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08

Nov

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009) 10 whole months have passed since the January release of Merriweather Post Pavilion without the emergence of any real challenge to its status as the finest album of the year, save Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest and this new Avett Brothers record I haven’t heard yet.  It has already appeared on numerous Best of Decade lists, making the Top 20 on Pitchfork’s, the only album released this year to do so.  Heck, it is even buoying the positions of their previous albums on these lists, notably Sung Tongs and Feels, because when a group releases a masterpiece of this magnitude suddenly all their previous work goes from “pretty good” to “formative” and thus “important.” All the credit is well deserved though.  From the unique and atmospheric ambient sound of the opening “In the Flowers” to the jubilant and ridiculously catchy, downright commercial hook on the closer “Brother Sport,” there is not a single track on the album one would skip, a trait it shares with the greatest albums of all time, like for instance Dark Side.  Is Animal Collective as good as Pink Floyd?  No.  But they are still growing artistically and getting better on every album.  This is already their second masterpiece, if you count Panda Bear’s 2007 solo effort Person Pitch.  Last year SPIN ran an issue with a cover story on MGMT titled “The Dawning of the New Age of Psychedelia.”  I agree with them on title, but the artist driving this exciting direction in noise is not MGMT, it’s Animal Collective.  And speaking of psychedelic, how about that album cover?  I assume it’s been screwing with your eyes for the last two paragraphs. Click on the album cover above to check out the psychedelic (naturally) music video for the album’s stand out track and second single, the transcendent “My Girls.”

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

10 whole months have passed since the January release of Merriweather Post Pavilion without the emergence of any real challenge to its status as the finest album of the year, save Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest and this new Avett Brothers record I haven’t heard yet.  It has already appeared on numerous Best of Decade lists, making the Top 20 on Pitchfork’s, the only album released this year to do so.  Heck, it is even buoying the positions of their previous albums on these lists, notably Sung Tongs and Feels, because when a group releases a masterpiece of this magnitude suddenly all their previous work goes from “pretty good” to “formative” and thus “important.”

All the credit is well deserved though.  From the unique and atmospheric ambient sound of the opening “In the Flowers” to the jubilant and ridiculously catchy, downright commercial hook on the closer “Brother Sport,” there is not a single track on the album one would skip, a trait it shares with the greatest albums of all time, like for instance Dark Side.  Is Animal Collective as good as Pink Floyd?  No.  But they are still growing artistically and getting better on every album.  This is already their second masterpiece, if you count Panda Bear’s 2007 solo effort Person Pitch.  Last year SPIN ran an issue with a cover story on MGMT titled “The Dawning of the New Age of Psychedelia.”  I agree with them on title, but the artist driving this exciting direction in noise is not MGMT, it’s Animal Collective.  And speaking of psychedelic, how about that album cover?  I assume it’s been screwing with your eyes for the last two paragraphs.

Click on the album cover above to check out the psychedelic (naturally) music video for the album’s stand out track and second single, the transcendent “My Girls.”

3 weeks ago

music/Animal Collective/noise/psychedelic/rock/2009/Merriweather Post Pavilion/Panda Bear/Geologist/Avery Tare/

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (1973) Dark Side of the Moon is THE essential album.  It’s my favorite album of all time.  It’s my mother’s favorite album of all time.  It’s timeless.  It’s the definition of classic rock, because it’s classic in every way, including its album art.  Simple, yet complicated, its minimalism is brilliantly intentional.  Any notions otherwise are quickly quashed by the beautiful, and definitely not simple, posters and stickers that were included in the original vinyl packaging.  Materials I was pleasantly surprised to find included in the expensive (but well worth it) vinyl re-issue I picked up last year after I bought a new turntable.  It was the first new LP I purchased, naturally, and now it’s the first album I’ve chosen to share my thoughts on here on this new blog.  Click on the album cover to check out a sweet video of “Brain Damage/Eclipse” that intercuts live concert footage of both Roger Waters and David Gilmour with footage from the recording of Dark Side in 1973.

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

Dark Side of the Moon is THE essential album.  It’s my favorite album of all time.  It’s my mother’s favorite album of all time.  It’s timeless.  It’s the definition of classic rock, because it’s classic in every way, including its album art.  Simple, yet complicated, its minimalism is brilliantly intentional.  Any notions otherwise are quickly quashed by the beautiful, and definitely not simple, posters and stickers that were included in the original vinyl packaging.  Materials I was pleasantly surprised to find included in the expensive (but well worth it) vinyl re-issue I picked up last year after I bought a new turntable.  It was the first new LP I purchased, naturally, and now it’s the first album I’ve chosen to share my thoughts on here on this new blog.  Click on the album cover to check out a sweet video of “Brain Damage/Eclipse” that intercuts live concert footage of both Roger Waters and David Gilmour with footage from the recording of Dark Side in 1973.

3 weeks ago

music/Pink Floyd/Dark Side of the Moon/classic rock/rock/psychedelic/