Animal Collective

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE!

What can we say about these four guys? They originally are from Baltimore, Maryland, although they currently are based out of NYC. They have some original stage names: Avey Tare, Deakin, Geologist, and Panda Bear. I would urge anyone who is interested to look up the meanings behind those names on wikipedia.

We throw the word "unique" around a lot, but not a lot of groups fit under the categories of "Neo-psychedelia" and "Freak Folk". They really have original intros. The song Peacebone shows how this band can create music out of chaos. Although the music may be catchy and spacey, the vocals are lacking with these young bucks. (good pun Ben)

You may have noticed a theme of our posts so far...... All of these bands played at Sasquatch, yes it's true. We did this on purpose. The reason is that now we have an intimate knowledge of how each of these bands play live. We are sorry to say that Animal Collective is probably the worst band we have ever seen live (Accept for when Marie heard Fergie sing live with the Blacked Eyed Peas, she doesn't want to talk about it). The singing on their recordings isn't the highest quality, but they hold their own in the modern music scene. Live on the other hand, was a horrible experience of listening to prerecorded samples with unrecognizable screaming intermittently overtop. Like explosions in the sky, they mashed all their songs together in their set; unlike explosions, you couldn't understand the songs or know which song they happened to be "playing" at the time.

I'm sorry to say that even though I really enjoyed listening to these guys at first, the more I research into them, the less I respect them. If it comes to music videos, forget about it. Even when put into the category of acid trips, they don't make sense. When listening to Animal collective we have found three songs that are listenable: Peacebone, My Girls and Fireworks. Summertime Clothes is pushing it, but if you happen to find more that you like please let us know.

Ben's Suggested listening: Fireworks
Marie's suggested listening: (Pass)