This is a post about Animal Collective
I listen to the Animal Collectives on a weekly basis. I think I ‘like’ them because they are differentiated from ‘traditional music’ and ‘modern indie music.’ When I listen to them, I exist on a higher plane of musical appreciation and consume products for ‘all the right reasons.’ For the past couple of months, the whole world has been awaiting the LEAK of the album Merriweather Post Pavillion. I was one of them. I was not awaiting the chance to purchase physical copy of the album, but instead I was a proud member of the LEAK HUNTING army for this album. Fortunately, a conceptual Santa slid down my chimney to deliver the best xmas gift of all–the leak was officially released by the Internet around Christmas of 2k8.
When I first saw the album art for the new AnCo album, I knew it would be amazing. I knew the album was more than just a series of bloggable mp3s, and the album art was more than just a meme.
I like ‘looking forward to things’ because it is a gimmick that makes my life worth living. With all of this anticipation for the album release of what I perceived to be a relatively-niche band, I wonder if I am living in a world that is completely out of touch with ‘what real people listen to/consume/value in music. How BIG OF A DEAL is the new Animal Collective/what social constructs do I realisticially expect it to break down? Can they be 1 of the newest relevant crossover alt artists? Even if you put AnCo head2head with other ‘alternative artists’ who ‘have a worldwide universal appeal on a commercial/spiritual level’ and are regarded as ‘being culturally relevant’ and ‘progressive’ at the same time, do u think Animal Collective can compare to these bands?
Is Anco as approachable as U2?
Is Anco as approachable as the Coldplay?
Is Anco as approachable as Radiohead?
Is Anco as approachable as the Arcade Fire?
Is Anco as approachable as Feist?
Is Anco more/less approachable for Joe Suburbia to consume than _________?
Where does Animal Collective realistically sit in this hierarchy of critical acclaim vs. pop appeal vs. actually selling albums? I feel like they are sort of like a ‘really funny, progressive comedy that got cancelled from cable TV’ in band format, except they are a band so they don’t get ‘cancelled’–they get the opportunity to move forward become more authentic, letting their fan base ‘grow’ with them.
When I first started listening to them, they had a smaller following, and playing them in my car for a group of friends was often met with a lot of ‘what is this krazie noise, yall?’s. Back then, AnCo was way more acoustic/conceptual/NOISECORE/lofi/etc. These days, they are a bit more electro conceptual tribal. Animal Collective uses progressive samples and instruments to make ‘modern pop music.’ Not every one is ready to embrace this concept. Not every one is able to say ‘OMG. they have the pop sensibilities of the Beach Boys’ because they probably don’t read+regurgitate music tidbits & opinions from the internet on a daily/weekly basis.
Photo caption: Remember this album from 1989?
I remember when I saw AnCo live in the post-Strawberry Jam world, it was swarming with entrylevel alts who were looking for a more meaningful experience than just a ‘marginally dancey Cut Copy show.’ At Animal Collective concerts, people are willing 2 unite, kind of like meaningful core during its peak days (ie the DeathCab TRANSATLANTICISM era).
Do u remember OLD Animal Collective LIVE was like this, instead of a couple of dudes pressing buttons and ‘bobbing their heads to the music’ on stage? Were u ‘there’ b4 they were ‘big’?
(You probably got lost in this clip because it was s00 RAW and not ‘poppy enough’ 4 ur tastes.)
HRO is usually only able to analyze things from 2 perspectives:
- Where does it stand in constrant struggle between mainstream vs. alt?
- Does the product make my life more meaningful?
Animal Collective is an interesting case study when u analyze them with these 2 questions driving ur analysis. Kinda makes u wonder if they are the perfect storm for ‘existence within a malstream environment’.
Theoretically, I am living in a world where a progressive album is critically acclaimed/successful. Is this ‘utopia’ or am I just disconnected from reality / living in a world where my values are too internet-buzz-centric?
AnCo = Blog house? (probably just p4k house)
Animal Collective is an important band because they are one of the first ‘transcendent’ independent bands to gather most of their acclaim on the internet. While they probably had a few recordings before every one turned utilized the internet to find the newsest, alt-est music, you can’t really deny that they grew at a healthy rate in internet-acclaim-perception over the past couple of years. If you grow too fast, you will be discarded as inauthentic (The Black Kids). If you grow 2 slowly, no1 ever really identifies with ur brand and think that you are just a newsbit that has been around 2 long for no good reason. The internet is a difficult environment in which to grow because virality rates are difficult to control.
Most ‘revolutionary’ bands that douchebaggy music blogs+news sources+magazines cover have a life before and after the internet. Kind of like college rock bands around the year 2000. Bands like INTERPOL that were ‘good’ but then had to find a new life in an inauthentic altradio context. Or other bands kind of shriveled up and died after the internet made bands ‘release content+memes more frequently’ and some bands were unable to respond. If you think about AnCo, much of their ‘acclaim’ has come in the post-p4k era. Probably gaining a lot of steam back when Pitchfork anointment meant a little bit more to the ’standard pre-altbro music fan’ who still J.O.ed while reading p4k/there weren’t as many other sources that were ‘unearthing’ bands at the time. Now there are probably too many sources ‘unearthing’ shitty bands, so we are returning back to our Pitchfork + GorillaVsBear roots to prepare for the unknown year of 2k9.
It is important to remember that today’s ‘most connected’ music fans use the internet to judge what are the most relevant+progressive bands/brands. In the musicsphere, there are a few key tastemakers of different scales, and most of them have aligned to tell you that Animal Collective is relevant+progressive+transcendent. Keep in mind that the most relevant members of culture exist solely on the internet and can only value what is valued on the internet. Which band/meme/topic generates the most blog posts? Which 1 generates the most comments? Which 1 gets the most praise/transcends snark+hype resentment?
So I’m not sure if this internet-centric praise economy for Animal Collective means that they are ‘bigger’ than I think they are, or if we are just so caught up in what’s happening on the internet that we fail to realize ‘these conceptual bands don’t matter to most people and probably never will.’ So while you are ‘acclaimed’ by the top 0.5% of culturally relevant society, you have to understand that these people are the ones who are too smart to pay for music.
Fortunately, AnCo has a meaningful live show, which is always important to value in the ‘rise’ + ’sustainability’ of artists.
Animal Collective-Brother Sport “live at Midi festival ” 2007 French – Riviera (wish it didn’t take 2 years for this song 2 get recorded/leaked)
If u can’t tour + get a room of bros to buy t-shirts and vinyl albums for bros who don’t have record players, then u can’t ‘make it big’ in altville. Another factor to keep in mind is ‘how willing is ANCO to use the internet as a gimmick’ to maintain interest. It seems like in the past the internet has kind of ‘fucked them over’ when it comes to LEAKAGE, but it’s tough to say whether that worked for/against them. Will they ‘pull a GirlTalk/Radiohead’ and be the next band that the NY Times writes about because they ‘gave away their album for free’ and ‘have a culturally relevant following’?
******* THIS IS A CONCEPT POEM/HTML PIECE/ADVERTISEMENT *******
Always remember that you can do better.
You need 2 be the best.
If u make urself proud, u will make the critics happie.
Never give up.
Make ur parents proud.
There is always room for improvement.
I want 2
get an 11
from the
pitchfork medias
(The HRO EP: Coming Soon)
****************
The Eagerness to Elevate AnCo to be ‘A Conceptual Artist who has Garnered Mainstream Acclaim.’
There is nothing more annoying that Conceptual Artists/Bands who have allegedly garnered mainstream praise. For example, the Radioheads. Or maybe the zany broad BJORK. Maybe Sigur Ros or Arcade Fire (those 2 are a lil different/smaller). I think the main gimmick behind these bands is convincing yourself that their ‘product’ stands for something more than most music. They are pretty much a lifestyle brand for every sort of alternative ideal possible: social change, innovative instruments + recording techniques, reflections on humanity, usage of performance + visual art during the live show, environmental awareness, anti-War, embracing technology, innovative/meme-able music videos, having opinions on politics, and stuff like that which makes the band interesting/easy to write about.
I’d say bands on this level exist as sort of a ‘non-profit lifestyle brand’ and have a progressive simpleton fan base that can’t really ’see’ what’s going on. The bands are probably all way more ‘deliberate’ than we give them credit for, but also kind of excessively ‘grassroots/organic’ in an annoying way. U kinda just want them 2 embrace their mainstreamness and focus on being mediocre. The people who ‘genuinely’ like these bands are not worth taking seriously because they didn’t really know how to use the internet to find their ‘favourite band.’ Instead, they picked the artist on what they perceive to be ‘the extreme left’ in the lineup of mainstream artists. In essense, they want to identify with generic alternative ideals that they think a band is supposed to represent. So while the artists themselves may be ‘truly expressing themselves’, it is hard for an internet-centric bro who ‘has the whole internet at his fingertips’ to take these artists seriously when we have found a whole new world that makes Bjork/Radiohead seem like a concept/band for simpletons (kinda like The Matrix).
“I h8 AnCo because the people who like Animal Collective are s00 annoying.”
After understanding the internet-era and the pressure for bands/labels to create these non-profit lifestyle brands, you can now begin to explore the ‘types of fans who love Animal Collective.’ They are probably a sampling from the absolute worst type of people to ‘talk about music.’ In their world, music is the most important art form, and Animal Collective is the master of the arts. Animal Collective shits on everything else, whether or not is art. Most of the most ardent Animal Collective fans are ‘failed creative-types’ who have convinced themselves that they ‘could have made the music that Animal Collective made’ if they ‘just saved up some money to buy ________(type of instrument).’
These are Anco fan stereotypes:
a) the bros who are waaay too connected to ‘new bands’ and ‘music news’ and ‘whatz goin on’ in the world of independent music
b) bros who ‘don’t care about what’s going on in the altmusicsphere’ because they ‘only care about how music makes them FEEL’
c) bros who pretend to only care about judging music based on ‘how it sounds’ but secretly check P4k rankings on a weekly basis to construct what they ‘like’ based on how they perceive the masses are digesting new content.
I feel like the most annoying thing about Animal Collective fans is their ‘evangelistic’ tendencies. It’s kind of like a ‘cult’ that is asking you to ‘trash your pre-existing tastes and experiences when it comes to music, and join the AnCo army.’ To them, Animal Collective is a band that satisfies ‘what they are looking for in a band’ from a musical and social perspective. They have told themselves that in their perfect version of society, every one will participate in communal sound sessions. Every sound ever made in this perfect society will be recorded, and later used in a meaningful song. We will all have animal/weird names and be inducted into THE ANIMAL COLLECTIVE at sundown on Sunday nights. We will sacrifice humans who do not appreciate our society.
Animal Collective fans may or may not be as ‘differentiated’ as they think they are. Animal Collective fans may or may not exist on a more organic/authentic plane of existence than ‘generic music fans.’
AnCo and ‘Crossoverability’
I feel like if you talked to most ardent AnCo cultmembers, they would tell you that Anco is ‘eventually going to take over the radio and everything on FM radio will sound like AnCo.’ After thinking about AnCo’s place in the internet-perception economy, and how that has nothing to do with ‘the empty mainstream BritSpears world’, it is easy 2 see that AnCo will never ‘cross over.’ They will stay in a good place for them–Kings of Smart People Who Accumulate Ideas, Opinions, and Art From the Internet. I think one of the most important tests for an artist’s crossoverability is ‘Could I put this on a mix CD for 1 of my parents, or is it too far out?’ I’d say 1/10 Animal Collective songs are mix-cd-able for your parents, and that rate is just too low to expect tweens who listen to Fall Out Boy/Pink/Brokencyde to ‘get’ AnCo.
I feel like Panda Bear’s “Person Pitch” is one of the most important catalysts for AnCo 2.0. It was Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox who really ‘created the cultural marketplace’ for Animal Collective as a band. His songs are more approachable for people without a conceptual appreciation of music. In addition, ‘Panda Bear’ helped us buy into the idea of The Animal Collective, as opposed to them just being ‘weird dudes who make weird music that I am apparently supposed to like.’ Panda Bear is the bro who made the Brand more authentic. Otherwise, there is a chance that most of their albums would just be sort of college radio concept rock fodder.
Never underestimate the significance of branding. I think most people who are ‘really into Animal Collective’ don’t really understand branding/would tell you that ‘they are not a brand–they are just passionate musicians making art.’ They have done something relatively impossible–making a brand that is ‘authentic’ and ‘transparent’ and ‘immune to hype’ and ‘invincible against negative criticism’ and ‘opening up new artistic spaces which leave critics unable to evaluate it with an existing set of standards.’
One of AnCo’s best gimmicks is operating for ‘art’s sake’ as well as they can. Instead of ‘creating excessive blurbably content’, they usually let the Music New Meme economy generate their own memes about what AnCo is up to. They will definitely have an infinite life as an ‘acclaimed alt band’, but their core competencies don’t really mean that they will ‘blow up’ because only really ‘guitar rock n roll with male singer’ alt bands or ‘artsy girls who play multiple instruments and sing kinda kute songs’ can CROSS OVER.
If anything, AnCo is lucky to ‘crossover’ to people who don’t use the internet. This is kind of like the genre of FestivalBros/ drug users who listen to old music / weirdo old people who like new stuff that they think matches their weird personal brand. Just can’t imagine “Brother Sport” playing at a high school homecoming dance. As meaningful as you think it would be, it probz just won’t happen ever, yall.
Generic Music Criticism is Still Important to People?
I think the music reviews of Merriweather Post Pavvy will probably be ‘the last great music reviews’ of all time. In our current information economy, it takes less time to sample an album than it does to read a review with big words describing sound + references to bands that we don’t know + references to tidbits of information about the band that we don’t know. Are Music Reviews meant to be read before or after a reader hears the album? I feel like people use them to a) find out what is good, usually based only on a number (9.6/10) and b) to reaffirm that an album is good after they have already decided that they liked an album. If I were running a review site, I would try to keep everything positive so that I wouldn’t alienate one, kind of like Amazon reviews. In order to build a meaningful online brand, you must pick a type of music that you consider to be irrelevant + inauthentic, and continue to give these bands poor scores.
Now that we have finally found ‘the perfect album’, I think we really need to re-evaluate what a ‘music review’ means in today’s consumer economy. Should ‘music reviews’ be renamed ‘product reviews’ in order 2 stay relevant/appeal to self-aware markets?
We are hearing too much about these artists that were ‘cultivated on the internet’ in sources like magazines + weekly MTV shows. h8 living at a time when magazines are ‘going to the internet’ to report about ‘what’s happening’, so it feels like we are getting bombarded with too much praise for these Blogville AllStars. (just want magazines 2 be burned, yall). I think consumers find solace in the internet because they can block out this formulaic praise/writing/’journalism’ and just sample the music directly. It’s also just annoying 2 hear about artists that you have already aligned ur personal brand with 1.5 years ago–it’s kinda like ur mom ‘reminding u 2 file ur 1040EZ/clean your room for the 5th time.’ It just makes u want 2 have a whole new life without being reminded of the traditional constructs of society. When I listen to Animal Collective, I may or may not still live in our mnstrm society.
SWOT ANALYSIS on AnCo
Strengths:
- Conceptual
- U don’t really know what they are singing about (in a good way)
- they sound ‘good’
- They are a well-implemented brand
- Core audience of evangelists
- They have the internet perception economy on their side
- ‘nice guys’
- meaningful album art
- ability to create LEAK DEMAND
Weaknesses:
- The sing a lot about fatherhood but might not have that many fans who are fathers
- Don’t play enough songs from ‘their most recent album’ at shows
- too experimental?
- Too much LEAK buzz when they are not on a Lil Wayne level yet
- They all live in different parts of the world
- They rule the world (they used 2 rule the world) -the coldplays
Opportunities:
- Less Avey Tare?
- More Panda?
- License more songs for commercials
- Come out with a 6 song EP per 6 months and ’stay relevant’ forever
- The death of jam bands and festival and the rise of jam bands at festivals
- Starting a mini record label that exploits bands that have a similar aesthetic to build an economy for ‘nontraditional music’
- Record deal with the iTunes LBL
- play at the Obama inauguration
- We will never know if they are ‘not good’ any more or if they are just ‘too much’ for our mainstream ears.
Threats:
- What happens if Avey Tare / Panda leave the band?
- They might get ‘disenfranchised’ with the ‘music scene’
- They will focus on their families and take a 10 year break
- Geologist will make a solo album that ‘kinda sux’ and ruins the brand
- Deakin is better than the current 3 members of anCo
- Hype Backlash in 2k11
- Getting ‘too progressive’ before our ears are ready for it
- turning into ass holes who care too much about ’social change.’
N e ways… haven’t listened to Merriweather Post Pavillion in a meaningful context, so I don’t know how good it is. Might need 2 buy some Peyote/heroin and drive to a desert.
Hope yall take some time to think about the internet-world that u exist in, and how Animal Collective is a band that has grown to be relevant alongside web-publishers rise to relevancy. It is a symbiotic relationship. We need them to be ‘considered good/relevant’ so that we can be ‘considered good/relevant.’ Now that they have ‘made it’, webzines/blogs/pitchforks can pat themselves on the back because this is our child. We raised them. We pulled them from the womb of the obscurity, raised them, fed them, nourished them, created them, loved them, used them, experienced them, grown with them, and now they have grown to have an alledged impact on modern society.
<3 u AnCo <3
thnx 4 ‘making us think’ abt ‘reality’/'music’/'art’/'media’/'journalism’/'blogs’/'technology’/etc.
I guess yall win no matter what yall do. Kinda jeal.
We are living in a Post Merriweather Post Pavillion World,
And I am a Conceptual Bro.
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IAmCarles.com
193 Comments
First!
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//////////Reply by HUH?
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
@heptodeath -
This is the kind of time and economic freedom Hipsters have- to wax on about AC – rad. Just
wait- you’ll have to pay rent soon.
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//////////Reply by snows
//////////Posted January 20th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
@HUH?,
And one day we will die
And our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea
But for now we are young
Let us lay in the sun
And count every beautiful thing we can see
fuck rent
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//////////Reply by SOULJAGIRLYOOOOOOUUU
//////////Posted October 27th, 2009 at 12:54 am
@HUH?, THIRD COMMENT YEEEE
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//////////Reply by keanon
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
you need to relax.
what a waste of time both the reading and writing of this has been.
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//////////Reply by fratster
//////////Posted January 15th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Animal Collective is horrible.
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//////////Reply by Iñaki
//////////Posted February 6th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Why bother writing about a band? Just decide if you like it or not.
Why let people know what you think? Just listen to the music you like !!!
Internet exists because someones made it happen.
Animal colective exists because they make music or whatever you want to call it.
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//////////Reply by tragedy in toyland
//////////Posted February 28th, 2009 at 12:54 am
TL;DR
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//////////Reply by SOULJAGIRLYOOOOOOUUU
//////////Posted October 27th, 2009 at 12:54 am
@heptodeath, by replying to this, i end up being one of the ‘first comments’ i am so smart :) anco is such a cool ‘relevant’ band
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by the way CRLS YOURE A FCKING IDIOT. start donating to relief funds. SO ALT. feed these indian aids ridden orphans with fleas, buy them macbooks, give them LUV
http://www.worst-city.com/images/starving-kids-india-child-poverty.jpg
via INDIA
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//////////Reply by thATCHER
//////////Posted January 13th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
@heptodeath,
deathbro i rlly like ur personal brand. it’s rlly relevant. thx 4 bringing wats real 2 the table bro. u probably can convince a lot of ppl that ur aesthetic is meaningful. however i think that the market 4 authenticity might b so last year by summr of 2k9 so may-b u should re-evalu8 ur brand 4 the next season and try 2 come up w/ something more flexible?
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The Annie Collecties, miss u, when will you be as authentic as u were in 2k4.
Listing you as a fav. band makes me entrylvl. Come back, I don’t want to have to pretend to like/get Ponytail (have y’all noticed how mainstrm they are now.
Thank AltJesus that Gang Gang Dance is still authentic enough for me and my personal brand.
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//////////Reply by 99
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
@Hannah oh shit gang gang
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//////////Reply by onlyears
//////////Posted January 27th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
@Hannah, Having never taken X, I can’t join the bandwagon. but random sounds, simplistic, boring rhythms, looped vocals all with the same produced airy sound underneath noise that is annoying.
You can enjoy your AC, but let someone else do the driving.
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Dude… <3 you, but this is some long ass shit. Also, are they pitchforkcore now that pitchforkmedias has let the AnnyCollection bukkake on them, via 9.6 rating?
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//////////Reply by colander
//////////Posted January 17th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
@colander, Ok I finally read the whole post. my point is moot. it was thoughtful.
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this post is gold.
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 2:24 am
@pooponyoursoul, this post is tin at best.
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//////////Reply by anonnnnnnnnie
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
@anony, This post is cardboard!!!
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//////////Reply by mike
//////////Posted January 15th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
@anonnnnnnnnie, ths post is shuttershades
//////////Reply by HowardTheDuck
//////////Posted February 5th, 2009 at 4:46 am
@anonnnnnnnnie, yeah right… you wish this post would sit on your face
//////////Reply by nicko [rt]
//////////Posted February 6th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
@pooponyoursoul,
this post is… something. not quite sure what i think of it. we’re all building castles out of sand here.
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wow u rly thought alot about the animal collectives.
i’m proud of u crls
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Most epic post evar, its all soo true
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CRLS I think you finally solved/beat/JOed on the Internet in this post. I can go back 2 my lyf now.
My 1 friend has been talking about the AnCo crossover for yrs now – nvr gonna happen y’all
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do i need to wear headlamp to be authentic?
do they need to lose them to be more mainstream, more viva la vida loco?
i heard they named a animal after a member from anniecollectie, is this true?
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longest poast ever
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//////////Reply by Michael
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
@anon,
poast? that makes me think of toast. mmmm.
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JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.
Does Carles even write for this blog anymore? or has he hired 10 of his most annoying commenters to copy him on stupid crap for like 15,000 words?
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 2:27 am
@JESUS OF NAZARETH, Could not agree more… you may in fact turn me against atheism.
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//////////Reply by Static
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 2:54 am
@anony, truth
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//////////Reply by altCreep
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 7:05 am
@Static,
CMMNTRS = CRLS = HRO
U DON’T GET IT!
U NEVER WILL!
i played “campfire songs” while reading this…miss u…
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as a suburb-alt who has tried on more than one occasion to force the music of animal collective down the throats of my friends, i can safely say that animal collective is not yet ready for mainstream success, and will probably be played where i live only through the speakers of other suburb-alts
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A few things….
1. another fantastic analysis.
2. despite this going down as one of the featured posts, OJ Simpson is the most alternative man alive is still my favorite post.
3. save trapped in suburbia bro.
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WOW.
Jesus.
Nice work…I think.
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wow crls, <3
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i only made it a little past the live performance vid.
<3&height.
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love u! My thoughts almost exactly. Love ur passion/point of view but fuck was that long! That’s p4k length, if they were reviewing pavement/arcade fire. Still gonna keep fucking my girlfriend to “guys eyes” playing in the background
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THIS IS THE MOST PROFOUND THING I HAVE EVER READ ABOUT MODERN MUSIC BRANDING. NO SHIT- NICE WORK.
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//////////Reply by Super Awesome Guy
//////////Posted January 15th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
@MS, I was surprised, it really was a fucking smart article.
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nice one, enjoyed reading that although i disagree with this bit:
“I’d say 1/10 Animal Collective songs are mix-cd-able for your parents, and that rate is just too low to expect tweens who listen to Fall Out Boy/Pink/Brokencyde to ‘get’ AnCo.”
surely the higher the figure the better when trying to stop tweens from listening to bands… unless they’re ignorant tweens who think all their music is loved by everyone i guess. though how anyone can think that about brokencyde i don’t know…
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 2:30 am
@Boosh, Please. Animal Collective is some of the least accessible indie music to ever be recorded. If you believe otherwise the you have lost all grasp of reality or still have not come down off your acid trip.
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//////////Reply by Boosh
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 9:02 am
@anony, yeh i got mixed up. i haven’t slept in 38 hours, leave me alone :P i thought he was getting at that tweens SHOULD be into animal collective, but i don’t know why i thought that…
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//////////Reply by perezhilton
//////////Posted January 15th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
LOL
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//////////Reply by onlyears
//////////Posted January 27th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
@Boosh, im no tween and i do not get it. there is nothing there there. rhythms boring, sounds (since it’s not music) random, vocals, looped and highly produced, every song follows the same formula, harmonies underneath noise.
I’d rather listen to Jack’s big music show. Honestly.
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this was an unbelievably long and epic post. it’s hilarious how long this went on for. i kept thinking it would end.
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//////////Reply by onlyears
//////////Posted January 27th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
@d, and it did.
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that was long, I didnt make it past the first 4 lines
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//////////Reply by v
//////////Posted January 15th, 2009 at 11:02 am
yup
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//////////Reply by onlyears
//////////Posted January 27th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
@xavier, so the same people who can’t read a paragraph love long pointless noise. so maybe i’m beginning to understand this. all i need is brain damage through consumption of synthetic drugs, and ill be on the ac bandwagon too.
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this was whatever, animal collective are great
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would it be too mainstream to say this is some pulitzer-worthy (translation: bloggable) shit right here?
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 2:32 am
@jesse, Are they giving bathroom stall writing pulitzers now?
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Carles I’m gonna hire you to make market studies for Fortune 500 companies.
But you did forget two very important parallels:
1. The Flaming Lips: ANCO may be recreating their model on fast-forward; whereas they took 20 years to make crossover altdad anthems (save for the jelly incident), ANCO may be do it twice as fast.
2. … the Trail of Dead incident, which may be unknown to most since it happened around THE RAPTURE between the dark ages and the blog era. Pitchfork eventually apologized.
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Great post, I enjoyed it. Although I like Animal Collective, I never really understood how they became so popular. I like far out stuff, but most of the material before Strawberry Jam is pretty hard for me to get into. Even Strawberry Jam and Merriweather Post Pavilion took many multiple listens to decipher the melodies for me. The question is, how does a band like Animal Collective gain such vast popularity over other bands who are more accessible? You obviously answered some parts to that question. They obviously have the “critical acclaim” (pitchfork, the blogosphere) to back themselves up which a lot of times is all it takes. But still, like your mixtape theory, I would have a very hard time playing an Animal Collective track for a new person and have them enjoy it off the bat.
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 2:37 am
@Tim, Agree, agree, agree. The existence of powerful hallucinogens is the only explanation I can come up with. Not even strawberry jam was that great…. not saying it’s bad but EVERY best of list? There are dozens of bands that deserve the acclaim more.
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//////////Reply by Static
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 2:56 am
@anony, peacebone is one of the wrst things iv ever put into my earwholes
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//////////Reply by muh dick
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
@Tim, its pop music for ppl who like noise music
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//////////Reply by Steve
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
@Tim,
I often find music that is not instantly accessible to have much greater staying power. Some records just take a little while to grow on you, this isn’t a bad thing. Often the stuff I like right off the bat I will tire of quickly.
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//////////Reply by Tim
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
@Steve,
I totally agree with you. I am the same way. I guess my point would be that is surprises me that there are that many people out there who have the patience to let albums like Animal Collective soak in. Or maybe they like it right off the bat and don’t need time to let it grow? I dunno.
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//////////Reply by Super Awesome Guy
//////////Posted January 15th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
@Tim, I listen to 8-10 hours of music a day during work, so I do whatever I can to find something that sounds different.
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//////////Reply by sideshow
//////////Posted August 6th, 2009 at 9:12 am
acid
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TL;OS
(too long; only skimmed)
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Deakin completed the band, I miss his presence.
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T Y CARLES.
THIS IS JUST WHAT I NEEDED. : )
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<3 the pitchfork meta4
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//////////Reply by anonyt
//////////Posted June 4th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
@thATCHER, +1
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This made want to never listen to AnCo ever again.
H8 U CRLS
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carles, i’ve been asking you for this post for weeks now.
brilliant.
only, in your list of successive ascending pitchfork ratings you forgot FEELS, which came out after Sung Tongs and received a 9.0.
isn’t it crazy how every time they put out a new album it absolutely dwarfs the preceding one and makes it seem so utterly insignificant that it’s hard to listen to? i thought strawberry was like, “s0 amazing” when i first heard it. now i don’t care about those songs at all. same for feels, and sung tongs and everything before and before and before
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 2:41 am
@a., Lots of albums by lots of bands are like that. The true test of a good album for me is when you can you pick it up a year later and still feel the same about it as when you spun it the first month.
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The Domino’s Pizza ads are weak / inauthentic / mnstrm bro.
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//////////Reply by Yo
//////////Posted January 13th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
@Ben,
u r SOOOOO strong / authentic / alt for pointing that out…… did you even read the post?
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//////////Reply by anonymite
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 9:09 am
@Ben, pizza is VERY authentic. the first, most authentic bros ate pizza.
dominoes, on the other hand…well, kinda weak. instead, my friends and me go into poor people’s neighborhoods dressed in expensive designer clothing and purchase the pizza there. much more authentic.
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OMG can’t read this post. Too many words/pictures of Jesus. Don’t know where it starts or stops.
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//////////Reply by adhd
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
@cc, so true. 2 long 4 my adhd to handle
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writing about ACo is pretty mainstream d00d
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i thought “The Purple Bottle” was their “breakout” song, so where the fuck is Feels?? i feel weird/irrelevant for still liking it more than MPP. :-(
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//////////Reply by i don't get it
//////////Posted September 24th, 2009 at 8:20 am
@lacey, is it me or is mpp really annoying compared to the rest
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u bettr not blgg about AnCo for at least the next 6-8 weeks or i wont read it
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//////////Reply by yall
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 8:40 am
yeah carles, bettr not.
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that was about 1000000000% too long dammnn so many words so little actual content (sry crles, just being honest <3)
plus AnCo is lame bandwagon indie shit by this point
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Dear Carles,
This shit is epic/whack/fked as hell/???.
I still h8 that AnCo was on the frontpage of billboard. Y they actually so poplar?
This was some great “expressing urself” btw.
But lots of reading. Got enuf in skool.
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//////////Reply by jose speaks:
//////////Posted January 13th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
P.S. Agreed with my HRO\obsessed frnds. I dont wanna hear more bout AnCo 4 til at least May2kNine.
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tl;dr
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//////////Reply by matt
//////////Posted January 13th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
@michael cera,
ditto
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animal collective is to 21st century american pop music as dziga vertov was to 20th century russian art cinema… the purpose of art is to inspire self-revelation… agreed, MPP is not a crossover album… music criticism is a scam… every context has meaning, no need to use drugs
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//////////Reply by Jess
//////////Posted March 29th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
@den, nice
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ps can your next post be a place where all your readers discuss your ads? b/c i was ok with domino’s but free people is just whack.
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i’m kinda jeal too
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CRLES, YOU SHOULD DEF INTERVIEW AnC, since their all interweby et. all!
let me know when you post their interview.
thnx lovah!
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the animal collective are quite popular but i do not enjoy listening to their music
skimmed through most of this post carles
tl;dr
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LONGEST POST EVARRR
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<3 these occasional long posts. Punctuation marks that pause the satire and your tr00 colors show.
<3 that whatever you are doing (self-aware ironically satire/criticism) it is apparent that u kn0 ur sht. Who r u??!?! U r making other elitist “indier-than-thou” critics sound like they r so way 2 serious/un-authentic! [via pt4 up their asses]
<3 u, miss u
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THAT WAS TOO LONG, BUT VERY INSIGHTFUL. I THINK. . .
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anyone who started liking ANco after SJ are FGGts
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I’ll wait for the rest of the comments to see what this shit was about.
tFl;dr
BESIDES! I never even played AnCo, not even once in my whole entire alt existence. So that is one post I do not give a shit about.
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//////////Reply by furry rabbit
//////////Posted January 15th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
@adhd, its about HRO’s new found admiration for My CHemical Bromance.
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Carles, are you just writing long posts like this b.c. they’re actually excerpts for your HRO blog book (that will be sold in Urban Outfitties)….kind of like Carrie Bradshaw? I’m on to you.
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//////////Reply by josé speaks:
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 1:10 am
@cc, Good obsrvation.
Im on 2 this same conspiracy.
Its the only logical next move aftr his XM/Siriustalk RadioShow.
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//////////Reply by anthanthanth
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 9:08 am
@cc carrie bradshaw did it better.
i hope one of the gossip girls plays carles when the movie comes out (theatre near you, decemeber ‘10)
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//////////Reply by cc
//////////Posted January 15th, 2009 at 12:30 am
YESSSS! I’ll see the movie during Girls.Night.Out! Hope it takes place in NYC and involves more fashion!
soooo long, could not handle it with my ADDs
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incredible post, crls
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<333333333
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Right. SO…. ….right. Uh, perhaps in the year two thousand nine we won’t see any more retarded HipsterRunOff lingo… seriously… the acronyms are for average people. Do you want to be average? I don’t.
http://www.hipsterwave.com/haters-and-for-all-those-who-dont-know/
You can hate us now. Nah, feel free! CLICK!
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//////////Reply by ugh
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 5:03 am
@Hammer Don’t Hurt EM, whore
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//////////Reply by Hammer Don't Hurt EM
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 10:49 am
@ugh, What are you talkin’? You love the cock.
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fucking hell carles, this is ridiculous.
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you missed the feels review. they gave tham 9.0
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water curses was the only misstep with a 7.3
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ill be waiting for the leak of the hipsterrunoff chronicles vol. 1
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tl;dr
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Hi Carles,
You clearly spent a long time writing this exasperated post. Was it worth it? Do you feel less culturally alienated now than before sitting down to write this long-winded manifesto? I doubt you do.
So here is a true fact that might cheer you up: no one cares about your personal brand except you. And here is something else: you are getting older each day. And one day you will be so old that even YOU won’t care about your personal brand. This won’t happen immediately, of course. First you will probably adopt the “personal brand” of “not caring about my personal brand”. But then, eventually and inevitably, you will lose even that final shred of meta-advertising bullshit and you’ll just be a sad old man with fewer years ahead of you than behind.
My guess is you will look back and wish you spent less time trying to figure out what it means to be alt or mainstream and more time doing something else. ANYTHING else.
- a concerned reader
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 2:46 am
@Nathan Workfast, HRO; does not get.
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//////////Reply by ??
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 7:54 am
@Nathan Workfast,
why so serious? Carls doesn’t care about his brand, he’s holding up a mirror etc.. he’s slowly writing a book called Hipster Runoff which will be available at Starbucks in 2Y10
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//////////Reply by den
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 10:31 am
@Nathan Workfast,
You took the time to read this trivial piece of blog criticism and you also provided the longest response. Do you think it might be a good idea to stop criticizing other people’s choices and move on to something more important?
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//////////Reply by Hammer Don't Hurt EM
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 10:51 am
@Nathan Workfast, That’s why http://www.hipsterwave.com is better. :-)
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//////////Reply by david
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
@Hammer Don’t Hurt EM, actually that site is fucking queer you mchammer loving cock ass
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//////////Reply by Hammer Don't Hurt EM
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
@david, Hahah. If by queer you mean better than any site you could ever possibly design and better than Hipsterrunoff.com, then yes, you are correct.
“queer mchammer loving cock ass,” hahah, you sound like a six-year-old putting together multiple swears out of crippling frustrating and ignorance. Eat a dick. :-)
http://www.hipsterwave.com
//////////Reply by seriously dude
//////////Posted February 4th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
@Hammer Don’t Hurt EM, no seriously dude, this is lame advertising, your personal brand is that you CARE, so start caring.
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That could have been said in like 1/4 of the words used. WAY to fucking long…. all your doing is regurgitating what your commenter said yesterday anyway.
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nice touch with the SWOTter analy.
next time, use Porter’s 5 Forces:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_5_forces_analysis
just dropped the post-entry-level-business-student knowledge, yall
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fucking h8 u carles, this post went on for ever and ever
u r ruining animal collective for me
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I know I have an attention problem when it took 3 separate attempts to read through all of this. Am I internets ADD yall? Probs… You might have went a bit overboard on this one Charles, but the topic was obviously unavoidable for you, so kudos on your long haul.
I think alt music in a post ‘web 2.0′ world will never be the same. Instant-digital gratification has made our entertainment more disposable than ever, resulting in music (like you’ve stated) that is quickly digested product rather than delicately and intricately made art.
It seems to me that this is the last decade of ‘genuine music’. If the internet has diluted and corrupted alt music into trendsetting, beta-advertising, overtly merchandising, overhyped marketing schemes with a thick coat of superficiality, alt music from here on out can only get worse. Animal Collective is the scapegoat, but its cumulative of any music that is suppose to be considered “authentic” in the MySpaceMusic/HypeMachined digital self-promotion age.
I was really hoping that AnCo leaked a srsly bad fake album before releasing their real one, just to test all the ridiculous hype and critics. It would had been the ultimate litmus test to see if bloggers/critics/music reviewers we really listening to the music, or just over zealously promoting it. Imagine if Pitchfork still gave its 9.6 review to a shitty album that AnCo made just to test them… it really would put things in perspective. That be the AnCo album id like to hear, maybe the Radioheads will try it in 2k9.
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 2:50 am
@JStone, Good music will never die, it will simply go unappreciated.
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let me make you a Marketing Mix(-tape)
more like TWOT analysis (A)
The Dangerous Lives of Altbros (a book, also a movie starring jodie foster AS I RECALL?)
does anyone want to buy a fax machine? FAX IS SHORT FOR FACSIMILE. A SIMILE IS A TYPE OF METAPHOR THAT USES COMPARATIVE STATEMENTS SUCH AS “LIKE” OR “AS”
this post is MIND-BLOGGING if you follow
Boggle
UpWords
Trivial Pursuit Family Edition
Pinochle
learn a trade
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tl;dr
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im too drunk or this post sucksss. oh no animal collective suck suck sucks keep analyzing this shitty fucking band and make sure the hro anco brand is strong. y do i read this fucking poop shit blog
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This could be blog post of the year
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HRO is officially now more MNSTRM than AnCo.
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What time do The Teenagers start sucking?
Is the death of bloghouse culture the death of HRO?
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//////////Reply by privypinch
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
@Alex, teenagers always sucked
they were just appreciated for .5 blgg yrs for being aware that they sucked.
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//////////Reply by Alex
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
@privypinch, very trite.
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paw tracks is an anco affiliated lbl
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the ‘core of evangelists’ worries me. there’s a chance, isn’t there, that latecomers to the cult will never be allowed to forget that they ‘weren’t there’ when it all started, that they’ve just been ensnared by the brand, and that their views are less holy or lack integrity. try as they might to get to grips with what animal collective is ‘about’, the best they can hope for is a pat on the head from the elders in the circle, and a patronising smile that says ‘well done for seeing the light, but don’t talk to me about what you think it means’.
v. interesting read.
i’m trying :)
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carles, i give you an 11.
<3
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stop thinking.
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idnt ANCO a beach boys’s cover band?
i dont getit.
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your latest posts were around a p4k FIVE POINT SEVEN(5.7) but this one is clearly a p4k NINE POINT FIVE (9.5)!
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his music the hipster garabe i’ve ever heard
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//////////Reply by 99
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
@k, what they worse live
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//////////Reply by jimmerrrrrrt
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
@99, like the grateful dead be4 them
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//////////Reply by ah
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
@jimmerrrrrrt, that’s too jamaican
//////////Reply by ruthie
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
@k, his music the hipster garabe i’ve ever heard [2]
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//////////Reply by PANDA BALLS
//////////Posted January 20th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
@ruthie, BALLS
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This is the worst fucking piece of writing I’ve ever seen. This is why I hate America.
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Where was “Feels” in that Pitchfork Arc?
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tl;dr
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units are moving
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when you write things that long i get so fucking bored. HRO has become less and less entertaining. i get so fucking sad, i thought i would be so up to date and hip because i read this stupid blog, but now im considering ditching williamsburg for northern virginia. Maybe now that your shits gone so stale i can finally pry myself away from my macbook and connect with strangers or some shit on the subway.
h8 the bedford stop, today i will throw on some nikes, get on the l and go to union square to meet/connect with my peers.
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Where is Feels!!!! That is their best album!!!
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ne1 remember when neon blonde was soooooo conceptual to entry levelrz (me in 2k4) miss that.
h8 animal collective. sorry.
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Outstanding.
This says it all: “Most of the most ardent Animal Collective fans are ‘failed creative-types’ who have convinced themselves that they ‘could have made the music that Animal Collective made’ if they ‘just saved up some money to buy ________(type of instrument).’”
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I’ve never actually herd the Animal Collective but Bjork is pretty good!! I feel like I might not be “relevant” n e more. I guess I thought her bird outfit would guarantee a lifetime of “cool power” but maybe our unsustainable world just throws ppl away like old condoms :(
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UNSUBSCRIBE!
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tl;dr
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nice post! Here’s my take:
http://www.thetripwire.com/blog/2009/01/09/from-the-editor-ok-ill-be-the-one-to-say-it-the-new-animal-collective-album-is/
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This was amazing. I love when writing makes me question everything about something I love. Well done!
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well done
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i hate the animal collective and it’s too long
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way too long. couldn’t even read half of it.animal collective sucks.
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d00dz if u can get thru Pandy Bear Bros without getting up and d00ing thingz around ur pad u can get thru this post unfortch i could d0 neitherz
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<3 u for that:
“or if we are just so caught up in what’s happening on the internet that we fail to realize ‘these conceptual bands don’t matter to most people and probably never will.’”
where I live, people don’t know radiohead, so being a fan would be alt, and listening to something like anco would make u extremely ‘weird’. bands that are supposed to be alt in the ‘real’ world become mainstream on the interwebs.
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Do you guys not remember back when carles still took this blog seriously? He had like five days in a row worth of posts about how much he was looking forward to seeing Animal Collective.
Must be in the archives somewhere. It’s interesting to see when he still talked about this stuff with a straight face instead of as the indie music Stephen Colbert.
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ATP NY 2009. I will be there.
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This is a post where I read nothing on it other than the words “Animal Collective” and then proceeded to scan over it to leave a comment.
I also didn’t read a single word of the crappy comments on this.
Srsly stupid.
Srsly get a life.
Animal Collectives sux. FTL
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trying to hard to be maddox. end yourself.
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I feel like I’m the only person with a job … and working in this world.
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Who gives fuck?!? You’re over analyzing the music. If you like it, great…enjoy it. If not, shut up. No one cares. Music should never ever be written about anyway. Music is for listening.
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//////////Reply by huuuney
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
@Your Mother,
i juzt fxckin h8 crlz so much lyke he shuldnt be alive ne more
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//////////Reply by liztish
//////////Posted February 4th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
@Your Mother, Do you say that about all music, or just the one band you personally are obsessed with?
Let’s just hope you apply that respect across the board.
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ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! don’t you people get this band? if not you are not a hipster like me. only hipsters! huzzah! i have a mustache!!!
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@Alex, your questions werent exactly thought provoking. my apologies for not giving a thoughtful response.
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http://directreference.blogspot.com/2009/01/trendsetters-hipsters-and-regular-joes.html
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LongPostBro.
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i bet AC read or will read this
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anyone who thinks this post is about animal collective’s music is a moron
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//////////Reply by nicko [rt]
//////////Posted February 6th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
@kilgore,
i agree.
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so radiohead sux cuz they stand fur something and animal col rulz cuz they stand fur nothing?
h8 yall
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sung tongs 4 life.
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I want to write the 33 and 1/3 on Merriweather Post Pavilion.
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Can i give you an honorary sub-cultural studies degree from my fake online university? I feel like this post should be on a syllabus somewhere.
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was there anything in this post about taking lsd?
goooodnight WAKKA WAKKA
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I went to hi-school in a place full of hipsters. I was among the first (because I spent too much time online and happened to like skinny pants, having been raised in uniform skirts), therefore I became the mommy of all mini-me’s there. At prom I was in charge of the music. And half the room chanted along to 3 AnC songs. This happened in Romania in summer 2008, by the way. In 2005, I played AnC at a party and became a leper for the rest of the night. That was before Pitchfork got its claws into the Eastern European contingent of hipsterrics, and before AnC became a ministry here.
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//////////Reply by BLACK people
//////////Posted January 16th, 2009 at 1:06 am
@random blogger, Wow, did anyone ever tell you that nobody gives a shit? you were treated like a leper because your most likely fat.
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//////////Reply by nicko [rt]
//////////Posted February 6th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
@random blogger,
none of that should bother you.
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why was the post so0 long and why are there so0 many comments?????!?!//
i’ll read it later
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//////////Reply by pete
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
@sydney,
Carles is currently studying a ‘branding/business’ subject at Uni/College this semester/term and is trying to pass on what he has learnt to the mainstream.
his tryin to ‘apply’ what he has learnt into a ‘real life example’ so that the rest of us ‘get it’, its subliminal….
post more nip slips not this deep and meanigful B.S
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//////////Reply by sydney
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
@pete, okay but WHYYYY are there so0 many commments then?????//
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you’re kind of earnest when you stop with the srcstc routine, aren’t you? you evaluate the meaning of being a radiohead fan without mentioning their music once… as if they really were a brand not a band. even P4K would at least say something about the music…
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Black people hate the animal collective and so should you, this band is terrible, i could sample myself shitting into a walgreens bag and make better music than them. This is just unheard of.
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//////////Reply by jolson
//////////Posted January 14th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
@BLACK people,
WANT TO HEAR YOUR WALGREENS EP!
POST IT!
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//////////Reply by WHITE people
//////////Posted January 15th, 2009 at 9:11 am
it’s on Itunes.
Artist: Black people
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//////////Reply by the voice of reason
//////////Posted June 29th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
@Black people, No, it’s not on itunes. Called your bluff, son. Get a life.
AnCo makes me jizz in my pants
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This is on of the greatest posts ever on the internet.
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um carles, u just wrote like 5 pages about animal collective and whether or not their fans are authentic
what if i just want to get the album because i like it and am not concerned with labels/what scene it makes me???? am i a “IDCbro”?
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Ok crls u win. U touched the zeitgeist.
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//////////Reply by .
//////////Posted October 31st, 2009 at 3:41 am
@colander, he is fucking the zeytgeist
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wow, wtf was that post for.
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damn dude, you’ve got way too much time on your hands. you don’t get paid to do this website do you?
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//////////Reply by furry rabbit
//////////Posted January 15th, 2009 at 1:55 am
u didn’t c those american apparel adzz?
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//////////Reply by ballsackin
//////////Posted January 15th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
ah shit! i need to quit my job and start writing some BS music blog bitchen!
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I’ve only listened to a couple of their old tunes but I’m going to check out the album. I LOVE that they are from MD, The Merriweather Post Pavillion is 30 minutes away from me.
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2k9 is fuckin dead
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best post ever on an internet blog
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animal collective has been [my personal music/stuff i couldn't get my friends to listen] and now that’s getting all mainstream (via loooong HR entries) i don’t feel as i thought i would
miss bat you’ll fly, slippi, we tigers, grass times
also, your blog is getting boring
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Can someone please explain why this is such a ‘gr8′ piece of ‘writing?’ I just don’t understand why such ‘opinion’ has to be written in this ‘lazy’ and totally ‘hip/alt/inventive/experimental/non-inventive’ style. Or is this just a dismal look into the future of ‘hipster/internet/literature?’
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//////////Reply by ted dancin
//////////Posted June 11th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
@smith, you shood ‘know’ itz gr8 cuz all the opinin is ‘‘‘lazy’ and totally ‘hip/alt/inventive/experimental/non-inventive’’’.
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//////////Reply by ted dancin
//////////Posted June 11th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
@ted dancin, also it’s totally post-alt
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Hahahah always thought u had made up that cover of merriweather post whatever as a joke!I only chkd it out now
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Music criticism, especially on the internet, has been reduced to a lifestyle marketing tipsheet. The “cognoscenti” who make up its target demo are as obsessed with conformity as the average Miley Cyrus fan. AnCo are the current darlings of the zeitgeist, which inoculates them against criticism – either you love them and are part of the “movement”, or you don’t get it.
This is underlined by the fact that AC’s music pretentious, boring twaddle that only some self-conscious morons who seek to define themselves by what they AREN’T could like.
Well done Carles!
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//////////Reply by yum! brands
//////////Posted January 15th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
u used the word zeitgeist.
thought i should let u know
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//////////Reply by liztish
//////////Posted February 4th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
@Alvysinger, Brilliantly put.
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//////////Reply by ted dancin
//////////Posted June 11th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
@Alvysinger, i see that you put cognoscenti in quotes because you meant it on an ulterior plane of existence
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brb bookmarkin this pg
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AnCo is boring. This post is boring.
I wonder what StuckedInSuburbiaBro would think about it…
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1 dai i saw a Wintur Winderland and den i tried 2 save da Lion in a Coma & Reverend Green/Derek tried to shoot me in my cummertime clothez and they screamed ‘No More Running!’ but den i was like also frightnd of dem so i hid in da flowerz wiff mie peacebone and purple bottie
see u in da bathtub crlllz
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can’t believe no one wrote this yet:
AC will be as popular in ‘history’ as Pink Floyd
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does anyone remember how AC used to be these dudes who played kind of interesting but aimless sets before the band you paid to see, and then for some reason there was an article about them like every week for a year in the ny times arts section and pitchforkmedia wouldn’t stop talking about them, and then you went back to see the show they were headlining at because you thought maybe they were better than you remembered, and they were better but just a little, and there were for some reason a bunch of dudes in sports hats there? i feel like anco have gotten better, but i think any noise/texture band like they used to be who was given the level of exposure and thus opportunity they have been given would get better too. why did they get picked? i feel like maybe they just had a few of the right friends at different media outlets. and what were those jocks doing at that show? did they like it? were they all on e or mushrooms? was i standing in the middle of a religious and life changing experience for mainstream bros?
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i like animal collective
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//////////Reply by OptFx
//////////Posted February 6th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
@stagger lee,
forums.hipinion.com
forums.hipinion.com
fuck
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anco sucks they own dicks
fuck artfag indie cunts
have fun in life.
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ac are amazing
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Excellent analysis of the situation CRLS.
Animal Collective transcends all & yall.
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H8 U NOMINAL COLLECTIVES
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how a group of people(fans) perceive them or act shouldn’t sway your opinion. who cares who enjoys AC for what reason, if you enjoy it what is the difference. when they make a shit record, i wont listen to it and wait for the next one. you also never bring up the point that the reason fans like AC or any band for that matter, is that there actually good and talented. MORE AVEY TARE less Panda, strawberry jam is still superior.
and i really enjoy your show on sirius.
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tl;dr
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fucking brilliant.
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BOB DYLAN I LOVE YOU
(+ animal collective)
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Q: is hipster runoff satire?
I’m just confused, help me out, bros.
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if you like early anco
peep out skin graft records
or even tyondai braxton or battles
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PERSON PITCH WAS ABOUT NOAH LENNOX’S FATHER’S DEATH. DUH.”FANS MIGHT NOT BE FATHERS”? DID YOU LISTEN TO MPP LYRICS? BOTHERSPORT? GOD DAMNIT. IT’S PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO RUIN MUSIC. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE IS NOT ARCADE FIRE AND THANK FUCK BECAUSE IT IS BANDS LIKE THOSE WHO NEED MAINSTREAM TO STAY ALIVE. CONTENT COMES FROM FEELING. I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU MADE PANDA BEAR OUT TO BE A MARKETING SCUM BAG. YOU DIRECTLY HEAR INFLUENCES. IT IS NOT SOME CONSPIRACY OF HOW TO GET ON RADIO. IF YOU KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT THEIR DEMEANOR, THEIR WHOLE POINT IS TO STAY AWAY FROM PACKAGED DEALS. FUCK. YOU SHOULD TAKE THIS SHIT DOWN. IT MAKES ME EMBARASSED TO BE YOU.
but i like your other shit. peace.
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Blah . . . after they create it most artists are done with it . . . this is all you.
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<3 yr analyses
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This is really sad and tasteless: 90% of these comments sound like they were written by insecure brain damaged bigots listening to T-Pain. Are people so close minded that is it impossible to even consider this album is genuinely good before making the assumption that just because it’s gotten so much attention, it has some sort of malicious value? For that matter, it seems like all modern forms of art have been written off, or attached with a negative stigma. Carles, a year ago to date you wrote in an email to me in regards to your HR voice saying it is: “definitely tough for some people to walk that line of ‘hyperconnected modern intellectualism’ vs. some lost soul who is infatuated with hipsterdom and writing to vent about their inability to fit in.” What happens when your readership exists in stark contrast to the nature of your own writing? Fuck, I should have never clicked on the comments.
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My life is shit! (expletive)tomorrow I will be a new.
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that was epic. great read. I think there is too much hype for AnCo right now and there will be a backlash in 2k11. +NO ANCO AT COACHELLA WTFz
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their music just kind of hurts my ears.
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Love the analysis as well.
Also “love” reading deluded hipster authenticity fetishists. How old are you all? LOLs.
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it’s weird how self-aware bands are silently going to be the ones we actually remember. like when you’re out on a summer vacation and you have all those CDs you burned before you had a 160GB Ipod Touch, and you go “hey, what CD should I put on?” you’ll snoop around and before you know it you’ll choose The Teenagers album, and you’ll think: “why the hell not” and then, as you slowly realize that you know the complete lyrics to Love No, and that even though it’s bad, it’s horrible, it just meant more to you than the time the Animal Collective album dropped on the internet.
I mean, seriously, I’m not into Animal Collective like at all, or any of those WEIRD BANDS OF IMPROV HIGHSCHOOL-INSPIRED MUSIC like Fabulous Diamonds or The Shopping Channel or whatever. But people who are, and I mean the ones who really care, not the ones who own a regular mp3 player and clear it out every now and then without reading the names of the bands, the ones who care are the ones who will end up going to the Death Cab For Cutie concert and thinking “I’m glad I came to this huge show” and miss the AnCo one which was “another great dose of music” tot he people who went.
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//////////Reply by just a thought
//////////Posted February 4th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
also might like to note that i don’t really care abuot anco or the future of music, more like the future of what’s “retro”. is that too nineties. hey, at least i’m sticking to it.
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You should take some writing classes. This is completely incomprehensible.
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what a phenomenal piece of writing. i don’t know why or what to make of it, really. I don’t even know much AC. But I know this piece is excellent somehow, all the same.
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a journey of self isn’t just a hare krishna book someone gives you at LAX while you wait for your taxi before all of the blow and sex. no one can save you. validation and love are things everyone needs. don’t hate kids because they are kids.
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this article was totally sweet
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You should spend more time listening to them than listening to yourself talk about them.
Criticism always says more about the critic than the artist.
P.S. your text-message-like writing makes you look too involved with the internet.
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OH FUCK BETTER SELL THAT SAMPLER LOLOL
… (cries)
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i really think you’re a music-industry-freak and you only able to see things through music-industry-glasess.
you shouldn’t analize THAT MUCH anything, u know?
Go home, cool off. Or better, go do something!
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and one more thing… right about music is like dancing architecture. i am not an animal collective death fan, but i do am a music fan and producer, and stuff like this make vomit man.
you know what is a REALLY fake?: pitchfork, rollings, YOU, all music journalists… why don’t you shut up a little bit. you’re not musicians and propably you’ll never be! so stop trying.
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and one more thing… right about music is like dancing architecture. i am not an animal collective death fan, but i do am a music fan and producer, and stuff like this make vomit man.
you know what is a REALLY fake?: pitchfork, rollings, YOU, all music journalists… why don’t you shut up a little bit. you’re not musicians and probbably you’ll never be! so stop trying.
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//////////Reply by Y2zl
//////////Posted February 17th, 2009 at 3:15 am
@je_, and you’re not a journalist, so maybe stop trying to comment. popular music exists in the context of its cultural criticism. you cannot separate the two – music without a performer and audience dynamic, its like one hand clapping bro.
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interesting reading…
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IT SEEMED LIKE YOU WERE REALLY STRETCHIN FOR SOME OF THE SHIT YOU TYPEd, TRYING REALLY HARD TO LABEL/UNDERSTAND and JUSTIFY.
Also your ‘don’t care I’ll use numbers to shorten words’ style, even if you’re not cultivating it, did not work with this article.
It could have if you really spent time to get your ideas into a stable formation where they transitioned well and supported each other (work at it) but as is they jump like stream of consciousness, so it looks like a pile of crap and I had to skim. Here I’m trying to say either type ‘proper style’ or write well enough that people have to deal with your SMSisms because the subject matter is that good.
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BUNCHA MIRROR EATIN BITCHES HERE AUDITIONIN 4 PASTE YUM YUM GIMME SOME
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i just took the time to read this post, and it is intelligent meta-journalism. i am not being facetious, gj carles
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i stole that mix cd love letter meta-pic and put it on my facebook to feel more authentically ironical in front of ma peers. props bro.
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You have an ad for a medium cheese pizza from Dominos on your banner. It makes me want to get a medium cheese pizza from Dominoes.
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excellent post.
but hop off AnCo’s cauk cRLs
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I’m a hermit attending college. I have few friends (this is totally honest hyperbole-free) and don’t even have one friend who listens to music on a regular basis. I am a solo adventurer who is too absorbed in life to feel lonely. I personally know nobody who likes the Animal Collective. I found out about them through a blog that a former teaching assistant keeps. That blog literally opened up my ears to some of the creme of the crop in terms of music and film. Because I really have no meaningful relationships (sounds pathetic but really I’ve accepted it and thus grown) music also serves as a way to connect me with like-minded people. I looked forward to Merriweather Post Pavillion partially because of the knowledge, that at THIS MOMENT, somebody possibly like myself is listening it.
The Animal Collective takes me out of my mind to a place that exists in my heart.
Trippy but grounded.
Like a many-face dragon.
A brain massage.
I want to have sex while listening to “Guys Eyes” and “The Purple Bottle”.
The best listens are the first ones when high on the herb. When I finally got “Feels” and “Water Curses” I felt like I do when I drive without my seatbelt.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Thank you internet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Once some music gets really liked by my friend then i know its gotten sort of annoying. He has a big beard and used to be into the Disco Biscuits & Phish. Now he checks Pitchfork regularly, is heavily into Feist and AnCo. Still hangs out with ‘hippies’ who wear patchwork pants. They are all moreinto how successful a band is and how they ‘rock shows’ than the actual music. I liked it back in 2000 when Black Dice & AnCo were actually weird.. and why is Panda Bear looking squinty in the Southwest? is that because thats one part of the country that hasnt caught up to the coastal hipster population? Sure places like Albequerque and Denver are ‘on their way’ but they are still heavy into Stoner Metal there.
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First of all, I’ve never met any hipster who even knows who Animal Collective is. Even the fags at Urban Outfitters don’t know what it is…it played there once when I was shopping and I asked the cashier (who was totally hipster since he was working at UO) if he liked it and he said “I don’t know what this is, and I hate all the shit they play in here anyways”.
Second, I think this is the worst blog I’ve ever read. I get that your aim is to make a point (very few are valid), but you sound like an angry, whiny late 20 year old who can’t find a real job or any friends.
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//////////Reply by BlogsAreForFags
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 12:26 am
P.S. You’re mainstream.
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Turnip greens are a good source of irony.
0.Why doesn’t anything mean nothing anymore, like the good old days? Being alt used to mean you liked stuff tyhat no one else was willing to like, stuff that sucked, and people really seemed to enjoy that. Now people can’t stop liking stuff that’s cool and it’s getting to be a problem. This blog is not helping, by the by. We’re getting away from the original intent, here. The founding altfathers never intended for us to be happy with our choicees of entertainment and brand name items, houshold or otherwise. We were supposed to keep rich people poor whiole enriching the lives of the poor with our opinions and views on meaningless matters, thereby unwittingly maintaining the delicate balance of injustice.
Now that we’ve clarified that digging through the dumpster that is the internets for something, anything to make it seem like we don’t care about stuff that’s going on is something that people can agree on as the basis for social relevancy, cuz that’s how I found your blog and you pretty much said it yourself in said blog, we can see that pointlessness/vanity is the lifeblood of interest. People like stuff because they think other people will hate it and therefore see their uniqueness and be totally blinded and enamored by the light of their total lack of taste. This whole affair is ususally ignored like the diamond in the trash can, and the perpetrators get away with the corn cob with three kernels on it, scot-free. And we let them. And it must stop.
I think it’s pretty safe to say that AnCo will never mean anything to any consequential/particular number of consequential/particular individuals and that’s why I love ‘em. Cuz they need it and I need to be needed. Quite an arrangement and they don’t even no about it. I’m like the wife they never new they had. Long Lost Wife, that’s a name for a song, for sure. I sneak in and do their laundry while they sleep, then, ever so lovingly, out the window with a sweet kiss “lates”. I’m the Blogosphere lover. That’s nbot my name though.
They solidified their hold, however, on the throat of their fan base with that one song MyGirls. They showed that they don’t plan on making it big, which is sure to be a hit with people who don’t care.
Suckiness really satisfies. This is the altkick/definition in the nuts.
I mean, seriously, did you think I was going to let you make sense out of people’s desire to see futility flourish?
Here’s one:
“How can we get people to unite under the banner of division?”
I win this blog. On to the next round, you square, where I’ll TRI a different ANGLE…
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//////////Reply by bodobo
//////////Posted August 21st, 2009 at 7:08 pm
@Jess, TL DNR
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Proper grammar makes life worth living. ;D
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This is ridiculous. I don’t understand why people bother wether bands have a cool fanbase or not.
I mean I’m pretty happy to be in my teens in the 00s, because it’s on vogue to listen to good music.
Imagine you would have been born 10 years earlier,where it was hip to listen to eurodance, and you werent able to sing along to vampire weekend.
i know mr hipsterrunoff, VamWee are the most hipster gabage in your opinion, but i still love them, because they made a great album. wif kul tunez on it. You know, music,… the stuff that should aktshuali matter.
we should seriously apprishiate the time that we live in.
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Ah, the ambiguities of the neo-hippie indie movement. “Let’s pretend that we care about all the current issues but spend more time making sure we dress the part rather than get anything substantial accomplished.” I can’t grasp why it drive you indie fucks so crazy to know a band you like is expanding into a larger fanbase. Popularity doesn’t make a band suck. You would be a much more convincing neo-hippie if you didn’t pirate your music like every other iAssbag.
The indie ’scene’ is the disco-era of the 2000’s.
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plus they try to be like can or faust or some kind of generic krautrock stuff, fuck them. soo obvious.
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Holy shit… that Animal Collective clip is so real… omg.
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why do you do this?if you like music so much why don’t you try making some?what is the point of thinking you are ahead of everyone?
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TLDNR
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Interesting post… in think you have an unhealthy fascination with animal collective.
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Progressive/alternative/indie music is like the world, as seen by white men, c. 17 & 18th century/now.
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the first few pages of this were pretty good
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this dude is trying to disguise his frustration over the fact that nobody cares about how he listened to animal collective before they got big by writing some huge, overly elaborate wall of text.
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Truly awful blogpost. So much time spent on writing a load of shit. Look at your dumb writings within drawings…it is neither funny nor cool. And please..your grammar, its like listening to a 11 year old try to tell a story and stuttering over and over until his head explodes. And you haven’t even listened to Merriweather yet!!! Complete waste of 15 minutes and further disillusions me from the internet.
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I found this page on Google.com while searching for the band “Animal Collective” and I thought I’d just take the time to add to the trail off of comments made by people who did the same within the months post January and don’t get things.
You must be ________. I _____ your most popular posts, Mr. Runoffs.
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there was nothing of intrinsic value related to anything about animal collective or anything at all for that matter. i’m pretty sure this is the last thing animal collective would want anybody to write about.. i don’t know what angle you could possibly be coming from writing in this horrendous style. it made my left eye twitch continuously and compelled me to kill any small animals within a 30 foot radius.
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I think what he’s trying to say is they’re good and he likes them, but for people to jump onto the band even when they don’t give a shit about the music and are into the band just because it was Pitchfork or the internet is inauthentic.
I got into AnCo and MPP when I saw several ads and threads about them. I figured I’d give them a try, the reviews seemed pretty good. And I liked them. There have been a bunch of reviews on P4K that have gushed over some band that I just couldn’t get into.
P4K is by far the best review site or source, but I don’t always enjoy what they claim is good.
tl;dr. You’re meant to use it as a guide to what’s good. It’s no differerent than using a travel guide or word of mouth when you go on vacation.
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yeah, its totally all about mark maguire and growing and wet hair now. isn’t it? i think so, because when you say that sort of thing people think you’re talking about mark maguire and growing and wet hair.
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I read this b/c the kanyegate 2.0 article comments mentioned this post. I could relate better to the Kanyegate article because I never heard “AnCo” so to it was more directly meaningful to me. After reading the comments though, I’m convinced this was still a great post because it was actually seems more meaningful to me than to the people commenting that were familiar with “AnCo”. Actually, I think all your posts are very good. Maybe the Kanyegate post stands out because it was timely and addressed a wider phenomenon that many internet addicts can relate to.
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Umm… this is the biggest waste of my time. Why is it funny to put quotations ironically around random words and say “y’all” and misspell everything? it’s not. No one actually talks like that. who are you making fun of?
it just sounds dumb. Some guy spent a whole day on his computer thinking, “animal collective is ‘hipster’, so i’m going to waste my whole day being ‘funny’. i’m going to be really pretentious, but because i do it ironically, it’s going to be soooo funny
this is the most pathetic thing i’ve ever seen.
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