Noise jammers falter
Animal Collective is kicking you in the balls with Hollinndagain.
Published Oct. 31, 2006
Creative license is an interesting thing. Just when you think you have an idea of what a band is doing with its sound, it turns around and goes the other way. Sometimes it kicks you in the genitals as it goes. It's just how those things work.
Animal Collective, for those who do not know, is a band that derives its unorthodox sound from an infatuation with multiple layers and the concept of noise rock, racked with explosions of sound and cymbal crashes.
The group's previous work has been incredible and has created a positive stir in the indie-rock/noise-rock world.
On its newest album, Hollinndagain, however, the band has chosen to take a different route.
With the incredible success and unfaltering praise of Feels and Sung Tongs under its belt, the band has clearly assumed that it has been given unlimited artistic and creative license and has released some recordings it did before attaining significant fame.
The album was recorded from Feb. 9, 2001, to June 3, 2001, before the band released its breakthrough album, Here Comes the Indian.
Hollinndagain as a whole is essentially devoid of any structure whatsoever, something that makes it simultaneously a work of art and a struggle to listen to.
The album opens with what is probably one of the worst ideas for a track ever.
The sparse ten-minute menagerie of sounds, "I See You Pan" is mainly composed of what sounds like a microphone being dragged through a field, occasionally being zapped with electricity.
A bit later, an oscillating, quivering voice drones and vibrates to compliment the synthesizer and ubiquitous scratching of a microphone that eventually begins to scald the ears.
After two more minutes of the same stuff on the first track, the second, "Pride and Fight," begins to sound promising, as a dense pulsing bass drum and synthetic metallic reverberations bounce in dance-like harmonies.
Voices are again introduced and imitate the theme, but for the remaining seven minutes, nothing else really changes besides the eventual chanting of "Forest Gospel," the name of the following track.
The remainder of the album alternates between the feel of an amateur jam session and that of an intense psychedelic rush, which, on occasion can be a rather interesting listen with the massive collection of layers and the overwhelming amount of sound.
The album sounds like it might make an exciting live show just because of the energy that has clearly gone into the album, but with the sort of medium that doesn't allow for visual stimulation, the music itself fails to impress.
With this album, all I can say is that if you loved Sung Tongs and were hoping for something even more noise-based and avant-garde, you're sure to enjoy Hollinndagain.
Otherwise, I can assure you that in case you buy or download this album, you won't be enjoying it. Regardless, because of the greater whole of the content, it's clear that this album is no more than a blatant abuse of artistic license.
There's no doubt that many critics will rave about the innovation held in this album and hold it up as a work of modern art.
It's an interesting idea, and I personally have enjoyed it to some extent, but in good conscience, I have a hard time giving Hollinndagain a positive review.
Artist: Animal Collective
Album: Hollinndagain
Genre: Indie
Record Label: Paw Tracks
Release Date: Today
Most Listenworthy Track: 'Tell It to the Mountain'
Reviewer's Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Ms