ATTN:

Just bought:

1) Apologies to the Queen Mary (Wolf Parade)

2) Blood Bank (Bon Iver)

3) A Cross the Universe (Justice)

4) Sky Blue Sky (Wilco)

5) Neon Bible (Arcade Fire)

Stay tuned for further info regarding these purchases.

- MF

Animal Collective in Austin & Boulder

"High five!"

Animal Collective recently announced a world tour, so check here to see if they're coming to a venue near you!

Be forewarned: get 'em while you can, I have a feeling there will be less tickets than AC fans.

Animal Collective Remix "Mirando"

Ratatat - Mirando (Animal Collective Remix)
^Sweet AC remix of a tune off Ratatat's LP3. Check it out.

Ben Kweller Might Buy You Lunch*

*If you order enough copies of his newest, Changing Horses, on ATO Records. Order it before February 3rd and you get an autographed poster.

White Ink

Deerhunter - White Ink from justin gaar on Vimeo.

^Cool video by Justin Gaar for "White Ink" by Deerhunter

Animal Collective : Merriweather Post Pavillion

Animal Collective’s most recent album is undoubtedly the most highly anticipated release of 2009. The New York trio endured two track leaks (“Brother Sport” and “Summer Clothes”) and a hacked email calling for a full album leak to get to this point, but they finally made it. I can only imagine the relief they felt when they finally released, according to schedule and in full, Merriweather Post Pavillion.

The album is exactly what you would expect to hear from the seven-record-wise group except for maybe that Panda Bear receives a little bit more songwriting credit this time around. The album opener, “In Flowers”, unfolds slowly with atmospheric dreaminess until it bursts with the wish “if I could just leave my body / for a night.” The track that follows it, “My Girls”, bares the signature sound of this new release as well as a credit from, unsurprisingly, Panda Bear.

Panda Bear’s influence on this album is critical to its identity; each song he’s credited to is hypnotically dreamy and ripe for the (prepare yourself) club remixes of Merriweather. Do I go too far? You decide. Either way, it’s not exactly new territory to dance your heart out to a trippy trance song with a name like “My Girls.”

The album features several gripping transitions between songs. This contributes to the feeling of being in a world caught in conflict between the real and the unreal (“just a signal / in my head”). Yeah, dreaminess and head-in-the-clouds type sensations may not be new to AC but there’s a moment between “My Girls” and “Also Frightened” that sounds like waking up. It dumps you ought into a world full of questions (“will it be just like they’re dreaming?”) and a chorus of “them” until, maybe, you’re paranoid, too.

Other tracks that people will probably be talking about (get ready to hear about them around the water cooler) include the bubbly “Bluish” and “Daily Routine.” Slowly evolving around Panda Bear Avey Tare singing “I’m getting lost in your curls” and positively beautiful key work by the Geologist, “Bluish” is exactly that: a song that sounds beautifully blue. “Daily Routine” finds itself winding up like a clock to mechanical noises and a chorus of “the machine’s working fine” in the first thirty seconds.

I cannot get over how into this album I am right now. As someone who didn’t consider himself “a fan of AC” until just recently, I can attest to how amazing this album is. Though it still contains all of the same weirdness and dissonance of their previous releases, it is also remarkably different from them. I attribute this to lyrics that are less “just strange” and more memorable (“I want to walk / around with you”), letting the listener rest on tiny islands of sanity in soundscapes flooding with changing instrumentation and intense questioning (“am I really all the things / that are outside of me?”).

No matter what you think of this album, it’s not going to go away. Literally everyone will be talking about how awesome it is, so you might as well save yourself some time and learn to like Animal Collective. Like I said, they’re not going anywhere.

Top 4 Albums of 2008

An idea recently came to me, as if in a dream... Shrouded in the fog of pretention, cocooned as it was in its warm world of naivete, this idea decreed to me: "Dude, you should totally make a list of albums from this year that you liked in ascending order. That would be so awesome."

The albums will be listed below, along with brief descriptions of why they are awesome. The main criterion I had in mind was which records I consistently went back to. If you disagree, please feel free to argue with me in the comments section.


Dr. Dog - Fate
With songs like "The Ark", "The Old Days", and "Army of Ancients", the Philly based do-it-yourself group prove that they are capable of making a thoroughly enjoyable album, even when they're in a nice studio. The album has tracks, like "The Breeze", that are marked by the distinct fun-ness of guitarist Scott McMicken. Bassist Toby Leaman contributes some very soulful and sad vocals to compliment the happy vibes, giving Fate a new dimension that Dr. Dog lacked in previous records.

Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping

Jesus. Kevin Barnes really pulled out all the stops on his THIRTEENTH release. Cue some comparisons to Ziggy Stardust, Queen, and Scissor Sisters. Cue something snarky like: One thing Skeletal Lamping definitely doesn't sound like is Cherry Peel. The mood on this album goes from late night wanderlust to to just about every other place Barnes' alter ego Georgie Fruit wants to take you. It will penetrate your fantasy.

Man Man - Rabbit Habits

Their third release in four years, Rabbit Habits takes the all the chaotic energy, creative instrumentation, and bittersweet crooning of their previous records and improves on them. Songs like "Poor Jackie" and "Whale Bones" reveal a ponderous and more reserved side to pirate-esque shanties and sea songs like "Butterbeans" and "Hurly/Burly." My personal favorite from this album is "Big Trouble" because it really puts their talents on display. You may hear some nonsense about how their recordings don't do justice to their live shows. If you do, tell the butt-horn that said it to go suck a fat one. That being said, Man Man's live shows are awesome and you should check out this performance of "Big Trouble".

Ratatat - LP3

This album is a bit of a departure from Ratatat's usual m.o. but it still revolves around the New York duo's ability to write kickass songs. They expand their instrumentiation to include live percussion and synthesizers, which add a different dimension to their sound. In LP3 Mast and Stroud prove they can retain the video game dynamic of their sound (if you can picture evolving from SNES to PS3 or something) while experimenting with an entirely new arsenal of instruments. This pretty much convinces me, as it should you, that their next release will be equally if not more impressive (you heard it hear first).

The Daze at Some Place Behind Groovy Lube

Great show, there really should have been more people there to see it (it got cold).

Experimenting with scotch tape. Also, making a bassist uncomfortable.

(I can't get these photos to display correctly, so until I fix it just click on 'em to see the real deal.)

If you missed this show, be sure to go check them out with The Knights and The Bubbles at La Zona Rosa on the 9th.

In addition to not being flakes, The Daze are completing a new album due for release sometime this summer and were mentioned in XL for "Best New Act."

Whistles go woo woo!