Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
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It took me a long time to like this record. At first, I thought it reeked of twattishness, of the sort of sonic exploration that people with expensive headphones liked to get all moist over. To some extent, it is very much like that, with melodies and shapes buried beneath layers of effects, hidden from the casual listener and only rewarding those who persevere. It even took listening to it alone, on a train, through ear-phones, to really appreciate it. And that was about 2 years ago.
I always got what they were doing, I just didn't buy into liking it at first. Even the sleeve annoyed me with its stare-at-me-for-a-few-seconds-and-i-start-moving-all-over-the-place illusions, like one of those stereogram posters from the 90s (which I could never see due to my colour-blindness). When I look at it now it seems to have a very Ronseal quality about it, accurately reflecting what dwells inside.
I wish that I'd seen them live when this first emerged. That would have probably converted me earlier on. I'd still like to see them play now though I have a feeling that they tend to work alone these days rather than together (not such a collective any more).
So, this is a really good record. Even if it took me seven years to realise it. Perhaps I should pay more heed to twats with expensive headphones in future.
Chris
It took me a long time to like this record. At first, I thought it reeked of twattishness, of the sort of sonic exploration that people with expensive headphones liked to get all moist over. To some extent, it is very much like that, with melodies and shapes buried beneath layers of effects, hidden from the casual listener and only rewarding those who persevere. It even took listening to it alone, on a train, through ear-phones, to really appreciate it. And that was about 2 years ago.
I always got what they were doing, I just didn't buy into liking it at first. Even the sleeve annoyed me with its stare-at-me-for-a-few-seconds-and-i-start-moving-all-over-the-place illusions, like one of those stereogram posters from the 90s (which I could never see due to my colour-blindness). When I look at it now it seems to have a very Ronseal quality about it, accurately reflecting what dwells inside.
I wish that I'd seen them live when this first emerged. That would have probably converted me earlier on. I'd still like to see them play now though I have a feeling that they tend to work alone these days rather than together (not such a collective any more).
So, this is a really good record. Even if it took me seven years to realise it. Perhaps I should pay more heed to twats with expensive headphones in future.
Chris
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