Animal Collective Sung Tongs POLL

The secret truth is that this album is not as good as Here Comes the Indian. Few things are, though.

People upthread complaining about the last two songs are otm.

Never could get my head around HCTI.

Echoing the Leaf House discovery mentioned upthread. Sounded to me like Inuit prog.

We Tigers is one of the highlights on this one for me. Shame it did so bad in this poll.

Yeah, We Tigers is the quintessential pre-MWPP AC song.

People claiming to dig this band's music are all part of some elaborate hoax, right? Like, an ongoing "Punk'd" sort of thing...?

so many songs from the sung tongs era were never recorded in the studio... rediscovering this gem today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIn2oVFsXd4

Avey Tare & Panda Bear will play Sung Tongs in its entirety for the first time on December 2, 2017 at the Knockdown Center in New York:

In 1996, Pitchfork launched as a daily music review site while the web was still in its infancy. Today, it is the most trusted music publication in the world, featuring the best in music criticism, web design, video work, and live events. We are celebrating 21 years of Pitchfork with a concert that highlights some of the artists who have been important in the history of the site and continue to influence the scope of music. Animal Collective (Avey Tare and Panda Bear) are set to play their breakthrough 2004 album Sung Tongs in its entirety for the first time in the group’s history. More artists and acts will be announced in the days to come.

The concert, presented in partnership with Virgin Mobile USA, will take place Saturday, December 2, at the Knockdown Center in Flushing, Queens. RSVP to the Facebook event here.

Tickets are on sale now—find them here. In addition to general tickets, Virgin Mobile is giving away 100 VIP tickets as part of its newly launched Inner Circle Member Benefits program.

https://pitchfork.com/news/announcing-pitchforks-21st-live-concert/?mbid=homepage-more-latest-and-video

Pretty wild. I know Avey's been playing more acoustic guitar in the past couple years but didn't think Panda would be playing guitar anytime soon. This is pretty nuts. Got a ticket. Sorta can't wrap my head around it. Feel lucky to get to see them just sing & play acoustics.

Seeing them do this in 2 days. Someone asked Avey after one of his solo shows what the setup would be, apparently it's just going to be him and PB "just banging out with acoustic guitars" and minimal electronics, just like the 2003 shows. ALSO, they're going to an encore of ST-era B sides and unreleased songs... the possibility of seeing COVERED IN FROGS, DON'T BELIEVE THE PILOT, ALWAYS YOU, BABY, and SLEEPER FACTORY is making me delirious. cant fuckin wait

BABY DAY*

Excited for you flappy, I saw some of those early acoustic shows and they were -great-

Would love it if they made another acoustic-grounded record

whoa that's sweet! what were those shows like? there are a few videos and recordings circulating of 2003 shows but not much- pretty wild and gloriously out of tune- there's this one performance in Texas i think where they do "Mouth Wooed Her" and it's just a disaster, someone commented on the video and said "how the fuck did they whip that song into shape"

First time I saw any version of AC was and Avey/Panda acoustic instore at a long-closed place in London... their first UK show I think. I think by that point Campfire Songs had come out, so I knew they made music in different modes but the way they played live at that time was a way different thing from CS. Anyway, it was totally incredible. Not more than 20 people there. Saw the Fatcat Brighton show on the same trip which was that notable in that they def played some different stuff. You got the sense they had a lot of music going on at the time. Also quite a lot of people were laughing, as you can hear in the youtube vid
Last acoustic I think was the Other Music one, which I'm sure you know from the great boot

Funny, the album performed live thing...
On one hand it seems unlike them but I remember when HCTI came out they did a show where they played it front to back. Missed that one tho :(

Meeting of the Waters is kinda a new AC acoustic record.

Which one of these tracks sucks the least? Oh right. None of them.

― Lightning Is For Babies (Johnny Fever), Sunday, December 19, 2010 9:23 AM (six years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Amen!

do you have some sort of notification set up every time someone posts about this band so you can remind everyone you don't like them?

I'd definitely go and see them doing this album

Last acoustic I think was the Other Music one, which I'm sure you know from the great boot

― Priory, Thursday, November 30, 2017 2:58 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah that recording is amazing, a few songs only performed once at that show, also their cover of "On a Plain" has always stuck with me.

Can't wait to see PB play an acoustic guitar again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh3o73dDuHc

xxxpost:

I usually find clicking on "ILM Answers" does the trick.

Why would you post in threads for bands you dislike

*regularly

In the case of Animal Collective, the praise they get from people who otherwise like some great stuff absolutely confounds me. This album, for example, codes to me as whiny American vocals fronting the sort of self-consciously inept crud that often mistakenly gets branded as "psychedelic" ...

Absolutely nothing at all about this band feels natural.

ok well you're not going to get anywhere or change anyone's mind reiterating that same exact sentiment every time an AC thread gets bumped. i really don't understand why you do it, it's just irritating and obnoxious and a complete of waste of time for everyone

"irritating and obnoxious and a complete of waste of time for everyone" would be a good capsule review for the band in general, IMO... unless you can helpfully point me to something worthwhile about this band or explain what on Earth you see in 'em.

Fuck off

lol @ this performance of "Mouth Wooed Her" at 18:46

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5-ovtyXp9A

Starting to sink in imagining what that room is going to be like tomorrow when everyone sings "College" together

Fuck that was amazing. Stood up front through a shitty Alex G set but was worth it. They get up on stage, sitting in folding chairs, two acoustics for each of them & a single floor tom, Avey just grins and whispers "sunngggg tongggss" crowd goes apeshit. crowd sang every word of the record. one of the best shows i've ever been to. also they fucking played COVERED IN FROGS going into Winter's Love. and closed with Prospect Hummer. it was just fucking great.

for posterity, a nice audience video of the whole set. i've seen the multi-camera p4k stream, some fans recorded it bc p4k isn't going to put the whole thing up, all of those are unlisted atm but i'll post if i find one i can embed, it's a nice video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWrSscnBFdA

Leaf House
Who Could Win a Rabbit
The Softest Voice
Covered in Frogs
Winters Love
Kids on Holiday
Sweet Road
Visiting Friends
College
We Tigers
Mouth Wooed Her
Good Lovin' Outside
Whaddit I Done
Prospect Hummer

Any sign they’ll return to this sound when/if they record a new album? Would be great.

Someone talked to PB after the show and he said they're considering touring Sung Tongs (!)

Avey Tare's solo record this year + the Meeting of the Waters EP were acoustic based, he definitely seems headed in that direction, and even though PB's new EP is supposed to sound like deep house/techno, his willingness to play this Sung Tongs set and potentially tour it are encouraging re: the next AC record. really hope it happens too - they've been stuck in sampler land for too long (although I loved the Painting With album and the shows for it even more).

Wow! Haven’t gone through the whole thing but what a great concert and crowd! Didn’t realize how sing-along the album actually is but when you have a full crowd doing the vocal oooohs and aaahs and whathaveyou it sounds gorgeous and seems like real fun to sing along to. I’m jealous.

even though it was ostensibly a birthday party for p4k (was smoking outside early in the night and someone asked me if i worked for p4k or was here for 'that animal band'), the crowd was easily 90% hardcore AC fans. like, you can hear the crowd freak out when Avey starts singing "Covered in Frogs," an obscure never-recorded Sung Tongs era castoff (and my favorite song of that era). and then losing it again at the end when they started "Prospect Hummer," everyone singing "whoaaa whoaaa whoaa whoaa whoaaaas." A thousand people singing every word of the record, and then falling into solemn silence during "The Softest Voice" and "Visiting Friends," the latter of which was just out of this world- I closed my eyes for most of it but I looked around at one point and saw many people openly weeping. a guy proposed to his girlfriend during "Winters Love." you get that many people in the room so excited & completely in tune with the artist, it was truly magical.

here's an unlisted rip of the multi-camera p4k stream- do yourself a favor and watch "Visiting Friends"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeU-ZBGLVyY

ha, Moka you should check out "Mouth Wooed Her" from the p4k stream- you can see people doing the staggered claps in the second half of the song. like, not only were people singing every word, they were mimicking the sound effects and overdubs on the record

Ah We Tigers sounds so fun! They should do that one in every live performance. If the crowd follows it’s crazy stupid fun. Makes me want to see a performance with one of those student choirs that are all over youtube..z like this Crystal Castles - Untrust Us cover: https://youtu.be/g7a2u9v0V0c

Oh I just got to ‘mouth wooed her’ I’m going to cry tears of envy.

https://youtu.be/auL2dU5U-4s

here's a great winters love student choir performance

I revisited this record for the first time in *years* yesterday... some excellent tracks (Winters Love, Leaf House, Softest Voice) and i liked the 12 minute song more than i remember. But everything after College is kinda... unlistenable??

Perhaps it's something i just need to listen to more until it clicks but all i could think was, like, how stoned was Pitchfork back in 2004 to think this was good enough to be an 8.9?? (if i remember the score correctly). Do people actually think Whaddit I Done is good?

and like, I LOVE those tracks I mentioned earlier. So i want to love this. but the second half is a mess!

it's funny how Who Could Be A Rabbit? sounds so dated. I like it, but it's very mid-2000. I think as a teenager i wished it was less weird, now i think it sounds so overtly pop!

Love this album.

Drop off on the last three tracks is real, but also I wouldn't say they're horrible. I always listened to those almost as soundscapes because the songwriting chops aren't on full display, a flip side to visiting friends that is not intentionally trying to be visiting friends. Maybe it's too forgiving a perspective but it works for me!

Softest voice to visiting friends is exactly what I want AnCo to be always. they're at their best at their most melancholy (see: Banshee Beat, Cuckoo Cuckoo, No More Running, man-of-oil EP)

I quite like Whaddit I Done

We Tigers was robbed in this poll

We Tigers is my authentic teenager choice and also my closeted 28yo choice which I will never tell anyone about.

visiting friends and the softest voice are the true victims. Glad kids on holiday got respect at least