. daily routine all the way if i had to get rid of one. surprised no one's said lion in a coma, seems like the more obvious choice. glad no one's said it yet tho, that song fucking rips.

Daily Routine for me as well. Although I do get joy out of it imagining a vampire playing the really chaotic keyboard part though (I forget why this picture popped in my head initially)

Posted: **Tue Oct 24, 2023 11:19 pm**

Summertime Clothes all the way. Replace it with From a Beach.

Posted: **Tue Oct 24, 2023 11:34 pm**

tdegenaro wrote:

this thread living up to its name lol

Posted: **Tue Oct 24, 2023 11:35 pm**

for what it's worth i'm on team Poke Out Guys Eyes

Posted: **Tue Oct 24, 2023 11:48 pm**

You guys are out of your minds. The album doesn't work without Guys Eyes. The entire era doesn't work without Guys Eyes. What are you talking about??

Posted: **Wed Oct 25, 2023 1:10 am**

agree, guys eyes is among the small group of OG merriweather songs that totally define the era

Posted: **Wed Oct 25, 2023 1:51 am**

Guys Eyes is maybe a top 10 AC song for me. One of their best vocal arrangements, it feels very exemplary of the whole era.

Posted: **Wed Oct 25, 2023 2:14 am**

Hellomark wrote:

Guys Eyes is maybe a top 10 AC song for me. One of their best vocal arrangements, it feels very exemplary of the whole era.

Agree wholeheartedly. And in my opinion it’s their most masterful display of tension and release ever. The switchups at 2:30 and 3:05 are just incredible

Posted: **Wed Oct 25, 2023 1:34 pm**

guys eyes is an absolute god tier track by the boys. noah's peak as a songwriter and the best vocal arrangement as hellomark said. when those piano chords hit at the end...god damn. nothing captures the MPP era vibe quite like that and its underrated music video.

Posted: **Wed Oct 25, 2023 3:16 pm**

hedgecore wrote:

dansemanatee wrote:
this is absolute bananas. daily routine all the way if i had to get rid of one. surprised no one's said lion in a coma, seems like the more obvious choice. glad no one's said it yet tho, that song fucking rips.

Daily Routine for me as well. Although I do get joy out of it imagining a vampire playing the really chaotic keyboard part though (I forget why this picture popped in my head initially)

suddenly i like this song a lot more now

Posted: **Wed Oct 25, 2023 3:22 pm**

speaking of guys eyes, theres an untitled song on an early 05 pb boot that i've always wondered whether or not ended up being guys eyes. It's probably kinda obvious but i haven't heard it in awhile. At the very least it has that reversed piano sample that the live versions from 2009 had.

Posted: **Wed Oct 25, 2023 7:28 pm**

dansemanatee wrote:

hedgecore wrote:
dansemanatee wrote:
this is absolute bananas. daily routine all the way if i had to get rid of one. surprised no one's said lion in a coma, seems like the more obvious choice. glad no one's said it yet tho, that song fucking rips.

Daily Routine for me as well. Although I do get joy out of it imagining a vampire playing the really chaotic keyboard part though (I forget why this picture popped in my head initially)

suddenly i like this song a lot more now

the Paradiso 2009 show (video of the performance) is when Guy's Eyes really clicked for me. The gaps between the drum breaks being triggered. oof

Posted: **Wed Oct 25, 2023 7:49 pm**

dansemanatee wrote:

this is absolute bananas. daily routine all the way if i had to get rid of one. surprised no one's said lion in a coma, seems like the more obvious choice. glad no one's said it yet tho, that song fucking rips.

"Please don't leave me, things that feel good" is the best singular moment on MPP.

Posted: **Wed Oct 25, 2023 7:51 pm**

I'm ok having Summertime Clothes as a single only

Posted: **Wed Oct 25, 2023 8:11 pm**

superspookyghost wrote:

dansemanatee wrote:
this is absolute bananas. daily routine all the way if i had to get rid of one. surprised no one's said lion in a coma, seems like the more obvious choice. glad no one's said it yet tho, that song fucking rips.

"Please don't leave me, things that feel good" is the best singular moment on MPP.

so good

Posted: **Wed Oct 25, 2023 8:15 pm**

superspookyghost wrote:

dansemanatee wrote:
this is absolute bananas. daily routine all the way if i had to get rid of one. surprised no one's said lion in a coma, seems like the more obvious choice. glad no one's said it yet tho, that song fucking rips.

"Please don't leave me, things that feel good" is the best singular moment on MPP.

Yeah... this song has an urgency behind it that is pretty unique

Posted: **Thu Oct 26, 2023 1:32 am**

nothingmastered wrote:

Merriweather is a really good playlist of songs, but one of their weakest albums in terms of flow and narrative

I disagree regarding flow, or at least cohesion, but I feel this way about SJ. When I first got into AC via YouTube rips, I would always tell people that SJ was my favourite album because it had my fav big hitters like Fireworks, Cuckoo Cuckoo, and Reverend. But then it didn’t hold up to other albums in terms of a cohesive listening experience. This may not be a contrarian take tho

Posted: **Thu Oct 26, 2023 2:42 am**

nothingmastered wrote:

Merriweather is a really good playlist of songs, but one of their weakest albums in terms of flow and narrative

I don't even really LIKE MPP but there is pretty strong evidence that they cared a lot about the cohesion and flow of the album. For example, Avey wanted to put Brother Sport first initially, they knew Guys Eyes and Taste had to be back to back because they're linked by two different samples of flute loops, there were rumblings they were going to leave My Girls off during the initial recording, etc etc.

BoomCheese wrote:

I disagree regarding flow, or at least cohesion, but I feel this way about SJ. When I first got into AC via YouTube rips, I would always tell people that SJ was my favourite album because it had my fav big hitters like Fireworks, Cuckoo Cuckoo, and Reverend. But then it didn’t hold up to other albums in terms of a cohesive listening experience. This may not be a contrarian take tho

There's probably a world where Derek and #1 get left off in exchange for Street Flash and Safer, but that takes a dark album into even darker territory. Chores doesn't fit either, but they at least played Chores frequently in the pre-SJ tours, so it's not like it came out of nowhere as an inclusion. WWL has never fit either but it's a great song and also a remnant of the HCTI era.

Posted: **Thu Oct 26, 2023 5:03 am**

My contrarian take is that MPP slander - or not even slander, just criticism - or not even criticism! just ambivalence - is a contrarian take. MPP is obviously their best album, obviously one of THE best albums, it’s an unimpeachable work of art, a life-changing and astonishing listen to this day, and pointing out its “flaws” or even just saying “not my cup of tea” is as bonkers as like, going to the Grand Canyon and saying “not deep enough” or “not for me.”

Posted: **Thu Oct 26, 2023 5:40 am**

BoomCheese wrote:

nothingmastered wrote:
Merriweather is a really good playlist of songs, but one of their weakest albums in terms of flow and narrative

I disagree regarding flow, or at least cohesion, but I feel this way about SJ. When I first got into AC via YouTube rips, I would always tell people that SJ was my favourite album because it had my fav big hitters like Fireworks, Cuckoo Cuckoo, and Reverend. But then it didn’t hold up to other albums in terms of a cohesive listening experience. This may not be a contrarian take tho

i feel the opposite. sj is probably my favorite anco album, it feels very homey to me and i think a big part of that is the pacing. every song is perfect exactly where it is and it flows so well.

Posted: **Thu Oct 26, 2023 7:35 am**

all these nested quotes make it look like i'm the one who doesn't like bluish or no more runnin and i'd just like to clear my name and say that i adore both of those songs

to expound on guys eyes a bit... i think the first half of that song is the one time in the AC discography where the "two separate melodies/lyrics sung simultaneously" trick is done poorly. avey and panda's parts simply do not compliment each other in any way—they're equally busy, equally mid-register, equally loud... it just doesn't add up to anything but an illegible blur. then the mid-song buildup is this really unimaginative mechanical thing where nothing interesting or unexpected happens (the painting with live version seriously improved on this part with the extra vocal melodies and creative drumming, it's the only version of the song i can get into), and then the lyrics are really unignorably dumb in a way that totally kneecaps the Miniature Pop Epic vibe the song is going for. i know it's a seminal MPP track—the band clearly felt it was a very special song considering they played it at every single non-festival 2009 gig—it's just one of the three or so golden era AC tracks where i simply do not feel the magic. i think it's hurt even further by having to share a record with brothersport, which is a wayyyy more successful realization of the "pop snippet 1 -> repetitive buildup -> pop snippet 2" blueprint

Posted: **Thu Oct 26, 2023 7:36 am**

hatredcopter wrote:

My contrarian take is that MPP slander - or not even slander, just criticism - or not even criticism! just ambivalence - is a contrarian take. MPP is obviously their best album, obviously one of THE best albums, it’s an unimpeachable work of art, a life-changing and astonishing listen to this day, and pointing out its “flaws” or even just saying “not my cup of tea” is as bonkers as like, going to the Grand Canyon and saying “not deep enough” or “not for me.”

Thank you

Posted: **Thu Oct 26, 2023 7:56 am**

i'll balance out my karma here by saying that i think strawberry jam flows the best of any of their records. those tracks are in the exact correct order, and i think that adding safer or any of the water curses tracks would have disrupted the angsty coming-of-age thematic cohesion. even if those tracks are mostly still expressions of anxiety and depression, none of them have anything explicitly to do with aging and childhood the way that every song on SJ does in one way or another. maybe if i was an active fan at the time i would've been disappointed to see safer or street flash relegated to non-album status, but looking at that album/ep/single array on its own terms, i 100% see the vision

Posted: **Thu Oct 26, 2023 9:35 am**

^hard agree. And on balance this is what makes the sky era king. Perfect album, perfect EP, perfect standalone single

Posted: **Thu Oct 26, 2023 11:22 am**

Stories and Games wrote:

to expound on guys eyes a bit... i think the first half of that song is the one time in the AC discography where the "two separate melodies/lyrics sung simultaneously" trick is done poorly. avey and panda's parts simply do not compliment each other in any way—they're equally busy, equally mid-register, equally loud... it just doesn't add up to anything but an illegible blur. then the mid-song buildup is this really unimaginative mechanical thing where nothing interesting or unexpected happens (the painting with live version seriously improved on this part with the extra vocal melodies and creative drumming, it's the only version of the song i can get into), and then the lyrics are really unignorably dumb in a way that totally kneecaps the Miniature Pop Epic vibe the song is going for.

Pretty much how I feel too, as sad as that makes me. Succinctly put

Posted: **Thu Oct 26, 2023 1:29 pm**

hatredcopter wrote:

My contrarian take is that MPP slander - or not even slander, just criticism - or not even criticism! just ambivalence - is a contrarian take. MPP is obviously their best album, obviously one of THE best albums, it’s an unimpeachable work of art, a life-changing and astonishing listen to this day, and pointing out its “flaws” or even just saying “not my cup of tea” is as bonkers as like, going to the Grand Canyon and saying “not deep enough” or “not for me.”

we would be friends

Collected Animals

"I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."

Re: "I'm not contrarian but..."