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Animal Collective with Vashti Bunyan

Prospect Hummer (2005)
Fat Cat Records

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Contributed by: benz
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on October 30th 2005

I'm hard pressed to think of a band that better deserves the title of "you either love 'em or you hate 'em" than Animal Collective (feel free to turn the forum into name-droppings of more deserving bands). Their psychedelic weirdness somehow mixes perfectly with their incredible pop songwriting chops, reaching a band apex with last year's Sung Tongs.

The album opens with a delicate female voice singing "still going, still going, still going on." Wait, this is a new voice. These vocals don’t sound like anything on any previous Animal Collective albums, you think to yourself. The voice actually belongs to Vashti Bunyan, whose last full album was released on vinyl -- when vinyl was actually practical. For more on Vashti, see her 1970 release, Just Another Diamond Day, or seek out her more recent duets with Devendra Banhart.

Bunyan takes lead vocals on this EP. While this does diminish some of the Collective's initial quirky charm, Bunyan is nowhere near out of place. Songs like "It's You" and "I Remember Learning How to Dive" are your typical Animal Collective fare, and if you are a fan of the band there is nothing stopping you from downloading it on iTunes for $3.96. It's very short, really just a taste to satiate fans, I suppose. There are better counterparts to all of these songs on their previous records, but this EP can still stand up on its own. "Baleen Sample" offers a dense mimic of "Visiting Friends." "It's You" sounds like a calmed sequel to "Mouth Wooed Her."

If you love ‘em, check out this EP. If you hate ‘em, do not check out this EP.

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Anonymous (November 4, 2005)

If you love ‘em, check out this EP. If you hate ‘em, do not check out this EP.

Actually, I find this EP to be the most inviting piece of work that AC has done thus far. No chanting, tribal freakouts, noise, just folk accompanied by an enchanting and beautiful voice. That being said, Sung Tongs and Feels are much better.

PERSONAL ANECDOTE: my friend and I once scared a douche-bag group of people off at a party because we started doing a tribal freakout dance to "We Tigers". One of the douche-bags claimed that due to a barfight, he can no longer feel fear.

Rob.

Anonymous (November 4, 2005)

animal collective is better than all of you on this god damn site

benz (October 31, 2005)

haha, I know.

damn.

stevejonestherealbones (October 30, 2005)

two reviews this week start with the same cliche....nice...for a couple homos

- jones the bones

- stevejones8770@yahoo.com

Anonymous (October 30, 2005)

Vashti Bunyan came out with a new cd called "Lookaftering" it's worth getting.

ElVaquero (October 30, 2005)

This single isn't really that great but their new album is FANTASTIC. In my top 10 easily.

benz (October 30, 2005)

This album is still as good as I said when I submitted this review.

But ignore this for now and go out and get "Feels"! It's very good. Score is for "Feels".

-benz

Anonymous (October 30, 2005)

ione of my favourite groups, we need more of these type of band reviews.

sung tongs > feels > this cd

but still,. its phenominal.

k-dubs

bemused (October 30, 2005)

To name drop, I think Architecture in Helsinki and Deerhoof are similarly you either love 'em or hate 'em. I wanna hear Feels but I think a limeware version might be a good bet for safety, before I dispose of my limited funds. I didn't overly love Sung Tongs

-Chris-