Since this is my first review on this lovely blog, here’s a short introduction: my name is Lou the Jew, I am a 2nd year English Studies student at the Univershitty of Sherbrooke. My hobbies are music, film, cats and Mel Gibson. I would eventually like to play lead guitar in a supergroup formed of myself, Jarvis Cocker on vocals, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin on bass and Matthew Fox on drums. One of my other goals is to be able to grow enough facial hair to look like a late-era Beatle, do a shit-load of drugs and then make these crazy psychedelic concept albums with an also-bearded Matthew Fox. Enjoy the reviews!
Now, here’s the thing with The Animal Collectives. Up to now, I was never able to go through an entire album of theirs without wanting to put a screwdriver through my brain. Except for a few songs, I never cared for their freak-folk bullshit and always considered them a bunch of knob-twiddling assholes that made music strictly for Pitchfork-obsessed hipster kids. Then this album comes along and the Internet loses its shit. Every single music publication on Earth gives MPP three thumbs up and Pitchfork declares it a cross between The Arcade Fire and Jesus Christ. Based on all this ridiculous hype and the desire to keep up with THE MUSIC SCENE OF TODAY, I gave the album a shot, and holy shit, it rules.
It’s Animal Collective gone pop! LOL. Critics had also said this for Animal Collection’s last album Strawberry Jam, and that was a straight-up lie, but this time around it’s pretty spot on. Animal Collective gone pop! This is the album where Avey Tare and co. put all of their experimental electro wankery to good use and come up with a bunch of ridiculously hooky off-kilter pop songs that can be appreciated both by the casual music listener AND the blog-reading indieheads. It’s like they finally figured out the key to Pet Sounds’ awesomeness wasn’t just taking a bunch of acid and making freaky noises, but actually crafting proper good songs with the said acid and noises and shit.
This is the first AC album where you can actually sing along to songs! And I say this with all of the credibility of someone that only half-listened to a few of their other records and gave up because they sucked donkey nuts! But yeah, “My Girls” is a total CLUB BANGER dressed up as a loopy psychedelic pop number with all sorts of bleeps and bloops, but the hooks and beats are all there and you love it. Same goes for “Summertime Clothes”, which starts off with a nasty synth beat and various whacky samples before sweeping you right into a super-catchy chorus. “I WANNA WALK AROUND WITH YOU!” Some of the less sugary songs are surprisingly enjoyable too. Take for example the mellow “Bluish”, with its soothing vocals, hypnotizing synths and irresistible chorus. Damn it, you make me proud, Animal Collective.
There is some so-so filler here and there that keeps MPP from ranking with the likes of Kid A, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Fergie’s solo album as a Modern Classic. I’m pretty sure Ringo Starr sings the opening verse on “Guys Eyes”. That’s beside the point though. HERE is my point: “Taste” and “No More Runnin’” don’t really go anywhere. It’s rather inoffensive filler though and doesn’t seriously hurt the album. “Brothersport” is the perfect closer here, absolute monster of a song and easily my favourite track as it perfectly encapsulates AC’s fresh new pop sound: daringly experimental yet full of hooks and catchy as hell. The crazy ending makes me wanna dance my ass off, and I never thought I’d say such a thing about an Animals Collector song, ever. I also read a review somewhere that referred to the song’s “Open up your throat!” lyrics as an ode to blowjobs or some such thing. That’s brilliant.
I used to hate these lads, and now I feel like re-visiting all of their other shitty albums just to make sure I didn’t miss something. Give this a listen and see for yourself, all my fellow AC haterz. Wonderful album with some killer psych-pop songs that should convert all the non-believers.
8.5/10
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