Animal Collective

Animal Collective are fantastic. They make beautiful, interesting music. It is so refreshing to hear something so odd and beautiful and hazy as Animal Collective in a musical world dominated by the likes of The Kooks and all the other dribble of indie music. They sing songs about silly things, and make them seem like the most important things in the world. All their songs build up majestically but always surprise you, never going for the obvious build up with climax, but just being magical. The explosion of sounds on 'Banshee Beat' when they sing the line "going down to find the swimming pool" is just the best. The group are known as Animal Collective because they are just that, a collective. The line up usually consists of Avey Tare, Geologist, Deakin and Panda Bear, but isn't concrete. Panda Bear releases plenty of solo stuff, and everyone has hands in all sorts of projects. Anyway, they are refreshingly good, beautiful harmonies and perfect fodder for a sunny spell like we are currently in.
They remind me of a dreamy cross between more recent Flaming Lips, a very good thing indeed, the gentler side of the Velvets, an equally good thing, The Beach Boys, Modest Mouse and TV on the Radio, who are fucking fantastic also. When I first heard AC I didn't think too much of them, so don't worry if you don't get them straight away, but for anyone who is a fan of the bands I just mentioned, or are just generally interested in properly interesting music, as opposed to boring music, then you should listen. I think they are doing ok in America, but I feel they are a bit less known over here in the UK, but obviously not being in America it's kind of hard to tell how well bands are coping. Their latest record, 'Feels' is probably a good place to start, but they have 7 to choose from, though I haven't heard them all. They also run a record label called Paw Tracks which releases some of their stuff aswell as other artists. If you want real information, rather than just a ramble, then myspace or wikipedia are probably the best places to start. I can't be bothered to give you the details and tracklistings and labels etc of all their releases.

I've also managed to blag tickets to go and see the Maccabees at the Old Market in Brighton tomorrow night, though not through the readership levels of this blog (ha!), which I am looking forward to. It's a semi-homecoming gig for the band. The last time they played Brighton it was at the Concorde, and thorough mayhem insued. Fighting with bouncers, singing along, girls getting punched, police, the lot. Mainly the bouncers fault I hasten to add, but it was rock and roll. They are getting ready to release their debut album 'Colour It In' which is sure to be the indie kids record of the summer. So that will be nice. I haven't been to a show in a while, due to the last two shows I planned to go and see both rescheduled for May, rubbish. I'm sure you'll get some form of review from me after the show.

Currently listening to 'Sung Tongs' by Animal Collective

Sam