Mistabishi - Drop (Review: MattJ)

Well I've not heard much drum and bass in my time but I do like nearly all of what I've heard from the genre - as well as the closely related Jungle and Dub Step genres. I must say that Mistabishi are different from other drum and bass songs I hear coming from my mates' cars - and this must be what 'Liquid Funk' is. My opening thoughts: 'Well this is quite uplifting' as Roshan said it would be. Another thing that Roshan said is that this is drum and bass that you can just sit and listen to rather than just on occasions like clubs and driving - this is still being debated as much as when I will write a paragraph that doesn't include a hyphen.

So what do I look for in a Drum and Bass album? Well the answers are: Songs that don't sound the same, good production throughout, if there are vocals then for them to fit in nicely with the music, and above all originality. This most of all because so many drum and bass songs I have heard in the past sound vastly similar. So let's tackle originality first. This album is not like any other Drum and Bass I've heard before, as I already stated it is purposefully uplifting and it does this quite well. The Printer Jam song is incredibly clever and I think it's amazing how they managed to get such an exciting sound out of a boring office situation - it is also quite funny. Therefore Drop does well in the originality department. Obviously from this point we can see that not all of songs on the album sound the same.

The vocals on some drum and bass songs I've heard before ruin it for me, either poor vocals or a bad sample (Dub Step is often guilty of this). But I think that Mistabishi manage to have their vocals sound like they suit the music well, the only time I didn't like it was on the song View from Nowhere where they have a male vocalist. Maybe it's just that I don't like male singers on this type of music... I'm not sure. I really like the sample at the beginning of White Collar Grime - a song that's one of the album's highpoints.

However I did not like every aspect of the album. I wasn't a big fan of View from Nowhere at all, it just sounded a little boring to me - it didn't make me bounce around in my chair is what I really mean. I also found myself pretty bored with Wipe Your Tears and was surprised to see that it wasn't six minutes long. I don't think that the sound of window wipers works as well as a printer jamming.

But overall this is a very good album and one of the best Drum and Bass albums I've heard. Although I still think Hold Your Colour is a better album even if it is the Tracy Beaker of DnB. If they are the Tracy Beaker than Mistabishi are Star Trek. A solid release with very nice production and original use of office equipment warrants a 4/5 I feel.

I'm not using percentages ... ever.

We Are Scientists - With Love and Squalor (Review: Dan)

I had already heard three tracks from this album, sent to me by Ben after we saw them at Reading last August. I had never heard them previously to this, and I was really impressed by their live show. They were also very cool people and very good entertainers - what else could I possibly want from a live band?

So when Ben put up 'With Love and Squalor' I was excited to hear more from this band.
The opening song, 'Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt' is one of the three tracks I had heard previously. It's a really good song, but something about makes it strangely inappropriate for the first track. To me, I feel it would be better placed somewhere in the middle. Track two, however, is superb. And I think it would be a great album opener.

What I like most about the album are the catchy riffs and the vocals provided from Keith Murray. I think the two combine fantastically and they provide a really enjoyable experience. Sitting out in the garden listening to this whilst I review it is really making my afternoon.

There is nothing I don't like about the album, the only way I can really knock it is because it's not a genre that I am into, so it will probably always lose out to albums and bands that I really just prefer.

This has been a great upload though and I give this album an impressive 4.5/5.

Personal Highlights:
[2]This Scene Is Dead
[6]Cash Cow
[11]Worth The Wait

Damien Rice - O (Review: Alex)

Possibly against Album Swap rules, I had already heard this album. But this didn't bother me in the slightest, because I was very pleased about the prospect of reviewing it.

This is one of my favourite albums to just sit and listen to. The ammount of essays it's helped me write is totally unimaginable. This is probably because of Rice's most distinguishable quality: his voice. It's perfectly suited to the mellow, reflective vibe which this album gives out, and is subtly powerful. This is often seen at the ending of many songs. 'Delicate', the opening track, is beautifully simple. I suppose it will become apparent as I review more albums that my favourite songs are often the simplest. 'Delicate' is the epitomy of this. The two chord structure works brilliantly, largely because of the variation Rice adds throughout, and complements his voice fantastically.

This said, the songs on this album aren't always as rhythmically simple as they first seem. 'The Blower's Daughter', for example, uses a very large number of chords, and rarely sticks to a set chord pattern. This seems odd in reflection, however it works. Similarly the key change at the end, I didn't even notice untill I found myself playing along one day (a very sad thing to be doing, and something I rarely admit to). I hate key changes, but this is brilliantly done.

I also enjoy the many appearences of Lisa Hannigan on the album. Her voice is great in a similar way to Damen Rice's is. I especially like the duet on 'Cold Water'. The change from singer to singer works really well.

I struggle to find a favourite track on this album, simply because I can't fault it. I probably like it because I have historically found a liking for reflective music (or depressing, as Tomb once pointed out). I suppose this album is slightly depressing, but that doesn't bother me. It's far too brilliant for that.

I promised myself I wouldn't do this. But I think this could well be the perfect album. Therefore I struggle to give it anything other than 5/5. Well done Damien Rice.

Proudentall - What's Happening Here (Review:Tom)

This is my first review so be nice and don't judge me too much. :)

The first problem with this album is the badly and inappropriately named tracks, the first being the first track on the album 'Kill Myself', as it made me want to do anythig but that!!!! When I first listened to the start of the album I loved it and my scepticism of emo music immediately faded. I was immediately hit by the passion emmitted by Proudentall and the almost disturbing use of upbeat music to deliver such a sad and dark message. Furthermore it was the ability to convey a dark meassage without resorting to the oh-so popular method of drop tuning a guitar and screaming down the microphone that impressed me. Needless to say my first reaction was that this is a clever band who have developed their own style to send out their own message without falling into the easy habit of using stereotypical methods utilised by far too many bands.

Unfortunately the poor accuracy of titles is only solved through the track 'No Knowledge'. Despite my love of this album it has to be said that Proudentall clearly have 'no knowledge' on how to construct an album that is diverse or versatile. It is the repetitiveness of the album that for me is the major problem. Similarly when they do try to introdce something different from the exhausted guitar arpegio's and the constant switch between the 2/4 and 4/4 drum patterns, found in almost every track, I found myself falling asleep and feeling they are trying to be somehing they are not. The music previous to these tracks is angry and passionate and I feel the band do not have the emotional capacity to play such calm and soothing music in tracks such as 'Live Drawing Dead Winter' and 'Winter Dead Drawing Line'. It seems to me that this is simply an attempt to show versatility and a technical abilty that, in my opinion, they fail to acheive. To make matters worse in 'Live Drawing Dead Winter' the poor attempt at displaying some of Jazz influence through the poor trumpet playing and two chord strumming of the guitar was a complete failure. Not only this but the 7 minute endurance race made me frustrated as oppossed to impressed or relieved to hear something different. Oh and just a side point....the whispering is just annoying not scary!

Most of the tracks however where superb, making for easy listening and an enjoyable background-music sort of album. I first listened to this album in the car and wondered why the tracks were so long, glanced down at my ipod and realised i was listening to the end of track 4! It is this feature of the album that i cannot decide is positive or negative as the tracks blend beautifully, however are very similar. I think if listening to the album as a whole this can be forgiveable however should should a track come on whilst an ipod or computer is on shuffle, it could pose a problem.

Despite my apparent moan about this album believe it or not i loved it! I think it is simple and here simplicity is the key. I would definately be prepared to listen to more music from this genre with the only hope that there would be some variation that was within the bands ability.

A very good 4/5 for this fab album.

Mistabishi - Drop (Review: Dan)

Well. If there's one thing I have learned from this experience, it's that 'Liquid Funk' is not something I enjoy. To be honest, Drum and Bass music just doesn't do it for me. It's not something that I enjoy, and I think it all sounds the same. This is probably a very ignorant thing to say, mind.

I would say that Pendulum is the closest thing I can match this to, although a fan of the genre would probably go mental at me for this. And I like Pendulum, they remain one of my greatest live acts and I think their songs are good. I could never listen to them in my own time though. I would have to be experiencing this bizarre sound in a club or a gig to enjoy it.

There really was precious little I enjoyed about Drop, I think that tracks 1-11 all sounded identical, with the exception of 'Printer Jam' which was just mental. It genuinely was just a printer jam with a beat.
This was, however, my favourite track - simply because it was different, mental and not just another track that sounds like Pendulum. Sorry for being so blunt, it's just not my cup of tea. However, I have learned from this experience and I now know that DnB is not for me. I'm sure they're great live though...

I'd also like to take the time to point out that I did only listen to the album once. This isn't without reason though; with an album like this, I know that no matter how many times I listen to it, it's not going to catch on and show me some enjoyment.

Another thing I had with this album was (and I should never have to think this) that, I needed to get a drink and in my head I thought 'is this worth pausing? I'm not really going to miss much'. I did pause it though, but there was really no need.

I have to give this album a score between 0 and 1 really, and because of the mental Printer Jam thing I'm going to be generous and give it a whopping 0.5/5.

Dan.

Proudentall - What's Happening Here (Review: Alex)

I'd heard of the word 'emo' in the context of the 1990s a while ago, and always meant to look into it. I was, therefore, pleased when Matt uploaded this album. Having listened to it a number of times, I have to contrast Roshan's review entirely.

I think this album is genuinely fantastic. True, the opening track has a slightly conspicuous name ('Kill Myself') and really offers very little as an album opener, but there is something I like about it. It's angry, but manages to do it without being excessively heavy. The second track, 'Instrumental Like a Compass', flowed really well from the previous song, almost like an extended outro. I really enjoyed it as an instrumental. There was a repeated guitar phrase which I thought was ridiculously catchy, though it is hard to describe in an instrumental song.

every song has a sound, simple structure. This is a fundamental feature I think. It's often the most simple of songs which catch my attention. However throughout the album I was pleased to hear subtle influences from other genres (notably the jazz theme in 'Live Drawing Dead Winter'). Similarly the violins in 'Untitled With Mike and Breeze' came as a very welcome suprise and complemented the rest of the music brilliantly.

This isn't to say there wasn't things I didn't like. Though I thought 'Live Drawing Dead Winter' was good in that it moved away from a set style, the two chord backing felt to me like it should be moving through sections, and was sticking in the same place. This is fine for a while, but seven and a half minutes later and I was getting a bit bored.

The final track 'Winter Dead Drawing Line' was odd, and at first I wasn't sure if i liked it. It gave off the same sort of demonic vibe as The Stranglers' 'Waltzinblack', but far more minimalistic. In the end I decided that this was a nice end to an oddly enjoyable album. I think I'll give this album 4/5.

Proudentall - What's Happening Here (Review: Dan)

Well, I was hoping to get the first review up on this album, but it appears that Roshan beat me to it. Hopefully I will be able to make the album look a bit better though.

I've always been the kind of person who, very strangely, prefers the first half of an album to the second. Perhaps it's because I listen starting from track one then go off on a tangent and return to track one again so the end doesn't get much of a look in. However, it would appear that this is not the case with What's Happening Here. On a first playthrough of the beginning (before I had to go out and do something, once again missing the second half) I found most of what I was hearing fairly dull. The vocals sounded angry and perhaps a little strained. After listening to the album a few times I still felt the same about it, however I had started to very much enjoy every track from Blood Rose. However, I do need to agree that album is quite samey...and there isn't a lot I have to say about why I liked the bits I liked. This does bother me as it is going to make for a very short review.

I really liked the final track 'Untitled with Mike and Breeze' which I couldn't help but feel wasn't the track name as it souned a bit mental. It's an instrumental, and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

I'm annoyed; I'm either suffering from some kind of creative block which is preventing me to write what I think about this album, or there really is just nothing to say about why I liked it.

I'm going to give the album a 2.75/5, and perhaps one day if I learn to understand why I enjoyed bits I will edit this review and possibly the score. For now though, I can only apologize for what must be the shortest review yet.

Dan.

Damien Rice - O (Review: MattJ)

Well to start it off I had never even heard of Damien Rice before it was posted here, I can't imagine why. This album sounded like I expected it too - acoustic, melodic voice, love songs. Although I did expect a thick Irish accent and was a bit disappointed when I didn't hear one (I won't mark it down in my rating because of this). Also, I'm going to say this now, there was nothing about the songs that I didn't like, but I really can't say that this is a brilliant album - I'll explore this more in a bit.

Damien's voice is very good. You can hear the emotion in his voice and this is a massive positive. I love the intensity I got from songs like Amie, Cheers Darlin' ("What am I!?") and especially the end of I Remember, this was not down to the instrumentation - which is pretty standard - it's all about his and the guest vocalist's voices. But mostly Damien's. But it's not just intensity that Damien Rice provides; he manages to calm the listener with simple songs like 'Delicate' and 'Cold Water'. The main task for songs like these, I think, is to manage to have such slow lovely songs without them becoming boring - and this is something that is done throughout.

Whilst listening to this album I just kept on comparing him to Jeff Buckley, Elliott Smith and City and Colour. I didn't really want to but I kept on doing it in my head, and this is the reason why I didn't love the album. I just personally think that Buckley and Smith are superior singer-songwriters. It feels bad to mark down an artist purely on personal opinion but I feel I have to. I have to because it's all I really have to go on. Give me a hip-hop album and there are certain factors that I need to have to consider it a good album, same goes for a 70s Rock album - but when it comes to singer-songwriters on their own with acoustic instruments I don't know where I stand. I just listen and see if I like. That is why I've found this a difficult album to score and review.

Overall I like this album, and Damien Rice has a very nice voice. I'm going to add his next album, 9, to the ever growing list of artists I wish to listen to. I'm going to give this album 4/5 for brilliant singing, top notch production and nice music.

Proudentall - What's Happening Here (Review: Roshan)

Uh Oh, were the first words that came to mind when I saw the words "emo" and my heart honestly recessed further into my being when I saw the first track, "Kill Myself". But I was determined to review this with an open mind.

Right, first up is production. The production for this album is not brilliant, if anything its sub-par even for an album made in 2001, but the fact is, it doesn't need to be, as I will explain later.

The first track appropriately named, "Kill Myself" is an uninspiring, dull and passive track. I believe that albums should start off in the best way possible, they should grab you by the collar and say "Hey, listen to this...punk" or something a little more derogatory. This album does not do this, it does not excite or grab my attention in anyway. The track passed me by, quietly as if it was trying to rob me rather than alert me of its presence. Before I knew it, I was on the 4th track. That's the main problem with this album, it sounds samey. I hate to use that term without just cause, it just sounds like you're a lazy reviewer. But I really have tried, I've listened to this album at least 4 times since it was posted. I'm going to put it down to the rather formulaic song structure and very lazy song writing.

It wasn't till "Line Drawing Dead Winter" came along did my ears perk up a little. This was mainly due to the rather random addition of a trumpet and some subtle whispers, which really did surprise me. The rest of the accompaniment feels lack luster, but not in a clever minimalistic kind of way, just lazy.

Afterwards its back to the grind of twinkling chords and dire singing, the most uninspiring of all "instruments" on the album. The tag emo has got me genuinely curious about the lyrics of the songs of which i decided to look up. Which is something I normal only do when I can't understand what is actually being sung, I regret ever doing it for the band Necrophagis, but that's another story.

The Lyrics are pretty vague. They certainly appear to have no immediate meaning, what annoyed me was the lack of any...interesting words. Its seemed dull, and unimaginative which is pretty fitting with the album.

I keep listening to this album trying to find something that I like, or that interests me and i just can't. My general opinion of the band is that they are a talentless bunch, who picked up there instruments for the first time a few months back and then decided to create an album so incredibly dull it wouldn't even register a complaint from your Nan if you decided to turn it up to unnecessarily high volumes.

I have no highlights for this album. My score...

1/5

Don't take it personally Matt.

We Are Scientists - With Love and Squalor (2005)

"Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt" – 3:12
"This Scene Is Dead" – 3:43
"Inaction" – 2:32
"Can't Lose" – 3:31
"Callbacks" – 2:02
"Cash Cow" – 2:35
"It's a Hit" – 3:26
"The Great Escape" – 3:18
"Textbook" – 4:01
"Lousy Reputation" – 2:35
"Worth the Wait" – 2:43

Trying to buck the trend a little and move away from heavier rock albums, I've gone for a more Indie record with We Are Scientists first full release. WAS seem to have an incredible talent for writing an addictive riff and follow that up with some solid vocals and some fantastic, uplifting, bouncy tracks. I feel like I've sold them terribly to you all but nevertheless I hope you enjoy this.

Personal favourites:

Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt

Inaction

Cash Cow

The Great Escape

Worth the Wait

Soundgarden - Superunknown (1994)

Dan, with his Audioslave post, inspired me to put this album up. This is where Chris Cornell came from and is, I think, truly fantastic. Superunknown was Soundgarden's fourth and penultimate album. It keeps to the traditional Soundgarden grunge-esque sound, but at the same time marks a progression into other styles of music. I hope you all like it.

Track listing:
1.Let Me Drown
2.My Wave
3.Fell On Black Days
4.Mailman
5.Superunknown
6.Head Down
7.Black Hole Sun
8.Spoonman
9.Limo Wreck
10.The Day I Tried To Live
11.Kickstand
12.Fresh Tendrills
13.4th Of July
14.Half
15.Like Suicide

Album highlights:
- Fell On Black Days
- Mailman
- Black Hole Sun
- 4th Of July

Mistabishi - Drop (2008)

This is Mistabishi. This is Drop.
Enjoy.

1 Heaven's Sake (4:05)
2 No Matter What (5:32)
3 Printer Jam (3:34)
4 Lean (5:04)
5 View From Nowhere (4:40)
6 White Collar Grime (5:10)
7 Damage (4:41)
8 Greed (4:50)
9 Wipe Your Tears (3:19)
10 The Light's Really Bad (6:03)
11 From Memory (5:38)

Download Here Pass:burek.banda

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Proudentall - What's Happening Here (2000)

Oh noes, emo! This album was released in 2000 but is really a compliation of songs recorded throughout the 90s. This doesn't sound like what we call emo nowadays but what they called emo in the mid-west of America about 10-20 years ago. I really don't know how the transition occurred. Anyway this is my favourite emo album I've heard and I hope it becomes yours.

Download here guise

Track Listing:

1. Kill Myself
2. Instrumental Like a Compass
3. 1002
4. Fader In/Out
5. Live Drawing Dead Winter
6. Blood Rose
7. No Knowledge
8. Sharp Confessor
9. Winter Dead Drawing Line

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (Review: Dan)

Well. It seems I'm just about the last person to get my review in for this album. I'm going to start by saying that I am with MattS on my hatred for the genre 'Experimental' and I agree 100% that it is just when there are too many genres.

Anyway, into my review. I was unsure what to expect from Animal Collective. I had two things in mind though; Either some unusual blend of techno and screamo, or this. I'm not really sure what I was basing these thoughts on, they were just guesses really.

The first track, 'In the Flowers' was not what I wanted to hear this morning. I found it boring and repetitive and was not looking forward to the rest. A shame really, as opening tracks have a big job to do. This feeling was made worse by My Girls, which I found fairly similar to the first track (in style, not sound).

Also Frightened I preferred but was still getting a bit bored of this repetitive style of music. I wanted something fresh from this already. Thankfully this was provided by Summertime Clothes. This song was very enjoyable, and from this point on the album went from strength to strength.

Daily Routine was my favourite track, I found it very catchy and very listenable. The album as a whole is undeniably catchy, and I suppose this allows room for some repetition. It is also what I would call a very happy album, and it did, as with MattJ, made me excited for the Summer. This is a very good thing.

I'd say I had fun listening to this album, which is a very peculiar sensation. However, I did have to put up with much too much repetition for my liking.

I'm worried though that I will get very bored of Animal Collective very soon. They don't have that factor that will make me want to come back for more. For reasons like this it does knock the final score down a bit, and I will be settling with 3.5/5.

By the way, I dislike the album art. It aggravates my eyes.

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (Review: Roshan)

Well, the main reason I’m reviewing this album apart from the fact it’s kind of my job, is the insane album cover. Also the tags, experimental and avant-garde caught my attention as I am fans of both genres.

From the moment this album started I had a feeling I might like this. In Flowers started off with a beautifully psychedelic build up, when the drums came in and the beat became stronger, filling my ears with noises of insects and bass, I truly believed that if I closed my eyes I would transported to a new place.

As I listened I was afraid that the rest of the album might not live up to the high expectations set by the glorious opening song. Fortunately my fears were shunned the moment my girls made its way to my ears, filling it with a beach boys like vocals that fused cleverly with the ambient oscillating effects in the background. The tag Experimental certainly isn’t a misnomer, the next track delves into electro-dubstep which is certainly two genres I didn’t think would combine so well. Animal Collective pulls it off, this time reminding me of keane in the style of singing.

A lot of the album also reminds me of underworld, except a more exciting version of them. If you’ve read my last review you would have probably guessed that I love the little details. It what shows thought and effort have been put into an album. This album is full of those little details which is the main reason why this album appeals to me so much. I came back from the town after being very happy with my purchase of MGMTs latest offering and now after hearing this album, I feel slightly less smug about myself, as if I’ve given into the mainstream and the hype, instead of letting something a little more “out there” make me part with my precious moneys.

This is by far one my most favourite albums ever. It’s like someone’s taken the all the bits that I love about electronic music and music in general and made an album just for me. It appears this album has made me feel warm and fuzzy inside and repeat viewing of RAMBO 4 might be what the doctor order to cure this. This is certainly not an album I’m going to forget, I think I may be returning to this album for many years to come.

After a first play through I was thinking of giving it a 4, but after a second play through…

5/5

Highlights:

In Flowers / My Girls / Daily Routine

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (Review: Matt S)

Seeing as I have joined late this is my first review on here, so forgive me if my writing style is poor but I don't write much these days (only history essays (only when absolutely necessary (and they are rarely of an acceptable standard))), so it might take me a few attempts to get back into this 'writing' lark but I'll give it a go.

'Experimental' is a genre I've always been confused by. I've come to assume that it's just slapped on music that is deemed a combination of too many genres to name in one breath, or that it just sounds so ridiculously bizarre compared to normal 'music' that people don't even bother giving it a name.

Anyway, on to the album.

I quite enjoyed the first track. During my first attempt at listening I stopped just after the opening song finished as it was late, I was tired, and the opening track had convinced me that this album deserved my undivided attention. Again on my first full listen through I thought it was a decent opener and sets you up for whats to come in terms of sound. So much so infact, that if I listen to the first track 12 times and then the album right through I'd struggle to tell the difference. But anyway, I'm new to this genre so I'll avoid sounding like my Dad and claiming that 'It all sounds the same'.

'My Girls', I believe Wikipedia told me, is the first and so far only single from the album, and although I can't see it setting the charts on fire, it's pretty catchy and at this point the vocals really started to grow on me. David Portner, I have now decided, has a pretty unique voice and I think it really works with this music. What's more, I like it.

Having not heard of this band before I was a bit worried by the name 'Animal Collective'. Part of me expected their music to be littered with animal noises. The start of track three confirmed my worst fears. I may be corrected and be told that this is some eastern instrument or something but to me it sounds like an animal, which annoyed me. But once I let myself get past that I found this song just as enjoyable as the prior two. I'm already thinking that this album deserves the excellent reviews its received. It's different, exciting and is making me tap along and smile. That constitues good music in my books, and its doing well so far.

Summertime Clothes continued in the same way, melodic and catchy and well executed. Congratulations Animal Collective I thought, you are both filling my expectations of a unique sound that I had not heard or listened to before, and suprising me by being very pleasing.
The open of Daily Routine suprised me too. Not in the 'pleasing' manner I just mentioned, but in a 'what the fuck is this?!' sort of way. I don't really understand whats going on at this point, and I really am finding it impossible to describe the noise, but I guess it's experimental and not all experiments work. The vocals are again spot on in this track however, and were it not for his fellow band members dicking about in the background, Portner would have created another decent song. Fortunately it soon moves on to 'Bluish' which continued where the album left off before the 'Daily Routine' experiment.

I've realised that I've probably written far too much now and for those of you who have listened/reviewed the album yourself, you can't be finding this interesting enough to read much more. Luckily for you, my opinion of the opening five songs also applies to the latter six, in that I found it very listenable, the vocals continued to impress me and on occasion I was made to wince by an 'experimental' noise. But it's making me pay attention, I guess.

I know I said I'd try to avoid it but unfortunately I do have one criticism, which is that it's all a bit samey for me. But as I said, this is the first time I've listened to an album of this genre (or lack thereof) and it is to be expected that I don't notice the - what I am sure am - distinct differences between tracks.

I'm going to give this album a very solid 80%, and I feel that if I were a connoisseur of the genre I would be able to give it an even higher score but for now, I am not a big enough fan of this style as a whole to mark it any higher.

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion (Review: MattJ)

I had been looking forward to this album for quite some time and was instantly on my mind when the idea of New Release Sunday came up. When it comes to music I am always on the lookout for anything different, stuff that has something new and unique to offer - but that's obviously not enough, it has to actually be good and I have to like it. Luckily with Animal Collective this is what I've found.

But I was worried at first. I didn't think the album got off to a very good start at all with In the Flowers and I was wondering what I'd gotten myself in to. I found this song to be just plain odd, but not in a good way (I consider cLOUDDEAD to be odd in a good way). I didn't like how I could barely hear the vocals and it made me think: do you not want me to hear what you're saying?

Thankfully the album picked up from here because I very much enjoyed The Girls - which is, according to last.fm, their most popular song and I can see why that is. The simple little beat that continues throughout is very nice and really sucked me in to the song. Then I realised that this song isn't just a minimalistic little beat and some echoed vocals - it is a very layered song with lots of slight noises here and there and it made me think that I had missed something with the opening track.

Another paragraph must be dedicated to my favourite song on the album: Summertime Clothes. It's got such a lovely bouncy beat to it that hand me hopping around in my chair. As well as this it has wonderful lyrics that tell a story about going out on summer nights. In fact this song put me in a massive summer mood so that's a big ol' positive mark. I've been playing this catchy happy song all day.

Although I liked the album quite a lot I did find myself bored on occasions. I didn't really find entire songs boring, just that a few of them dragged on slightly, for example on Also Frightened, I could have done with it being 2 minutes shorter, same goes for Brother Sport. I think that knowing when to cut a song short and when to make it a long one is important for the album as whole so Animal Collective need to work on that.

But overall I found this a very enjoyable album which I will be playing again and again, hopefully all summer, but again it is not perfect at all and I really expected more from a band's eighth studio release. 3.5/5

Album Highlights:

Summertime Clothes
Bluish
My Girls
Daily Routine