What is the verdict on this /mu/? It had potential dammit; I loved golden gal, but the album as a whole kinda sucks.
6/10, slightly above average, Floridada and Golden Gal are the only tracks that stand out, Animal Collective's worst "full album" to date.
>>64139675
I completely and whole heartedly disagree.
>>64139634
I still think it's an 8/10 and people were memed into hating it.
But that's just my opinion and I can see where people are coming from
>>64139694
Well, most people do. CHz is my favorite release by them.
>>64139719
I can't. The only thing people ever say is "the hocketing is annoying" and "it doesn't sound like old anco". I have never been given an actual reason as to why it's their worst album.
>>64139719
If anything people were memed into hating chz
>>64139769
Because it just doesn't sound good. That's the bottom line. It has the pizzaz, the aesthetic, etc. It's not a lazy album. It just is emotionally hollow and boring. I wouldn't call Danse or CHz bad albums either. They just don't work. They're failed experiments, Painting With even more so.
It's by no means bad, but I didn't find anything particularly outstanding about it. I really liked the singles from it, but all the others were enjoyable, but largely unremarkable, and I couldn't think of them off the top of my head.
I suppose songwriting wise though, Panda probably offloaded most of his better songs on PBMTGR (which I really liked) and it's EPs, so I suppose that could explain why it didn't hold up as well as it could have.
>Golden Gal
Not even the fifth best track on the album.
>FloriDada
>Vertical
>The Burglars
>Natural Selection
>On Delay
All better.
>>64139769
I, in part think that the hocketing is one of the album's strengths. It's a genuine composition technique they've used to help with the idea they had for pop-based vocals and it's consistent in the album.
If CHz (and the far too dense and claustrophobic production that accompanied it) was the (failed) response to the critical acclaim that MPP brought them, then PW was another (unpleasant) reaction towards the critical panning that CHz recieved (at least in comparison to all the albums released prior to CHz).
>>64139805
oh agreed. I honestly don't think anco have a "bad" album though
>>64139835
Finally, someone else really liked PBvsGR. The shit that album got was weird.
I agree that he was probably worn out songwriting wise by then, his songs seemed a bit phoned in. Though I do like Hocus Pocus.
>>64139836
shit taste m8
>>64139823
Doesn't sound good? The moment I heard The Burglars I was immediately interested in hearing the rest of this album. They make great use of very interesting textures, tones, and synths on this album that they haven't used before.
For me, Painting With is an album representing the ideas behind Cubism and Dadaism. It's a collage of sound splattered on canvas conveyed through geometric patterns of synth melodies surrounding the framework, that which is the vocals. A lot of the melodies in these songs may seem disjointed and really out of place but they all work very well together when you listen to the song as a whole. I feel like this is partly what they were trying to do with Centipede Hz. The objective of Centipede Hz was to have a main progression (the body) with tons of little melodies and rhythms working around it like hundreds of little legs. The effects such as delay and reverb and chorus all helped to achieve this idea, especially on Panda's kit.
To say Painting With is soulless seems a little strange to me. It may not relate to people on an absolute personal level, but I feel its more a commentary on society as a whole around the world. It isn't just a personal experience, it's one that we as the world are sharing. Songs like Floridada talk about human nature to not want to sit in one place for too long, wanting to explore and find meaning in different lands and areas. Searching for something more. Hocus Pocus talks about the longing for a magic that seems lost, or even might refer to the cultural change of view for marijuana in the states "legalize this prinicple", the principle of allowing one to maintain their happiness through their own means. Vertical seems to talk about stacking and stacking up a corporate ladder to appease those above you, or doing so in order to get where you need to go "my feet can't cross the parking lot, the parking lot is way too hot". (cont.)
>>64140188
Lying in the Grass seems to be a song about searching for a cure for something, one that already exists. "Not asahmed to say the instincts there, but a virtue to deny the truth" It's almost like they're referring to a cure existing for this sickness, either that or knowing it exists but not wanting to confront it. The Burglars has always seemed like a song about taxes to me. We grow up thinking of burglars as someone who comes in your house and physically steals your things, when in reality there are people every day working behind desks and doing paper work shuffling numbers around doing FAR more damage to the economy. "When I was young my parents yelled beware of the ivory man who would steal and sell" Ivory Man? Seems like it could be referring to someone from an Ivory Tower, someone of great importance or very high stature. Natural Selection is a song about not being a materialist, and not measuring your success by the things you have but by how rich your soul is, how many smiles you place on peoples faces. "You measure hits by stuff in the house, it's more sincerely smiles on the face". Bagels in Kiev to me is a very personal song, and not just a commentary on society, but perhaps it is. He makes a reference to not being there to witness the miracle of Moses parting the sea, but he also wasn't there to notice the amazing things his grandfather did for his community in Kiev with his bagels. But he's heard the stories, and he appreciates that fact and it's something he carries with him. Also, it seems like a song about everyone coming together over a nice warm bagel, even if they weren't getting along or if they were before. On Delay I haven't exactly figured out what the meaning behind it is, but to say it doesn't sound good is mind blowing to me. It's one of the better songs on the album. I could sit here and try and explain what I think it's about but I'm not entirely too sure so I won't. (cont.)
it's a fun album and i like listening to it
>>64140379
Spilling Guts seems to be about breaking under the pressure of stress and wanting to lash out at the world, but doing so makes you, yourself, get in your own way. Take the hit or take the fall. You either roll with the punches or crumble under the weight. Summing the Wretch has some pretty cool polyrhythms and the little samples and wavering bells that surround the bassline and vocals are nice. The lyrics seem to indicate something about integrity, doing things for the betterment of yourself or others even though no ones looking or watching. However, the same can be said for when no one is watching, it's a hell of a lot easier to do the worst things you could do. Golden Gal is pretty clearly about showing respect for the girls in the world who have to put of with the strenuous expectations of our society. Giving a shout out to the mothers, sisters, daughters, girlfriends, grandmothers who have all held their head up through the troubles while supporting the men they do. Not allowing society to keep them down. "You think the girls would be so comfortable these days, but sexy genders bring some troubles to the fray". I feel like he's referring to the fact that "sexy genders" being the expectations society has of women, get in the way of a girl wanting to be her true self. It's a motivational tune. Recycling is a tough one for me, because it's probably the only song on the album I'm really not that big a fan of, but it's not horrible. I'm not entirely sure what the lyrics want to convey, but it seems like turning all of your negative cynicism into fuel you can use to move forward in society to better yourself.
But hey, these are just my opinions. And that's just from the songs ideological stand points. Musically, I think each of them stands on their own. The instrumentation is awesome in my opinion. I don't think it sounds at all soulless, it has a very nice bounce to it, it glows radiantly and it has a charged feeling. It may not have the dynamics (cont)
>>64140641
some of their other albums have, but that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't as good. While it may not have the dynamics, it still isn't a jolting push to the finish line that assaults your ears the entire time. It is very well paced, the cohesion is immense (I'd say the only thing that throws it off is Bagels in Kiev, kind of out of left field desu) but it's a great album in my opinion.
The first few times I listened to it, the artwork probably helped this imagery, but I could literally imagine all of these melodies and vocal arrangements and percussion as little geometric patterns falling into place on a canvas to make cubist artwork while the lyrics and more "disjointed" bits of production (samples/notation/effects) portrayed thoughts of dadaism. Collaging these sounds together is part of what I feel makes it such a hugely awesome album. It's an idea they've been playing with since Oddsac and Transverse Temporal Gyrus, but I feel this is the first time they completely and fully applied it to a piece of their pop work. And I think they did a great job with it. Each synth, texture, voice, sample, effect, is a brush touching to the canvas that is Painting With.
It's a good album and I've thought that from the start. It's not great, but It doesn't have to be at this point. I think their approach of musical cubism really works, aided by the sharp synths and the hocketing. I don't think this would really work if the album was as emotional as some people apparently want it to be.
There's some tracks I don't really care for, mostly because they don't do enough to keep themselves interesting among all the other tracks that have the same upbeat mid-tempo. I will say that the singles are overrated, they're good but not much better than the rest of the album. My favorites are Hocus Pocus and On Delay. Floridada grew really tired after like 5 listens for me.
Its probably my 2nd least favorite AnCo album, and their worst easily.
I can't even bring myself to listen to it, it is so disappointing and bad.
I didn't like Chz or PBVTGR much either, so idk whats going on with these guys anymore. Deakin's album was cool though.
>>64140838
Are you by chance one of the people I had a discussion with this album about and mentioned the ideas of cubism to?
I feel like its a very important aspect that can easily be overlooked because people just take this album at face value when it's meant to be more than that. There's a reason it's called painting with and all of the covers are cubist inspired art and that they used a Buchla Music Easel and centered their whole website design on paintbrushes....lol. But naw, people just think they're just trying to commercialize and they failed, right?
avey tracks 9/10
panda tracks 4.5/10
It's an alright album, some nice interesting tracks with a few just ok and a few bad ones
Not a good animal collective album though
>>64140871
The problem is everyone wants them to make Feels and MPP style music again and they're not going to. The reason so many people probably hate this album is because it IS so dry and doesn't have the watery aspects and saturated reverb like a lot of their other albums. I guess that makes it "soulless", I dunno.
>>64140901
No, I just read a lot of interviews when the album came out.
the album was great until after bagels (except natural slection)
then it went to shit (except golden gal)
Look, you might not want to believe it, but the P4k rating for both PW and CHz are incredibly accurate.
>>64140965
i can buy that, not if you consider p4k's inflated rating scale though
its very weak melodically and lyrically. have no interest in re listening
On the contrary;
I loved the album, but golden gal as a whole kinda sucks.
