Review: Animal Collective -"Strawberry Jam"
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Album:
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Track:Winter Wonder Land
9 STARS (out of 10)
Much has been made recently about Animal Collective. Some worship the group as if they were gods (really, there are some people who are downright obssesed), and many throw them away as a merely cheap and easy "excuse" for music that sounds sloppy and disjointed. I would have been in that second category, but then Animal Collective released "Sung Tongs" (admittedly probably still in league with what i'll refer to as the "strange" Animal Collective albums, but it was deffinetely starting to get a lot more listenable), which at the time, reinvented the way that i thought about music and consequently led to me buying Boards of Canada's "Music Has The Right To Children" and other phenomenal experimental/instrumental marvels. As if that couldn't get better Animal Collective dropped their album "Feels" next. It was perfect in the new progression for Animal Collective, and not only did it attract a widder audience, but it had some of the band's most solid material. Then the solo albums started coming, the best of which is Panda Bear's new solo album "Person Pitch". Filled with the same mind numbingly awesome madness that is every Animal Collective album, "Person Pitch" further explored what, at least Panda Bear, can do to push that even further. Easily one of the best albums of the year, and my personal favorite song this year, 'Bros', "Person Pitch" set the scene for the craze that would be the new Animal Collective album.
Now Animal Collective are back with their new album "Strawberry Jam" that's been garnering as much buzz as the lastest T-Pain single (in case you don't know, that's a lot). The album still swirls and melts with the same freaky, psychedelic ambiance that only Animal Collective can deliver. However the setting on this album is different for sure: whereas "Sung Tongs" had a very wintery, closeted feel, and "Feels" had almost a tropical vibe (i mean that in more of a jungle sense, not the Islands sense); "Strawberry Jam" feels like a desert album. It's hot, and dazed, and constantly flashes with the rays of the sun hitting it. And that sound is rightfuly so, as the album was recorded, well, in the desert, Tucson, Arizona.
Unlike other Animal Collective albums, there's quite a bit less of the spastic yelps, chirps, and moans (don't worry, they're not nearly entirely gone), but in it's place there's much more coherent sounding lyrics and an abundance of the fluttery and trip-pop acapella backdrops. That's not to mention the firework like bursts of sound that seem to creep out of every corner of the desert-minded album. Amidst it all, it's still clear that Animal collective have shifted just a step or two over into the pop section and produced a slightly (ever so slightly) more accessible album. But now I'm just trying not to worry you older fans; you will not be even remotely disappointed.
The album opens with "Peacebone", a spacey, bright, synthesized and pretty much straightfoward Animal Collective pop song. "Chores" charges foward with vibrant jubilance until it's slowly distorted and filtered into a whirlwind of whisps and chimes and bells. Growing ever more intense with the messy romp "For Reverend Green" which finds the band screaming and sounding almost possesed, for none other than, Reverend Green; "Strawberry Jam" starts to turn away from the "daytime" portion of the record and starts to venture into the night time wonderland of the desert. "Fireworks" is easily one of the best Animal Collective songs ever released and flutters along with a deliberant drum kick, falsetto harmonies, and quirky keyboard riffs. It's the perfect climax for the story book that is "Strawberry Jam", the perfect crescendo. All the animosity that the early tracks gathered seem to release with "Fireworks" as the rest of the album slowly slips into the almost cold desert night. "#1" is like watching the stars slowly falling out of place and "Winter Wonderland" reminds us to believe in fantasy.
If nothing else, you'll leave "Strawberry Jam" the way you leave a vacation to a distant land. Maybe you didn't exactly know what you were getting yourself into in a foreign land, but at least you left with new perspectives and new and unusual experiences. Or conversely (the way I'd like you to enjoy it), you may just love it so much you end up staying there for a long time, seeing everything this new place has to offer and absorbing all of it's splendor and intruige. I expect us native Animal Collective fans will have plenty more people joining us on our little theoretical island. Either way "Strawberry Jam" is exciting, crazy, and beautiful or as "For Reverend Green" says: "maybe it's just the heat"...
"Strawberry Jam" drops in September, most likely "Fireworks" will be the first single (and rightfuly so), however I felt like putting up "Winter Wonder Land" because it's just so damn catchy, and because I'm posting an mp3 link to "Fireworks" right below.Enjoy
Animal Collective-"Fireworks":http://www.box.net/shared/static/qe80azrd0u.mp3
Animal Collective-Strawberry Jam01 "Peacebone" (5:13)02 "Unsolved Mysteries" (4:25) 03 "Chores" (4:30) 04 "For Reverend Green" (6:34)05 "Fireworks" (6:50)06 "#1" (4:32)07 "Winter Wonder Land" (2:44)08 "Cuckoo Cuckoo" (5:42)09 "Derek" (3:01)
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