Tag: animal collective

Playlists

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 73: Revisiting Wallet Chains

Back in the early 2000s I met this guy Sean. Like my friend Erik, my high school friends Mike and Steve, or Henry Rollins, he was another curator. Each had or have their pocket, and with Sean it was the indie rock and pop that suddenly blasted off at the beginning of the millennium, stretching onward. He would send me huge .zip files of albums to check out, and it was through him that I was drawn into bands like Tegan and Sara, Deerhunter, Stars, and more. I would take everything and load it into a playlist I playfully titled Wallet Chains, after the accessory that was maddeningly popular at the time, and that Sean himself wore around the office with pride.

For some reason this week I looked back and fell back…hard. It triggered the realization that it had been years – in some cases over a decade since I engaged in a lot of music I love simply because I was obsessed with something else (prog, the Dead, you name it). So this is a quick look at what I turned and tuned my ears to over the past week in that vein.

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CD

Animal Collective: Centipede Hz (2012)

My first thought when I finished listening to Coming to Centipede Hz was that I wish I had taken a few more days to expand upon the brief entry I posted for Merriweather Post Pavilion. Where that album found Animal Collective opening up and exploring new avenues born out of circumstance (guitarist Deakin took a leave of absence), Centipede Hz feels like an awkward attempt to fold Deakin back into a mix that was built for the opposite purpose.  Continue reading “Animal Collective: Centipede Hz (2012)”

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CD

Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

If I had a college “experimental” phase it was about a decade or so after graduating from college and involved (surprise) music as opposed to anything more prurient and, you know…fun.  Tired of the monotony of metal and hanging out with a bunch of friends who were younger than me I started to dip a toe into the pool of indie rock and pop, or as I liked to call it (and still do) “Pitchfork Music.”  Things like Blonde Redhead, Kasabian, Smoosh, Grizzly Bear, Dirty projectors….and yes, Animal Collective.  If there was any album that was constantly raised on a pedastal as the be all, end all of independent pop music, it was their 2009 album Merriweather Post Pavilion.  So of course I had to buy it…  Continue reading “Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)”

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