In the year 2k9, many 'authentic' alts listened to the popular post-buzzbands 'the Animal Collective.' Many blogs and web pundits probably enjoyed discussing them more than they enjoyed their music. As yall know, 2k9 ended, and the slate of authenticity was wiped clean.

The clock struck midnight--it was a new year, and I didn't feel any different. I was sitting in my room, reading 'best of the decade' and 'best of 2k9' posts. A tear rolled down my face, since the prospect of the unknown year made me feel like Mel Gibson's death scene in Braveheart. I decided it was time to take the initiative and move on with my life. It was time to stop living in the past. It was time to let go of 2k9...

It was time to let go of AnCo.

"Letting Go of AnCo"
A Short Story
Presented by Carles

I had always been fascinated by the band dynamic within the popular buzzband Animal Collective. So many textures, it was difficult to know who was the true backbone of the band. Each member had an abstract role, and their plausible group creative process was so foreign to traditional creative types.

2k9 was probably the best year of my life. I had a great post-entrylev girlfriend who was a virgin b4 me, a great set of bros left over from the electro era, and most importantly, impeccable taste in music/life/the internet/humans/electronics/everything. Needless to say, Animal Collective was my band. The highlight of my year was when they came to town, and I huffed salvia with a group of friends, then waited at the front of the stage for 6 hours to be closest to the music.

But then everything fell apart. My group of friends started bickering, one of my bros got a beej-jay from GF in the back of a dive bar, and it seemed like the most inauthentic people & websites 'gave their two cents' on everything that I held near and dear. I was over it all. So. Effing. Over. It.

It was time to move on. A new decade. I had to isolate myself, and find something new to get into. I realized that in order to move on, I had to let go of the thing I thought was most important to me. The Collective of Animals.

I looked at a local alt blog, covering the Baltimore scene, and saw that the former member of Animal Collective, Josh Dibb AKA Deakin AKA Deacon was coming to town to play a live solo set.. Apparently he raised $25K from internet bros to enable him to travel to Africa to record some sweet field sounds, play a live show, then drop a 'sweet ass' EP. Needless to say, I was going to see Deacon 'before he got big.'

Before I got to the show, I had decided that I would like Deacon 'more than AnCo', but 'not as much as Panda Bear solo.'

Photo by Chrissy Abbott// Meme via Bmore music

I was surrounded with some of the most conceptual humans on the planet. Before the show started, I chatted with a few Animal Collective conspiracy theorists. We went over the usual theories about why Deakin 'left' the band. We confronted the usual 'cheating' with Avey/Panda's wife rumor, along with the standard 'heavy drug use' theory. We wondered if just didn't bring anything to the table, or did he bring TOO MUCH to the table? After many Beatles comparisons, and theorizing which member of AnCo would be assassinated first [via Johnny Lennon], we decided it was time to just relax, and enjoy the Deacon.

[MP3]
Deakin Live Deacon Bootleg
/////Rest of Bootleg Available at this bloggy.

The music reminded me so much of AnConian elements, but also was 'totally different.' It felt like 2k9 was over, like I finally heard a new sound that was 'worth blogging about.' I wondered what came first: the Anco or the Deak? I felt right at home in 2k9, watching Deakin on Stage turning knobs, and singing with zany voices into a microphone. It felt so familiar, but so, so different.

Then I started to feel lost. I started to say 'this music isn't really that good. it is just aesthetic matching. I just like stuff that sounds familiar, cuz it reminds me of my perfect life in 2k9.' I started to get angry, hearing soft arpeggios, attempting to suck me into a dream world. Chill drumbeats, pounding out a rhythm, tears rolling down my face.

Damn you Deacon.
It didn't have to be like this.
You just could have stayed in the band.
You just could have told us what was wrong. AnCo could have been 4 people. It's not fair. Everything would have been different. Everything could have been perfect. I just want to know why. I just want to know what happened. We cared about you as a human, and it's not fair how relevant AnCo got without u. Who knows what could have happened if you were still in the band.

But maybe things happen for a reason. Thanks Deacon. Your music finally made me realize that 2k10 is going to be okay. I am allowed to move on, forget about the past. Things will be okay. A steady supply of blog mp3 content, news, and memes will come. It doesn't matter who the band is, and it doesn't matter what it sounds like. We're all just trying to get 'mad press' together, get some mp3s download, and move some units to the Cool Dad/Altstream demographic. Let's just live, love, blog, download, learn.

I went home, and searched youtube for clips of the show to try to find myself in the crowd. Couldn't find anything. It was just time to go to sleep, and dream of downloading a sweet ass bootleg in the morning. I logged into twitter, and simply wrote 'gnite...nuff said', because it truly was enough said for once in my life since my exGF gave my by bro a beejay but then I had a meaningful nite at a concert and felt okay with life again and wrote a short story about it.

Nvr Forget.
2k10: The Year of the Deakin?

Deakin vs Panda Bear showdown in 2k10?
Will Avey Tare/Geologist meltdown/'lose interest' in playing 'the internet relevancy game'?
Is AnCo still a bloggable topic?
Is it time 2 'let go' of AnCo, or should we 'remember them 4evr'?
Is Deacon solo this year's 'neon indian'/'atlas sound'/'discovery'?