I remember a time when it was cool to like Animal Collective. I remember that time mainly because it only three years ago.
I was among the many fans that thought Feels was a great album from an innovative band. Then a whole bunch of new blogs and blog readers decided they also loved Animal Collective, and held them up as the band of the decade and the pinnacle of experimentation in indie music. And then it became cool to hate on Animal Collective. So many of those who formerly championed Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist and Deakin moved on to championing Fuck Buttons and Health - until such time that they too become the toast of alternative media and thus must be discarded in an equally open and critically-hostile manner.
I saw Animal Collective on Channel V the other day. Yes, it was a shock to my own indie sensibilities as much as it was to all those currently burning their previously-loved copies of Sung Tongs. Despite it's (low) rotation on such media outlets, 'My Girls' is still far from a "sell-out" - hell, it keeps the same descending arpeggios repeating throughout the whole six minutes, and there isn't even a beat until a third of the way through. The presence of bands like AnCo on Channel V is more a symptom of those outlets turning to alternative media for cues on what's cool rather than alternative bands altering their output to fit the aesthetic criteria of old media institutions.
Stephanie Meyer (author of the Twilight series) openly lists her favourite albums of the year as Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear*. Did these band bend to meet the aesthetic criteria of this creative vacuum? No. We are talking about someone that dedicated an entire novel to the band Muse (don't even get me started on Muse). Animal Collective have rightly earned a larger profile after a decade of prolific and high-quality output, and it's this heightened profile that's the reason for their uptake by the aforementioned indiscriminate outlets. Their buzz underground became too much for those with their head in the clouds to ignore.
I like Fuck Buttons. Their new album is way more "beat heavy" than their last one, so no doubt particularly fickle fans will have already moved onto something more obscure. I also still like Animal Collective. They don't record into cassette microphones and don't do a lot of 'freak-folk' stuff anymore and so yes, by those standards they are probably more accessible. But they're still one of the least likely bands to crack the the <15 market - I don't see too many twelve-year-olds wishing that the new Muse album sounded more like Feels. For most people, a three-part closing symphony on your album is experimental and Animal Collective is just obnoxious muzak.
The whole situation reminds me of primary school, when some of us eleven-year-olds liked Limp Bizket and then other boys in the class started liking Limp Bizket, so we decided that Korn were now the coolest band around and Limp Bizket were for girls. And so we cycled through nu-metal bands as we saw fit, judging the 'next big thing' (clearly) not on how good they were but on how cool they made us look. God help you if you still thought Silverchair's Freak was harcore. In doing this, not only were we displaying horrible music taste (a crime that I believe any primary school kid should be absolved of) but we were participating in the production of primitive cultural capital. If you could find and appreciated cultural product before others, you had more capital (ie. you were cooler, a taste-maker etc).
My grade six class was a microcosm for the indie music community. Were we a particularly advanced grade six class? No. So this basically just reflects poorly on those choosing to hate on their previously loved bands. (There are definitely exceptions, see: Interpol et al).
Even if you didn't like Strawberry Jam (I didn't really), at least don't let it taint your views on their old stuff. Because then you look like a douche, and you perpetuate the build-them-up/tear-them-down stereotype that reflects poorly on the whole blogging/indie community.
Instead, save your hate for nu-metal. Limp Bizket need to realise that those eleven-year-olds have grown up and no one wants to listen their ultra-compressed guitars and white-boy rap/whine shite any more. Ever.
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'Grass,' off Animal Collective's Feels, was featured on my rad partay mixtape, which you should download here.
If you enjoy partay mixtapes, also check out Maddy's mixtape here.
* Grizzly Bear are arguably more accessible these days, but really only their singles.
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