Album Review: Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Before 2009, Animal Collective was known for a specific brand of auditory chaos—freak folk, clattering noise, and primal screams. However, Merriweather Post Pavilion represented a radical shift toward electronic pop. Inspired by the pulsating beats of dance music and the liquid surrealism of Panda Bear’s solo work, the album is a study in texture. It is famously difficult to separate the individual instruments; guitars are processed beyond recognition, and synthesizers bleed into vocal harmonies. The sound is aquatic, a sonic representation of a fever dream. It is famously difficult to separate the individual
For many fans, the represents a nostalgic sweet spot. It is small enough to fit on an original iPod Classic (the 160GB model, of course), yet high-fidelity enough to reveal the "grain" of the synthesizers. It is the file that lived on college radio station hard drives and teenage laptops during the Obama inauguration winter. It is small enough to fit on an
Because the demand for is high, the web is flooded with "transcodes"—files that were ripped at 128kbps and then artificially converted to 320kbps. They look like 320 on your screen but sound terrible. guitars are processed beyond recognition
— by 2009, Animal Collective had already shifted from freak-folk to psych-pop. This album (“My Girls,” “Summertime Clothes”) became their mainstream breakthrough. Listing the year + bitrate might be a nostalgic nod to the blog era when this was the indie album to download.