Animal Collective set their goals further and higher than their contemporaries. That in itself may be the reason for the fawning reception critics give their records, however flawed they may turn out. It takes a while for the listener to cotton on to their ambition, truth be told. This writer supposes they're after a communal experience based on an effacing of the self. To that end, the senses must overwhelm the mind. Animal Collective overpower the senses moving constantly from hyperkinetic, violent ecstacy to overbearingly long stretches of unmoving zen and back.
Spirit they're gone Spirit they've vanished (2000)
Danse manatee (2001)
Here comes the Indian (2003)
Campfire songs (2003)
Sung tongs (2004)
Feels (2005)
Strawberry jam (2007)
Merriweather post pavilion (2009)
Fall be kind (2009)
Centipede Hz (2012)
Panda Bear:
Person pitch (2007)
Tomboy (2011)
'Spirit they're gone spirit they've vanished' - an Avey Tare solo album with Panda Bear on drums - is almost a prelude, Mr. Tare emptying his cupboards of anything resembling a song before setting out on sonic adventures. Take away the sonic weirdry and there's a '70s piano singer-songwriter in there, the record's all the better for it. 'Danse Manatee' - an Avey Tare / Panda Bear / Geologist team-up - is 45 minutes of fireworks without the visuals. This writer does not feel challenged. 'Here comes the Indian' sounds simultaneously more controlled and more baffling. Why would anyone choose to sound like this?
'Camfire songs' marks a change - the first of two records in which Mr. Tare and Mr. Bear set forth on that acoustic campfire acid adventure. Its rambling and longform approach still has more in common with its immediate predecessors. One year later, 'Sung tongs' is sometimes surprisingly lucid and pretty, but loses itself in dribbling indulgence. Nevertheless, headed in a good direction.
'Feels' - the first full band album project - is one step forward two steps back. They set a newfound powerful sound to a set of misshaped and sometimes ugly compositions. 'Strawberry jam' is more like it - a heavy blend of concentrated ecstacy, confusion and childlike whimsy arranged for clanging keyboards, tribal drumming and hyperventilating Hare Krishna chanters. Consider this writer's senses overwhelmed.
Panda Bear's second solo album 'Person pitch' - also from 2007 - is beatific exotica, a decided step to a more listener-friendly sound. The only question is - how much happiness can the listener stand? Music without tension.
It all came together on 'Merriweather post pavilion' - the critical consensus is right. The collective (minus Deakin, but who can keep up?) filter their ambitions on a perfectly formed 'classic' album, without losing anything of their essence in translation. It happens. Attendant EP 'Fall be kind' floats by on spacious, dreamy pillows of synth but may turn out a slight pleasure.
2011's 'Tomboy', another Panda Bear solo project, is moody and obscure, a triumph of reverb over dynamics and songcraft. Basically, 45 minutes of humming in a well. 'Merriweather''s long gestating follow-up 'Centipede Hz' is an altogether more wild and physical sound (full quartet present), which perplexed many on arrival, but furthers the collective's adventure while offering plenty to dazzle the senses.
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