After several releases of the people behind Animal Collective, either under the name of Animal Collective, or under their own names, Fat Cat decided it was time to re-release the first Tow releases by these hip and hyped Americans.
The first Tow releases, “Spirit they’re gone, spirit they’ve vanished” and “Manatee dance”, where respectively released under the names Avey Tare & Panda Bear and Avey Tare, Panda Bear & Geologist. The Animal Collective are one of these bands that are rumoured about all the time, it’s like their name has been floating in the air everywhere you go. So now it’s time to find out what they actually sound like, and see wether they are something new or if the hype is just yet another hype.
The record comes as a double CD, with a trully strange twisted and distorted cover drawing. The cover actually seems to fit well once you start playing the music. It´s at first one big mess of layers and noises, but after a few seconds the noises make sense, and actually reveal a song structure. The songs can be actually anything really, form loud bursts of noise, to early Bowie type of pop songs. It all gets mixed together. And the big surprise is that this actually works out well. The songs are exciting, beautiful, at times painful to your ears, but they always deliver yet another surprising song.
It´s a long time ago that I was so pleasantly surprised by a release, delivering something truly new and unique. Not everyone’s cup of tea for sure, but who cares? Pop music evolved into the world of experimental music!
