Animal Collective - Feels

fuck, this album's been sat in my "to listen to at some point possibly" pile for over a month, but that makes me want to stick it on RIGHT NOW!

Amazing album, by the way.

i wasn't trying to pigeonhole them, im just saying their acoustic guitars have always sounded fantastic. Campfire Songs is still my favorite AC album and a big part of the reason why i loved Sung Tongs so much is that the crisp acoustic guitars made the album feel so autumnal.

First track is absolutely gorgeous.

Also, where is Sleeper Factory?

I never liked their early stuff before Sung Tongs, and I didn't think they could top that one. But goddamn, this is a remarkable record. Really blowing me out of the water at the moment.

amen, i can't see anyone topping this this year, AC = Beach Boys of 2005 but BETTER

And then I like it quite a bit.

Oh, and unlike other AC stuff, I want to see the lyrics to this BAD. Genius.

here is a mess of an attempt at did you see the words (it's pretty decipherable right up until the line about eldery couples):

DID YOU SEE THE WORDS
have you see the words cut? open
your poor intestine can’t deny
incu-periods? drip from your mailbox
and blood flies? dip and dive
reach down in-siiii-ide
there’s something living in these lies

and when your newest kisser is peakin
you dress yourself up to not
get tangled up in arms and legs it’s hard to bend?
someone grabs a hold til you go oh-ohhh-oh
there’s something starting don’t know why?

in a house so cozy words are spoken
not to take our shoes off and unwind
and there’s minuets off in the background
drowning out ?????????? I’ll test the kiss goodni-iiiiii-ight
don’t keep my loving on my mind

cause it’s messy yes this mess is mine
my mind is messy yours is maybe not?

look at her similar ?????
look at her similar ?????

do the elderly couples still kiss and hug and
gradually ????????????????????????/
??????????????????????????????????
(holy shit i have no idea)

did you see the words you wrote
give me? everything?
and babies and? the hospital?
????????????????????????
kiss the few? ????? his shoes are haunted
show is ????

HI DERE GARU G AKA DOG LATIN

a piss

Sorry, right now I still prefer Sung Tongs. This is great, but for me I find all the tracks sound really similar - it's just a noise, albeit a nice noise.

I agree. Sounds like they want new fans, maybe. I like the production, though I would have preferred the record if it were weirder, spacier.
Oh, by the way, I'm convinced that "The Purple Bottle" is one of the worst songs I've ever heard.

this is a good thing imo

I was a little put off, and then by the middle of the album, I was captivated. I'm pretty confident this will surpass Sung Tongs in the very near future.

No. Because they're amazing and the best songs on the record.

That "Sea Of Love" cover was done on an autoharp, not a guitar.

I did. And still do. I prefer the middle and end of the album.

The first two or three songs aren't up to snuff. Could also be a sequencing issue. Either way, I was prepared to dismiss the album based on how it kicked off.

Yeah, we know. He was agreeing with you.

I think the first two songs are astounding, with only "Banshee Beat" coming close on this album.

But that's just my take on things....

that said, ST took a LONG time to sink in fully, so im sure my attitude will change somehow as time passes.

Considering I didn't like Sung Tongs AT ALL when I first heard it, I should be cautious about making statements on Feels.

Momus seems to appear quite frequently when marybeth tosses out her fluffy opinion.

Marybeth is right on one point. Feels washes over me. I love this one for its intense peacefulness. Makes me damn glad to be human.

also noteworthy, loch raven appears in a bluebook record, although slightly misspelled:
LOCK RAVEN DAM
10/27/58
(Bluebook)
10:30 p.m. Witnesses: Phillip Small, Alvin Cohen. One large, flat egg-shaped object affected a car's electrical system and caused a burning sensation on one of its occupants. Sighting lasted 1 minute.

-- gygax! (gygax0...), August 26th, 2005.

Oops. My bad. Thanks for the correction.

Because the UFO is generally luminous, or emits light, there is reason to thing that it all has something to do with electromagnetism. Thunder and plasma are natural events which have also something to do with electricity. However, plasma and thunder occur during particular weather conditions, and do not have any resemblance nor in duration neither in behaviour with the observation described here. Moreover, I have been unable to find any instance in which a car lost its power in association with the presence of plasma ball.

i don't even know what their song is about as i have not heard it. i just like ufos

This album just took awhile to sink in. Now I can't stop listening to it.

listening to banshee beat now I quite like it

I prefer AC when they're a bit more solid and noisy

when they go sleepy and drifty I go sleepy and drifty

actually this banshee beat is pretty good!

i don't hear that record as anything close to hippie chants. are you sure you don't mean one of their earlier ones?

Anyone else think Feels sounds like an alternate soundtrack to The Lion King?

And I have to wonder if the Lion King parallel has more to do with similarities between some of their non-lyrical vocals to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". I think the "Prospect Hummer" EP reminds me more of that, though.

shhhh

http://www.rerz.net/ac/messages/viewtopic.php?t=246

An autoharp I think.

However, I'm still waiting for an AC album with eight two-minute pop songs and two twelve-minute jam/drone pieces. Almost every track on the album seems to average the two extremes beautifully.

Which is why it bores me, I guess...

ST is also sunshine and summer, where this record feels cloudy and autumn. The more I listen to Feels, the more disappointed I am. It almost doesn't sound like the same people, despite the fact that all the voices and bizarre, muddied noises are clearly from the same people. I can't for the life of me imagine preferring "Did You See the Words" to "Leaf House". "Leaf House" is like a deep smile put to music. It's inspiring. Feels just makes me regret things.

and besides, Feels sounds like a real backtrack as far as production goes, everything is less clear, less...explosive!

they were fucking terrible the one time I saw them live as well. I just don't think they work live, or whatever it is they do live, I don't like it. the records are great though!

But then they started singing. Oh well.

Does anybody have extra?

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...like a mushed banana on your tooth

---I'm the exact opposite for this record. Haven't dusted it off since last fall. ----

my favourite of their albums

still haven't totally gotten over feeling slightly irked by long indie songs, but these songs are compelling and ambient. i keep going back to this album over all the others, and actually prefer that gentler, more restrained side to their music than the racier stuff...

The beginning of the end.

no maybe sung tongs is the beginning of the end. it is unclear.

but then sung tongs has mouth wooed her which is in many ways a whole new beginning for everything and also leaf house which is an ideal denouement for a lot of other things which do not get included in the everything upbrella group

yeah of all bands you'd think would be shit live, AC really do deliver dont they? i dont really like strawberry jam but i caught them in portland for their strawberry jam tour and fuck me if it wasnt one of the best rock shows i think ive ever seen, seizure-inducing light show notwithstanding

The beginning of the end.

-- I know, right?, Sunday, March 16, 2008 10:55 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

no maybe sung tongs is the beginning of the end. it is unclear.

-- I know, right?, Sunday, March 16, 2008 10:55 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

The end is the beginning is the end.

(Seriously though, all albums great, and Feels ranks high among 'em.)

ooooooooooo oooooooooooo ooooooooooo you should turn into something

\(^o^)/

^^^^^

i was going to mention in the other thread how much i like the lyrics to turn into something

Details last edit by ourtinyservant Nov 2, 2007 8:56 am - 5 revisions - locked
Tags none

Oh twisted me I came to eat at the hall where we danced to some duds
My crowd of pals observed my fingers and prayed for the lunch I had hung
And cheers rolled out and I thought early of tunas in tennisons tubs.

That should turn into something
You should turn into something

Oh blissful bleed I came out peaking and leaked out like a wet clown
My tears rolled down and arms went round at night I gapped at her gowns
So often green but she held me my curtains were covered in hounds

She Said

Mom "Oh my sweet goodness wish you could be here every time"
Mom " But don't miss me goodness because I rub away every time"
Baby "Then groan at the goodness but do you mean not every time?"
Baby "Then gone in the goodness wish I could stay here every time"

A mistful meet with teachers speaking there muffled by buzzes and hums
So headphone tones do float me home my chair was begging to come
And I'm not bummed some works not fun then we crawl in the carpet like bugs

Unrestful eve i sipped on leaks and sat in the room had a grudge
The jumping dust made catfish bust from corners now dripping with mud
And she knocked twice and we got silly and noone knew what would come..

She said

Lover "Oh my sweet goodness wish you could be here every time"
Lover "But don't miss me goodness because I rub away every time"
Other lover "Then groan at the goodness but do you mean not every time"
Other lover "Then gone in the goodness wish I could stay here every time"

But you'll turn into something
You should turn into something

Still my favourite album of the oughts. :D

still one of the most profoundly & ineffably beautiful/moving albums i've ever heard. sort of cant believe it's 9 years this month since i first heard it.

i remember early in high school someone told me about this album and i would look at it in the itunes store and play samples from each of the tracks (didn't have enough $ to buy it). the sample of "Grass" was so appealing to me but I was confused by the screaming. anyway, the album seemed like a window into a whole world of cool music i didn't understand but wanted to be acquainted with.

i was 12, in the thick of becoming really, really obsessed with music. i remember lots of people on other boards talking about it, and I got the leak on OiNK (RIP). i must've already heard grass and liked it. i dont remember listening to the first three songs for the first time, but the moment The Purple Bottle started is etched in my mind. that hannah barberra technicolor sound of the galloping drums, a stunning visual - the heartbeat, the big big beat. still one of my favorite love songs ever. "crush high"

i told someone that the purple bottle was my favorite anco song once and he sneered and said that was their "poppiest" song.

all the jam band fans they gained around the turn of the decade are so annoying - especially, and I'm not speaking about you, the use of the acronym "AnCo," which was created by Carles/Hipster Runoff as a joke. But it took off even though it's another dumb acronym in the baby voice style of HR - i.e. vampy weeks. but ppl use AnCo sincerely. what also bugs me is that they already had an acronym - the AC! - which is way cooler anyway. end rant

u guys r young. back in my day collected animals were all fields. but i was young then too and being an animal collective fan was quite exciting. the speed at which they were moving through so many great ideas. i saw them do feels songs live even before sung tongs came out! that was good.

vampy weeks! how come i didn't know about that, that is awesome.

i always write anco. and i don't really feel feels. strawberry jam and here comes the indian are my jams.

always heard 'AnCo' used pejoratively by detractors for some reason. They did gain a pretty hideous following and perhaps deserved backlash not long after this album, but up until Strawberry Jam I think they were one of the best and most imaginative bands coming out of the US indie/alt scene.

still are

after merriweather, the frats at my college started playing animal collective sometimes. i remember vaguely thinking this should upset me but then realizing i didn't care at all.

i don't really get why people would blame bands for the fans that happen to be drawn to them. especially a band like this, which pretty clearly always did their own thing and let their music develop organically rather than chase any sort of fanbase.

OTM. A lot of anti=Animal Collective sentiment on ILM seemed to revolve around the 'kind' of band they are and what sort of people they allegedly attracted. Very rarely did it feel as though those slagging them off had even bothered to listen to more than 10 seconds of their music.

I listened to "The Purple Bottle" yesterday for the first time in a long time and I couldn't believe that I used to like it so much, it seems so silly and childish now. OTOH, the song is about exactly that -- reminiscing about being silly and childish -- so perhaps I should shut up and learn to love it again ...

must admit i haven't listened to Feels for a long time either and I fear my tolerance for tweeful sentimentality might have dwindled since I was 25. lots of music sounds dated 10 years after the fact I guess.

feels was a dissapointment for me when it came out. i had seen them play these songs a bunch of times and they had this weird, backwoods hillbilly psychedelic sound that didn't translate to the album. turn into something was called country fuck and featured a duck call solo! haven't loved an AC album since sung tongs, but I like seeing them live.

OTM. A lot of anti=Animal Collective sentiment on ILM seemed to revolve around the 'kind' of band they are and what sort of people they allegedly attracted. Very rarely did it feel as though those slagging them off had even bothered to listen to more than 10 seconds of their music.

― 3kDk (dog latin), Monday, August 4, 2014 11:42 AM (46 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I thought the anti sentiment mostly revolved around the vocals? I'm super into AC but it's a difficult complaint to counter.

are the vocals particularly difficult? noah's got an excellent voice. i guess Avey gets a bit shrieky sometimes... never saw it as a problem myself but then i generally like weird-arsed vox

mystifies me that anyone could've heard this heard this after sung tongs and thought "ah, right, they're a proper rock band now." i swear i hear something new every time i listen to Feels and it's been 11 years. SJ is another story. that record has no sonic depth. but just now i put on 'Banshee Beat' and 'Loch Raven' is just ending now, and I'm hearing new Noah vocals I never heard before. half the songs don't even have drums.

Saw them live like four times before this album came out, still find the studio version of "Banshee Beat" disappointing in comparison.

I understand, the same thing happened with me and the Strawberry Jam songs. saw them five months after feels came out, and they mostly played SJ songs - it was incredible, the sour, darker, twisted side of the gauzy, lovey-dovey thing going on in Feels. i discovered the AC when Feels leaked, eleven years ago this month. the live versions from 04/05 are much heavier and noisier. the record is so sedated, i can imagine it was a surprise and a drag.

but i was gonna say - this is my favorite mixing job on an album ever. the go-to example of what mixing is and why it's so important. according to kria brekkan there was lots of hash involved. well, YEP! sounds like it. whatever it takes...

it's weird to think that this came out when "feels" was only a verb and wasn't a plural noun yet

i wonder if they would have called this record "feels" if they knew it would sound like it was named after some cutesy twee reddit bullshit in a couple of years

yeah i think about that every time i hear the phrase now. it hasn't been that long since 'feels' entered the lexicon, maybe 3/4 years? it's a drag

i don't know what's more upsetting... the phrase 'feels' fiasco or the widespread adoption of 'AnCo'

This is the second and last AC album I've put on a year end top 10 list.

They should take a year or two off, listen through and rate the various live recordings, and kick of a "Dick's Picks" sorta bootleg series. I'd be willing to buy one or two.

i wonder if they would have called this record "feels" if they knew it would sound like it was named after some cutesy twee reddit bullshit in a couple of years

the working title of SJ was strawberry awesomesauce

I've never gotten into Feels. I think the sequencing bothers me, it's way too normal with the hits at the start and a more shapeless second half. One of the best things with AnCo is their sense of dynamics, so important when working with loops and drones, but Daffy Duck and Loch Raven is simply too much filler with Turn Into Something way too obvious as an ender. Had the album been better constructed, the same songs but put together differently, it might be one of my favorites. As it is, I much prefer Strawberry Jam, for instance.

Just listened to this at work for the first time in maybe 10 years. Don't like it. I think if I liked indie rock in the slightest, it would make more sense, but it just isn't very interesting, and when Avey Tare sings (ie most of the record), I actively dislike. Record could work as decent ambient music if there were no vocals at all, or only the backing vocals, as the instrumental tracks and general vibe can be pretty. Otherwise, cannot participate.

listening to Strawberry Jam now as part of same exercise, and to give you an idea of AC that I would listen to, it would be closer to something like "#1"

incidentally the 'feels' name was (maybe, kind of?) a plural noun, borrowing from brian wilson:

I go to the piano and play “feels.” “Feels” are specific rhythm patterns, fragments of ideas. Once they’re out of my head and into the open air, I can see them and touch them firmly. Then the song starts to blossom and become a real thing.

Nice find! Good shot thats the genesis of the name given Panda Bear's affinity for B Dubs

Im daft but is this album the genesis of 'feels' as a noun?

99% certain it's not. People who say stuff like "all the feels" don't strike me as pre-merriweather anco fans

still never heard a song that sounds anything like 'daffy duck'

Vastly prefer my memory of hearing these songs live to the actual album. The studio version of “Banshee Beat” is especially subdued compared to the live version.

Saw them live like four times before this album came out, still find the studio version of "Banshee Beat" disappointing in comparison.

― spastic heritage, Thursday, August 18, 2016 8:53 PM (one year ago)

that has happened to me... so many times

Yeah, I should’ve scrolled up a tad. 🤷‍♂️

no i like it. it's humbled me many times before

re: banshee beat live vs. studio, listening to 11/11/04 toronto tonite & imagining banshee beat recorded like this... it'd sound like arcade fire