Animal Collective : Merriweather Post Pavillion :: Review
The almost perfect score for Animal Collective’s ‘Merriweather Post Pavillion’ album on Pitchfork bothered me with its embarrassing masturbatory excess. It’s not that Animal Collective ever struck a nerve with me nor did they bore the shit out of me. I just thought I had heard it all before. I just assumed Animal Collective was another band with a 60’s and early 70’s fixation. On their previous release, ‘Strawberry Jam,’ Animal Collective seemed smugly satisfied as if they created something brand new when they merged psychedelic rock (early Pink Floyd) with Beach Boys melodies.
Big deal, surely this had been done before. Now they have upped the ante by incorporating both krautrock and layered rhythms into their mix of styles and they’re supposed to be the next big thing? I guess I don’t get it because it still seems like I’ve heard it all before. Maybe I’m getting older and this stuff doesn’t knock my socks off the way it does a collegiate kid. Maybe I’ll get it ten years from now, or maybe I should just shut up about it and let the kids talk about it all night in coffee houses.
Regardless, ‘Merriweather Post Pavillion’ is a listenable album with an Electro-Beach Boys pysch sound and that’s about the depth of the level I can enjoy it on. Standout tracks include “In The Flowers,” “Guys Eyes,” “Bluish” and “Lion In A Coma.”
