THIS JUST IN

If you were wondering what to get me for my birthday (November 29) or Christmas (December 25), just send me a few of your old ugly Christmas sweaters! It's for my Ugly Christmas Sweater Collection...not to wear... I promise.

Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind EP

"...and I should be floating but I'm weighted by thinking..."

I was pretty late joining the Animal Collective party. Pitchfork and countless other music blogs praised the majority of their albums but every time I tried listening to them I just couldn't get into it. When Merriweather Post Pavilion came out, it blew me away. I went back and gave the other albums another try and although some are flawed, they are all charming and unique and there's no album of theirs that doesn't have at least a few amazing tracks. So to hear that they were releasing an EP only ten months after Merriweather, left me very surprised and excited.

I got the chance to see Animal Collective at the ATP NY Festival in September and although their show was deafeningly loud, it was a lot of fun and one of the better performances that weekend. The first song they played was this fantastic two part track consisting of a beautiful first half with amazing vocals by Avey Tare which soon breaks into a flute looped ritual dance jam that sounds like a Hobbit party on acid. I couldn't get this song out of my head for days and franticly tried to find out what it was. After much research I found that it was called "Grace" and that they had been playing it for awhile now but it was never released on an album. Then they announced the Fall Be Kind EP and the first song is the one and only "Grace" (now titled "Graze"). This = Me ecstatic.

Not much changed from the live version to the EP version, only a new (beautiful) cello part during the first half and a few lyric changes. It's a fantastic opener and one of the better tracks in Animal Collectives catalogue.

"Graze" transitions perfectly into "What Would I Want? Sky" with eerie ambiance and melting vocals. Then the slamming drum loop starts and leaves you extremely satisfied throughout the three minute intro. The song really starts when a sampled Grateful Dead track kicks in and constructs the background to Avey Tares flawless melodies. Panda Bear delivers some light harmonies and with the help of some female vocal oohs and ahhs, this track is successful in being nothing short of heavenly.

Satanic voices introduce "Bleed", a muddy song where Panda Bear and Avey Tares vocals melt together creating a slow churning track focusing more on ambiance and noise than structure. It doesn't really go anywhere but it doesn't really have to. It serves it's purpose in being the middle track, and beats most of the filler songs that other bands use to fill the gaps between their stronger songs.

"On A Highway" is exactly what it sounds like. A dreamy track the builds to a flawless chorus with abstract percussion and stick clicks and back down again. It leaves you with a floating feeling, the feeling you get when you look out at all of the buildings and cars as you drive by, and realize exactly how small you really are compared to everything.

Fall Be Kind ends with "I Think I Can". It wraps up the album perfectly, completing the circle that "Graze" started. Consisting of ritualistic harmonies and chants and pounding drums, it's a lot of fun and ends with a beautiful back and forth vocal exchange between Avey and Panda. Eerie looping synths and ambiance fade out, and the EP is done.

A lot of these tracks were written during the Merriweather period, but they felt that there was a darker vibe to them and that they wouldn't fit in with the sunny, poppy feeling of the album. These five tracks belong here and work well together to create an unsettling and eerie EP while still consisting of their signature loops, harmonies and weirdness. Animal Collective have been around for ten years and are still creating some of the most unique and original music that I'm positive will stand the test of time.

9.6/10

Devendra Banhart - What Will We Be

When I got into the indie music scene, Devendra Banhart was one of the first musicians I listened to. In 2004 he released both Rejoicing in the Hands and Niño Rojo, which are fantastic albums. A year later he released the magnificent Cripple Crow which is my personal favorite of his and one of my favorite albums of all time. Then came Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. It wasn't terrible, but didn't match up to his previous efforts. Then Devendra started dating Natalie Portman, made a cameo in a Hollywood film and signed to a major label, Warner, for his next release What Will We Be. Needless to say, I was a little frightened to see what would happen next.

What Will We Be starts with "Can't Help But Smiling", a catchy song that unfortunately doesn't go anywhere. With one verse, the same chord progression and it's short running time, it's a pretty weak opener. Thankfully, "Angelika" brings something to the table. A sunny track consisting of a bright acoustic guitar, a shaker and a catchy melody. While it's not an amazing song, it at least brings up the pace of the album.

"Baby" is the first single of the album. It's a groovy (yeah, it's the only way to describe it) track with about four clean electric guitar parts plucking and strumming in every direction. We're finally getting somewhere. It's still a flawed song which borders on cheesy but it's an understandable first single."Goin Back" is a Cat Stevens sounding folk song that finally channels the old Devendra.

"First Song For B" is a ballad stripped down to just piano and vocals. Using a melody straight out of an older song of his (it's okay, i'll let it slide), this is one of the highlights of the album. It leads into "Last Song For B", a slow acoustic song with birds in the distance and Devendras strongest lyrics on the album. Both of these tracks are great and make up the high point of What Will We Be.

"Chin Chin & Muck Muck" starts out as a jazz song that sounds right out of A Charlie Brown Christmas. The music is beautiful and the lyrics are decent but then the song changes completely into something else. It's a three part song which is an idea he mastered with the old track "Seahorse" but didn't here. It's still an alright track that has it's moments. "16th and Valencia Roxy Music" is another highlight, with a very catchy chorus of Devendra and friends shouting "Tonight, we're gonna find our lover / Tonight, we're gonna find our man" while the drums slam out sixteenth notes. The sound is one of the many new directions for Devendra, and it's a successful one.

The rest of the album contains a few bland tracks that don't really stand out. So overall it's an attempt at a new sound that proved somewhat successful but fell short overall. Compared to some of his previous releases, this album is only okay.

I know this review was also only okay but I couldn't gather the strength to delve deep into this album. Sorry babycakes!

7.5/10

Ballyhoo #1: Beach House - Teen Dream

This is the official cover.



Zebras...delicious.