7th review in-progress

Animal Collective required a lot of my attention, but now I move on to:

The albums Somebody Outside, Separation Road, and Halfway to Fivepoints by Anna Ternheim!

Prior Experience:
Artist- Fairly familiar with her work and sound
Albums- Listened mostly to Somebody Outside

This is the first case of genuinely familiar territory, though most of my attention has been given to Somebody Outside. The other two albums pose a slight problem, because they contain several of the same tracks (Halfway to Fivepoints was her US debut, comprised of a combination of some songs from the other albums, along with original material or songs found on EPs and singles) so I'll do both of those as a single entry. Anna released another album in 2008 entitled Leaving on a Mayday, which I will try to acquire to review by the time I finish with her other albums.

Animal Collective surprise double feature! - Strawberry Jam and Merriweather Post Pavilion

In a gesture of kindness and convenience I've decided to do a double entry of both Strawberry Jam and Merriweather Post Pavilion. After listening to the former I found that I didn't have much to say that I did not already say in my review of Feels last week. Thus, I'll just touch down on a few points and move on Merriweather Post Pavilion, with which I have more to comment on.

Essentially, Strawberry Jam is a second helping of what can be found on Feels. Of course, whether this is a good thing or not depends largely on what you thought of the previous album. If you enjoyed Feels, definitely check this out, because Animal Collective's quirkiness returns in all its glory. If you were put off by the strange sound and unpredictable nature of the songs, this is probably not for you. However, I will say that Strawberry Jam has a slight lean towards more "traditional" (read- "controlled") structure. In other words the weirdness has been toned down, if only slightly, so fence-sitters may want to look into this album if Feels was just a tad too out there for them. As a parting note, I will say that I genuinely enjoy the track Fireworks and view it as the strongest song on the album.

Sounds Like: Battles

-Track Listing-
1. Peacebone

2. Unsolved Mysteries

3. Chores

4. For Reverend Green

5. Fireworks

6. #1

7. Winter Wonder Land

8. Cuckoo Cuckoo

9. Derek

Best- Fireworks, Peacebone, #1

Worst- Cuckoo Cuckoo

Links:

Fireworks music video, fireworks look pretty cool in reverse. Otherwise this is a bit lame.

First of all, this album gets bonus points for its optical-illusion cover art.

This is by far the most accessible of the three albums by Animal Collective that I have listened to. Where as the previous two entries can easily be described as "weird", this album finds a better fit with terms like "surreal" and "ambient". The song structure has become more reserved, with much less in the "unexpected outburst" department. Luckily, I find that this shift in presentation does not taint the core of what makes Animal Collective worth listening to. The unique flavor of the band still shines through.

Merriweather Post Pavilion also differs from its predecessors by way of having a more cohesive as a complete album. There are many cases of the end of one song bleeding into the beginning of the next, making start-to-finish listening of the album more enjoyable.

In summary, if you want to check out Animal Collective but aren't sure you can handle the odd style, start here. If you can handle this, then move to the other, more eccentric albums. If this is as weird as you'll go, there's still plenty to love here. And if this is just too odd for you, well... lighten up!

Sounds like: Battles

-Track Listing-

1. In The Flowers
2. My Girls
3. Also Frightened
4. Summertime Clothes
5. Daily Routine
6. Bluish
7. Guys Eyes
8. Taste
9. Lion In A Coma
10. No More Runnin
11. Brother Sport

Best- My Girls, Also Frightened, Summertime Clothes, Bluish, Brother Sport

Worst- Taste

Links:

My Girls video, Very trippy and odd, but business as usual for Animal Collective.

Animal Collective - Feels

This album is an interesting case. Well, perhaps interesting isn't the right word. Before any sort of evaluative statement can be made, it must be said that Animal Collective stands out as being intriguingly odd, only really comparable to other experimental acts such as Battles. This is art music, so when listening it's important not expect any semblance of "following the rules".

I cannot stress enough that the music produced by Animal Collective is not like other music, and I say that in a completely neutral way. You don't listen to it so much as almost study it. The sudden twists and turns can do anything from disturb to make you laugh. This leads to great variety, which helps the group's appeal tremendously. Every song is a distinct, unique experience.

The guiding force behind the album's erratic nature is the vocal work. The lyrics, sung in a manner that often reminds me of the layered vocals of MGMT's Andrew Vanwyngarden, are filled withe indirect imagery and unclear meaning. Combine this with the fact that the listener is often caught off guard by screaming or other, more difficult-to-identify sounds, and you can't help but wonder if what you're listening to is incredibly deep or incredibly insane. This uncertainty just might be the heart of what makes Animal Collective interesting.

I recommend listening to this album at least once, regardless of your taste in music. While this band probably won't make it onto your mp3 player, their one-of-a-kind flavor deserves to experienced.

Sounds like: Battles

-Track Listing-
1. Did You See The Words

2. Grass

3. Flesh Canoe

4. The Purple Bottle

5. Bees

6. Banshee Beat

7. Daffy Duck

8. Loch Raven

9. Turn Into Something

Best- Grass, Bees, Turn Into Something

Worst- ...

Links:

Grass video, appropriately odd.

*Update* Reviews Four, Five, and Six!

Looking forward, I move to:

The albums Feels, Strawberry Jam, and Merriweather Post Pavillion, all by Animal Collective!


This is the first case where I have more than one album by the featured artists, so I've decided to do each album as an individual entry rather than lumping them together. These albums are the group's three most recent LP releases, with five full-length albums before them. If I find I like Animal Collective, I will acquire the rest of their work and comment at some point on their music as a whole.

An Angle - The Truth Is That You Are Alive

Well, it seems my lucky streak has stagnated a bit. While I was really taken with the two previous artists, I find myself quite indifferent to An Angle. This isn't a bad album, it just lacks anything that is interesting enough to stand out to me.

The biggest thing I find fault with in this group is the singer. His voice hovers too closely to the cusp of what I would call annoying, crossing that line more often than I'd like. It often gets in the way of anything good that the instruments are up to, and sadly, instances like that are too rare as it is. On the whole the guitar work plays it very safe, looking to the basics set down by classic rock. I love the classics, but emulating them too closely yields nothing new or interesting. You'd think that the occasional addition of strings and brass would serve to liven things up, but unfortunately when this is done it remains basic as well. Overall this makes the group's music sound too simple and 1-dimensional.

The most frustrating part of listening to this band is hearing them slowly edge towards something cool, but then turn away from it. I thought perhaps this was because they were a young band, with this maybe being their first LP. Upon doing a little research though, I found out that this is their third studio album. If you ask me, by they time they got to this album they should have been skilled enough to put some more dangerous and interesting things into their music, even if they wanted to keep the core sound simple. In summary, this band had potential, but never acted on it. You're better off listening to the bands in the "Sounds Like" section.

Sounds Like: Wilco, Dr. Dog, Bright Eyes

-Track Listing-

1. Oh! Oh! Oh! Trouble!

2. Clean and Gold

3. Falling in Your Arms

4. Even if I...

5. Going to Heaven

6. Child in Me

7. Red River

8. I'm Alright

9. Ghost in the Mirror

10. C'mon C'mon

11. On My Way

12. You Are Loved

Notable tracks:

Best- Clean and Gold, Even if I..., I'm Alright

Worst- Oh! Oh! Oh! Trouble!

Links:

Clean and Gold Music Video This video does a few neat tricks, but for the most part is pretty dumb.

*Update* Third review soon to come!

Next post I'll be looking at:

The album The Truth Is That You Are Alive by An Angle!

Prior Experience:
Artist- Listened to a little bit
Album- Listened to a little bit

This album has been in my collection for a while, but it's barely been listened to. Now I'm going to decide for good whether or not it's worth keeping.

Anathallo - Canopy Glow

The beginner's luck streak continues, because this band is gold. Sweeping orchestration, beautiful male/female paired vocals, and a powerful sense of the epic blend together to make this group a wonderful experience. Voice and instrument play equal roles on the album- some songs are driven primarily by vocal interplay and others by touching instrumental work, but most exist as a balance between the two.

It's very fresh for me to listen to a band that relies sparingly on guitar work but instead runs on a more orchestral sound, particularly brass instruments like trumpet and trombone. I love the guitar and the huge scope of sounds it can make, but I like hearing less popular instruments get some attention. Anathallo makes this very natural, instead of giving off a "Hey look at us we use uncommon instruments just so we stand out" vibe. It's also worth noting that all of the members of this group sing, so they have a lot of voices to draw on instead of always having to turn to layered vocals (which aren't inherently bad, but have to be judged on a case-by-case basis if you ask me).

If you want a strong example of the flavor of the band, turn to the fourth track, The River. It is by far my favorite song on the album, in part because it touches down on everything the band can do, especially their talent for build-up. The album derives its name from the lyrics of this song, and that quality is well-earned.

Sounds Like: Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, Stars, The New Pornographers

-Track Listing-
1. Noni's Field
2. Italo
3. Northern Lights
4. The River
5. Cafetorium
6. Sleeping Torpor
7. All the First Pages
8. John J. Audubon
9. Bells
10. Tower of Babel

Notable Tracks:

Best- Noni's Field, Italo, The River, Bells

Worst- N/A, every piece of music on this album is a well-polished gem.


Links:
The River- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yTlfWv_Mb0
Bells- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EULo90bOGq0

*Update* Next review on its way!

Moving along, my next review will be:

The album Canopy Glow by Anathallo!

Prior Experience:
Album- Never listened
Artist- Never listened

More new stuff! Haza!

The American Analog Set - Set Free

So it begins! The first review of Encyclopedia Eclectica starts now!

I definitely had beginner's luck for the first entry. This album and this group are right up my alley. They have a well-developed, chilled-out sound. If you can blend together in your brain the slight rawness of My Bloody Valentine, the vocal stylings of Small Sins, and the post-rock smoothness of The Sea and Cake, then you have a pretty good impression of the type of music this band produces. It's the kind of thing that you put on, lay down and just let it wash over you. Thinking music, working music. It works just as effectively whether listened to actively or as background. It's also worth noting that this is one of those albums that functions best when listened to as a whole entity, though the individual tracks each have their own merits. The songs are patient, and take their time letting the mellow rhythm guitar, bass, and drums build up a nice bed for the vocals and occasional lead guitar solo-work to lay on top of. The rhythm guitar always has a subtly raw hum, which mixes nicely with the warm rumbling bass and the echoey lead guitar. In this way the songs roll like waves, swelling and pushing forward. It's a cool experience to listen to.

The worst thing I can say about this album is probably that The American Analog Set is not the most energetic group. You aren't going to get very pumped up listening to this band, and if you listen to them tired you may just lull yourself to sleep (I stress that this isn't to say that they're boring, just soft and calming). The most vigorous song on the album is probably First of Four, with it's chugging tempo. Interestingly, this song reminds me the most of The Sea and Cake (particularly their older stuff).

Well, I feel like there really isn't much more to say about this album. It's certainly made a fan out of me, so expect to eventually see another album or two from this group.


Sounds Like: The Sea and Cake, My Bloody Valentine, Small Sins


-Track Listing-
1. Born On the Cusp
2. Immaculate Heart 1
3. Immaculate Heart 2
4. Cool Kids Keep
5. She's Half
6. JR
7. Play Hurt
8. (Theme From) Everything Ends
9. Sharp Briar
10. The Green Green Grass
11. First of Four
12. Fuck This... I'm Leaving

Notable tracks:

Best- Born On the Cusp, Immaculate Heart 1 and 2, She's Half, (Theme From) Everything Ends, First of Four

Worst- Play Hurt*

*This song really isn't bad at all, I just think it's the weakest on the album. Comparitively, I find the guitar riff to get old noticeably faster than on other tracks. Still, it's good for driving or background.


Links:

The whole album on Youtube. For your listening pleasure.

*Update* First review coming soon!

Taking a look at my collection, the subject of the first review falls to:

The album Set Free by The American Analog Set!

Prior experience:
Album- Never listened
Artist- Never listened

Looks like I already get to dive into something new. Yay varily! Now to begin listening... expect the review within the week.

Forward -OR- You should probably read this first...

Hello hello hello!

This entry marks the start of a modest little project that I've always been meaning to get off the ground. The idea is far from new, or original, but I hope that nonetheless it will prove interesting. At the very least it will be satisfying as part of my own records.

This blog has two main objectives, one of which is for you (or us, I suppose) and the other more or less exclusively for me. These objectives are:

1. Musical review and commentary (Us- myself, and you, the reader). Artist, album, song, past, present, future... the whole deal. What I liked, what I didn't like, and why. I aim to be as level-headed as possible in my reviews and will try to be as very thorough in describing the rationale behind my thoughts. Of course, I admit that like anyone else I bring my own tastes and musical prejudices to the table, so this will in no way be a completely impartial blog. Even so, I will say that my tastes are vast and varied, and it is genuinely difficult for me to say I actually hate something. I imagine that this blog will contain a lot of "it's alright", "decent", and other such neutral terms. That's just how I am; even if I don't expressly like something I doubt I'll go as far as to say I hate it. Even when I dislike something I'll probably speak of it's merits in some way or another. Essentially, this blog is not meant to be designed just so I can hate on what I don't like and glorify what I do.

2. Motivation (Just me). Over the years I have acquired a rather large amount of music, and my collection continues to grow through the efforts of myself and people I know. At the rate I get new music I don't believe I could ever keep up and listen to all of it at a casual rate. I have a habit of getting caught on a particular song, album, or artist for weeks at a time. In itself this is no big deal, because just about everyone listens to music in this way, but I hate when someone is looking through my collection and says "Oh I love so-and-so" and I have to embarassingly admit that while I own the artist's entire discography to date I have no idea if I like them or not. I believe that running this blog will motivate me to keep up with my collection and give all of my songs the attention they deserve.

Some facts:
-My mp3 player of choice is the Microsoft Zune (30 Gigabytes, original release, affectionately referred to sometimes as the "1970's iPod") and so I use the Zune player software to organize and play all of my music. I harbor no hatred for Apple, Macs, or the iPod, but rather I simply prefer Zune, its interface, and its software.
-Though my Zune holds up to 30 gigs, my collection far exceeds this number and is ever-growing. Thus, my Zune serves more as a collection of favorites and in doing so further discourages me from listening to new material.
-The blog will vary between reviewing entire artists and individual albums, depending on factors such as how much time I've had to listen to an artist, how many albums they've released in total, etc.
-The blog will begin in alphabetical order according to the arrangement of artists in my Zune player software, but soon will break down into something more random as new artists are added to my collection and artists already reviewed release new material.
-Though I've already stated that my tastes are very wide, there are some things I just cannot bring myself to like. As a general rule, I don't enjoy music that has a lot of screaming or growling vocals. The screaming begins to annoy me after a time, and I have a hard time taking growling vocals seriously because of how ridiculous they sound. As this blog goes on other trends in my dislikes will make themselves apparent, I'm sure. Keep in mind that I've genuinely tried to get myself to enjoy the things I don't like in music, but failed.
-If forced to name a favorite artist, I will generally answer with Modest Mouse. They are among the most thoroughly-documented groups in my collection, and their album Good News For People Who Love Bad News was the first CD I ever bought, so they occupy a warm place in my heart. Still, like any band they have their place, and I would say I have several favorite bands rather than just one.
-I am a bassist, and so you might find that I pay more attention to the bass than the average person would. I love all instruments, though. That includes you, kazoo.
-I'll do my best to post examples of songs and music videos, or at least provide links to places to find such things.

Again, hello and welcome!