By rights, all Animal Collective records should carry a public health warning in an attempt to minimise the harm the well-meaning hack inflicts
upon himself during his efforts to transcribe the belligerent atonal anarchy
he hears on the record in a way that’s fit for public consumption. The simple
truth of the matter is this; the sounds make little or no sense at all nor do
they obey the more formal conventions of screwing up the rulebook and freaking
out. For most bands experimentation falls loosely into two categories: a) hooking
up a theremin to a distortion peddle and screaming like a banshee into the mic
b) having no discernible idea of where you are going with a song but enhancing
it all the same with free-form jazz features.
For most bands the thin blue line between extravagance and indulgence is poorly
managed, but not so for the Animal Collective.
The Animal Collective build from the top down, starting with a floppy bedrock
of variously uneven sounds and then wantonly destroying this chaos with all
manner of wonderful shit, whether it’s joyful, bug-eyed melodies of songs like
‘My Girl’ and ‘Bluish’, the racing, loco thrill of ‘Summertime Clothes’ or the
wonderful lush static of ‘Taste’. With a wilful and often gratuitous disregard
for the laws of experimentation, these Baltimore boys upset the hollering repetitions
and the gravely dysphraxic grammar of the beats and smear them with complex
harmonies, sparkling kiss-shaped riffs and melodies that any self-respecting
Beach Boy would willingly drown for.
With names like Panda Bear, Avey Tare and Geologist you can guarantee it’s
what it says on the tin: otherworldly in a way that has no comprehension of
the planetary system, trippy in a way that makes travelling through worm-holes
look like a ride down the M1 corridor and magical in a way that only shamans
can usually boast. It’s the far side of the rainbow, where sounds emerge from
nowhere and rhythms assume the character of rumbling tectonic plates.
Merriweather Post Pavillion is must-listen album for all those already
seduced by Spiritualized and for all those looking for solar flares.
‘MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILLION’ RELEASED 20.01.09 (DOMINO)