Here’s a little something to kick off your weekend in fashion, as this Animal Collective remix of Phoenix’s “Love Like A Sunset” made its debut via Discobelle.
As we all know, remixes are a dime a dozen nowadays, especially as of recently in regards to Phoenix-related remixes. In fact, around the time I found this one in particular, my inbox had about four other Phoenix remixes from some people I’ve never even heard of.
It’s just nice to actually hear a remix with some substance without it trying so desperately to be club worthy.
Here’s a little snippet from Deakin of Animal Collective in regards to this Phoenix remix:
“This spring i was in Panama with Brian. We were cramped into a van on a bumpy, winding Central American road going a little too fast. Feeling a little edgy, I put on my headphones and listened to United and Alphabetical back to back. I watched passing fruit stands, a sweet central american dusk and memories of the massive schools of jelly fish, snapper, and trevally; the few dolphin and even the few bluefin tuna (too few) that Brian and i had just had the joy of diving with. The blend of all of these things put me at ease. Phoenix has been a staple for all four of us since Dave and Noah brought home United from the record store they used to work at. One of the records that would get us through some of those long cross country tour drives, we’ve listened to Phoenix’s jams many many times. We were all totally psyched to get asked to do this and it was super fun to work on it. All the best to those dudes.”
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To keep the goods coming, You Ain’t No Picasso recently posted a full video of Grizzly Bear and Victoria Legrand of Beach House performing the song “Slow Life” together in Columbia, Missouri.
If you hadn’t heard already, this is one of the many tracks from some well-known musicians making its way onto the New Moon (along with Thom Yorke, Death Cab For Cutie, Bon Iver/St. Vincent, etc.) soundtrack.
Definitely cringe-worthy, but just think of some thirteen-year-old picking this up and receiving a proper musical education. I think with that in mind, I’m perfectly okay with it.
I’ve been spending most of the evening catching up on a few recently released albums, including the latest from Taken By Trees — the solo project of former Concretes lead singer Victoria Bergsman.
Despite clocking in at a mere 32 minutes, East Of Eden is a nice mesh of acoustic indie-pop, with a unique use of beats and rhythms which is the result of recording entirely in Pakistan with local Sufi musicians.
One of the more sweeter tracks to appear on the record is this inspired cover of Animal Collective’s “My Girls”. Of course, Victoria is no stranger to covers as you might remember her excellent cover of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” from 2008.
I’ve read a lot of backlash in regards to this recent cover, which is just silly to me. In my opinion, this cover is just too innocent to harbor any negative feelings towards. Though, I suppose the Animal Collective connection isn’t too out of left field as Noah Lennox lends his vocals on one of the tracks.
I got a text message earlier this month from PJ before last week’s graboid saying, “So I’m listening to Merriweather Post Pavilion. Expect you to convince me why I should care about this!” A few minutes later, I receive “‘My Girls’ is pretty good, though. And I’m glad there is no shouting so far.” Roughly forty-five minutes later, I get a phone call saying, in short that this album was better than expected. I think that Merriweather Post Pavilion is brilliant because it wasn’t just made for people like me, who will travel halfway across the country the country to see them, but made for people like PJ who have never been given a legitimate reason to care about the band.
Admittedly, accessibility has never been one of Animal Collective’s primary concerns. They fill their live show with material they’ve never released (so, actually, when I heard “My Girls” for the first time…it wasn’t the first time.) They wear freaky looking masks in their promotional photos. They sample abrasive sounds akin to car problems, electronic insects and muffled phone static. And of course, like PJ mentioned, there are Avey Tare’s ear piercing shrieks and growls which would be hard to deal with on their own, but then he goes and hushes his vocals to the point of utter creepiness or wavers it eerily or raises it to an almost shrill nasally level of his range. I love Avey Tare for all of the reasons I just mentioned, but for those who don’t have the patience to dig through those and get to songs like “The Softest Voice” or “Winter’s Love” which showcase some of his voice’s more delicate moments, those sounds could be decently repulsive.
Those more delicate and more atmospheric moments abound on this album, playing to the people who never had the patience to dig through Feels and Sung Tongs and were downright turned off by the aggression of Strawberry Jam or the exercise in patience that is Here Comes the Indian. They can’t afford to be aggressive when they’re down a guitar player so they cut out the shrieking and go for feelings like sentimentality (“Bluish”), springiness (“Lion in a Coma”) and unabashed joy (“Summertime Clothes”). They even follow up a slow burner for the exhausted soul with the booty-shaking “Brother Sport.” Random aside: If you find the live versions of this track, you’ll realize that Avey Tare actually does scream for a minute straight and that those electronic bleeps are nonexistent. Perhaps the man needed to, ya know, NOT abuse his vocal cords for a change.
In addition to Avey Tare sticking to the non-cyst-inducing levels of his vocal range, Panda Bear’s strong presence on this album seems to stick an olive branch out to people who would have never cared about the band. Hundreds of DJs will likely be remixing “Brother Sport” and apparently, my friends heard “My Girls” spun at a Baltimore club. (To be fair, AC is from outside of Baltimore.) It’s his voice that plays the lead on those two highly hyped tracks and that voice is a beautiful late ’60s pop throwback, with just enough of an edge. And yeah, I agree with PJ, “My Girls” is pretty good. Like, I want to lie on the ground and feel the earth spin around me to the beat of those masterfully layered bleeps and blips that sound more organic than electronic.
All of these things make the album easier to swallow as a whole, especially if you can appreciate the way that Geologist seamlessly weaves these sounds, melodies and vocal harmonies (which are at their best) together. This is Animal Collective’s pop album, but it draws from elements that the diehard fans knew Animal Collective had stewing in their mix all along. Plus, the fact that they add in new elements to a sound that’s distinctly them isn’t anything that’s going to have their established fans on backlash rampages yelling “Sell out!” They made a really really good record while still sounding like their same old experimental selves. Panda Bear, may those four walls and adobe slats be yours.
We’re nearly three weeks into 2009, but you could argue that the year (in terms of music) officially begins this week. Lots of big name players have albums out this week and trying to single out just one to purchase wouldn’t be fair. New stuff from A.C. Newman, Animal Collective, Andrew Bird, and Antony and the Johnsons? Just those alone would make it a worthwhile week for most, but that is in fact just from the letter “A.” It’s silly, isn’t it?
With these huge release weeks, i’ve always been curious as to whether having all of these high-profile albums bunched together is even considered a good idea. Are people willing to shell out enough money to buy a handful of albums in a single week? I certainly am not. I would probably be willing to buy two at the most. I guess it doesn’t matter too much, as you could just pick something up at another time. But as far as my buying history goes, albums that I don’t purchase within the first week of release, the need for them diminish over time and/or I tend to forget about them completely. Do any of you have an opinion on this?
Also, just a little something to add in regards to Merriweather Post Pavilion, from someone who’s never particularly understood Animal Collective at all. Considering the massive hype surrounding this album’s release (hello 9.6 Pitchfork review), I was hesitant to listen to this one, and was ready to throw massive amounts of flaming hatred towards my friends who have righteously defended this band. Keeping things short, I am seriously impressed at how aurally and lyrically pleasing this record is. I’ve probably listened to “My Girls” and “Guys Eyes” more than any song so far this year. I think coming from a non-AC fan like myself, I certainly enjoyed listening to this one, and they’ve really turned the corner in terms of accessibility.
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