Animal Collective is a Band Created By/For/On the Internet

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.