Orbiting around the nearly 22 minute centerpiece track "Defeat", this 2023 album from ANIMAL COLLECTIVE sees the group open up, creating space in their dizzying collages to let elements from PANDA BEAR's psychedelic doo-wop vocals to AVEY TARE's baroque harpsichord and synth compositions to shine on their own. Like a great ANCO record should, "Isn't It Now?" remains playful without being self-indulgent. Superb!

Put it on the books, Animal Collective's ninth full length is ready for consumption, and prepared to make the beginning of your musical year great! With their usual chaotic, vocal eccentricities and meditative, musical complications "Merriweather Post Pavilion" seems to have come to an agreement between the two polar angles that Animal Collective have explored. At times their vocals entangle with one another into infinity, and at other moments there is a peaceful drone to enjoy. Avey Tare and Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear) find this happy medium and give fans a new perspective on what their collaboration can sound like.

On their first album ANIMAL COLLECTIVE filled every bit of space with some broken discourse of lulling but sputtering racket. Here the swirlling effects and shrill tones are still intact. However now theres alot more space with lyrical songs and swelling crescendos in tow. That is to say these songs sound alot more like...well, songs. Imagine "In a priest driven ambulance" era FLAMING LIPS working with WEEN on an album of SUN CITY GIRLS covers. Then you would either be a hopeless record store employee or a college radio geek. But then you would also kinda know what this sounds like without hearing it. The fact that its a reissue of the members Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist seperate solo records. Most likely has everything to do with that. The fact is, their a collective. Which is kinda like a band. Only more powerful. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. 2023 remaster comes with alternate artwork.

On their first album ANIMAL COLLECTIVE filled every bit of space with some broken discourse of lulling but sputtering racket. Here the swirlling effects and shrill tones are still intact. However now theres alot more space with lyrical songs and swelling crescendos in tow. That is to say these songs sound alot more like...well, songs. Imagine "In a priest driven ambulance" era FLAMING LIPS working with WEEN on an album of SUN CITY GIRLS covers. Then you would either be a hopeless record store employee or a college radio geek. But then you would also kinda know what this sounds like without hearing it. The fact that its a reissue of the members Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist seperate solo records. Most likely has everything to do with that. The fact is, their a collective. Which is kinda like a band. Only more powerful. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. 2023 remaster comes with alternate artwork. <<< GREEN VINYL >>>

On their first album ANIMAL COLLECTIVE filled every bit of space with some broken discourse of lulling but sputtering racket. Here the swirlling effects and shrill tones are still intact. However now theres alot more space with lyrical songs and swelling crescendos in tow. That is to say these songs sound alot more like...well, songs. Imagine "In a priest driven ambulance" era FLAMING LIPS working with WEEN on an album of SUN CITY GIRLS covers. Then you would either be a hopeless record store employee or a college radio geek. But then you would also kinda know what this sounds like without hearing it. The fact that its a reissue of the members Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist seperate solo records. Most likely has everything to do with that. The fact is, their a collective. Which is kinda like a band. Only more powerful. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. 2023 remaster comes with alternate artwork and a bonus disc of material. <<< BLUE VINYL >>>

After NOAH LENNOX's deviation into a rather successful solo endeavour (PANDA BEAR), fans of ANIMAL COLLECTIVE may be curious what to expect from 2007's "Strawberry Jam." The collective (sorry!) effort here, is a blend of both AVEY TARE's cacophonous vocal style and the PANDA BEAR approach with heavy sampling and loops. This album will not dissapoint fans of this brand of layering and sound-bending atmospheric tunes. Unique stretching of the vocal pitch, and large spreads of sonic synthesized sound come complete with aspirations to sound like SYD BARRETT's "Madcap Laughs" or the oft referenced "Pet Sounds" by the BEACH BOYS. One really can not go wrong with influences like that, in addition to the knowledge of their contemporary techniques. This is a mind bender of an album. This studio savvy duo have done it again!

Back down to the duo of AVERY TARE and PANDA BEAR, "Sung Tongs" is ANIMAL COLLECTIVE's much anticpated follow up to "Here Comes The Indian." A cacophanous psychedelic pool of sound, with primal drumming abstract vocal phrases, and frantic keyboard/guitar squeals recalling the works of BOREDOMS, OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL, and BRAINTICKET, this is the sound of a chair turning into a thousand snakes. On My Animal Home and so HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

ARCTIC MONKEYS are back to their antics, but with a twist. ALEX TURNER's very recognizable voice is still right out front, & his pen has not run dry, but what you'll notice first about AM is the return to the heavier, darker sounds of HUMBUG. Riffy, heavy, even funky, (TURNER has noted DR. DRE & g-funk as an influence for this one) it's noticably different from the earliest, but still a great record. This is for fans of QOTSA (Josh Homme guests), OASIS STROKES, of course the ARCTIC MONKEYS themselves... Regular edition LP comes with a download on 180g vinyl!

ARCTIC MONKEYS are back to their antics, but with a twist. ALEX TURNER's very recognizable voice is still right out front, & his pen has not run dry, but what you'll notice first about AM is the return to the heavier, darker sounds of HUMBUG. Riffy, heavy, even funky, (TURNER has noted DR. DRE & g-funk as an influence for this one) it's noticably different from the earliest, but still a great record. This is for fans of QOTSA (Josh Homme guests), OASIS STROKES, of course the ARCTIC MONKEYS themselves...

The seventh album from these Sheffield boys is their first in a half decade, and the band picks up right where they left off, following the threads of sultry, soulful lounge singing they developed on both "AM" and "Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino". Glamorous, velvet, string-laden and yet unsettled, this is perhaps the MONKEYS' most enigmatic and gripping LP to date.

Who the F are the Artic Monkeys? On their 6th LP they force us to ask again. Early in the game the Sheffield lads were snotty Rock 'N Roll savants then they took a turn into heavier desert sounds that felt like a revitalization for guitar music. On AM they incorporated ideas from R&B & Rap, & now they've taken a hard left turn into loungy weirdness. This is the first record Alex Turner's written on the piano, & it often feels like he's searching for new melodies throughout. While the lyrics can certainly feel self indulgent, the beauty of these new tracks is Turner's leaning on some the influences of some other strange & staggering lyricists, with a feel that ranges from Bowie, to Cohen, to Waits, & then back again.

Much anticipated debut album from this UK group... on DOMINO.

Amazing album from this wholly underrated band! somewhere between Bowie & Queen lies be bop deluxe

2007 heralds another garage-infused, SONICS-inspired BLACK LIPS release. To some, it may be hard to believe that maintaining a consistent "sound" could stay interesting. Keeping a steady pulse, the BLACK LIPS have produced a smorgasbord of lo-fi, aural treats. Wirey, sharp guitar tones colide with clunky drum beats and lightly reverbed vocals. Occasionally, there are piano or slide guitar accompaniment that accentuates the vintage themes that the group has achieved for years. Particular highlights are the "H-cane" inspired track "O, Katrina" and the classic BLACK LIPS-styled track "Slime & Oxygen." This is a perfect Vespa, mod inspired after-party companion.

One of the few bands ready to take the place of cult Black Metal gods, BLASPHEMY...this is the debut full length from Florida's equally pulverizing BLACK WITCHERY. Vinyl released by NUCLEAR WAR NOW productions.

Freetown, Sierra Leone. It's where Dev Hynes' father is from, & one of the many inspirations for this new record. It's also a statement in some ways. This is a record with many of the same social expressions that have been very prominent in the past few years, & textured with R&B, Funk, & Electro sounds, to make what Hynes calls a "clapback," for anyone who's been told they're not enough.

An excellent return for the seemingly ageless wonder JOHN CALE, (80 years old at the time of this release), embracing steely post-disco, dark ambience and cloudy, baroque theatricality. "Mercy" features an abundance of collaborators, including WEYES BLOOD, LAUREL HALO, SYLVAN ESSO and ANIMAL COLLECTIVE, and CALE utilizes each's unique artistic touch for a record that is at once varied and unified. On Domino and RECOMMENDED!