It hurts.
Suggested songs for listening: None. This really sucks.
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| Yay. Leaves in space. Makes perfect sense when you're ON ACID. |
*Sigh*… Well, here we go…
You might be wondering why I chose this album as the piece
of work to return to after a short hiatus from writing my reviews. I happened
to spot that Animal Collective had released a new album recently and remembered
my first experience with them once day while watching music videos. The song “For
My Girls” somehow made it onto the screen and I watched that acid-induced
horror from start to finish, never to be the same again. Here I am, years
later, wondering if I can give them a second shot. I tried to be open-minded, I
really did. But Animal Collective has collectively made me want to hit myself
in the head with a bat.
Look, I’m going to give it away early this time: I hate this
album. I hate Animal Collective. I’d love to throw them and their stupid
keyboards off a cliff into the sea to end the pain-inducing synth-wank that is
every single one of their songs. But I guess I should probably give an
explanation or something, so here we go.
Apparently, “Merriweather Post Pavilion” is one of Animal
Collective’s more acclaimed albums from their surprisingly large repertoire. However,
I have an issue with it from the very beginning: it is ridiculously
over-produced. Maybe this is to be expected from a group of dudes jamming
around with MIDI and experimenting with sounds from nature, but it’s too much.
There comes a time when cramming every sound possible into a song is a BAD
idea. Layering is fantastic when done correctly; addiction of more instrument
variety (i.e. orchestral parts) can fill a song with welcomed sonic body.
Taking ambient noises and stuffing them into an already MIDI-filled nightmare
is not going to have a pretty result. Animal Collective failed to receive that
memo and figured out the most grating trebles I’ve ever heard to smash onto the
top of each song. The product is a bloated, overwhelming song with everything
going wrong.
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| Man, it even hurts him to hear his own music... |
Let’s point out some great examples. What in the world is
that stupid synth riff doing in “Daily Routine”? Why did they have to use the
most annoying twang sound in “Lion In A Coma”? Why are the first two songs
laden with high, scratchy treble garbage that covers everything over? Why do
they suddenly tone everything down in the boring loop called “No More Runnin’”?
How high were these guys when they wrote this crap?
Speaking of treble, it should be noted that the EQ on this entire album is basically stuck in the
1000+ Hertz range with nothing below for support. There are heavily mixed drum
beats here and there, but for the most part I was gritting my teeth at each
crescendo when the higher notes shredded my ear drums. This leads to the
problem that every song feels like a large balloon you desperately have to hold
onto, assuring that it doesn’t just float away. Rarely does there come a point
where you feel the beat and want to jam out; most of the songs are atmospheric
and painfully thin. Even when a decent beat comes around, it is suffocated by a
cluster of whiny vocals and strange synthetic sound, or it becomes so estranged
to the song itself that it simply doesn’t sound like it fits.
The next issue lies within song structure itself. All the
songs in “Merriweather Post Pavilion” are repetitive as hell. Animal Collective
seems most content to sink into a loop for far too long, creating a dulling
sensation in the brain. This music is not for listening; it is for numbing. After hearing the singers croon
the same incoherent line for a minute straight, my brain shuts off. To make it
more interesting you could try to listen to each part, but it probably won’t
fit with whatever else is happening. You can try to hear what the vocals are
saying, but the reverb and dissonance usually cuts the words into garbled
fragments. It is truly a mess.
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| ..... Just.... no..... |
One might argue that bands like Between The Buried And Me do
the same thing as Animal Collective: throw random riffs and sounds at a wall
until something barely sticks, then lump it all together with fine tuning. A
careful listener will easily hear the rhyme and reason in songs written by
BTBAM and other bands like them; no such thing is found in Animal Collective’s
music. This is randomness at its finest. This is LSD garage jams recorded on a
cell phone and halfway recreated in a studio somehow. This is not good writing.
This is not good music.
I’m having trouble making this review any longer because the
music pisses me off so much. The treble shrieks hurt my ears, my brain is
confused in the worst way possible, and yet I am so very bored. The burning
questions are not only why people actually love this crap but also why such a
pretentious piece of trash is regarded as one of their best albums. Listening
to this album is one of the least enjoyable experiences I’ve had in a long
time. I don’t care how calculated this “music” may sound in any way—it’s not.
It’s not good. It’s not even mediocre. This is crap. Animal Collective’s “Merriweather
Post Pavilion” sticks itself a:
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| 1 thought of suicide out of 7. |
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