Thursday, April 14, 2005

Animal Collective

Spirit They’re Gone. Spirit They’ve Vanished.
Like all truly original work this double-disc takes a couple of spins before the music clicks with the listener. This band combines disparate elements of folk, electronica, and noise. The disc opens with an off putting squall of high pitched digital squeals and feedback. Patience is rewarded when the second track gets past the initial digital blast. “April and the Phantom” is an extremely poppy tune. An acoustic guitar plays quickly over a tight snare beat with whimsical electronics floating behind it.

The second disc opens with lo-fi electronics. The true gem of the second disc is “Essplode.” The vocals of this group are entirely strange, high pitched, woven with off kilter child like voices that some how gel with the musical tracks. Each piece of the music would sound totally wrong alone, but miraculously, when played together they sound just right. (Fat Cat) (Dan Cohoon)