once upon a time (the summer of 2006) my friend will robinson, who was already responsible for introducing me to of montreal, made me a mix cd. this mix cd was the best mix cd in the world, featuring such bands as wolf parade, devotchka, built to spill, tilly and the wall, the blood brothers, and various other bands i now adore (actually, we can pretty much give will credit for the crazy music lover i am today). the best song on this wonderful mix, however, was a little ditty called "we tigers" by animal collective.
from this point on, i was hooked. i downloaded every animal collective song i could get my hands on, bought their album feels and played it almost constantly (much to the dismay of my roommate at the time), and checked their concert listings pretty much daily to see when and if they would get their asses to vancouver. there was actually a point where i was trying to convince my parents to fly me back to chicago to see them there. strangely, they didn't go for it.
i finally got a chance to see them this fall, which was phenomenal, but that's not what i'm here to talk about. i'm here to talk about strawberry jam, which is probably their best album ever, and i DON'T use that term lightly.
animal collective (avey tare, panda bear, geologist, and deakin) started out as one of those bands that existed, i suspect, for their own amusement. their music, while good, was difficult to listen to at best. by the time they made it to feels they had discovered a little thing i like to call melody, which worked out well for them. then, in september 2007, they released strawberry jam, which is so melodic it's almost poppy (you know, for animal collective). they've managed to create an album that is easy to listen to and nothing short of delightful without losing any of their character or weirdness. it's quite an achievement.
normally when discussing an album, i would pick a couple of tracks that i thought were really better than the rest. this time, i can't do it. "for reverend green" is my favourite, but really the entire album is so good that there's really no point in me choosing tracks for you. you should choose them for yourself.
after seeing them live, i remember despairing that there weren't more bands like animal collective in the world. that, actually was what sent me on the music discovery track i've been on recently. i haven't found any bands like animal collective, but i have found great music, and perhaps it's better that way. nobody i know is like these guys and if they were, it wouldn't be as good.
animal collective, keep up the good work. and panda bear, please marry me.
that is all.
-jocelyn
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