Animal Collective's upcoming studio album

[Chedney Honks]

Re: live experiences

They're a band which has had about twenty or thirty different live setups over the years, with different line-ups, instruments, gear, sound and approach. For almost all of their time, they've played new unreleased material on every tour and abandoned much of whatever they'd just recorded, aside from reworking older songs into the style of their new setup. Predominantly, they're working out their new songs on the road. For people who really like and know Animal Collective, the live experience and bootlegs are them at their best, without doubt. The records are snapshots of what individual songs may have sounded like at some point, they're not a culmination. The fact that the songs continue to be developed and reworked substantially after the album release is testament to this.

If you go to see them live expecting a run through of your favourites or even songs you know or, even less likely, 'a show', please be aware that for twenty years they've never attempted to cultivate an audience in this way.

For clarity, I don't like every Animal Collective era or 'album', if you prefer, but I really like their principles and I understand and accept that not all of it is for me. It's for them. They're by far my favourite band to follow because they make a lot of music which I love but even when they don't, I enjoy their approach and there's usually some brilliance in every era. Something like Painting With, which I found emotionally thin and stylistically repetitive produced some fantastic live shows, reworking Loch Raven, Pride and Fight, Alvin Row, Sweet Road and Bees into an ecstatic techno set at times. The PW songs also had a much rawer frazzled energy compared to the clean, bouncy pop on the record. The album is maybe a 5 for me. The live shows are 8 or 9. The reworks were the best they've done since 2007. I may never listen to the album again but I'll listen to those live recordings until I'm dead.

I completely understand why they're confounding and off-putting and frustrating because even among fans and people who really know and understand them, there are wildly different opinions on what people want or what 'proper' AC music is or when they lost it or when their best era was or will be. Of course, it's the same among more casual listeners, they just have much less context or frame of reference.

I barely listen to the records these days. I'd rather listen to when Sung Tongs evolved into the early darker Feels and they started playing Kids On Holiday with heavy, droning guitars or when they pulled Lablakely Dress out from all the electronics and frequencies and played it as a two chord vamp in the middle of Fireworks or when Deakin and Noah played a one-off show in Tokyo and improvised two amazing untitled songs which never appeared again, linking Young Prayer to Prospect Hummer but electric. It's a glimpse of an era that never was. In terms of the new record, I'm really looking forward to it but most of the songs already exist for me in several different forms which I've enjoyed for several years. A handful I absolutely loved in 2018 and they've already changed to something quite different. Prester John used to have an entirely different half. You either go with that approach or you hope that what you specifically want is what you get, which is very unlikely. That's the nature of following Animal Collective. These days, I try to take things on their own terms and not align my enjoyment with satisfied expectations. I find I get much more from pretty much everything with that approach and I also have much less interest in other people's opinions or expectations.

Edit:

Floridada
Summertime Clothes
My Girls

My three to try would be:

Lablakely Dress
Alvin Row
Loch Raven

Which might as well be a different band.

[The Mollusk]

Scratched my itch for some solid Honks music chat there, much appreciated :)

[Chedney Honks]

Cheers for the encouragement and kind words x

[Chedney Honks]

For a very up to date example of what I was describing, here is Prester John when they first played it live:

https://youtu.be/V42MZLM3vGM

It's barely recognisable as the song they recorded.

[Bazooka]

Centipede Hz was phenomenal live,saw it twice and the Pitchfork headliner was something else, the album was poorly produced, songs like Father Time live were sent back in time from a thousand years in the future, but on the album were a like a soggy poppadom.

Painting With live was really well suited to small venues with the dense short bursts of a drippy collage of back and forth hocketing, and the album was beautifully chaotic, and in a vanilla term to attribute to the band; experimental.

Prester John is very lovely, but feels Deakin: Sleep Cycle safe, I desire more chaos and I have no doubt the gifts will be given.

Still to be dethroned as the most innovative group of the past 20 years.

[chutnut]

My 3 are probably:

La Rapet
Winter's Love
Throwin' The Round Ball

I'm not sure about the new track yet but it could easily grow on me

[Chedney Honks]

Interesting choices, especially Round Ball. I adore La Rapet one of their first songs which really clicked, and I get the love for WL, especially the live versions. Round Ball, though! Fair play. Epitomises the breadth of the band and the audience.

[chutnut]

I love it! It nicely (and very concisely) sums up the balance between catchy melodies and noise which excited me about them in the first place. It was a hard choice though to be fair, quite a few different tracks could have gone in it's place

[Vitamin C]

I saw them live when MPP was out and they played MPP plus a few others. It didn't seem like they were doing anything out of the ordinary, just a regular band on tour promoting their latest album. Maybe MPP was the only album where they did that? Definitely a fun gig.

[sutin]

The first time I saw them the entire band except Panda Bear stormed off in a bad mood so PB played Person Pitch songs for about half an hour.

[The Mollusk]

The first time I saw them the entire band except Panda Bear stormed off in a bad mood so PB played Person Pitch songs for about half an hour.

Sounds great to me!

[non capisco]

Chedney, I have always loved the way you write about Animal Collective, by the way. Your sincere love of their music leaps out of my screen and shakes me by the shoulders and I will always enjoy reading the articulate joy of a true enthusiast. Especially these days. My own experiences of outright torpor watching those lads fannying about on stage are irrelevant.

[peanutbutter]

Maybe MPP was the only album where they did that?

That would've been the point where the Coachella crowd would have been all over them, might have just decided it wasn't worth the grief?

[non capisco]

I saw them live when MPP was out and they played MPP plus a few others. It didn't seem like they were doing anything out of the ordinary, just a regular band on tour promoting their latest album. Maybe MPP was the only album where they did that? Definitely a fun gig.

I saw them around MPP time and my memory of it is that they did one single song that sounded like a blue whale with a hangover having a long shower.

[sutin]

The second time I saw them was around MPP and granted i've never listened to the album but i'm sure they just played one 70 minute long note.

[non capisco]

The second time I saw them was around MPP and granted i've never listened to the album but i'm sure they just played one 70 minute long note.

LUXURY. The second time I saw them it was just Geologist with his hands poised above his keyboard saying "Shall I? Shall Iiiiiiiiiiii?" and waggling his eyebrows......for FIVE HOURS!

[Chedney Honks]

I saw them live when MPP was out and they played MPP plus a few others. It didn't seem like they were doing anything out of the ordinary, just a regular band on tour promoting their latest album. Maybe MPP was the only album where they did that? Definitely a fun gig.

Yep, the first time they did that was after MPP, record label pressure, and it led to burnout and inertia. It's a shame that record did so well, in that respect, and it's no surprise that they took time apart and poured everything into the solo albums, Down There and Tomboy. After CHz, a disjointed and uneven attempt to recapture the live band experience, they toured it into the ground and came closest to a 'playing the hits' tour. That was the first time I ever felt they were just treading water creatively, a completely pointless period. I'm not being facetious when I say I hope they were at least able to buy a house afterwards.

Again, feeling the burnout, they did much more music apart over the next five years than together, a lot of which was fantastic, especially the live solo shows. Dave's Mothlight performance is a legendary one-off, the early versions of the Cows songs with a minimal dub techno influence. Shame the album was a bit 'straight' in comparison but at least he released the soundboard as a nod to that brief experiment. PB's Greaper demos are some of the best music he's ever done, some of my favourite ever AC music, really rough and thumping, chaotic energy, directly emotional. The album was good but very diluted in comparison. Again, I'm grateful those demos were shared in soundboard quality. Even Deakin managed to get Sleep Cycle out and I think the reception and catharsis was really great for him, and it's heartwarming to see how much more involved he is in terms of the songwriting and performing these days. He brings a different sensibility in a way that he hasn't since Feels.

It's interesting that over the last decade of solo work, they continued the pattern of touring, recording, then immediately moving on, and they've been far more prolific and creatively successful apart than as a band. That said, I like that they mixed things up with Painting With and did all the writing and recording first and then figured out how to play them on tour. I think that's why those live performances got better and better and it would have been really interesting to hear them go back to the studio and recapture how the songs and the set had developed. Again, no real need because of the soundboard recordings but even if I didn't enjoy the album very much, I was glad to see them do something new and recapture the enjoyment and excitement of playing together.

For a number of years, I had thought that they'd lost whatever they'd had from Spirit to MPP but the PW shows completely rejuvenated them, and my interest, and the Music Box shows in 2018 were the best music they'd made since 2007 for me. In a way, Covid may have stolen their opportunity to tour and record those songs and move on but it's basically meant they've ended up with two albums worth of unreleased material and some of the stuff they've been playing on the recent tour won't even be on the 2022 album, it'll be on the next one. They've also got a lot of 2018 music which is still brewing but occasionally resurfaces. I suspect Time Skiffs will be very much a mid-tempo Grateful Dead vibe, maybe the straightest psych-rock they've released since parts of Feels, but I'm open to that because they all feel like they're on the same page. For a good while, I suspected that would never happen again.

The first time I saw them the entire band except Panda Bear stormed off in a bad mood so PB played Person Pitch songs for about half an hour.

This is simply a lie, but the idea of PB being the one to stick around and placate the crowd is very funny. 

Not least because he wouldn't have any of his gear or his PP setup on tour.

And because he's a miserable sod.

[sutin]

This is simply a lie, but the idea of PB being the one to stick around and placate the crowd is very funny. 

Not least because he wouldn't have any of his gear or his PP setup on tour.

And because he's a miserable sod.

I am not lying. The concert was in Dublin in late 2007 at The Tripod. The band had their tour bus window smashed the previous night and were all in a bad mood. They left the stage apart from Panda Bear and he played solo for a while. I assure you that it happened. I'm not much of an Animal Collective fan but I know what I saw.

PROOF - https://nialler9.com/animal-collective-tripod/

[Chedney Honks]

Haha, I'll hold my hands up, that's actually quite a famous one-off show albeit I thought your dramatic description was meant to be a joke! I admit I was wrong, though. The phrase 'the entire band except Panda Bear stormed off in a bad mood' amused me because:

a) there were only three performers, one of whom stayed on stage
b) they had already played for 50 minutes, PB effectively replaced the encore
c) the main singer was physically unable to continue due to illness
d) your tabloid tone

Funnily enough, because of Dave's illness, that essentially was a hastily prepared PB solo take on the MPP set, hence the extended versions of #1, Loch Raven and Daily Routine, which is why he had his usual solo setup. They either had to cancel it or adapt but that was the start of Dave' s strep throat problems and why his singing is more controlled these days, albeit I miss the intensity of his older vocals. It was also a glimpse into PB's later solo shows where he reworked some of his pre-and-MPP material into similarly extended versions. You don't know how lucky you are! :D

Here's the version of Daily Routine you probably heard three years earlier:

https://youtu.be/9iR5DeDRLkc

[sevendaughters]

this is kind of the way people used to talk about the Grateful Dead and their Betty Boards, it makes me feel weird.

[chutnut]

Dave's Mothlight performance is a legendary one-off, the early versions of the Cows songs with a minimal dub techno influence.

I like the sound of this, I'll try and find a copy as I always liked the dub techno-ness of the first track
If he's singing out of tune though I'll be very disappointed

[Head Gardener]

I've seen them a few times, once supporting the band múm at The Old Vic, AC played their set dressed as giant rabbits and were great fun, I saw them later around the Merriweather tour and my mate collapsed outside the venue in the street after we had shared a super strong joint just before heading inside. After a bit of a commotion from the gathered punters in the queue he rallied enough to go in and watch the show but couldn't handle anymore than about 20 mins so we headed out to the pub to recover, happy days but not listened to them much since, prefer Panda Bear.

[Chedney Honks]

this is kind of the way people used to talk about the Grateful Dead and their Betty Boards, it makes me feel weird.

Hehe, I think that's accurate. There's a shitload of different material and eras to get your teeth into, lots of one-off stuff which they never developed further, and the live boots are a massive part of it, as with the Dead. A couple of them are massive fans, no surprise, and it sounds like this new one is directly channeling them more than ever.

As for feeling weird about that, let me caveat this that I'm sure you enjoy lots of music, I hope you'll take this as intended and I enjoy your posts in every other subforum, but for someone who knows a lot about music, it doesn't come across that you like very much of it. As I say, no offence intended. I'd be interested in what you do enjoy and I'm sure others would.

[peanutbutter]

this is kind of the way people used to talk about the Grateful Dead and their Betty Boards, it makes me feel weird.

I think in general we've kinda hit a point with access to music and recommendation algorithms that the whole process of following an artist's general journey and whims has had a bit of a rebound. The archetype is always Deadheads but I think it probably is just the same kind of thing you had with jazz fans way back where you'd be a fan of individual musicians and seeking out anything they featured on during hot patches and the like.

Kanye's fixation on trying to make the process the product being a particularly visible mainstream example.

[Chedney Honks]

I like the sound of this, I'll try and find a copy as I always liked the dub techno-ness of the first track
If he's singing out of tune though I'll be very disappointed

Here you go, fella.

https://aveytare.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-the-mothlight-april-4-2017

I'm not sure if it's free or PWYW because it's in my account but should give you an idea. That first track, What's The Goodside, is a bit different here in terms of the second half but defo got a bit of Basic Channel pulse.

Also, a much better version of Midnight Special off the Birds EP, just droning guitar and more intense vocals. I think he ruined it on the record, to be honest.

[sevendaughters]

good posts by both Honks taking on my apparent misanthropy (i do feel like i say quite positive things, and i remember writing a bit of a write-up to accompany my recs of 2020 that got little attention [not that i am being reactionary either!]) and peanutbutter too (there is a bourgeois adult form of stan culture in play here too, I think rockism will never die ultimately!). I've tended to always focus on the finished song, not that I'm asleep to endless iterations of the same song as potentially being better or whatever (i love seeking out versions of 'My Favourite Things' from around Coltrane's career), and I have quite a conservative view of songcraft ultimately. 

[sutin]

Haha, I'll hold my hands up, that's actually quite a famous one-off show albeit I thought your dramatic description was meant to be a joke! I admit I was wrong, though. The phrase 'the entire band except Panda Bear stormed off in a bad mood' amused me because:

a) there were only three performers, one of whom stayed on stage
b) they had already played for 50 minutes, PB effectively replaced the encore
c) the main singer was physically unable to continue due to illness
d) your tabloid tone

Funnily enough, because of Dave's illness, that essentially was a hastily prepared PB solo take on the MPP set, hence the extended versions of #1, Loch Raven and Daily Routine, which is why he had his usual solo setup. They either had to cancel it or adapt but that was the start of Dave' s strep throat problems and why his singing is more controlled these days, albeit I miss the intensity of his older vocals. It was also a glimpse into PB's later solo shows where he reworked some of his pre-and-MPP material into similarly extended versions. You don't know how lucky you are! :D

Here's the version of Daily Routine you probably heard three years earlier:

https://youtu.be/9iR5DeDRLkc

Well, as it was 14 years ago and i'm not really a fan (I went to the gig because I had recently bought Strawberry Jam), I had forgotten some details such as there being only 3 band members on stage and one of them being sick. They seemed pretty grumpy and told the story of the smashed window, so it felt like when the other two left the stage it was because they couldn't be fucked playing any longer. It was a memorable show for all these reasons but one I didn't enjoy at the time, especially since i'd come from Belfast for it. Nice to hear it was a legendary AC performance though!

I saw them a third time at Primavera 2013 and they played The Purple Bottle, a song I love. That was a good show.

[chutnut]

Here you go, fella.

https://aveytare.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-the-mothlight-april-4-2017

I'm not sure if it's free or PWYW because it's in my account but should give you an idea. That first track, What's The Goodside, is a bit different here in terms of the second half but defo got a bit of Basic Channel pulse.

Also, a much better version of Midnight Special off the Birds EP, just droning guitar and more intense vocals. I think he ruined it on the record, to be honest.

Nice one!

[chveik]

good posts by both Honks taking on my apparent misanthropy (i do feel like i say quite positive things, and i remember writing a bit of a write-up to accompany my recs of 2020 that got little attention [not that i am being reactionary either!]) and peanutbutter too (there is a bourgeois adult form of stan culture in play here too, I think rockism will never die ultimately!). I've tended to always focus on the finished song, not that I'm asleep to endless iterations of the same song as potentially being better or whatever (i love seeking out versions of 'My Favourite Things' from around Coltrane's career), and I have quite a conservative view of songcraft ultimately.

there is a certain category of bands where looking into live/bootleg versions of the same songs is fundamentally part of the experience, for me it's the likes of Magma, Les Rallizes Dénudés, the Sun Ra Arkestra, Miles Davis' second quintet, Throbbing Gristle, where clearly the studio versions don't completely represent the 'spirit' of their creativity. hardcore Dylan and Dead fans still look like weirdos to me but each to their own

[Chedney Honks]

For anyone interested, they're doing weekly shows on Blast Radio (11pm Weds) for the next month, sharing rehearsal recordings and various other 'goodies', apparently. This week, they shared a rehearsal session of five songs, four of which will be on the album. Cool way to preview the record, I think. Sound quality is very good and it's been polished up further by a fan. They played:

Gem & I (not on the album, pretty cool PB song, like the drums a lot)
Royal (Deakin-led album closer, pretty melancholic ballad, a bit No More Runnin, I really like it)
We Go Back (energetic Dave song, feels like an album track to me, they've omitted well better songs)
Car Keys (album opener, kind of jazzy/proggy, really like the drums)
Dragon Slayer (melodically sounds like a classic Dave song to me, exemplifies the sound of the new material, drums are great again).

Blast Radio is some app which is a pain in the arse so I'll just share the link to the split/renamed recordings:

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/v1jgg9tbunfg4/Animal+Collective+Blast+Sessions+2021

Hope someone enjoys.