So, in thinking about a topic for my posts, the best I could come up with is the occasional rant on the day to day malaise that is BYU, the occasional album review (like this one will be), or something else entirely. As you can see I'm really limiting myself.
So, I bought Animal Collective's newest album, Centipede Hz, this week, and I'm absolutely amazed. I haven't been able to stop listening to or talking about it since spending the $9.99 through iTunes Monday.
Now I can't claim to have been a fan of Animal Collective for an extended period of time. In fact I only own Merriweather Post Pavilion, that dropped back in 2009, and pieces of Strawberry Jam. Though I have Leaf House from Sung Tongs too and I love it.
Anyway, I can comfortably say that Centipede Hz is different. Very much so. Expect less of the dreamy loops that made masterpieces like My Girls and Brother Sport, and look towards more driving beats, affected synth, and nearly insane tones that could only come from Avey Tare.
On a high note, the lyricism doesn't disappoint. I fell in love with the insane poetic babblings of Animal Collective with lines like, "You've got to take what he said to help you shape the way you play, you got to get rid of the mourning, sort out the habits of your mind," and, "Midsummer nights and I'm stripped to my sheets, my forehead is leaking my AC squeaks." Centipede Hz doesn't fall short in this aspect. Applesauce's ramblings, involving fruit and the existential, offers up pearls such as, "I eat a mango and I'm feeling like a little honey can roll."
Now, this means nearly nothing to me, but fits brilliantly into the feel and flow of the song like most of their lyrics are probably meant to do. Avey's voice once again becomes another instrument falling into the infinite, swirling, ever evolving bliss that is Animal Collective.
I cant quite explain this album with the limited vocab available to me, but the word 'esoteric' comes to mind, and will do as well as anything else I've said.
I'd recommend this album to anyone looking for something that's pushing the bounds of music to their utmost extreme. Or somebody that wants something new. Centipede Hz is somehow old, new, and perfectly Animal Collective all at once.
So I hope that made at least a little but of sense. Sorry for waxing eloquent, and another sorry to everyone that I've forced to listen to these songs for the past several days.
Be expecting big things from this blog in the future. But not too big. Expectations too high lead to disappointment. So actually don't expect anything, and maybe you'll be happily surprised.
Love from the land of bad drivers, non-caffeinated beverages, and bad movie Fridays,
Johnson
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