Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion [LEAK]

[Beckwin]

topic title says it all. I'm dl'ing right now. people are absolutely raving about it, calling it last minute unofficial album of the year. supposedly more poppy and cohesive than previous outings (SJ was high energy soul, Sung Tongs was slurred intoxicated meandering goodness).

[Beckwin]

holy shit, album of the year

and this year was pretty damn decent

[Maguspk]

I've heard of them from multiple people but never got a chance to check them out and just downloaded Merriweather Post Pavilion and I have to say it's right up my alley, sorry I didn't check them out sooner.

[Beckwin]

i'd definitely check out more if you like this album. Water Curses EP is very much in the vein of this new album. previous albums are a lot more raw and/or acoustic, but still really excellent.

[Ruiner]

I've been listening to the live songs for a few months now, eagerly anticipating this. I'm gonna wait for the digital download and vinyl, though, on January 6th.

Good to see some AC fans here, though.


i'd definitely check out more if you like this album. Water Curses EP is very much in the vein of this new album. previous albums are a lot more raw and/or acoustic, but still really excellent.

Other great albums include Sung Tongs, Feels, Strawberry Jam, and Person Pitch (which is actually a solo effort by Panda Bear, but you'll still love it if you're into AC). If you delve any deeper into their older shit (Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished, Campfire Songs, Danse Manatee, Here Comes the Indian), it starts to get really fucking weird.

[Beckwin]

yeah, Person Pitch is great. topped a lot of lists last year.

I think My Girls is my fave off the new album so far.

[Ruiner]

My Girls is actually the only song of which I've heard the studio version, and I really didn't like it as much as I did when it was played live. On the studio version, it sounded too light, and too shallow. Reminded me of Strawberry Jam. The live version I found to be much deeper, and more fitting with the rest of the album.

[Milton]

my girls has been my most-listened to track on last.fm every week since it was leaked. i'll still check it out asap, but animal collective has always sort of been one of those bands where the album will have one or two really killer tracks on it and the rest is pretty blah...and since i don't expect anything on it tops my girls i'm a little bit worried this one will be the same.

[Ruiner]

my girls has been my most-listened to track on last.fm every week since it was leaked. i'll still check it out asap, but animal collective has always sort of been one of those bands where the album will have one or two really killer tracks on it and the rest is pretty blah...and since i don't expect anything on it tops my girls i'm a little bit worried this one will be the same.

AC for me has always been the opposite. I classify their music as albums instead of individual songs, because that's how I tend to listen to them. None of their albums sound the same compared to each other, but they all blend incredibly well as individual albums.

[Maguspk]

What genre of music would you categorize stuff like this as? They remind me so much of The Sound of Animals Fighting but I have no idea what genre I would call it besides chillawesome for a lack of a better word. Seriously though, maybe New Age/Experimental Rock?

[Kais]

brothersport is about sucking dicks right?

[Ruiner]

brothersport is about sucking dicks right?

It's about Panda Bear's brother, Matt Lennox.

[BadKarma]

what kind of music is this band anyway?

[Beckwin]

hard to classify AC. psychadelic experimental folk? they do a hell of a lot of genre bending though.

kinda funny that you mentioned TSOAF, magus... I've got Tiger and the Duke and Lover the Lord has Left Us, and I only see slight parallels between AC and the Lover album. Tiger & Duke is pretty much post-hardcore with a bit of experimenting; great album though. TSOAF is pretty cool.

[tyven]

so i had never heard of this band till this thread, downloaded the album, its great.

[Beckwin]

haha, welcome to hipster-dom.

I'm getting the feeling that people who are liking this album due to the "chill" factor would really really really like Panda Bear's Person Pitch, so be sure to check that out.

[Kais]

quality flac and 320 (non-160 transcodes) are up on what.cd if anyone cares

[Ruiner]

Ugh, I hate to say it, but having listened to a few more of the studio songs (In the Flowers and Brothersport, mainly), I'm kind of disappointed. Don't get me wrong, both those songs are fantastic, I just feel that they pale in comparison to their live counterparts. The explosion in In the Flowers is too dominated by the drums, you don't hear the melody enough. My gripe with Brothersport is the scream. Live, Avey would just go all out and scream as loud as he could. On the studio track, it sounds way too tame. It doesn't fit the song at all.

Overall, great album, but not as good as it could've been.

[Ruiner]

Bump, but holy fucking shit, after giving the album a full listen, this might be the best album I've ever heard. It's like a fucking jungle come to life. It makes me melt. Bluish is so beautiful it makes me cry. OH MY GOD IT'S SO GOOD.

[Xajii]

wait, wtf?

Merriweather Post Pavilion is the venue that I go to ALL of my shows... it's about 5 minutes from my house.

They titled their ALBUM after this place?

Awesome.

[Ruiner]

Yep, they grew up around Baltimore, so I'm sure they've been there quite a few times themselves.

Edit: Just found this.

Quote from the band:

"Merriweather Post Pavilion is an outdoor music venue in a place called Symphony Woods in Columbia, Maryland. It was designed by Frank Gehry in the 1960's, and they've been having concerts there from 1967 up through today. We used to go to shows there while growing up and have fond memories of times spent on the lawn. For most of the time we've been playing together, both in Animal collective and the years before, we've tried to make music that would be deserving of an amazing outdoor listening experience. As both a name and a place, Merriweather Post Pavilion represents this for us."

[Xajii]

yeah, I mean, I've seen them play there.

That's pretty awesome. I'll have to get this leak

[tyven]

wait, wtf?

Merriweather Post Pavilion is the venue that I go to ALL of my shows... it's about 5 minutes from my house.

They titled their ALBUM after this place?

Awesome.

lol i clicked this thread cuz i thought it was about the venue as well, then i downloaded the album and it rocks my socks off