Dear Animal Collective,

WTF, dudes? I thought we had an understanding, or at least some sort of non-verbal contractual agreement going. All I can say is that you really let me down. Big time. Major huge super big time.

My first complaint is lodged at the terrible choice of openers for your first “big leagues” tour. Words cannot express how super hyped I was before the show to see the Dirty Projectors and Deerhunter open for you. I kind of understand why Angel Deradoorian came out solo since apparently the rest of the Dirty Projectors are recording a cover album of The Offspring’s “Ixnay on the Hombre” from memory. I mean that’s a lot of power chords to memorize. Anyways, I thought that her set was okay, but a little short and a little boring. Plus the ecstasy hadn’t really kicked in yet so I wasn’t feeling her vibes so much. So, okay, I’ll let that one slide. My second huge disappointment was when only Bradford Cox (of Deerhunter fame) came out to perform. I kept waiting for the rest of the band to show and then laugh at what a funny indie-punk’d style joke that was. That never happened, however. I can only speculate that three fourths of Deerhunter refused to show because of low audience attendance. Just another example of rockstars being dickfaces, I guess. Bradford cox played some really good indie jams but I didn’t recognize any of them since apparently he’s not allowed to play Deerhunter songs if the rest of the band skips out and bomb threats wallgreens for oxycontin. I will say, in Bradford’s defense that he did extremely well, considering the fact that he had to come up with those songs pretty much on the spot. They were all well put together and the small crowd seemed to love them. Next time though, try and find openers who aren’t hard at work on a magnum opus of sorts and who aren’t megalomaniacs. I would really appreciate that.

My second complaint has to do with the pure shit-blizzard of a set list you guys chose. This wasn’t a surprise show at the Masquerade. At least there I would expect everything to be awful and wrong. No, this was your big moment to break out and really show the world what you guys can do in a huge amphitheater. I can’t express how enraged I was after listening to sixteen fucking songs and only recognizing three of them! After doing some intense internet research I found out that you did actually play two other old songs, one from “Feels” and another from “Sung Tongs”. So that’s it? Five songs out of your expansive catalogue is all you got to give your fans? It’s almost as if you guys don’t care about material things like tour stats or money or giving people what they paid to see. I’m talking, of course, about your hit single, “My Girls” which was all the rage two summers ago and is the reason myself and probably everyone else there came in the first place. My jeans are way too tight for a time machine, so how am I supposed to travel to the future and memorize your new songs so I can come back and enjoy the show you put on? Don’t get me wrong, I thought the way every song seamlessly blended into one another was awesome. I also totally loved the new songs. A few were a bit slow, but I feel the same way with all of your albums. I just looked at last night’s set list for Styx at the same venue. Wow, big surprise, they played all their fucking solid gold hits. You guys would do well by following the example of Styx, who apparently know how to rock.

Sorry this was so harsh, but seriously, think about the people you hurt by just playing what you want. With an album like “Merriwether Post Pavilion” under your belts, you can’t just do what feels right or natural anymore. You have a responsibility to the paying public. After all, art isn’t about the creative process; it’s about the product you create and the people you sell it to.

Sincerely, Joe.

© Joe Ennis for Ohmpark, 2011. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Animal Collective, Atlas Sound, Comedy, Deerhunter, Dirty Projectors

If you’ve been paying attention around here this year, there is no doubt you will be familiar with everything on this list, and perhaps even a little burnt out on some of these tracks. But each of these songs are strongly linked to different moments and memories I have of 2009, and they make up the ultimate soundtrack to an amazing year in music. So jam them out one last time:

Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse w/ Wayne Coyne : Revenge
Animal Collective : My Girls
Atlas Sound w/ Noah Lennox : Walkabout
The Dirty Projectors : Useful Chamber
Grizzly Bear : Two Weeks
Bat For Lashes : Daniel
Andrew Bird : Anonanimal
Here We Go Magic : Fangela
Loney, Dear : Airport Surroundings
Mew : Introducing Palace Players
St. Vincent : The Strangers
Do Make Say Think : Do
Phoenix : Lisztomania
Nomen Novum : Miracles Come True

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Andrew Bird, Animal Collective, Atlas Sound, Bat For Lashes, Best of 2009, Danger Mouse, Dirty Projectors, Do Make Say Think, Grizzly Bear, Here We Go Magic, Loney Dear, Mew, Mixtape, Nomen Novum, Phoenix, Sparklehorse, St. Vincent

Panda Bear
All Tomorrow’s Parties New York
9/11/09

01 Chores
02 Song For Ariel
03 Ponytail
04 Untitled 1
05 Daily Routine
06 Bros
07 #1
08 I’m Not
09 Boneless (Notwist Remix)
10 Untitled 2

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Animal Collective, ATP, Live Show, Panda Bear, The Notwist

Animal Collective is playing Bonnaroo this year, but they are playing a short set in the middle of the day against other acts I want to see, so I decided to make the trek down to St. Pete, Florida and catch a proper AnCo show. I got to the venue two hours before it opened and there was already a few people camping out. By the time they began letting people in, the lie was running around the block. The opener was Black Dice, and while I was excited to check them out, I was very disappointed with their show. I’m a huge fan of noise jamming bands, but that doesn’t mean all noise performances are created equal and I’ve seen too many great acts doing something similar. I feel like I could take a random person off the street, get them really drunk, and let them play with a studio’s worth of gadgets and they would do something more interesting than Black Dice did. I can’t recall ever witnessing something so over-the-top intense yet so boring. Clearly these guys are hype-by-association.

CONTINUE READING Live Review: Animal Collective, Black Dice @ State Theatre in St. Petersburg, FL (6/8/09) (495 words)

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Animal Collective, Black Dice

Animal Collective
Archa Theatre, Prague, Czech Republic
14th October, 2008 (FM)

Setlist:

01. In The Flowers
02. Summertime Clothes
03. Who Could Win A Rabbit
04. Brother Sport
05. My Girls
06. Comfy In Nautica
07. Peacebone

Download Lossless Torrent Here

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Animal Collective, Live Show

Right now I am totally obsessed with Bonnaroo and getting very excited about the coming week. I’ve built my annual playlist of ‘roo artists, but even if you aren’t going, some of these will be swinging by Atlanta as well. Also, I’ve dropped some fun Bonna-links below to get you in the mood too. If you are still on the fence as to whether to go to this fest or not, I suggest you go big, but if you can’t attend, you can go along vicariously with our total coverage.

Grizzly Bear : Southern Point
Dirty Projectors : What I See
Phoenix : Lisztomania
Passion Pit : The Reeling
Portugal The Man : Elephants
Animal Collective : The Purple Bottle
Tobacco : Backwoods Altar
St. Vincent : Dig A Pony (The Beatles cover)
White Rabbits : Percussion Gun
Phish : The Divided Sky

Bonnaroo website
Bonnaroo 2008 coverage
Bonnaroo 2007 coverage
Stories from Bonnaroo 2002 – 2006
Guide to Bonnaroo 2009 Schedule
2009 Weather (Updated daily)
Inforoo (The Bonnaroo message board that can answer any question you have)

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Animal Collective, Bonnaroo, Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear, Mixtape, Passion Pit, Phish, Phoenix, Portugal. The Man, St. Vincent, Tobacco, White Rabbits

Technically summer doesn’t start until next month, but my long tenure in college and regular association with students leads me to consider May as the beginning of the summer. To celebrate the coming of the season, I’m about to take a nice little week vacation at the beach, so I figured I would leave you readers with a summery mixtape to jam while I’m gone. Here at Ohmpark we have some exciting things coming soon. Bonnaroo is now less than a month away and we will have total coverage for you. Then Corndogorama is right around the corner. And after that I’ll be blogging on the road for all of July. So keep it here and we’ll keep bringing you the best music from the ATL and beyond. Thanks for reading and enjoy some hott tunage:

Harlem Shakes : Nothing But Change Part II
Buy Technicolor Health
Still Flyin’ : Good Thing It’s A Ghost Town Around Here
Buy Never Gonna Touch The Ground
Wavves : Beach Demon
Buy Wavvves
Crystal Antlers : Andrew
Buy Tentacles
Animal Collective : Summertime Clothes
Buy Merriweather Post Pavilion
St. Vincent : Laughing With a Mouth Of Blood
Buy Actor
Camera Obscura : French Navy
Buy My Maudlin Career
Jeffrey Lewis & The Jackals : Bugs & Flowers
Buy ‘Em Are I
Akron/Family : Sun Will Shine (Warmth Of The Sunship Verison)
Buy Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free
Sufjan Stevens : You Are The Blood (Castanets cover)
Buy Dark Was The Night

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Akron/Family, Animal Collective, Camera Obscura, Castanets, Crystal Antlers, Harlem Shakes, Jeffrey Lewis, Mixtape, St. Vincent, Still Flyin', Sufjan Stevens, Wavves

Animal Collective have totally sold out on the disappointing Merriweather Post Pavilion. J/K LOL. It’s weird to have what very well could be the best record I listen to all year be the very first album of the year I listen to. It has tempered my expectations of every 2009 album I have approached thus far. It is almost impossible to find a bad review on this thing, and you’ll find no exception to that here. I doubt I’ll end up liking it as much as I love Sung Tongs, but it is pretty nearly perfect.

So instead of talking about the music on the album, as everyone else on the Internet has already done that, I’m going to talk more about the cultural relevance of Animal Collective. Hipster Runoff did a really long piece on this subject that you should read, and that site is the most consistently hilarious music blog on the planet, so you should really be reading that more often anyways.

Now it has taken me a fairly long time to fully appreciate AnCo and be completely on the bandwagon. I have always liked them, but I thought of them more as a weird anomaly than the influential wizards they appear to be now. I always try to approach hype with some skepticism, but Animal Collective is worthy of the infinite Internet popularity they now possess. Not only can pretty much everyone agree their new album is great, but there is an army of new acts that are heavily influenced by the Collective. I was really put off by so many people copycatting AC‘s sounds at first, but over time I’ve come to appreciate how many different directions you can take the aesthetic in. I mean, Animal Collective are changing the course of modern music all by themselves, in ways that seem only to be eclipsed by goliaths like The Beatles and Nirvana. In a post-blog/internet music world where there are billions of artists and opinions to compete against, their universality in that sphere is mindbogglingly impressive. But AC‘s overall cultural relevance is almost entirely limited to an elite crowd of people with Internet.

Most of this decade, one question I have pondered is, “Who is the biggest and best band to come out of the Oughts?” I believe there is a strong correlation between the old school music industry monolithic voice and the ability of a band to completely blow up into an icon that transcends mainstream and underground/alternative. The Internet has fundamentally changed how this works. People now have way more choices in both the diversity available and the sources to locate those varieties, making the target market for something universally appealing shrink. No longer can a few powerful people force the masses to listen to something because they lack other options to explore. The conventional machine of the music industry has been swiftly losing its influence for the greater part of this decade as people abandon the music fascism for a democratic Internet/blog music world. A great divide has evolved between these two worlds as this happens as well, creating a much more difficult obstacle to overcome in being able to achieve a transcendental popularity/authenticity cultural relevance a band like Radiohead now enjoys.


CONTINUE READING The Hottness Of A Generation: Animal Collective (770 words)

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Animal Collective, Panda Bear, The Hottness

I decided to do something a little experimental this year with my best EP list. When I was comparing very short “full-length” albums to longer albums on my best LP list, I kept wanting to hold the time duration against the shorter album. Also, it seems the difference between EPs and LPs can be a bit arbitrary sometimes, so I decided to just draw a line completely based on album length to split up my best album lists. This list, then, is the best of all albums less than 35 minutes, regardless of what the record is labeled. I’m happy with the end result, as I’m able to really highlight some extremely worthwhile briefer albums and it made the competition on this list a lot tighter. When you really think about it, any classic album this short feels like it is in a different weight class. I want to give an honorable mention to Cynic‘s Traced In Air, Parade‘s Ghosts, and Mount Eerie with Julie Dorion and Fred Squire‘s Lost Wisdom because all three were awesome, but here are the 20 best albums under 35 minutes:


CONTINUE READING Ohmpark’s Top 20 Best EPs/Short-Length Albums Of 2008 (1,687 words)

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A Armada, Abe Vigoda, Air France, Animal Collective, Antony, Beck, Best Of 2008, Crystal Antlers, Cynic, Experimental Dental School, Moscow Olympics, Mount Eerie, No Age, Oh No Oh My, Slushco, This Piano Plays itself, Trail Of Dead, Twin Tigers, Women