Where's my Chippy?

So I finally listened to Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion. I feel like for the last month or so I’ve been bombarded with blogs and reviews about this album that is being hailed as the album of the year, for this year. Dudes got off to like an 11 month head start compared to the rest of the competition. I wonder if critics will remember come December? Apparently they will. Everyone and their pretentious mothers are giving this album a thumbs-up. I’ve never been a huge fan of Animal Collective, but after reading Mark Richardson’s review on Pitchfork and seeing the 9.6 he issued it, I had to see what the fuss was about. It’s not that I dislike Animal Collective, I just have come to the conclusion that I’m not smart enough to get them. Honestly I’ve been trying to understand their sound since 2003, and I haven’t cracked it. Believe me I know I’m in the minority here. If there were a way for me to go back in time and have my 4th grade self (that was the last year I was smart) listen to them, and get it. I would totally do it. I feel like 200 years from now pregnant bitches will put headphones (or whatever they are using as headphones in 2209) on their belly’s and pipe in Animal Collective, to their developing fetuses. All in the hopes of cultivating a genius by stimulating brain activity.
I’ve listened to Merriweather Post Pavilion a couple times now and there are a few songs I really like. “My Girls” and “Summertime Clothes” are really neat tracks. The rest aren’t half bad either. I just can’t get around the “swamp sound” that lingers through all of their song. It’s that squishy, creepy, stewy sound that overpowers the lyrics, melody and rhythm. I’m sure however they create it, is pure genius and only 1/25 of the population could physically reproduce it, but I’m just not into it. It sort of hurts my brain in a way that I can’t quite explain. Call me a purist but I love hearing all the instruments being played, and with the “swamp sound” I can’t do it.

Like always, listen for yourself.

I do however give it 2 and a 1/2 “Whatevers”