[andthephantom]

In that GQ write-up, Noah said his best guess was that AC would reconvene in the studio in 2027, and that matches what we've heard others say. Let's say they do. What do you want? One way I've been thinking about it: what snippet from the band's discog would you want them to return to and more fully flesh out?

[destiny]

i gave no idea what yhis group of chunguses will do. usually, the pb solo between albums informs the sound of the next full project. i think all three of them are inspired by pandas work in a different way. person pitchs samplers to mpp, tomboys layered rock to chz, pbvsgr modular synths to pw. they even flirted with autotune on the time skiffs songs.

but idk they wil lall have done their own shit. and where do they go from isnt it now? pleasant to the ear catchy bops like grifty grft or reset? animated and abrasive like neurons or cloud rest? i dont know. hopefully beach tree is an ac song ... thats a good one

[lhtd]

A "back to the land" record.

Gimme naturally recorded, DAW-less ambient and free-floating jams that coalesce into polyrhythmic songs. Ambient à la Crispy Pops / Bleeding; rhythms in the vein of Quick as White.

Vocals mixed again as another instrument.

Something slow, dark, sad, with moments of ecstasy. Fickle Cycle meets Left in the Cold meets Kindle Song meets Banshee Beat meets Brother Sport meets Always You.


ok tysm!!

[opposite field]

lol that this thread exists already

[speen]

steely dan style yacht rock album, hopefully

[meys]

i genuinely have no idea where this band could possibly be going after IIN? and that is super exciting

[AxeWorld]

Need a dense and vibey, sleek beat-driven album with some MAX algo-patches thrown in there, STAT. Gimme some IDM, AC!!!

[dio]

Hm ya idk what I want/what's next. I'd argue buoys and sorta reset didn't really impact sniffs era at all but I do hear what yr saying.

It seems like they could kinda just keep making skiffs/in style songs in a kind of straightforward psych rock way forever but that's not their style. I'd like similar vibes but more extremes like more drawn out ambient sections and spacey stretches that coalesce into like wild psych rock vibes but also like.. occaisionally very electronic or hip hopish/dance vibes too? So just like everything?

I'm picture more stuff like Magicians, sea of light or Defeat where it's long and multi parted. But then also live cherokee climax vibes occaisionally

[dio]

They start trading stuff online later this year/26 and then 27 they do a tour and then record quickly and um. How long is the bands domino contract? We know PBs is done but ya time is our enemy as long as they stay with domino

[WooL]

Noah hinting at the thought of moving back to the states and working with Josh more is thrilling (maybe he meant those as separate items though). Given that they both seem to have done a lot in home studio spaces, I am hoping that they all get together for some self produced work, touching on the spirit of CF, ST and that prince street summer mentioned in the GQ article by Brian.

[Hash]

destiny wrote:

person pitchs samplers to mpp, tomboys layered rock to chz, pbvsgr modular synths to pw.

The comparison between the vocals on "Boys Latin" and Painting With seemed more obvious to me. But also I don't know anything about modular synthesisers or what they sound like.

[destiny]

Hash wrote:

destiny wrote:

person pitchs samplers to mpp, tomboys layered rock to chz, pbvsgr modular synths to pw.

The comparison between the vocals on "Boys Latin" and Painting With seemed more obvious to me. But also I don't know anything about modular synthesisers or what they sound like.

oh yeah ... duh ... there is hocketing on both seque circuits and boys latin. i might be doopid

[scrambledgreggs]

I want an acoustic techno album with vocal harmonies

[AxeWorld]

scrambledgreggs wrote:

I want an acoustic techno album with vocal harmonies

That's just Sung Tongs lol

[andthephantom]

lhtd wrote:

A "back to the land" record.

Gimme naturally recorded, DAW-less ambient and free-floating jams that coalesce into polyrhythmic songs. Ambient à la Crispy Pops / Bleeding; rhythms in the vein of Quick as White.

Vocals mixed again as another instrument.

Something slow, dark, sad, with moments of ecstasy. Fickle Cycle meets Left in the Cold meets Kindle Song meets Banshee Beat meets Brother Sport meets Always You.


ok tysm!!

yes please

[nothingmastered]

lhtd wrote:

A "back to the land" record.

Gimme naturally recorded, DAW-less ambient and free-floating jams that coalesce into polyrhythmic songs. Ambient à la Crispy Pops / Bleeding; rhythms in the vein of Quick as White.

Vocals mixed again as another instrument.

Something slow, dark, sad, with moments of ecstasy. Fickle Cycle meets Left in the Cold meets Kindle Song meets Banshee Beat meets Brother Sport meets Always You.


ok tysm!!

Hell yeah. Extrapolating Ellicott Hooligan and Geo's hurdy gurdy trance thing this might not be far off. Or like that acoustic techno mentioned above.

Geo laying down a foundation with modular, leaving lots of room for improv and rhythmic vocal stimming. Like a trancey Campfire Songs or something, which is what Always You kinda is to me.

[lhtd]

Like, it makes sense to my mind that "back to the land" is the logical next step.

If there's an underwriting mythos that can be read through the stylistic sequencing of their records (which there is, considering that an ethos of the band is to negate a feature of their previous record into something new), it's possible to read Merriweather Post Pavilion as a kind of unus mundus, alchemically speaking, that harmonizes the animal and the human (the former of which was the predominate mode of being for their records up until that point; think noise, obfuscation, "primalness").

Fall Be Kind was a prophetic foreshadowing of an archetypal fall or dismemberment, the angst of which is reflected in Centipede Hz and its alien-ation of a fragmented soul.

Painting With was a self-referential, abstract attempt to reform an identity without the forgone "animal soul" (in James Hillman's terms) remaining in itself, yet its identity is still not quite just human. They even wanted to go by another name, for Christ's sake! "The Painters".

And Time Skiffs and Isn't It Now? settled into the nothing-but-human, as if to say, "We're no longer a collective of animals, we're not even our monikers, we're just four guys who make psychedelic music qua psychedelic music." An identity of abstraction has negated itself. I think of the sparkling synths on Prester John here, which sound to me like a tongue-in-cheek way of saying, "See? No magic behind the curtain. Just cheesy synths." Sinister Grift is "just" rock-n-roll.

I think that idea is further developed by Dave's last single "featuring" Noah and Sinister Grift being a Noah record "featuring" the guys of Animal Collective but no longer as Animal Collective per se, which used to be a defining feature of the band (wherein any constellation of the four would constitute Animal Collective). The "collective" has now been integrated into the individual of each band member's pursuits.

Consequently, the negation of "just four dudes" who make psychedelic music would be to go "back to the land". Now that you're comfortable in your humanness, you long for the spirit that has truly gone, truly vanished. For Noah, maybe this gets reflected literally in a "back to the USA" move.

Unfortunately, I hypothesize that such a mentality would make for a terrible record. What happens to every commune and off-the-grid type who tries to seize an antiquated utopia?

Let's pray that I am wrong.

[hypo's]

polka

[foxtrot]

I can't start talking about this yet. Will make the wait (which is going to be loooooooonnngg) feel even longer.

I think I just have to pretend that the band doesn't exist for a while and get hyped about the individual members' projects (which will hopefully still arrive in a relatively steady stream).

[blindmowing]

On the contrary to Foxtrot, I listened to a few 2019 boots the other day and realized I actually need a few years to catch up on & appreciate the entire bootleg history of AC. Knowing they'll be doing solo/side projects for awhile only reinforces how special and rare it is when they finally get back together.

I want to spend this year digging into the 00s boots and then next year digging into the 10s boots. By then I'll be ready for some brand new boots and perhaps 2027 will deliver just that.

[Slippi's Applesauce]

I’ve mentioned this before but I’d love an era where Avey is on percussion (since he said he’s been getting into it lately) and Panda on guitar

[blindmowing]

Ya, that'd be cool. I'd like to see their take on a late-era Boredoms record... Super Ae/Vision Creation Newsun type album where they do these really loud noisy epic space rock gone oblivion stuff ... with a heavy dose of their forest child aesthetic coming back into the fray...something raw and free(form), Avey and Panda doing percussion with branches, etc.

Or like, a lo-fi electronic album (recorded all analog again) that's again more about 6-7 minute songs

Basically I would love longer songs overall, something a little less structured but not ambient/drone ... more of a noisy rock/electronic thing, not in terms of number of different layers/textures but more the sheer volume in which they are playing their instruments.

Maybe in a word... I want it to be freaky.

__

One more thing: I hope that all of these current & next solo projects are NOT indicative of the next AC album. I hope Panda gets this 'back to basics/strip it down to the essentials' thing out of his system (I love it, but I think it might be reaching its logical conclusion) and I hope Brian gets all his hurdy gurdy sounds out (may be an unpopular opinion) and Avey all his drum-machine pop stuff out into the world and Deakin gets his amazing keyboard album into the world and then we're really left to start completely anew, fresh ideas/concepts/sound pallets/instrument obsessions... I want to be truly surprised whatever comes next. I don't want to feel like "Well that makes sense given that X just did that and Y did this."

But this is AC, they don't ever make the same record twice (IIN and Skiffs coming from the same batch being a minor asterisk in that structurally/conceptually they're similar, but they tried to distinguish them by recording methods) so I'm confident it'll be a good surprise.

[jordanrandall]

Would be awesome to see a piano heavy AC record guided by Josh's songwriting and vocal melodies.

[destiny]

fucking wild how kinda ... out of nowhere eucalpytus was. first "true" solo album from avey in 7 years, we didnt hear nothing about it till someone got the puzzle, and its like electro-acoustic analog recordings that dont sound like much that came out after it.

it would be cool to see them do season high-ish type shit in the future, some would argue thats isnt it now but i think they are different. really ... they can still go wild, i saw that on the 2022 rendition of chores. but they are forest adults with forest bills now, kind of remind me of druids or some weird kinda creatures fuckin about in the forest.

i'm sure they will do whatever they want to do ... who knows what they are feeling in 2026 ...

panda bouta make some baile funk

[destiny]

panda comes back to baltimore ... and hes just like damn that fucking bridge really did fall down

[Dewey]

Bring back the minidisc players

[Stan]

I don't want to see them bring in some genre of my preference, I want them to bring in elements that they're interested in and filter them through the AC creative process so the traces are there but they uncover something that feels unique. Looking back, I don't really understand or perceive where Feels or SJ 'came from', but they feel very inspired by 'something'. I think that mystery is part of why I still love them so much. I suppose that almost everything since is more transparently 'explicable' as an AC take on a particular sound - and a consistent sound. Maybe I'm too close to them now that it's almost impossible to create such mystery, but they do still somehow conjure those fleeting moments.

[thelucky1]

My intuition tells me that they're going to make an album with country influences. It is really the only genre they haven't touched yet and a few of Panda's songs have some steel guitar. Panda mentioned that they had a country flavor, although he said he tried to obscure it.

Another direction they could go in would be the "Vampire Tongues" sound. I could see that happening if Deakin goes away to focus on his second solo album.

Whatever happens, it's probably going to be "minimalist." Panda said he is completely done with trying to shove as much sound into a song as possible a la Centipede Hz and Painting With. The last album also had a ton of long songs, so I wouldn't be surprised if the next album is much shorter.

I could also imagine a Geologist influenced electro-acoustic album with the Hurdy-Gurdy. They could make something ambient and creepy with strange instruments like late-stage Coil.

They always do something completely different with every album. It's really not possible to predict. I just hope they make music they are excited about and don't feel obligated to make something if they just don't gel in 2027.

[opposite field]

Stan wrote:

I don't want to see them bring in some genre of my preference, I want them to bring in elements that they're interested in and filter them through the AC creative process so the traces are there but they uncover something that feels unique. Looking back, I don't really understand or perceive where Feels or SJ 'came from', but they feel very inspired by 'something'. I think that mystery is part of why I still love them so much. I suppose that almost everything since is more transparently 'explicable' as an AC take on a particular sound - and a consistent sound. Maybe I'm too close to them now that it's almost impossible to create such mystery, but they do still somehow conjure those fleeting moments.

This is very well put. To me it feels dumb to put any expectations on AC music other than the hope that it keeps coming.

[roopn]

thelucky1 wrote:

Whatever happens, it's probably going to be "minimalist."

I hope this is the case in some sense or another. All of Avey's stuff recently has felt maximalist to me and I can't quite figure out what he's aiming for. the chiller tracks on Fast Lea were cool though

[Dewey]

I really hope in a future AC project, Josh gets the rest of the boys to focus more on song craft.

[unrecordednight]

jordanrandall wrote:

Would be awesome to see a piano heavy AC record guided by Josh's songwriting and vocal melodies.

would love this

[Stories and Games]

the cynic in me thinks it's just gonna sound more or less like time skiffs and IIN, a pair of records which for the first time presented a band verging on settling into a default mode of music making (whereas every record from danse to PW saw them essentially Doing A Bit). idk, i think i hope i'm wrong, i hope it sounds like Bug Mall or something, i hope it sounds low-stakes and embryonic and bubbling. i just suspect that the pressure of making The Next Animal Collective Album will push things further from that end of the scale and closer to Time Skiffs 3.

[scrambledgreggs]

Dewey wrote:

Bring back the minidisc players

we long for the minidiscs!

those plus piano could be interesting

[Fovrodi]

Stories and Games wrote:

the cynic in me thinks it's just gonna sound more or less like time skiffs and IIN, a pair of records which for the first time presented a band verging on settling into a default mode of music making (whereas every record from danse to PW saw them essentially Doing A Bit). idk, i think i hope i'm wrong, i hope it sounds like Bug Mall or something, i hope it sounds low-stakes and embryonic and bubbling. i just suspect that the pressure of making The Next Animal Collective Album will push things further from that end of the scale and closer to Time Skiffs 3.

Arguably over five years gestation period for this era. Palette and/or band arrangement is going to be wildly different. Even Buoys<Reset<Sinister Grift have distinct personalities despite similar ingredients. They're locked into something special. Deak back on guitar even if heavily effected would be a welcome change

[Benji]

I'm interested to see what Geo is doing next, he seems to have something percolating

For the whole band, I really can't think of what Id even want. They usually seem to find a unique theme they all vibe with to decorate the sounds and textures rather than pick a genre, It would be cool to see a stark winter album or green album but I'm not sure they would connect to themes that simple or overdone for an album?

[r_o_s_s]

thelucky1 wrote:

The last album also had a ton of long songs, so I wouldn't be surprised if the next album is much shorter.

Didn't Avey say something along the lines of that he finds is extremely difficult to not write long songs these days. I see the next AC album being even more in the mode of Magicians or Hey Bog. With some shorter PB tracks sprinkled in. I suppose the same format as IIN? - but I don't think the sound will be the same. I'm hoping for something really guitar heavy.

[thelucky1]

r_o_s_s wrote:

thelucky1 wrote:

The last album also had a ton of long songs, so I wouldn't be surprised if the next album is much shorter.

Didn't Avey say something along the lines of that he finds is extremely difficult to not write long songs these days. I see the next AC album being even more in the mode of Magicians or Hey Bog. With some shorter PB tracks sprinkled in. I suppose the same format as IIN? - but I don't think the sound will be the same. I'm hoping for something really guitar heavy.

Fair enough, I also remember reading that. But the other band members got him to make Summertime Clothes simple and short, and he forced himself to write short songs for Painting With. They like to challenge themselves, so you never know.

[destiny]

Lmao imagine they come back with some press release like We decided to make the next album sea urchin inspired and the single just sounds like a bunch of water sounds and light synths. oh wait thats tangerine reef. damn i am truly clueless at what the future holds

[jerry wonder]

10 different sounding self-covers of Winter Wonderland