Animal Collective - Tangerine Reef

Animal Collective is the long-time Experimental Pop/Neo-Psychedelia act consisting of Panda Bear, Avey Tare, Geologist and Deakin.  Now, AnCo if you're not into, I'm not judging, a lot of people aren't for various reasons.  But for me, they've always had a very special place in my heart.  Avey and Panda first came together in 2001 for their "Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished" album.  This one's a toughy folks, as many of the first few Animal Collective albums are.  This album is a very cosmic blend of Psychedelic Rock, FolkTronica, Experimental Pop and more.  It's not an easy album to digest at all.  But there's also something incredibly innocent to this album.  So much of this just so joyous and youthful, and Panda and Avey's vocals are so charming.  They end up making a very hard to describe and hard to place album strangely nostalgic and sweet. It's a tough album to digest, but it's worth it. Later that year AnCo returned with "Danse Manatee", which was basically the exact opposite of their debut.  This album was a cluttered, sloppy Experimental Electronic album with much less charm.  Panda and Avery's vocals weren't nearly as sweet, and without that it just sort of sounded like they were messing around most of the time, and I wasn't laughing.  AnCo returned in 2003 with "Campfire Songs", which returned to the very joyous Psych Folk, this time a little more stripped down.  And while there wasn't anything mindboggling this was a very sweet release.  AnCo returned to their weird ways with 2003's "Here Comes the Indian".  This was a very freaky, ambient and truly bizarre album.  And honestly, I don't completely hate it, it's not exactly an album I run to in AnCo's discography.  But it has this wonderful carefree and and genuinely strange atmosphere that I can't hate.   Now, up until this point, I wasn't wild about anything AnCo had released.  But it was the release of "Sung Tongs" that blew me away and made me a stone cold fan.  This album had all of the past qualities of AnCo projects, the whimsicality, the joyous singing, a feeling of youth.  But for the first time, Animal Collective was approaching this from a slightly more Pop-centered direction.  Don't get me wrong, this was far from an accessible project.  But there were catchy hooks and memorable lines all over the place, and AnCo had finally seemed to hone in on their sound.  Animal Collective continued to grow bigger by the minute with 2005's "Feels".  Once again AnCo were working with a very youthful, carefree Psych-Folk sound that was so immediate and likable.  It was sweet and fun, but it was also catchier than other with immediately timeless tracks like "Grass" and "The Purple Bottle".   But in 2007, AnCo proved they weren't screwing around with genres anymore, and produced their first truly timeless album "Strawberry Jam".  This was a whimsical, carefree album of the ages.  It started blending more Electronic elements matched with their usual Psych Pop, Folk and Experimental flair.  And for the first time, they really made an album that wasn't only mind-bending, but also very dramatic and exciting.  Tracks like the strangely wild "Cuckoo Cuckoo" to the polarizing "For Reverend Green" are just wonderful, and the joyous opener of "Peacebone" is simply timeless.  Now if only AnCo created an album next that absolutely blew everything out of the water in their discography, as well as modern Pop.  Ahem, that's exactly what they did in 2009 with "Merriweather Post Pavillion".  For 54 minutes, Animal Collective weren't outsiders, they weren't Psych-Pop's most experimental act, hell they weren't even four lifelong friends.   Here, Animal Collective were a Pop act, and proved they were one of the best in the world.  They seamlessly blended carefree attitudes, infectious hooks, timeless harmonies, stunning production, all stringed together with some of the most challenging yet intriguing Pop music around.  It's one of my all-time favorite albums, and one that you absolutely need to hear.  From legendary hits like "My Girls" and "Brother Sport", to patience-testing yet rewarding tracks like "In The Flowers" or "Guys Eyes", it's no wonder why this is one of the most critically beloved and fan-adored albums of this generation.  But with 2012's "Centipede Hz", things started to get a little weird for AnCo.  The band decided to follow-up their catchiest and most beloved universally album with their noisiest and most hectic to date.  There are absolutely some brilliant tracks here,  like "Father Time" and "Today's Supernatural", and this album in doses is totally exciting.  But at the end of the day, Animal Collective seemed a little burned out.  Which leads me to 2016's "Painting With", which is by no means perfect.  It's greatly flawed, with a great deal of the second half being completely forgettable.  However, this album also has some really great moments.  There are some amazing singles like "FloriDaDa" and "Golden Gal", as well as one of my favorite singles of 2016 "Lying In The Grass".  But tracks like "The Burglars" and "Hocus Pocus" are totally fine deep cuts.  And yes, AnCo do seem a little tame here, and aren't nearly as energetic.  But this album isn't nearly the trainwreck people make it out to be.  Oh boy, so I'm worried about this one folks.  AnCo are back with a 2 hour album, one whose sole single isn't terrible, but it's tough to judge an AnCo album on that.  That being said, let's talk.

(A personal favorite of mine!)

This album starts off with a very pensive, experimental style track that harkens back tot he early days of their studio trickery with “Hair Cutter”.  And let’s talk about this atmosphere.  I mean this is easily the most haunting thing that Animal Collective have touched down on, this is straight up ghoulish.  Avey’s vocals echo a lot of the material he was touching down on with his project from last year.  But I sort of have the same issue with this as I do with a lot of early AnCo works.  This is a stunning, hypnotic piece of Experimental music.  But without the catchy writing of Panda Bear or the youthful excitement of their early work, this rolls right in and right out without stopping me at all.  It’s an experience, but that’s all it is.  But with tracks like “Buffalo Tomato”, I actually do start to see a little bit more of what AnCo are going for.  This track has a thick, dense atmosphere that’s layered in mystery.  It’s also incredibly colorful and genuinely intriguing.  It’s times like this that make a lot of coherent sense for a change.  There may not be a wide palette of instrumentals or a catchy hook, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t infectious in its own weird way.  Avey’s yelped vocals are just so hypnotic and strangely beautiful.  This is a really strange track, and this is a weird album.  But I’m up for all of this and more.  The very dense, suffocating atmospheres of this album continue with “Inspector Gadget",  I do have to give them credit for that.  But it’s in moments like this that I don’t really have nearly as much of anything to say.  There was a time where I felt like Animal Collective were a bunch of stoned teens, hanging around and fucking with production equipment.  And with this one, I feel like we’re right back there again, what a waste.  Now, overall this album is pleasant on the ears.  And I do think a whole lot of the textures are really well done.  But without a hook or a genuine melody, a lot of these tracks do start to blend together just a little.  Like, I love the very playful keyboards on this one, and Avey’s very hazy vocals are just so cool as they float in and out practically haunting you.   But outside of that, this track is once again, just OK.  This album as a whole is just that, simple OK.  It’s pleasant while it’s on, but just try telling the difference between some of these tracks.  But once again, “Coral Understanding” brings in some serious mystery to this album that I actually really love.  Within these very dense atmospheres, there’s just such a terror lurking. Here, Avey doesn’t come off nearly as carefree as usual, he comes off genuinely freakish.  And yes, there’s still a lot fo hazy instrumentals that are really hard to place.  Like, I honestly would love to know the band’s writing process for this album.  But this track is easily one of the best here.  It’s also strangely tortured at times.  AnCo is throwing it all at us and more, that’s for damn sure.  Plus, I actually enjoy how genuinely tense this one gets.  

With “Airpipe (To a New Transition)”, we’re getting somewhere.  I absolutely love the tense, bulky production of this one and the wonky synths.  It’s certainly as far as atmosphere is concerned, the coolest thing here.  This is a bold track that you can enjoy with or without the film that was made to go along with this.  Hell, it may be hard to track down, but there’s even a little groove in there that’s bouncy as hell.  Ironically enough, this is one with even fewer vocals, where I actually have to tune out and really get into the vibes.  But I personally like that a lot and makes for some incredibly visual stuff.  Now, “Jake and Me” strips back a lot of elements, leaving us only with Avey’s ghastly vocals and some very distant guitars.  And the effects are pretty cool and all, but that’s it.  How many times am I going to be faced with saying that here?  So many of these tracks are cool to vibe out to.  But the sheer amount of songs here that blend together and don’t stand out is ridiculous. I do like that keyboard melody that breezes in and out, it’s actually really haunting and beautiful.  But if that’s all I’m pointing out about a 4-minute track, we have a problem here.  On the other hand, some moments here are strangely immediate, like “Coral By Numbers”.  Here, the boys don’t sound like they’re screwing around nearly as much.  Honestly, this sounds like a warper version of something from their “Sung Tongs” album.  Avey’s vocals here are his catchiest and most accessible of the entire album.  It’s filled with a handful or really jittery synths as well as tons of hazy production.  I actually can seriously get with this.  But then we get thrown right back into this very hazy maze of sight and sounds with “Hip Sponge”.  I barely can keep track of this one, and while I actually really dig some of Avey’s bluesy vocals that come off as some of the most fun here, this instrumental barely exists.  Practically every track here has these portions of truly great tracks, snippets of something left over from some truly great tracks.  But this, this isn’t it.  But for every track like that, we get a track so far out-there like “Coral Realization” that practically sounds like the freakish older brother of a track on “Centipede Hz”.  There’s practically a drone going on between these lapping waves of synths and literally nothing else.  It’s challenging, but it leads to some really wild moments.  Imagine if this album had a few catchier tracks thrown in and the guys seemed more focused?  This would be monstrous. 

But instantly with “Lundtren Coral”, there’s little to nothing going on here.  We have some very pleasant synths in the background, but not much else.  But once those lapping guitars come in, once again this comes off an awful lot like some of Avey’s stuff from his album last year.  It’s twisted and hard to place, and  It’s literally more and more like this reef is haunted with each passing moment.  Snippets of this are really enjoyable, but only snippets.  The guitars are cool, the atmosphere is chilly, but what else is bringing me back for more?  It’s literally laughable how so many of these tracks start the same.  There’s always just this very tiny drone and some eerier keyboards, and it’s the same with “Palythoa”.  And honestly, that’s fine, but it’s just agitating to hear so much of the same.  The more I think about it if you’re going to listen to this album listen to it while watching the visual portion.  Like, I’m absolutely ecstatic when Avey’s very dreary vocals come in, just because they break up the monotony just a little.  This is not a good track, and I really don’t know what the hell AnCo are doing anymore.  But AnCo sends us on a real ride with this album’s finale “Best of Times (Worst of All)”.  Which surprisingly starts off genuinely noisy and exciting.  But even that sort of just floats off into this very freaky, heavily synthetic track.  There are some good elements once again (go figure), like Avey’s performance which may just be his best of the bunch, and those very wonky synths.  But holy shit, I just have had so much of all of this that my patience has completely run out.  It’s one of the sweeter tracks here, and it’s even really catchy, but uh….anyone know where I can find Panda Bear these days?

Rating: 6.7/10


Give A Listen To: “Buffalo Tomato”, “Coral Understanding”, “Airpipe (To a New Transition)”, “Coral By Numbers”

Least Favorite Track: “Inspector Gadget”

Genre: Experimental / Ambient / Neo-Psychedelia 

Overall Thoughts:  Animal Collective on “Tangerine Reef” take a big step back and return to their days of studio tricks and Neo-Psych atmospheres.  But without Panda Bear on board and with no direction, this album is a mess.   Like, if you watch this alongside the visual portion it’s loads more interesting.  But without that, so many of these tracks end up only having a few interesting moments at best.  The atmosphere the band brings to the table is great, and Avey’s very haunting vocal performance often does a great job of bringing in this vibe of a real terror within this reef.  But holy hell, if this is what AnCo is doing in 2018 this is bad.