Animal Collective

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Key tracks:

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  1. Summertime Clothes
  2. Brother Sport

Label: Rough Trade Publishing

Description:

Diversely referenced alt-pop perfection. Pulsing glitches, euphoric vocals and timeless melodies.

Located in different continents, Avey Tare, Deakin, Geologist and Woodwork repped Panda Bear, make up the Indie sensation that is Animal Collective. Having operated in a unique way since their inception they have now arrived at a point where their inner logic makes perfect sense on the wide screen.  

Listening to "Merriweather Post Pavilion" you'll hear echoes of everything they've recorded to date, especially the mesmeric and melodic repetition of Panda Bear's last solo opus "Person Pitch". The whoops and hollers that held together the sublime, chaotic urgency of their earlier work, now signal the calm sense of euphoria and wonder that ripples through this wide-eyed record. This is universal music that makes the same beautiful sense on headphones by day, or soundtracking the wee small hours of the morning, or, you suspect, stretched out in a field on your back. This is seminal, joyous, experimental yet accessible psychedelic pop that will be revered for years to come.

"Summertime Clothes" opens with a wave of synthesized squelches then crash lands with explosive impact reminiscent of Battles’ Opus "Atlas". The dancing, swirling, synthesised samples twinkle like deserved handclaps around this moment of catchy beauty. "Brother Sport" has an irrepressible bounce to it, twisted house keys, pulsing glitches, and euphoric vocals giving it all the merit of a (slightly off-kilter) floor-filler, with such joyous effect that it would be more appopriate to imagine people running through the streets with their arms in the air than sweating it out on the dancefloor.

Things to watch:

Releases we represent:

  • Merriweather Post Pavillion | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 2009
  • Strawberry Jam | Album | Rough Trade Publishing | 2007
  • Campfire Songs | Album | Paw Tracks
  • Fall Be Kind | EP | Rough Trade Publishing | 2009

Quotes:

"One of the landmark American albums of the century." Uncut

 "A dizzying knees-up that makes most music, indie rock or otherwise, sound both bloodless and pathetically timid." The Observer

"Breathtaking" Rolling Stone

"This is a joyful, transcendent record somehow reminiscent of kids let loose in a musical sandpit." The Guardian

"Merriweather Post Pavilion is so gorgeously confident that it fulfills expectations and more." Billboard

"Radiates not only hallucinatory good will but also a sense of song craft and suspense" The New York Times

"It's of the moment and feels new, but it's also striking in its immediacy and comes across as friendly and welcoming." Pitchfork

"Their psych-pop pinnacle." NME

"Has the album of 2009 been unleashed in January? I can’t see anything else coming near it." Prefix

"With Merriweather Post Pavillion, Animal Collective have refined their distinctive vision, once again proving they are ahead of the pack." Q

"Joyful, pure, and best of all, totally inclusive." Entertainment Weekly

"Enjoy the orgasmic rush of danceable rock." Paste

"Merriweather Post Pavilion finds Animal Collective tight and sharp, and it suits them. Animal Collective’s music is for everyone’s world." Pop Matters

"Oozing fun out of every pore, this record is the perfect tonic to the increasingly troubled times that 2009 brings with it and will most likely feature on many of those Best Of lists come December." Music OMH

Tracks included on the following samplers: