Animal Collective

[FACE]

THIS NEW ONE!!!
Every album is different. I will try to explain.

Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished - This is just Avey Tare and Panda Bear (check out Person Pitch, too. Seriously. In my Top 5, ever.).  Relatively speaking, this is hardly easy listening... but it will definitely attract you from the first listen - or alienate you until you understand and listen and listen and listen again and again and again. Vocals are hushed, music is noisy. But underneath lies beautiful poppy lines that are only discovered upon further listening.
HIGHLIGHTS: Chocolate Girl, Spirit They've Vanished

Hollindagain - This is one of my favorites, but is in the same vein as Spirit... Very avant garde, out there. I love it, but if you're just starting out and looking for something "easy" and "digestible", I wouldn't start here. Build to this one.
HIGHLIGHTS: I See You Pan, Forest Gospel

Campfire Songs - This, to me, is the saddest record they've put out. It's droney, at times, "up" at others, but overall I'd say it has a melancholic vibe.  It is perfect in it's execution, as if everything is in it's right place.  AC really artfully master their craft in this album.  "beautifully natural and naturally beautiful"
HIGHLIGHTS: Doggy, Queen in my Pictures

Here Comes The Indian - A more psychedelic, tribal album.  THis might be one of the more controversial album when it comes to the public --- people tend to not like it as much as the others. All four members play on this one, for the first time.
HIGHLIGHTS: Slippi, Hey Light

Sung Tongs - Freak folk at it's best! Dancey, indecipherable lyrics, good beats, but with that said not "dumb". I think sometimes "good beats" and "dancey" can mean "unsophisticated" and I think that it is the opposite.  Great lyrics, sophisticated melodies and harmonies.  Great starting place.
HIGHLIGHTS: Winters Love, Leaf House, We Tigers

Feels - This is one of their more beautiful albums.  It's slow and poppy with great melodies, subtle beats, predictable yet unpredictable.  Delicate synth lines, beautiful piano and lyrics, when you can understand them.  Another one of my favorites.
HIGHLIGHTS: Purple Bottle, Banshee Beat

Strawberry Jam - Probalby my least favorite, but liked a lot by people who like the more digestible tracks.  This is not to say there aren't great songs --- Derek, Chores, Rev. Green -- I think it might just be a bit much. The lyrics are goofy and whacky, which is something very unlike Animal Collective.  Panda doesn't sing so much on this one, it is mostly Avey featured.  A good place to start if you're looking for more poppy and "silly".
HIGHLIGHTS: Derek, Chores

Merriweather Post Pavillion - So very impressive.  It is poppy and fun and deep and sophisticated and so layered with great rhythms and melodies and harmonies and lyrics.  This one features Panda, and Avey's songs are not silly.  The album flows so perfectly, especially on vinyl.
HIGHLIGHTS: Brother Sport, My Girls, Guys Eyes


What's important to remember is that they are inconstant in the best way possible. They're not repetitive and are always doing something new, and they've yet to fail.

I can't say a good starting place, because I don't know what kind of music you're into when it comes to experimental and progressive stuff. Weirdo out there or poppy and fun...
You decide.

[mjkoehler]

Damn Jenny. I will have to digest all of this. I like both the strange and out there and the poppy and fun.
Thanks a zillion girly girl.

[FACE]

yes, yes.
people should help me. I am not the only word. That's just my opinion
Anyway let me know how it goes.

[primushead]

I'm getting Meriweather tomorrow...I'm excited.

[FACE]

yeaaaaaah!!!

[The DARK]

Wow, that's a pretty comprehensive list...I only own Strawberry Jam right now (not that impressed), so I'm hoping that I'm not let down by Merriweather, which I'll be buying asap.

[BH]

Drove 7 miles at lunch (no big deal) to buy this and the dude says they only got three this morning and they are all gone.  Doh!

And no Bon Iver ep either.

[Ghosts_on_TV]

Drove 7 miles at lunch (no big deal) to buy this and the dude says they only got three this morning and they are all gone.  Doh!

And no Bon Iver ep either.

My local indy store didn't have Bon Iver either. Or the deluxe Andrew Bird. I did however, get regular Noble Beast and Merriweather. I've been listening to the Merriweather for a couple weeks now, and it's great. Noble Beast is currantly kicking my ass right now. SO GOOD.  8-)

[Foxtrot76]

They've released a video for My Girls. Awesome.

http://www.myanimalhome.net/mygirls.html

[ultravisitor]

Of all the Animal Collective albums I've heard, this may be the most appealing -- but still, it's no Fever Ray.

[pawpaw]

 :D I LOVE THE NEW ALBUM!!! :D

I can barely pull myself away from the first song, In The Flowers, to continue through the album..."If I could just leave my body for the night."...and[size=18]BOOM[/size]. God I love that...This is just a wonderful, wonderful album.

I'm going to miss the Northern California tour dates, which I'm QUITE dissapointed about...they're playing the reborn Fox Theatre in Oakland, and then the fuckin' Henry Miller Memorial Library in BIG SUR?!?! How RAD (and potentially wild) IS THAT?!?!?!

[pawpaw]

These songs just put a big ol' candy flippin' smile on my face  :D

[kydiddle]

:D I LOVE THE NEW ALBUM!!! :D

I can barely pull myself away from the first song, In The Flowers, to continue through the album..."If I could just leave my body for the night."...and[size=18]BOOM[/size]. God I love that...This is just a wonderful, wonderful album.

I'm going to miss the Northern California tour dates, which I'm QUITE dissapointed about...they're playing the reborn Fox Theatre in Oakland, and then the fuckin' Henry Miller Memorial Library in BIG SUR?!?! How RAD (and potentially wild) IS THAT?!?!?!

The first time I heard that particular part of that first song I knew the album would be fantastic. Completely agree with you.  :)