If I Could Just Leave My Body For A Night

Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective

Insound

Certain albums simply define entire periods of a person's life. For me, 2007 was largely devoted to Of Montreal's amazing Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, while 2006 was Minus the Bear's entire discography up to that year. For most of 2009, I hadn't really listened to much music until I finally listened to Merriweather Post Pavilion. This probably isn't uncommon for most people. As one of the best-received album in years (they got a 9.6 on Pitchfork, for goodness sake), most people are at the very least aware of Animal Collective, and even more have strong opinions about them (Because of this, it's almost embarrassing to seriously attempt a review of it).

I started listening to Animal Collective years before I heard "My Girls" for the first time, after hearing "Chores" and "Fireworks". Even though I liked them, I tend to enjoy music for only short cycles, and soon enough I had forgotten about Animal Collective. The next time I heard Animal Collective, I was in a cafe working when "My Girls" came on the radio. It may have been the extremely shitty stereo, or it may have been the unbearable heat and frustrating customers (this particular cafe is located by a Gene Juarez salon, whose hair stylists would be almost likable if they weren't uppity-snobs that never ever tip), but I absolutely hated what I heard. I spent several months completely ignoring the album, which wasn't hard to do when my computer crashed and all my music disappeared.

At some point in the year, however, my stubbornness was finally broken when I realized I wasn't finding any good music to listen to on my own. I no longer had people recommending me music to listen to, and it had been such a long time since I had looked up music on a site like Elbo.ws or Hype Machine that I really didn't know where to start. Well aware of the fact that most albums I hate I eventually love, I turned to Merriweather Post Pavilion.

I'd rather not try to go through each song and pick it apart, lyric by lyric, simply because I realize how long this post has already become (and also because I am itching to just get distracted and procrastinate on publishing this yet again). Anyone familiar with any Animal Collective song knows that there is rarely a clear narrative to any song. Much of the vocals are lost in reverbs, noise, and sometimes just complete vocal distortions so as to render any word incomprehensible. Instead, songs center around a general feeling or event which may only become evident after sitting down carefully with a pair of good headphones and the lyrics next to you. Even so, there are few bands that can capture a single emotion as keenly as Animal Collective.

I Need Some Video Games

It's been a very long time since I just wrote crap, just put down my crappy thoughts here. Not the less-crappy thoughts that I dress up in sloppy metaphors, but the real verbal crap, like what I'm spewing out right now.


I simply cannot attempt another album review, because I feel that my last three have been pretty sub par. My mind feels like mush, I've been bruising my brain, beating it against these impenetrable albums that I want to say something brilliant about.


Why am I just blathering like this? Because I worry that the blog is getting further away from me. Further away from the reality of me. 90% of everything I say on any given day is verbal garbage. In most conversations I have (online, of course, because I rarely have real human interaction) I am either laughing or screaming "aaahhhhhhh". And in reality, that is pretty much the same inside of my brain.


On nights like this, when I'm bored to death, I kind of wish I had some video games.


Okay. In order to validate this being published, at all, here is a little playlist of the songs I've been enjoying.


Animal Collective - "Daily Routine (Phaseone Remix)"
Casiokids - "En Vill Hest"
Cults - "Go Outside"
Cults - "Most Wanted"
The Russian Futurists - "Precious Metals"
Vampire Weekend - "Giving Up The Gun"


And for laughs: RAAAAAAAANDY and Dave Sitek - "Baby Baby (ft. DJ Ol' Youngin')"
Watch the video for this on Pitchfork.




So here ends the reminder that I am just a crappy little person eating my crappy little peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner, bored out of my mind.

Explanation Mark

Today I am enjoying the glitches and voice samples that is The Books. I'm not exactly ready to blog about them quite yet, though. I've taken quite a few breaks from the project in the last few days, but I feel that this will be the last break for a while.

The day was spent trekking through the Botanical Gardens. I originally intended on walking from the Lake Hills library to the small botanical garden (or is it a nursery?) that is tucked away that can only be accessed by a trail through a small forest. I haven't been back there in four years, so it's very likely I would not have found it at all. Today I'm just thankful for my friends who make time for me even though I rarely want to crawl out of the house.

I feel that it would be cheating not to share any music yet again, so here are a couple of songs that I have been enjoying lately.

"My My" - Menomena

I specifically enjoy this song for the lyric: "What if I sold everything I own/And ran away from everyone I know/Could I make another place my home?". At the time when I heard it, I was sitting on the bus with my ipod on shuffle, reflecting on how I had decided to push away every single one of my friends, and wondering how far this isolation could take me. Serendipity.

"The Purple Bottle" - Animal Collective

It's hard for me to keep track of all my favorite Animal Collective song, there are just way too many. Nobody does a love song like Animal Collective. The first time I heard it, my favorite lyric was "I wear a coat of feelings and they are loud", but as I listen to it again and again, other lines jump out at me, like "Can I tell you that you are the purple in me?"

"Giving Up the Gun" - Vampire Weekend

Of course I have to put some new music here. I've been listening to Contra too much (almost), and "Giving Up the Guns" immediately caught my attention because of the lines "When I was 17 I had wrists like steel and I felt complete/And now my body fades behind a brass charade and I'm obsolete/But if the chance remained to see those better days I'd cut my cannons down".

"Rainwater Cassette Exchange" - Deerhunter

"Two weeks of misery/Capture my heart and destroy me/Destroy my mind and my body/And make like a disease/And conquer me". Who can resist that?!

"Wrestlers" - Hot Chip

I just enjoy the fact that they would sing about wrestling.

For the rest of the week I don't think that I will take any breaks from the 365 project. Which means next up will be, The Books' The Lemon of Pink, The Thermals' The Body The Blood The Machine, Vitalic's OK Cowboy and Arctic Monkeys' Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. I have to make quite a few skips because I haven't been able to find quite a few albums on my list.

Peacebone

It's been a week since I started my project, which means only 51 more to go. I reviewed five of the albums on my list thus far, a barely negligible dent on this massive project.


There are more albums than I thought I wouldn't be able to find, such as Max Tundra's Mastered By the Guy at the Exchange. I'm looking forward to actually putting an effort in finding these albums, whether it be at the library or going out to buy these albums.


Surprisingly, the project has actually improved my life; I think people rarely pay enough attention to embrace the things in their life. The lyrics and the music has definitely saved small pieces of me that I've tucked away in the past three years.


It's been a better week than I thought it would be.


On the other hand, the project has been kind consuming. I haven't exactly had a chance to talk about the things I want to, like sharing the newest Animal Collective music video for "Brother Sport", which as far as I can tell is still only on Pitchfork.


There have been a couple albums I've been enjoying, not necessarily because they're works of art but because they're just easy to listen to, such as Island's last release, Vapours. The songs aren't necessarily the deepest, or most beautiful lyrically, but the songs are pretty synth-friendly and upbeat. Another would be Junior Boys' Begone Dull Care, which, again, is a very easy to listen to album. My favorite track would probably be "Dull to Pause", and I feel that it peaks at "Hazel" (after which the songs kind of seem to burn out).


And if anyone knows a better way to convert FLAC to MP3s, please tell me. Currently the only truly free program is WinAmp, which is a really annoying program. I tried some other programs that exclusively convert FLAC to MP3, but most of them were only trial versions, and it gets frustrating when, after every button you push, it pops up a question if you'd like to upgrade. So help! I have too many albums stuck in FLAC!

Run Into Flowers

Today necessitates a break from my project; even on the most perfect days, sometimes the music just doesn't reach you. Which is a shame, since the music I've been listening to today have been really wonderful -- Air's Talkie Walkie, M83's Saturdays=Youth, and Animal Collective's Feels.


This house is too noisy; the breathing of the heat vents, the air purifiers, the inhabitants. The gurgle of water, hiss of the stove and everything is too cramped. When I want to be floating along with the lofty "Banshee Beat", I'm trudging through this house, it's dirty carpets and asylum walls holding me in. It's the sound of other people's thoughts intruding my brain, clogging my ear canals and using my synapses, and I'm having trouble feeling more than just human.


But on the other hand, it's good to be grounded; I'm tired of floating through these albums. I'm being stretched thin, I grasp at a lyric and the next day it's already changed. Instead of trying to achieve something higher, it's just the music and me, and it's a merciful release.


It's been a tough day, but Animal Collective always seems to make it easier. I'm especially in love with "Loch Raven". 

Two Sails

I didn't even realize that today was New Year's Eve. So here's another year brought in by internet, television (Family Guy on my laptop and a Jackie Chan marathon going on for my mom) and standing by the microwave waiting for my dinner to finish -- mm, water, salt, half-cooked rice and something called "pork fu". Which isn't so bad, since that's how every year passes by; my family doesn't really have much of a new year's tradition, and we aren't allowed to go out at night. One thing to look forward to is hanging out with my friend Jessie, which will be a first since last summer. She attends RISD and came back for the holidays, though unfortunately we didn't have time to see each other until 2010. And then there will be my sister's birthday, the last day of my vacation, and then back out into the world on January 4th.

So how did I spend my day?  Of course with the 365 day project. I managed to finish writing down all 185 albums that are definitely going to be on my list, and I also wrote down a lot of runners up -- 168 of them. I'm still trying to figure out the last 65 albums for my list, which is much harder than you'd think. I'm quite biased, to be honest, and I'm tempted to add albums that may be good, but not necessarily the top 250 of the past decade.


Rest assured, as soon as the list is finished it will be shared here.

This House Is Sad

Is anyone else looking forward to the Geminid Meteor shower on the 13th (which also happens to be my mom's birthday)? I know that the Leonids made their impression last month, which unfortunately came and went for me, despite being looked forward to for a while. We'll see if I remember this one. Personally, though I do think it gets too dark too fast, one benefit is that you can see the stars that much sooner. So maybe I'm lazy and I don't want to wait until eleven at night to see the stars. It's nice to walk home and look up at the stars while listening to "Leaf House" by Animal Collective (and even more fun when you crank it up and try to sing along to all the 'ah ah ah ah's).


I was planning on wearing my earmuffs and earbuds, but then I thought, you know what's a lot like earmuffs and earbuds? Over the ear headphones. That's right. I brought my actual headphones with me to school, and if they didn't provide warmth at the very least they were better quality than the ipod earbuds. I personally kind of want to get another pair of over the ear headphones, just so I can take them with me when I'm going out. The ones I have now are pretty nice, but the cord is about six feet long, and it's frustrating to jam that all in your pocket inconspicuously.


You know what else is inconspicuous? Leaving through the window.

Just a Second More in My Bed

I'm only just discovering the bliss of Pepperidge Farm cookies and hot cocoa. The weather might be exceedingly cold, but I think I still prefer the cold to the heat. The only thing I have to say is that, sadly, none of my clothes seem to protect me from anything. I was literally bundled all the way up to my eyes, and my entire body was frozen solid (and did not thaw out at all for the few hours I was in the library studying).


The only other reflection I would like to add is that there is a very simple and fundamental joy and freedom in walking. Maybe in just motion itself, but particularly the slow and calm natural rhythms that occur as you walk. I'm sure that the phenomenon that you naturally adjust your walking rhythm to the music you listen to is not new. Or the seeming coincidence when you listen to a song and find that someone is walking exactly to the beat of your music. Walking is deceptively rhythmic and infinitely soothing. Sometimes the happiest parts of my day are the parts where I'm walking by myself.


If you need some walking music, then let me please suggest these four tracks:
Animal Collective - "Summertime Clothes", "Daily Routines", "Bluish" and "Daily Routines (Phaseone Remix)".


And yes, I'll concede that there has been a recent influx of Animal Collective fanaticism. But come on! How can you help it? Have you revisited Merriweather Post Pavilion yet?


Fine. If you want something other than Animal Collective, then here's Flaming Lips "I Can Be A Frog (ft. Karen O)". (Happy now?!) It's interesting that though "I Can Be A Frog" is a far cry from "She Don't Use Jelly" musically, I feel like the theme of both songs are generally consistent. The image in both are of a girl who does whatever she wants (a crude simplification of both songs). Personally I find that "I Can Be A Frog" is better, but I guess it is also a fun reflection on the progression of musical ingenuity, not only of the Flaming Lips themselves but also just music as a whole.

Bluish

Alright, well today was an utter failure. But I'm looking on the bright side, which is a new thing for me. I am doing a double post today, simply because I felt that it was unfair not to post some music.


I feel that it might be a fun opportunity to go through some specific songs that I personally really like. So, be prepared for good music and not so good analyses of it!


Animal Collective - "Bluish"
It seems only suitable to start off with an Animal Collective song. Every time I think, "Maybe Merriweather Post Pavilion was just overhyped; maybe it really isn't the best Animal Collective album to date", I listen to it again and I realize that yes, it just is that good.
"Bluish" in particular I like, mainly because it's such a sweet song. One of my favorite lines include: "Back to the time when we were green/I know we have changed/But I still grin 'cause I can't wait to see you".


The Antlers - "Thirteen" and "Wake"
Okay, I'm going to cheat a little here and put two tracks, simply because "Thirteen" is very short. But honestly, the vocals on that song are just haunting and beautiful. And "Wake" has affected me a lot, the line "It was easier to lock the doors and kill the phone than to show my skin" resonates with me.


Atlas Sound - "Quick Canal" and "Walkabout"
Well these two tracks have already been talked about a great deal; Bradford Cox collaborated with people, and they're both two of the better tracks on the album (though I'll hesitate to use the words "best" or "only good ones"). "Quick Canal" I find really beautiful, with lines like "I thought saints were born saints/so indeed we didn't stand a chance", but turning it around at the end, singing "I thought saints were born saints/I looked in the dirt/and found that wisdom is learnt/through a costly process/of success and failure". And you simply have to love "Walkabout", if not because of Noah Lennox then because it's simply one of the happiest songs I've heard in a while. And it's not just the sound; the lyrics are pretty fantastic too: "Through looking back you may go blind", as well as the repeat of "What did you want to see/What did you want to be when you grew up?".


Dirty Projectors - "Two Doves"
So I get that a lot of people have heard "Stillness is the Move", if not by the Dirty Projectors themselves then by Solange. It may or may not be the best song you heard on the album, whatever. Personally, I still can't get over the lyrics in "Two Doves" -- lines like, "Our bed is like a failure". Maybe it's just me, but the command "Kiss me with your mouth open" is something that feels truly honest.


The Drums - "Down By the Water" and Atlas Sound - "Shelia"
Okay, I am aware that I already put two Atlas Sound songs, but bear with me for a second. I was reading an interview Bradford Cox did on Pitchfork, where he described "Shelia" as an asexual song, and after reading his description of it (where it's not so much a "heterosexual song" but a song that just describes not wanting to die alone, and wishing for the type of relationship that is intimate but not necessarily sexual), and it transformed "Down By the Water" for me as well. Though they do sing about being with someone forever, they sing it sincerely, and lines like "If they stop loving you/I won't stop loving you/If they stop needing you/I'll still need you" could be sung to a best friend, or anyone that matters to you. Of course, if "asexual songs" aren't your cup of tea, these are still easily two romantic songs.


Girls - "Morning Light"

Okay, these lyrics are short enough that I can just put them here and let them speak for themselves: "meet me in the morning light/we know it won't last forever/wear it out while it feels right/we know that it's now or never/meet me in the sky tonight/we could fly away together/maybe if we try it right/we could make our love forever."

And now, I feel that I should be getting ready for bed.

You're Not the Only

So I guess I'm kind of a lazy cheater, at least when it comes to finding new music. But really, Pitchfork makes it much too easy. Not to say that I buy every single thing that they say. But...I have to say that I am a reformed Pitchfork hater. And aside from that, I love their best new music section, especially best new tracks.

I may have jumped at Animal Collective, and overlooked Beach House's new song, "Norway". (Well who wouldn't, it's Animal fucking Collective).

Oh, and if I can expound on Animal Collective some more, the lyrics to "What Would I Want? Sky" are just too amazing.

What would I want... Sky!

Is everything alright?
You feeling lonely?
You feeling homely?
You're not the only
Is everything alright?
You feeling moany?
you feeling stoney?
You're not the only
Do you get up up up?
I stop and go above me
Too bad they can't help me
Here in the right way
Do I get up up up?
I stop and look around me
Green, where the color should be
What is the right way?
Old glasses clinking and a new board is blinking
and I -
I should be floating but I'm weighted by thinking
That I got on the river
Really can't make it change
And the sky got filled up too fast
and the taxi man's saying, "You betta
give him your money;
stop daydreaming, dude!"
When the point of horizon is hiding from you
What would you want? sky?

Are you taking it lightly?
Lost in the flurries
You start to worry
You will be buried
Taking it lightly
and so I hurry
I start to worry
Here come them flurries

Do you get up up up?
I stop and go above me
Too bad they can't help me
What is the right way?
Do I get up up up?
I stop and look around me
Green, where the color should be
What is the right way?
Old glasses clinking and a new board is blinking
and I -
I should be floating but I'm weighted by thinking
That I got on the river
Really can't make it change
And the sky got filled up too fast
and the taxi man's saying, "You betta
give him your money;
stop daydreaming, dude!"
When the point of horizon is hiding from you
What would you want? sky!
What would I want? sky!
What would I want? sky!

What Would I Want? Sky

I am well aware that I am extremely biased, but the new Animal Collective track, "What Would I Want? Sky" is just too awesome.

But, if you don't trust someone who has loved Animal Collective since Feels (and also loved everything retroactively since Feels), check it out. They got a tennnnnn!