JAN: A SUMMARY

S N O W S

JANUARY – A SUMMARY
words: Jamie Milton

It’s true that I have been told by many that there’s a little feminine side just waiting to burst of me. That’s rubbish. This was dismissed when I tried to keep a diary for 2009 and failed after two days, with a couple of notes about football matches dominating the page. New Years Resolution’s which have already been completely forgotten about haven’t been put into action. There was the one about being less lazy in general and judging from my wardrobe that’s not quite happening. The blog’s still getting its fair share of attention though and maybe that’s because January has been pretty remarkable in terms of albums. Whilst most of us were complaining about the sub-par standard of music in 2008, a few new year gems were already passing us by.

First and foremost we had Animal Collective returning to the scene. That went down quite the treat with us, dis, pitchfork, nearly everybody who reviewed the album. ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ continues to get better and better, it’s currently preventing brand new releases from sharing some precious stereo-time. Another welcome return came via. Franz Ferdinand. With added groove and cool came a third album oozing with childishness but in terms of sound, maturity. Andrew Bird also emerged once more with a sure-fire way to ease you into the day with ‘Noble Beast’. Antony Hegarty returned after a lengthy gap between solo work with something equally as remarkable as previous albums. ‘The Crying Light’, when it shines, becomes something that no other solo artist would ever come close to topping.

New bands were in the middle of most of our music-based conversations this month. Now that we’ve mentioned a fair few and now that you’ve picked your favourite, we can easefully sit and watch them grow into formidable artists. A couple of new acts already arrived with a debut; Pains of Being Pure At Heart took me back to a time before I was ever born with their retro scope of sounds. Amongst the fuzz and the sub-basking atmosphere was a whole lot of character. White Lies were on the wrong side of some critical bashings which above all, were mildly amusing but pretty needless. Let’s put things into perspective, the band receiving this kind of hate that White Lies have been most recently, this time last year were the Ting Tings. White Lies are heads and shoulders above those twits, making some pretty good music, making all the negative comments pretty unfair and hasty.

January’s picks, in score order:
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion – 9.6 (Jamie’s Review)
White Lies – To Lose My Life – 9.0 (Cal’s Review)
Antony & The Johnsons – The Crying Light (Jamie’s Review)
Franz Ferdinand – Tonight: – 8.1 (Jamie’s Review)
Pains of Being Pure At Heart – S/T – 8.0
Telepathe – Dance Mother – 7.4 (Jamie’s Review)
Andrew Bird – Noble Beast – 7.0 (Jamie’s Review)

YR ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion (37% of vote)
MFM TRACK OF THE MONTH: Telepathe – So Fine (zshare)

by the way, we do have a twitter.
WE HAD TWITTER BEFORE IT WENT MAINSTREEEAM MAN

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SECONDS: WITH MERRIWEATHER

B R I E F S

SECONDS: Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
words: Jamie Milton

At the end of ‘08 we compiled “the best short periods of sound” that we’d heard throughout the year. It went down pretty well, so an idea popped into the head that it should be a regular feature with the very best albums that we uncover during 2009. First up of course, has to be ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’, worthy of a 9.5 from us a couple of weeks back. We haven’t stopped listening to it though, partly because Avey Tare and co. are still very much the centre of attention at the moment, so the idea of listening to the album once more never goes down badly. We’ve decided on the 5 best short segments on the album. The parts that stop you from what you’re doing, make your heart jump that little bit faster, the bits that give you goosebumps. A couple of them will be obvious if you’ve heard the album, the rest might make you go, “oh yeeeeah!”.
Oh and by the way, this isn’t in any order of such.
—————————————————————————————-

#1 – IN THE FLOWERS – 2:33
This is probably the one you can relate to the most. ‘In The Flowers’ being the opening track, it was the song that met your high expectations, raised them even. There was so much hype even prior to this album’s release and when all hell breaks loose halfway through, confirmation arrives that you’re due a good time…
mp3: Animal Collective – In The Flowers (zshare)

#2 – LION IN A COMA – 2:07
It might not necessarily be a personal favourite of yours but the jumpy, hyper ‘Lion In A Coma’ has its moments. The verse-chorus calculation is repeated twice and the song appears to become a little tiresome, but then it exposes itself, leaving nothing but percussion and Avey Tare repeating the title’s words. It regains your attention just in time for a stunning second half.

#3 – DAILY ROUTINE – 0:54
This track specialises in swinging easefully between ambience and full-on, beat-heavy glory. It opens with the peculiar droning-organ sample which you become accustomed to as the track progresses but once the chorus beat kicks in, a whole new dimension to the song is expressed, adding another complexity to the track.

#4 – ALSO FRIGHTENED – 3:00
You feel it coming. The three-piece continusouly build this bassy atmosphere throughout the three minutes prior to an outburst and this outburst comes at the perfect time. It’s full of joy, summer-chimes, a combination of every upbeat sample on Panda Bear’s Roland SP-555. Somehow behind this madness is maturity. The song holds its own, never going too far. That’s what makes it so special.

#5 – SUMMERTIME CLOTHES – 0:05
A warm, summer-themed sample featuring children’s voices and perhaps an accompanying mother in the background lead you into expecting a joyous wave of sound to follow. And 5 seconds in, that’s exactly what you get. It’s almost symbolic of what ‘Merriweather…’ does for you, because it always meets your expectations.

[Buy "Merriweather Post Pavilion']

And even if you’re doing something important, make sure you take a look at this video for next single ‘My Girls’. It makes me want that Roland SP-555 even more. If you’re not sure what I mean by that, take a look closely and you’ll find out and probably sympathise…

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ANIMAL COLLECTIVE @ BRIGHTON C2

IM GETTIN LOST
IN YR CURRRLS

LIVE: Animal Collective – Brighton Concorde – Jan 15th 2009
words: Jamie Milton
originally scribed for gigwise

top photo: acb

You get the feeling that amongst the 500+ crowd awaiting an appearance from the buzz-band of the year thus far, that some of them are expecting one of the most staggering live performances they’ll ever claim to have witnessed. You prepare to be taken away by Animal Collective on the live circuit just as you would from listening to one of their records; their sound, so inhuman yet so unbelievably natural that you urge to be swept along with the sample-fused beauty of it all. At times during tonight’s show you really are lost in a swarm of uplifting spirits, no substances required. At times you really do pinch yourself to check whether what’s right before you is actually there. Close your eyes and occasionally optical-illusions form, illusions akin to the band’s most recent album artwork, simply due to the rate at which the elaborate light show gives everything it has. Dancing like a maniac to something so sonically wrong at first glance yet something that feels so right, is about as good as it gets when it comes to gigs.

But Avey Tare and co. start slowly. Even the ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ standout-track ‘My Girls’ never kicks off like it should. Panda Bear looked at times frustrated, at times bored. But then something clicks. Either Geologist turns the bass up or the following songs just have that little more oomph when played live. But what’s certain is, what was at one point heading for a major disappointment, suddenly becomes as awesome as it had once promised. It arrives in the
form of the bass-heavy ‘Also Frightened’. The audience yelp in unison to Avey Tare, the tempo is raised steadily and finally the crowd begin to lose themselves and the band clearly get in the mood to impress.

What’s most notable about ‘Merriweather…’ is the sheer power of the bass. It rises above the many other elements, including the thousands of summery-samples incorporated into each song. And once that bass is turned up a notch, the highlights on the band’s ninth album come to life like you never thought capable. ‘Summertime Clothes’ is as likeable and dance-inducing as expected, ‘Lion In A Coma’ is exceeded on stage, mainly thanks to Avey Tare’s vocals being raised up an octave in unexpected fashion. Exciting as it is, the material played from the ninth album sounds patchy at times, requiring a few more performances before it can come to life. This is confirmed when the highlight of the set, ‘Fireworks’, from the previous record, raises the most enjoyable 10-minute-segment of the set. Lengthy, improvised at times but always hearty, it’s the finest example of the band’s great knack for tackling spontaneouity, flawlessly.

And the mood keeps on heightening, the bar keeps being raised and you almost want to persuade the band to finish on a high, due to the small likelihood of the performance getting even better. It seems most appropriate, when the three-piece play ‘Brothersport’. The eccentric crowd enter into a frenzy, a mass of half-naked bodies jump as high as possible, in complete contrast to the band’s London performance, which consisted of a horribly static crowd, apparently. Once that closes, the band promptly exit. But a resounding jeer seems to persuade them back on-stage. The crowd remain ecstatic, almost too so. When you begin to wonder whether you’re going to end up shouting lyrics back at Panda Bear in an Oasis-esque, “let’s ‘ave it” manner, the band instead decide to devote their encore to more low-key yet equally as impressive efforts. ‘Leaf House’, a crowd favourite but one not capable of inspiring someone to accidentally break someone’s saw, wraps things up perfectly. You exit the Concorde to repeated mutters of “spiritual experience”, “arty but not farty” and “I think I might faint”.

It’s difficult to decide whether you’d have been better off dancing like a lunatic or oppositely, standing still and simply appreciatively witnessing their performance. Either way, jumping endlessly or not, you exit the venue having got what you came for; a breathtaking performance.

mp3: Animal Collective – Lion In A Coma (zshare)
[Buy 'Merriweather Post Pavilion']

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ANIMAL COLLECTIVE: MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILION

M I N D B L O W N

ALBUM: Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
words: Jamie Milton
initial thoughts review
‘brothersport’ track review

Ever see that evolution of dance video? Of course you did. It gave us a comical but all the more fascinating insight into just how much one thing can change. So how about pop music? Whoever’s been at its helm over the last 50/60 years since it emerged as the dollar’s genre of choice has done something different, adjusting it into something fresh and exciting, always at a stage when the chances of said occurring look pretty slim. I won’t declare pop to be in a fragile state currently but with this “80’s revival” having just gone a little bit too far, “it’s time for change”. And it’s really quite brilliant that the ones that look to have done a master-stroke in perhaps changing the genre once more are one of the most alternative, experimental acts around today.

Let’s not get out of our depth by calling ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ a pop record. It might be Animal Collective’s most commercially-inclined work to date but it doesn’t consistently follow pop conventions or most essentially, ask for your money. Instead it inhales the finer things of the genre, as well as many others, and the album’s output is a well-bred combination of its input in the form of a dense multiplier of new ideas through hefty use of sampling and dreamy electronically enhanced vocal melodies. And you can imagine “forward-thinking” pop artists taking note right now.

Animal Collective’s appeal has always been that they’ve thought outside the box. And for their standards, ‘Merriweather…’ is their least groundbreaking work to date, from an outsider’s view. Nothing makes you uncomfortable or nervy like ‘Strawberry Jam’ or ‘Sung Tongs’ could and nothing sounds so drastically different that the preferable option is to just stop listening instead of immersing yourself in what could turn out to be something brilliant. Instead, this time the three-piece (excluding “Deakin” on this occasion) have merged previous ideas whilst coming up with something entirely new. And it’s really hard to tell quite how they did it.

We’ve seen hints of what’s become on ‘Merriweather…’ before; through their emergetic live shows and in particular, Panda Bear’s very own ‘Person Pitch’, an album that completely out-did Avey Tare’s solo work in terms of critical acclaim, songwriting quality, everything. In ‘Summertime Clothes’ you get given a chance to recite the 30° heat and the relaxation that I at least, associated so fondly with Noah Lennox’s creation. Jerky electronics emerge shortly after a dictaphone-sample of waves, children; you can always picture smiles. And ‘Daily Routine’, a slightly darker affair, was originally set aside as a Panda Bear song for future works. You just get the idea that the band all had a sit down and raised the issue; “Hey Noah, you don’t suppose you could give us any ideas, do you?”

Preferably you should be listening to the record accompanied by basking sunlight and dense beaches but that’s obviously hard to come by unless you’re from Australia at the moment. But you do occasionally get the feeling that we might just had the “sound of the summer” already without realising it. With a freezing cold window and far-too-thin curtains by your side, the album doesn’t have such an impact as a cloudless blue sky would. That’s not to say you can’t enjoy the work whatsoever; just perhaps not to the same extent. All the less, energetic highlights (‘Brothersport’ and ‘My Girls’) combine with ambient drones of calm (‘No More Runnin’, the climax of ‘Daily Routine’) into an album so narrow in scope of sounds but so adventurous in ideas.

It’s difficult to pick a favourite mood or even a favourite song, at that. A combination of two might just be an answer to that. ‘Daily Routine’ begins with a crunching, dis-jointed organ line before emerging into a combination of heavy beats and rhythmically-aware vocals from Panda Bear. It further progresses into a blissfully, increasingly abstract wave of noise before eventually closing to the sound of a siren. That’s a lot to get your head round in six minutes. The soothing yet fidgety number ‘Bluish’ is equally ambitious in its meeting of both relaxation and eagerness, with similarly impressive results. But it is the fire-starting frenzied side of the record that stands head and shoulders above all – ‘Brothersport’, ‘My Girls’ and the sheer intent during the climax of ‘In The Flowers’ kick you into action, require your attention; they’re the ones that really make an impact. The opener commences in a sort of hungover-state; dreamy and not quite with it entirely. But the latter half of the song is a wiping away of any doubts fans had towards the album, a confirmation of the ridiculous level of buzz surrounding the band, all through the form of a joyful clenched fist of electronic rage. Thenafter, there’s never a dull moment, especially not in closer ‘Brothersport’, which almost provokes an out-of-body experience. It gets you that carried away.

And so the only thing left to say is some sort of over-blown statement about how this album will change the world. Go ahead, call it your favourite album of all time. Go ahead, call it worthy of a 9.6 from the influential Pitchfork. Go ahead, call it undoubtedly one of the best albums of the 21st century. You might even be right when we look back on this.

9.5

mp3: Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes (zshare)
[buy 'Merriweather Post Pavilion']

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COMING SOON…

K I S S
M Y
N A M E

JAN – Album Releases Guide
words: Jamie Milton

We won’t be getting into the swing of things with album reviews quite yet but sometime this week you’ll be bombarded with ‘em, maybe. We’ve heard the majority of January’s “big”, hyped-up-to-the-top releases but a couple haven’t found their way here as of yet. All of those we’ve heard so far bar one or two are near-on outstanding. This might even be the most exciting January of the 21st century so far.
Here are the top five releases, in order of excitement-inspiring-ness; then we’ll go into a little more depth with them:

#1 – Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
#2 – Antony & The Johnsons – The Crying Light
#3 – White Lies – To Lose My Life
#4 – Andrew Bird – Noble Beasts
#5 – Franz Ferdinand – Tonight:

All this talk of Animal Collective’s next album being a possible album of the century or something to that effect, has gone to our heads. There’s already an unstoppable fuss being made towards ‘Merriweather…’ with one review sarcastically suggesting it to be the ‘Smile’ of the 21st century but if this buzz escalates that might be what most of us end up claiming it to be. It is excellent. Undoubtedly it’s their most consistent project, and undoubtedly it’s heavily inspired by Panda Bear’s ‘Person Pitch’. But album of the year? Well actually, yeah maybe.

But after having read this great interview with Antony Hegarty, we might have another contender. In the middle of the piece Antony describes ‘The Crying Light’ to be a more optimistic work than ‘I Am A Bird Now’ but he also dismisses the depressing elements that some associated with breakthrough single ‘Hope There’s Someone’, laughing off the fact that it’s regularly played at funerals. Optimistic is the perfect way to describe his latest album though; it gradually grows into something joyous and celebratory, albeit with the final piece of the happiness jigsaw gone amiss at times. Piano-led efforts are more melancholic than full band performances, with strings and even guitar attatched. But when you learn that it’s a tribute to Butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno (album artwork subject), it suddenly becomes a beautiful, free little thing.

And whilst we’re not getting our hopes up all too much for Franz Ferdinand’s third outing, ‘Ulysses’ is an opinion-splitting gem of a tune and if we have an album full of the sporadic stance on ‘Tonight:’’s lead single, we might be pleasantly surprised. But we’re more holding out for the new kids on the block; White Lies to take the charts by storm with their stylish, synthy take on indie. Inspired by greater assets of the eighties and produced by Ed Buller, who’s worked with both The Killers and Glasvegas, there’s nothing more and nothing less to expect from ‘To Lose My Life’ than a solid batch of heart-stopping, firey melodies combined with some dreamy but dreadfully down atmosphere. And that’s exactly what you get.

And even though it might be altogether less ambitious than our top two efforts, there’s something for all alternative-folk fans in Andrew Bird’s latest release among many. ‘Noble Beast’ full of whistles and a postive heartfelt mood linking all fourteen songs together into one accesible but original effort.

Also out this month than you should take a good, long took into:
It Hugs Back – Inside Your Guitar
Loney Dear Dear John
Telepathe – Dance Mother

mp3: Antony & The Johnsons – The Crying Light (zshare)
[pre-order 'The Crying Light']

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THINGS

Been checking out that Hockey band, Jamie. I got the worst of what I was expecting, sorry. Just reeks of ‘we have not put enough effort into trying to appear effortless’. Must admit I was contemplating doing a blog post and ended up scrolling down the page to see some of the stuff you’d written, and on the right (>>) it said TRIPLE SCHOOL in big, capital letters, then whoa, whatever, my name is on that page anyway. But whatever because that blog post didn’t tell you that you can download their GLORIOUS album ‘=2′ (as in ‘Triple School =2′) for free RIGHT HERE (don’t worry they signed release forms and stuff). Rad.

Today I became aware that Frida Hyvonen had released an album and noone had bothered to tell me about it. Apparently it’s the biscuit. I’m going to go and try and listen to it when I’ve stopped having lots of it’s-not-Boxing-Day-or-even-Christmas-anymore-day fun. Which has involved not queueing outside Next from 4:30am. My friend had to be there for 5am. Their clothes are crappy. 4:30am. I just watched the film ‘Juno’. Verdict: passable.

Another album I haven’t heard and thus cannot comment on is ‘Merriweather Post Pavillion’. To sum up my googling so far:

1) The name of the album is the name of some obscure US venue
2) The venue is named after some dead woman
3) According to ILX most of the ‘leaks’ are ‘rickrolls’ which means ‘not actually leaks’
4) Um
5) But you can probably find it somewhere

I did buy something today though!

Tenebrous Liar’s Last Stand

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I’M
G O N N A
D A N C E

INITIAL THOUGHTS: Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
words: Jamie Milton
top photo: i think it’s beautiful that you are 256 colors too

Websheriff, your efforts to protect the leak of this album were not in vain; continue working hard on Andrew Bird etc. because you actually put almost every blogger off posting tracks from the record.

But as you probably know WB, most of us have heard ‘Merriweather…’ by now and most of us are more than impressed. Perhaps the efforts made to shorten the inevitable early-release of this album were because those involved with the album were fully aware of the hype surrounding it, purely on the basis of two live versions of two tracks. On record, ‘Brothersport’ and ‘My Girls’ will be cited by many as the highlights on Animal Collective’s latest album because when put to the studio both tracks have become more lively, more effective but also more dense. And “dense” might just be the most mentioned word in any description of ‘Merriweather Post Pavillion’ come next year, along with “bassy”. So much occurs between the samplers of Panda Bear and Geologist, all whilst Avey Tare is consistently delivering inspired, tropical vocal yelps (not as rough and gritty as those on ‘Strawberry Jam’ however). But it’s one of those albums in which through each listen you ask your self how you hadn’t found an integral element to the song that seemingly just wasn’t there on the previous listen. There’s more to discover each time round.

And some are even going as far as calling the “end of year lists” of 2009 a pointless process, with this likely to top the majority of them. The competition’s over, people. My god that might actually be true; AC have changed their sound dramatically. None of their previous albums’ roots have been plugged in to sockets but this time round there are sparks of gadget-made energy. Every sample correlates but every track has something more to give. It’ll go down as the band’s most accesible album to date; it turns the choral, summery spirit of Panda Bear’s ‘Person Pitch’ into something shorter and altogether poppier, particularly evident in a song like ‘Summertime Clothes’, a joyous, non-sensical wave of beach-scenery in the form of music, clocking in at four minutes and a half and with a definite chorus.

But most importantly, it’s still experimental and it’s certainly blended sounds together in the way that no other album has to date in the 21st century – aka. ever.

mp3: Animal Collective – My Girls [zshare]

[Pre-order 'Merriweather Post Pavilion', even if it's just for the artwork]

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“!”
TRACK REVIEW: Animal Collective – Brothersport
words: Jamie Milton

I know it was only a few hours ago that I posted this track below (only for it to be requested to be taken down by the “web sheriff”, complete party maniac that one), but since, it is the only, and I mean only thing that’s been playing on my iPod to and from college. Perhaps it’s just because I’m overly-excited at finally hearing some new AC or perhaps it’s because this is miraculously good, for crying out loud!

Panda Bear’s success last year has clearly exerted itself to give him some room to fit in his own dreamy ideas. This may only occur on one twelth of ‘Merriweather Post Pavillion’ but regardless, this on its own, is enough of an excuse to divert praise in his direction only. Avey Tare however prevents us from doing so, his occasional gleeful yelp making this a song of two halves. All this whilst Geologist remains suitably subdued as his contribution lies in the summery samples rippling through the scene in the background, an integral part none the less.

Contributions can be as diverse or equal as they want between the four recording members, nonetheless all you can concentrate on is the uncontrollable tapping of each foot, the unusually enthusiastic punching of arms by your tenth listen, and the instant memory of some truly indistinguishable lyrics inviting themselves to the party.

The Collective dive into the seas of repetition more so than ever before, yet remain as intriguing as ever. It’s a triumphant manner in which to close a record which hopefully lives up to this last burst of energy. And it’s some burst.

10

PLAY: Animal Collective – Brothersport (live bootleg)
[Buy 'Animal Collective' discography]

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