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Do you like the new direction that Animal Collective’s sound is taking?

Their singles from the last two years seem to indicate a shift towards greater experimentation

Monday, May 7, 2012

Opinion in favor of Yes por Jordi Berrocal

In this period of emptiness, Animal Collective is one of the most necessary groups that exist. Allergic to the canon, the comfortable and the commonplace, their albums are a splendid demonstration that fleeing (forward) in a timely manner is the best way to avoid letting your soul get mouldy; theirs and (fortunately for us) their followers’. Yes, maybe “Transverse Temporal Gyrus” is a bit tiresome, but as the review published in these pages already said, this release must be seen for what it is: an artistic experiment that goes beyond musical language. So to evaluate the group’s “new direction” we really needed to wait for a real new single, and “Honeycomb / Gotham” is not a disappointment. Or it shouldn’t disappoint anyone who has the least bit of love for musical daring. Especially the A-side, where once again they have given a masterful lesson in what pop should be like. Impossible shapes for chaotic times, with excitement always on the rise.

Opinion in favor of No por Mario G. Sinde

I really think that they hit their peak in “Fall Be Kind EP”, in spite of “Graze”. It was a work that brought their experimental vocation together with a closer approach to pop forms. But since then the group has been on a downhill run. Their live performances have become even more disparate than usual, with too much improvisation, as if they would rather stare at their own navels than show thousands of people a good time. And the same can be said of the little music that they have released in the last two years. “Transverse Temporal Gyrus” is unbearable without an overdose of peyote, and yes, “Honeycomb / Gotham”, is more accessible than what they have been doing lately, but it is light years away from the mad, amazing music they were making not that long ago. Tiring.

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