Anything less then excellent is bizzare

It seems to be a progression on Person Pitch and its worked wonderfully

I love Sung Tongs, but i just dont get the big hurrah with this album or any other AC album post-ST.

This came out months ago but I'm still pretty obsessed with it. Don't love it as much as Feels, but I'd rank it higher than Strawberry Jam.

I am a relative newcomer to Animal Collective, so I really have no past experience of the band with which to compare the new album. From some of what I've read, it seems that early fans of the band are dissappointed that AC are attempting to reach a broader audience (of people like me). I am glad that I have finally been introduced to AC, though, and I definitely plan to encounter more of their albums in future.

I am familiar with "Winter's Song" from Sung Tongs, a piece which I consider to be more affecting than anything on MPP (although the latter is nonetheless a brilliant album), and I am quite anxious to hear the rest of the album. I should be receiving Panda Bear's "Person Pitch" soon, too, so I am getting stuck into this ouevre.

I wanted to work through most of AC's previous albums before getting to this so I finally got around to Merriweather and I must say it's easily their best in my opinion.

If Syd Barrett hadn't done 15 hits of blotter acid one night in 1968, Pink Floyd would have sounded something like this.

To be fair, now that I've worked my way through much of this ouevre, in contrast to you from "Merriweather" backwards, I feel that "Sung Tongs" might be seen as a summation of their earlier more chaotic style (which has its fans) while "Merriweather" might be seen as a summation of the form of their predominantly electronic style which commenced on "Feels" (and which appeals more broadly, although not to some of those who preferred the earlier style and feel that the later style is overproduced and bland). In this regard, "Strawberry Jam" is an anomaly: Panda Bear's "Person Pitch" seems closer to their latest work than it does to this album.

Or if someone went back in time and gave Brian Wilson modern electronic equipment during the 'Smile' sessions.

I really loved this album. A lot of people say they lost some stuff as they progressed, but I haven't really looked much at their earlier stuff. Campfire songs I guess, but I didn't really like that. I also love Feels, Sung Tongs, and Strawberry Jam.

yea i dunno i feel that feels can drag on a bit... i get bored. but i love sung tongs / strawberry jam / newest album a bunch.

After all these months of listening...I just don't know what to make of the thing. I only heard Panda Bear's Person Pitch, which I like much, much better than this, after Merriweather Post Pavillion...hmm..."My Girls" is going to be stuck in my head for the rest of my life, though.

I think it's great, my girls is a complete stand out but the rest of the albums is solid.

Still album of the year for me...

Same here. MPP is Animal Collective's most polished album to date. It ought to set a new standard for modern pop music if you ask me.

I downloaded this last week and I can't stop listening to it. Excellent rating from me.

This album totally changed my opinion on these guys. Before I thought they were alright and had a couple albums by them (Feels, SJ, and WC), but MPP is just....wow. Definitely turned them into one of my favorite bands ever.

genius! much easier to listen to than their other albums.

I never had a high opinion of them either. What I heard made them sound like they were trying too hard, so I just dismissed them. Yet something made me want to check out MPP, maybe the fact that I heard it was more accessible and had nice Beach Boys harmonizing or something. I don't even consider myself a Beach Boys fan or anything. Maybe it's because last year I'd heard Panda Bear's album and thought it was better than any Animal Collective stuff I'd heard, so my hopes were higher. So it turns out MPP completely changed my opinion on these guys too. What a great album! I've played it probably 6 times since earlier this year (that's a lot of plays for me). I gave it a "very good" score. It takes a lot for me to call something excellent. Being that I like it so much it would normally inspire me to check out the band's past work...but I honestly don't think I'll like it as much as this. So it's low on my list of priorities.

The opposite happened to me, MPP kinda opened the doors to a lot of other stuff they've done. For example I absolutely love Strawberry Jam now.

Everything before Feels is still a bit hard for me to get into though.

I never realized the album art was an illusion. WTF?

Animal Collective musically is grat but for me they just dont seem as appealing. I do enjoy to listen to them cause they do seem very intresting but right now its just a little too much for me

Woah. Just, fucking hell.

I like it alot more than the My Girls video, but what the fuck did I just watch? I'm pretty sure that's what my post modern nightmares will look like for the next few months.

i know this song isn't on this album but it's my favorite by this band

one of my all time favorites. i've listened to this album an insane amount of times and it hasn't gotten anywhere near old. thank god they've released an EP and another LP since though because i love them.

It ain't no Feels, but it's also considerably different from everything they've done so far. Lion in a Coma is the cat's pajamas.

i like it considerably more than Strawberry Jam

Ive seen animal collective at coachella twice now and both times were very boring. I loved the strwberry jam album, but im still shakin my head and wondering how they got put on the main stage this year.

I just thought it was an alright album (voted 'average'). Never got why it was raved about so much.

bloody boring optical illusion, though, it gives you a migraine after 15 mins of looking at it

i prefer heat-sensitive album covers (Talking Heads' Fear of Music)

The better illusion is that they make some think they do great music. :p: Several bands from the 2000s like this one, Arcade Fire and others seem to be met with either complete adoration or complete indifference in most cases.

What's wrong with Animal Collective?

What do you like about them? People seem to say they do pop music of a kind but I haven't really heard great melody on this album. I think people probably like the unusual production / sound as it might be fresh to them.

I like how varied their music can be, and how they blend together accessibility with experimentation. But that is a reference to their discography as a whole, not this album (which I found mediocre and overly-hyped).

huh? the tunes are pretty great, even on Strawberry Jam when they're buried under tons of whale dreck

MPP has quite straightforward production, and the sound ain't exactly "new", it's like an updated Pet Sounds

Eh... that's why I find it boring/mediocre.

Many younger people won't have heard Pet Sounds. I think Pet Sounds is far better anyway, Brian Wilson is a great melodist.

An album for the subjective community, not the objective community.

I've only listened to Strawberry Jam and this album out of the Collective's discography, and i love how cohesive the tracks and sound is throughout the album. However, much of it didn't contain the madness/intensity that Strawberry Jam did, and the not all the track's stood out to me or had their own identity like Strawberry Jam. My Girls is extremely catchy and pleasant, though, and there are a couple of songs that have that strangeness i loved from Strawberry Jam, particularly No More Running. I'll listen to it more, but i gave it a Very Good intentionally because it still is really great and mellow to listen to, but it doesn't get me thinking or curling into a ball like its predecessor did, which i may give an Excellent had i the lack of laziness to find the thread and do it. It's not new anymore anyway so i doubt it even matters.

And a couple of posts above remind me that i should listen to Beach Boys. Yippee!

OK, I've now played this album back-to-back against Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper, Fragile and Rumours.

It's held up well against AR and Pepper. When I played Fragile immediately after MPP, I was amazed at how well the end of Brothersport flowed into Roundabout. In fact, I think the closest "classic" pop/rock analog band to AnCo is probably Yes, a lot of the songs of the two bands are structured similarly.

But when I played Rumours after MPP, MPP didn't hold up as well - respectfully, but only moderately close. That said, not many pop/rock albums would. Rumours is tough to beat.

I think I might next try playing it back-to-back against Revolver, but I'm not sure MPP has much of a chance against that one.