Pitchfork gave the new Animal Collective record a 9.6 rating today, confirming their love for all things AC. Merriweather Post Pavilion is the newest release from the freak-folkers, as they create layer upon layer of sound. This album is distinguished from the others by its dance focus, keeping the ambient layers of sound that they are most noted for, but adding some undeniably catchy beats, and giving us more straightforward vocals and song structures.
Pitchfork's rating gives Animal Collective a clear lead for the 2009 Album Of the Year. You know what I say to that? Just wait for Andrew Bird, people. (And Wilco)
MP3: My Girls
Music video for "Fireworks", from 2007's Strawberry Jam.
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I thought I'd leave some of my characteristically lengthy comments and questions here to celebrate the opening of this splendid blog. I gave the mp3 a listen, and it does indeed sound rather danceable. As a music critic, what is your take on dancing and music? Would you agree with Mr. Stephen Fry, the noted British humorist, who says:
ReplyDelete"The division is between music you can dance to or music you can’t...I like to listen to it, to hear the line of it, to follow the lyrics and to allow it work inside me. I do not want to use it as an exercise track for a farcical, meaningless, disgusting, brainless physical public exhibition of windmilling, gyrating and thrashing in a hot, loud room or hall."
Or do you think instead that music and dancing go hand in hand, and that together, they form a higher form of cultural expression? Look at dancing in rituals around the world, look at dancing as a form of human expression and contact, dancing perhaps even as art. Pitchfork gave the record a good review, is that an endorsement of its danceability? Do you think it could have reached even greater heights if it had shunned the beats? Does it even matter? My face glows crimson with embarrassment as I drivel on apace, already I've written a first comment longer than your first post, and yet the questions fascinate me. What is a critic's take?