Comments on: Did You Download Animal Collective’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion” or Grab it on Vinyl? Is it Best Album Ever?

By: Ben Fawkes

Ben Fawkes — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:42:11 +0000

Been listening to it for about 2 weeks now and I like it but to say its one of the greatest albums ever or to even label it as the album of the year already is a little drastic. The production is great and there are 3 or 4 stand out tracks that I always revert to but there’s also some turd in their too – at the end of the day everyone is welcome to their opinion but the hype bands get these days for making something that is better than watered down shit doesn’t mean it can instantly be justified as a great album – I think there should be a rule where you have to put a supposed “great” album against the bench mark of actual “great” albums before you make outrageous statements. I appreciate why people are heralding it, it is very different which is refreshing and makes me come back to it; but there is a thin line between style over substance and sometimes AC do dabble in stylistic masturbation.

Like the harmonies tho and i’m all about getting rid of the guitar, fair play to them.

By: Laird

Laird — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:50:29 +0000

@ Michael: “I think the ultimate sign of pretentiousness is those sneering at someone’s taste in pop music when the sneerer never heard the Monks. Or The Rascals. Or Fats Domino. Everyone needs to educate themselves before we cast aspersions on others. Know your history = respect your art.”

Agreed.

By: George Pettis

George Pettis — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:45:37 +0000

This is one of the greatest albums recently released, and also one of the greatest I have ever heard.
My first thought when listening to it was that there is a recent activity of Pet Sounds imitators in indie music and I was getting annoyed at all these bands that deny Brian Wilson’s influence on their music yet completely borrow from his melodies and harmonies. Animal Collective, however, and especially Panda Bear, have stated on record a few times that the Beach Boys are major influences of theirs, and on this record it really shows.
My process with this album was comprised of three stages, first, I downloaded the live preview that was floating around(amazing), then, I downloaded the album when it was leaked over the holidays(incredible) and finally I purchased the vinyl when it came out on Tuesday(yay!)
I have listened the shit out of of this album, and I am still being surprised. It’s that kind of devotion to their craft that makes Animal Collective the greatest indie rock band of this century hands down. With every release, there is an upward movement in the quality of the performances and the songwriting.
In short, “Merriweather Post Pavillion” is a masterpiece and Animal Collective gives me a continual sense of hope in what indie music can be.

By: Michael Brett

Michael Brett — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:25:37 +0000

OK, let the brickbats fly. I do not get Animal Collective. At all. I consider myself very open-minded about music. But I’m also a huge, huge, huge fan of professionalism.

In short, AC is unprofessional to me. In that regard, I totally get the Dead reference.

Like the Dead, I believe AC is formed a community of listeners that get IT. And that’s great. I definitely like niche-type music nobody else is really into.

Hmm…maybe I should have started from the beginning with this- I actually think the reception of this album is reflective of a larger problem with ‘indie’ music. If the ‘indie’ community already creates a Godhead for an album only a week old, when will the strip-mining happen? When will the inevitable, “God, these guys used to be really cool-now they suck” happen. Next week?

In short, can’t we appreciate something for what it is, in the now? And not just see as a totemic leviathan which those of us who don’t get it fear will lead us to be beaten with a bone?

Music is fluid and has existed forever. Just like it irritates me to the nth degree that Pitchfork starts its best albums of all time list in 1978, it bothers me when older rock cranks sneer at everything post-punk as a repeat. Nothing is really new. So if nothing is really new, can’t we stop the ass-sniffin’ search for what is cooler ‘right now’? Because what is cooler ‘right now’ is very rarely still cool a decade later.

But if anything, I wish to be educated. Let me know if I’m wrong.

And Laird, I don’t think believe that ‘overhyped hipster garbage’ is pretentious. It’s valid criticism. If you don’t agree with it, argue against it. But I don’t believe it reflects pretentiousness. I think the ultimate sign of pretentiousness is those sneering at someone’s taste in pop music when the sneerer never heard the Monks. Or The Rascals. Or Fats Domino. Everyone needs to educate themselves before we cast aspersions on others. Know your history = respect your art.

By: Matthew Perpetua

Matthew Perpetua — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:32:40 +0000

Eh, they — the generation, that is — reference their grandparents’ discredited punk bullshit too, right? All kinds of bullshit shot through a prism.

By: dob74

dob74 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:03:42 +0000

I don’t get the kids these days. AC reflects that the new generation has not found a voice of its own, forced to resort to perpetual referencing of their grandparents discredited hippy bullshit…very sad indeed.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:18:52 +0000

I preordered the vinyl from insound
they ran out/my record was delayed
so i downloaded it (no patience)
and have been listening constantly
since wednesday night

it is by far their most developed work as a band.

honestly, i think it sounds like the future of pop music
universal digital tribal jams out to the past for presents sake

plus, avey and panda’s harmonies on this record
are FUCKING amazing

i dunno.

hype is hype
but if they are selling records
globally
and almost making billboard charts
with VINYL alone (a ‘dead’ medium i remind you)
maybe they deserve every ounce of praise
this album will earn them

By: Ryan Catbird

Ryan Catbird — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:56:34 +0000

and also MBV: the Intellivision game

By: Ryan Catbird

Ryan Catbird — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:55:41 +0000

Yeah, I’ll get on that as soon as we record us on 78, 8-track, and reel-to-reel, 3.5″ floppy, and VHS.

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:23:39 +0000

I think MBV should go print. Fuck this internets shit.