Merriweather Post Pavilion

Has critical acclaim ever been so wrong as in the 2010s? These sounds like a 1980s synth experiment. No groove, no soul, no tension. No release. No point. You can’t dance to it and it’s not worth hearing. Garbage is too strong a word for such a dull album. But why it’s here? Critics supporting critics? Bye Felicia. Let’s get back to good albums, hey? 1.5

this mostly sounded like noise to me.

Meh 🤷‍♂️

Wanted to like, just felt boring. Like Tame Impala with none of the hooks

eh... not my kind of music, gave it a listen, but that's it

Trop de morceaux énervant

Schwirrt alles zusammen, hat mich nicht wirklich gepackt.

Didn’t do it for me then, doesn’t do it for me now.

2.5/5 english druggie music

Half of these songs are over five minutes long, but they all feel interminably longer. I often got the sense I was listening to two separate records being played over the top of each other and neither particularly complimented the other. I found it annoying and almost unlistenable in places so giving this a very generous 2.

My first thoughts listening to this album were: "Wow, someone in this band listened to a lot of MGMT but didn't understand what made it good." There's some interesting sounds here but it's not all connecting for me. I get it's experimental, and not every experiment will be successful. The stuff that's good is fewer and farther between than the stuff that's just weird.

Man, this album is long and drawn out. It is filled with super-synthetic sounds that left me feeling ultimately uninspired. I think the lyricism is cheated by the sonicism. It’s so busily noisy, you can’t hear how good the lyrics are, which is a shame because there’s some good writing buried within. There are decent melodic elements, but it’s like they couldn’t accept what they had was good enough and decided to overbuild upon it with each track. Summertime Clothes is the only track that I really connected with and would give a re-listen.

1 stern

I listen to a lot of music with similar elements incorporated within, but an entire album of this is too much. Drones on and makes my brain yearn for drugs. Album for my next acid trip, surely. Outside of that, meh.

This is some hipster nonsense. Perfectly fine, but why? 2.4.

Animal Collective has always been too much for me with the disjointed lines. Personal enjoyment: 2/5 Relevance to this list: 3/5

Trippy not like Eno or Aphex Twin (selected works 60-80) more of background music.

Why the hell is this on this list? Just noise. Some tunes are not wholly awful though so it scrapes a 2.

2.5 - decent

So boring. 2/5

Este disco le hace honor a su portada. Es como de esas ilustraciones en las que había que ponerse turnios para ver algo en 3D que nunca me funcionaron y fijo que resultaban en una jaqueca.

Interesting. Worth a listen but not for me. 2/5

Experimental is an understatement. Nothing here felt even remotely cohesive, and left me a bit unsettled. Also, I don't understand the vocal effect of making your lead singer sound like they're underwater, but that was a terrible distraction. Hard pass.

Not sure why this is on the list, but I would have been fine never having heard it. It's haphazard non-cohesive songs just didn't sit right with me.

This is what i thought imagine dragons sounded like when I was an idiot. Its fine... like its pretty in a way. But the electronic and indie type Mashup just is not something that works for me. My girls is the best song here but its not worth listening to it ever again. Maybe if I cared about lyrics at all I could connect with that but still dont give a shit. The yelpy vocals suck and the production on them makes them feel out of rhythm with the rest of the track. Lions in a coma is unlistenable with its weird twang. And everything else is just who cares type. Just nothing worth the time. Glad when it was over but not the worst thing ive ever heard. Just kinda generally crap

Beach boys, but on a lot more acid? Maybe I'm missing something but these guys never did much for me.

I tried.

2009 Absolutely bang on for bland naughties, 'experimental' indie fodder that was synonymous for the period. I had no idea what this was, and having listened, I'm baffled as to why it's even on the list. This is the kind of album that's made for a glowing Pitchfork review. You know it's going to be massively overrated and hailed by that pretentious millennial muso still living his uni years, despite holding down a job as a lab technician in Kettering. Heard before ❌️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit ❌️ Unremarkable★★☆☆☆ (4/10)

Strange combination of vocals and music.

It's not for me

Noisy. Not fun to listen to. The singer’s voice was fine. I just didn’t like the music. All the songs sounded the same. I feel like they were trying to sound like Fleet Foxes, Vampire Weekend, and MGMT, but they were nowhere near as good as those bands.

Not my type of music

Meh.

Not my style at all. Very asymmetric rhythms, which made it hard to follow. Pretty strange to be honest. Only made it 4 songs in. 2/10

Just noise. Painful

It's an OK album but you need to be in right head space for it. I'm sure that teenage me would have loved it and listed the crap out of it but now I feel like it's a bit bland.

boring and uninteresting.

This album is all about the production - dense, expansive, pulsing and dizzying. This isn't a straightforward record, and I appreciate the craft and invention on display but have trouble getting into the songs. For all the variety of noises on the album, every song sounds the same.... Cool sounds, but not for me - Beach Boys in space.

Not sure about this one. Kinda weird, bit annoying at times.

"Experimental Pop" should be the first red flag. The endless echoy reverb should be the second. If you're already ignoring those then you're own your own kid...

I don’t get this album at all. I didn’t particularly enjoy the constant electronic barrage, the vocals weren’t anything special, and there’s a distinct lack of memorable hooks and melodies. Mostly sounds like the worst tracks on a Tame Impala album. Couple of good tracks, but bafflingly overrated.

I’m giving it a 2 because I like the creativity and some of the songs are pretty fun to listen to. A key factor weighing into my rating is that I have seen them live before and they were horrible. The worst show I’ve ever seen. No melodies were played - it was just people making sounds on instruments. It was intentional… and it was not pleasant. So this album also far surpassed my expectations going in lol

well i'm sure this is Somebody's jam...

Bit weird for my taste. Maybe just not in the mood

what am I listening to? it sounds like a bunch of beats and space sounds

Not super my thing but it had its charm as an album to vibe to.

não é meu estilo...

Ruim demais, muito experimental

A couple of interesting songs.

4/10 more of a droning than music. That said the percussion and vocals were doing the heavy lifting. 7-24-2025

Spa music meets indie movie background music. Nope.

En ljudsoppa, mestadels inte i min smak

I didn’t want to turn it off, but I also don’t have any desire to turn it on again.

This one wasn’t really for me. There were parts of the songs I would like but then there was often something I didn’t like or it would just be very repetitive. For a while I had it on in the background while working and then it was fine, but when I was listening properly I found it largely boring and occasionally annoying. Fav song: No More Runnin Least fav: Guys Eyes

Looked at the Wikipedia before and saw one of their genres was noise thought I was in for a bumpy ride but this was better than my expectations. Still not amazing though. Specific rating - 2.1 Fav song- in the flowers Least fav- lion in a coma

Okay songs with really strange and annoying noises over the top- think the fact I was relieved when it ended says everything. Favourite song: Summertime Clothes Least: Daily Routine

As a Marylander who lives pretty close to Merriweather Post Pavilion, I was hyped for this…. I was wrong to be hyped. This was a dull test of patience that mostly sounded like one long song just never ending. Hell I thought the first 3 tracks were just one song until I looked at Spotify and realized I was on track 3. The entire listening experience was just ranging from mid to boring.

Have tried many times but never got the hype with this album. Dense layering of synth textures and rhythms echoing around a big reverby space with all the digital bells and whistles thrown into the mix, combined with breathy multi tracked vocals weaving in and out of each other among the synth leads. It's a trippy sound that floats and jangles and pulses in a bright sunny haze through a set of meandering strangely baggy seemingly (but not actually) structureless songs. There some cool sounding stuff in here, but they remain an emperor's new clothes band for me.

It might be hugely creative but I just can't attach sonic dissonance. It's very pretty and interesting and not at all for me.

A few high moments, but indie pop just ain't my thing. Meh.

Move to Philly, buy a loft, start a noise band. Get 6 or 7 roommates; eat hummus with them. Book some gigs. Paint, smoke cloves, listen to Animal Collective. Start some type of salsa company. Hannibal Buress, 2012. This is my reference point for Animal Collective, a band that has the unfortunate distinction of releasing an album in the period of culture death known as 2009. The only good thing that happened in 2009 was the beginning of RuPaul’s Drag Race. That’s all we had. And I didn’t even understand that shit yet. ‘Twas a cruel time. With the calming monologue of Hannibal coursing through my veins, I’m ready to experience Philly loft music at its most potent. Please be more interesting than the other albums we’ve experienced from this infamous year In the Flowers - This really is music you’d listen to while eating hummus with 6 or 7 roommates. What the hell is going on? It’s interesting and layered, yet still also somehow falls into the trappings of radio indie folk of the era. Which of course, I am a small sucker for. Jury is still out, but I’m definitely listening. My Girls - This is either famous, or Spotify has played this for me a 1000 times. I’m not mad, I kind of like it. Do I? It’s hypnotic and interesting, but if you removed the swimming instrumental, it sounds like a Down with Webster song. I can’t possibly enjoy that. Can I? Eh. I like it. Too cool an atmosphere to ignore. Also Frightened - Hi I’d like to state that I’m also frightened. Perhaps of fatherhood? I’m probably taking the lyrics too far, but the weight of impending parenthood is certainly heavy, and requires a lot of introspection. Decent song. Summertime Clothes - The vocal line is not my thing. The atmosphere continues to drag this along. Daily Routine - This was a nice song. Thumbs up from ya boi, music hater Supremo. Bluish - I bless the rains down in Africa. It could also be that song by Savage Garden from the 90’s. That’s more of a reach. This is just floating by for me. Guys Eyes - More vast nothingness. I mean it’s not THAT stark, but it is lacking a little bit of a punch. I actually really don’t like this song. What a sparklingly worded review. Another masterclass. Taste - More repetition I believe. This one has a cooler melody underneath the buzzing, but when we have the same wallpaper enveloping every track, it’s hard not to feel like it’s all the same. Lion in a Coma - Coolest song title in an album full of cool song titles, and yet one of the worst songs. EDM style didgeridoo sample with “lion in a coma being said repeatedly for the duration of the track’s run-time. If the combination of “EDM” and “didgeridoo” made you feel ill, congratulations, you may be normal. No More Runnin - Yeah this one is good so far. Quiet, but still faithful to the lush soundscapes that this band seems intent on creating. It all comes together pretty well here. There is something I’m just not loving about it still. Might be one of those “not for me” instances. Brother Sport - Alright. Well this was the final straw. I wanted to like this, but this is “worst man you’ve ever met gets spiritual to attempt to seduce to the worst woman you’ve ever met.” White spirituality is a whole rabbit hole that I don’t want to even broach today. I’m weary. This song sucks. Way to leave me disappointed. Full disclosure, I listened to Ice-T’s 1991 album, “O.G. Original Gangster” before this. Back to back. I gave that fucker a 4. Well, 3.5-4 if we’re splitting hairs, but I really enjoyed it. I’m tempted to make some joke saying I prefer “dumb” music, but there was actually a lot of substance on that record if you read between the lines. Merriwrather Post Pavilion obviously has capable literary lyricism, and a penchant for deliberate song writing that I assume conveys messages heretofore unimagined by the unwashed music listener. All that to say, I didn’t get much from this. Whether the thesis statement was above my head, or dragged down by repetitive dance music and white boi reggae buried under dense static-y indie noise, the message was lost on your humble reviewer. Some of this may be worth a re-listen, but there appears to be so much filler on here that I can’t endorse it as it stands right now. Now to imagine a cool animal based band where there is a sunglasses-clad walrus playing the fuck out of a piccolo. Huh. Maybe I am dumb. 2-2.5 HIGHLIGHTS: My Girls, Daily Routine, No More Runnin

Tf is this. Very wary of 00s albums I've never heard of. I assume they made a new edition once and didn't stand the test of time. But there'll be a hidden gem eventually so let's go I'm not into this sort of dreamy shoegazey indie. Like at all. but these are some nice noises. If you are into it then this probably is a hidden gem. Or not even hidden maybe everyone talks about it on the neutral milk hotel forums all the time. Solid 2.5 probably but I'm forced to round down because i stopped paying attention halfway through

More of a sound experience than a music album

2/5

Struggled to finish this album. Still enjoyed it though.

Dry

I've listened to worse but my first thought here was how high do you have to be to enjoy this album? Come to find out the answer is not high enough.

This group seems talented, but they seemed more concerned about being different than making something good

Too electronic/psychadelic, weak songwriting. Stopped listening halfway through.

Hatte seine Momente, aber war auch stressig. Für mich nicht unbedingt 1001 Alben was gehört haben muss. -1 Abzug für das grottige Albumcover was meine Augen nervt.

Not a fan of this sound. It's like beach boys but with somehow worse mixing.

Interesting sounds. Wouldn’t listen to it again.

I usually like this kind of music, but this was too repetitive for my taste. It was ok to listen to it once, but that's it.

Not good. Should music be irritating?

I know I listened to this, but I remember naff all about it

Not for me

Demasiado alternativo y abstracto para mí

I don’t know that I’ve ever been in the mood for Animal Collective, ever. I’m giving it a 2 instead of a 1 because I wasn’t actively mad while listening to it, though I was mildly irritated at parts ngl

Woke wank yank bollocks

Animal Collective just doesn't strike me as a particularly interesting band.

Nothing

The sudden explosion of sound in track one is by far the coolest moment on the album.

Pretty out there, need more drugs to appreciate it Best Song: My Girls Rating: 4.5/10 Stars: 2/5

Meh

I wouldn't say I needed to hear this before my death.

Into a blender goes equal parts Sufjan Stevens, Vampire Weekend, a TI-83 calculator and a room-temperature shot of 5-hour energy.

Found this kinda boring but not terrible. Definitely not my thing though, I liked a couple of songs and I really hated the closer but overall it wasn’t good.

Giving this two stars, as there are a couple tracks that are decent such as "My Girls" and "Summertime Clothes." The rest infuse together to create a distorted representation of ambience, not smooth relaxing kind, but one that creates a sense of anxiousness.

Psychedelic indie bore-fest! This album dragged on and on with repetitive themes and sounds.

I like the fact they'd been listening to the Beatles and XTC.. but the rest of this I found a struggle

Too much going on for my taste.

Started out interesting and different but got a bit samey very quickly

Average

aging hipster writes sappy indie shit sounds like the conversations you have catching up with a friend from high school who only talks about his girlfriend and kids

Pleasant, but boring Psychedelic-Pop album from an obscure American experimental pop group.

Not great

I don't take drugs. I'm not the AC's target audience.

meh. not my thing. I was hoping for an Arcade Fire sound, but it wasn't that.

1001 ALBUMS- # 28 Merri-what now?!? I’m not sure what in the world I just experienced listening to this ear torture, however it absolutely was not an album to hear BEFORE you die. I can’t pretend to even imagine any meaning behind what is going on in these excessively sloppy tracks, perhaps layered way down deep beneath the onslaught of the instrumental noise parade there lies something beautiful…I just struggled immensely to decipher it. 🎧 Classic Track: My Girls 🚫 Skip track: They all sound the same! One long endless loop of an erratic tonal maze, which seems to be what this band was going for. 🖼️ Album Art: Better than the muzak! Seems as though all the millennial hipster critics out here are being offended by the honest feedback about this record being a pretentious attempt at recreating psychedelic rock…and while I can certainly give these guys props for the electronica creativity, the resulting soundscapes are just too unpalatable for my ears. But hey, maybe I just don’t ’get it’. Hit the Thumbs Up icon below if you enjoyed my take on the album :)

Electronica

It was OK, not my cup of tea really.

not something i would seek out but some stuff that works could i write poetry to this? n

I suspect I may have liked this album more had I not listened to Smile right before it.

You know they could write some beautiful music if they removed their heads from their asses.

This is mostly just annoying.

Another band that others around me were crazy about in the mid to late 00's, but I never could get into them. You could diplomatically call this music complex, layered, experimental and true to it's pop roots. You could also say it's standing on the shoulders of giants, doesn't have a single original idea and evokes images of actual animals trying to play instruments. Animal Collective is just a little too smug and self important sounding for me to get into them.

It was a dull album, it didn't feel like it went anywhere.

Not memorable or very interesting.

Yuk. But hey, cool optical illusion on the cover guys.

Relatively new for being this list, but you wouldn't need to know when it's from to feel that this is a modern record. Everything about this esthetic should cater to my liking, but there's something with this that doesn't sit well with me and I have a bit of a hard time figuring out exactly what it is, if it's even one single thing. The mix annoys me to death and is actually one of the worst I've heard. I understand that it is a design intent, but the vocals sits behind or in the middle of a lot of sounds and becomes completely lost and unintelligible. There is some attempt at making interesting harmonies in some songs, but they fall short. The vocals are also very wide or panned weirdly, which is annoying to listening to. Also, there is so much sounds going on all over the place, and it is really unstructured, which makes it hard to know what to focus on. Their stereo image is also completely ruined and messed up. While I appreciate them being experimental and trying out unorthodox sounds, I'm not sure I appreciate the arrangements and what actually comes out. The songs feel more like a feeling than a collection of instruments and elements, which could be interesting if just... was a bit better. The supposed top song 'My Girls' sounds like it is about to take off the entire song, but never does, and consequently just sounds weird and weak. Maybe it is just me who have listened to a lot of dance music that has that feeling, not sure. The more I think about this and listen to it, the more annoyed I get. I think that means it's a 2 for me.

..

Listened thru and just did not enjoy.

Kinda lame but fine ish. 2.5

They get points for trying. Parts of this reminded me of the more experimental Beatles songs. It ultimately doesn't work for me, though. Also, it's tough writing anything while that album art is wiggling while I'm trying to focus.

This album sucked. The whole thing sounded exactly the same. 4/10.

Didn't like it very much

o k optikaali illluusio i see you.. i see it... crazy monster pops out.. rock pop indie monsteri.. vittuau,, auhts , miks painetta,, miks päässä painetta.. ai , aijaijai,, aistaaatana.. AI VITTUT .. NMITÄ IVITTUA TÄMÄ ON?? mITÄ VITTUA TAPAHUTU=? AI SAATANA.. SATTUU NIIN VITUSTII :- sat-TUU NIIN HURJASTI1!! MITÄÄÄH .. MITÄÄÄH... MITäh. ok silmät kiini.. ok .. ok rauhassa.. älä katso enään. älä katso kuvaa,, hirmukuvaa.. hengissä ollaan.. mitä vittua.. mitä vittua tuo oli.. miten voi tapahtua.. miten voi... miten kehtaa..salaliitto.. SALALIITTO!!!! syvä hallinto.. haluaa tappaa kaikki indie rock nauttijat... heh.. ehkä ei haittaakaan.. in the flowers

I suspect that this is what my 18 year old would call ‘virtue-signalling woke nonsense’. Which I understand as him saying that the perpetuators of this … [insert pejorative here] are cynically exploiting the freedom of post-modernist expression to throw paint at a wall and call it art - with the additional demerit of not even owning up to their cynicism. Broadly speaking, I agree. There isn’t a cohesive theme running through this recording, such as to all them the cover/justification of intentionality. And, at the same time, it’s too tightly packaged to permit the excuse/contextualisation of excessive drug use. It’s just a disjointed melange of occasionally interesting sounds, masquerading as art. (My son’s description is better than my logorrhoea, I think.)

Goes nowhere for me.

Mmmmmm Bang average

I just can'T understand the hype around this band. Repetitive synth sounds filled witrh echo but not much substance. I just think it's boring.

I'm a HUGE fan of psych rock and Neo-Psych, but I just can't get my head around those guys. It's the kind of psychedelia that is similar to Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized and I just can't stand those bland sounds that leads to nowhere. But hey, if that's your thing it's also fine! How come King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard's not on this list? At this point, they should've earned their place here.

A few songs from them is something I can listen to and enjoy, there are great sounds and tones out there, but 54 minutes is enough to realize that the same arrangements and formula are applied to every songs and it becomes boring and predictable.

Not terrible but just didn't grab my attention. I was intrigued by the album name after attending many concerts at Merriweather Post over the years.

I don't know what it was. Maybe my mood. I don't know. But I found most of these songs really annoying. Did not like this album at all.

Something about the rhythm in this is triggering my anxiety. Some of this I really enjoy, but I'm getting a viceral bad reaction to other bits. This was a struggle

I feel like I should like this more than I do. But it kinda sounds like suburban white privilege took a gap year before law school to eat acid, sing Beach Boys and mess around with the expensive repeater devices they got for Christmas.

What is this nonsense?

Boring, repetitive.

An album that is filled with clones of one song over and over and over again. I am a fan of all of the genres that Animal Collective references on this album and even I found this tedious.

2 - Don't think we should be including this into the list. Just felt like a very thin itchy jumper.

Tough slugging here

I can see where people into this genre may love it. After track 6 any further listening wouldn't have swayed my judgment. I struggle through half of track 8. Track 7 really really was annoying because of all the jumbled up mixed vocals. If the narrator has things to say that are I profound, you sure don't hear it through the mixed up jumbled voices. The music alone would warrant a 3.

Je sais pas si c’est parce que j’étais pas sur les shrooms, mais toute cette bouillabaisse de stoné m’a vraiment épuisé. J’espère que le générateur va me gâté pour ma fête

I went into Merriweather Post Pavilion with an open mind, given all the praise it’s received over the years. People call it a modern psychedelic masterpiece, an album that reshaped indie music, but honestly? It did absolutely nothing for me whatsoever. From start to finish, I found myself waiting for something—anything—to click, but it never happened. It’s a wall of sound that feels more like a chore than an immersive experience, and by the end, I was just relieved it was over. I won’t deny that Animal Collective had a vision with this album. The production is dense, layered, and full of swirling textures. The electronic elements are interesting in theory, and I can appreciate the attempt at crafting a dreamlike, otherworldly atmosphere. Tracks like “My Girls” at least have a structure that makes sense, and the synth-driven melodies on some songs are admittedly creative. The harmonies, when they work, have an eerie, hypnotic quality that could be enjoyable under the right circumstances. Merriweather Post Pavilion is an overwhelming, chaotic experience that never resonated with me. The album is cluttered, repetitive, and lacks the emotional depth needed to make its psychedelic haze feel meaningful. Instead of feeling transported, I felt trapped in a dense, overstimulating dream with no real payoff. The vocals, drenched in effects and buried in the mix, feel more like background noise than a driving force, making the songs feel distant and aimless rather than engaging. There’s an attempt at warmth, but it never lands, coming off as an echo chamber of abstract musings rather than anything emotionally gripping. Lyrically, there’s little to hold onto—just vague phrases layered over instrumentals that feel more like experiments in sound than structured songs. Tracks like Summertime Clothes and Daily Routine rely too much on repetition, blending together until they become indistinguishable. The album's biggest flaw is its lack of dynamics; it stays in one shimmering, busy space for too long without any real progression. Even supposed highlights like Brother Sport just extend the same swirling noise, never evolving into something more. Ultimately, the album felt like an exhausting, directionless listen that never connected with me. Merriweather Post Pavilion is ambitious and experimental, but it didn’t connect with me. The overwhelming production, repetitive structures, and washed-out vocals made it frustrating rather than enjoyable. I kept hoping it would improve, but it just felt like background noise that dragged on. Emotionally and musically, it never resonated, making it a disappointing listen. I doubt I’ll revisit it—1.9/5.

Not my cup of tea

Gets annoying after a while

Has decent moments but overall it's not great

Samples, loops and layers with repetitive lyric chants x 11 songs. A little goes a long way.

This felt like brain rot

Weird vibes. Unsure if I'd listen again

You know when you’re listening to music but you only have one headphone on and you hear half of the song it’s a little weird. This is just that exactly it feels like half of the songs are missing. There’s either a melody or some sort of chorus thats just not there. It’s basically showcase for millennials.

This was like just on the wrong side of the line between an album with A Sound™ and an album where everything sounds like the same song, but it is a pretty good song

2/5

This album felt a bit tedious because all of the songs are 4-5 minutes long, and they are all relatively similar. They are not bad if you just play them in the background while you're doing something, but it gets a bit tedious when paying attention to them. Overall, a bit meh.

yep, that sure was made in 2009!

Hipster psychedelic.

I'm sorry to your ears if you listen to this. It's not the most enjoyable but it can be ok occasionally.

Det här var mest konstigt. Konststudenter? Två plus

Too indie for me

Listened Before? N Mildly interesting. Doesn't really stand out other than it's just super trippy. For experimental music it's pretty cohesive too. That's about it. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist: My Girls

Meh

I made homemade kazoos with a bunch of 6 year olds today The sound of that was less annoying than this album Saved from one star by My Girls being something of a pop song

An optical illusion for an album cover automatically gets a +1 from me, especially given it's a psychedelic genre of album. However, not for me 2/5

A bit shit.

Electronic rock? I guess? A little reminiscent of the Beatles sometimes with their vocal harmonies. There were some moments where I was kinda getting into it, but there was a lot of noise and it didn’t stick with me.

I liked the album artwork, but not so much the music.

Never heard of them and really underwhelmed.

With effort, I could find something to enjoy in My Girls, Summertime Clothes and Bluish, but the rest was a chore that left me feeling stressed out.

If a man says this is his favorite album I'd suggest his date start stuffing breadsticks.

Pop conceitual...sei lá o que é, mas é chato...o som em um tmbm é uma bosta

Two in a row that would probably average 1.5 each.

Meh I couldn’t get into this at all. The music and vocals do not match up well. The music is pretty boring.

Maso

No melodies. No choruses. No fun. I always think I’m going to like these guys, but then I’m bored to tears. Ruined a perfect fall afternoon drive.

This band has less than half a million monthly listeners on Spotify right now, and I can kind of understand why. I can hear how some of the later alt pop artists I enjoy borrowed from these guys, but the wall of sound Animal Collective creates isn’t very pleasant. I wish I could give 2.5, but alas, I’ll be rounding down.

as pessoas só fingem gostar disso

This one kind of annoys me, as I find it is more sounds and production, than actual songs. Would give 1,5 star, but since it clearly has qualities far beyond records I actually have given 1 star, it gets 2. But I hope I never have to listen to any of these "songs" again.

It is impressive that something this noisy can be so boring.

Bleh I guess

Man, the 2000's were kind of a wasteland of good music for a while there. This album is all over the place, but it reflects the time that it was made. I cant in good conscience give it 1 star because it does have a few really great tracks, but I also cant give it an average 3 star rating because I would be pissed off that I wasted my money if I had actually paid money for this album. 2/5

A decent listen but no stand outs

i think people just pretend to like some albums

Dull and overlong

Not for me

has some good bits, some bad and a lotta mid

Ehhhh, really not for me. I listened to the whole album in one continuous go, and it was rather boring and repetitive without having any strong standouts.

This is truly one of the most overrated albums of all time. Every few years I listen to it again to see if I missed something the previous time. I mean, it’s one of THE music nerd albums, but it was my listen of it for this review that solidifies it as purely mediocre for me. Every song far overstays its welcome, and when you have very repetitive ideas and meandering sounds, it becomes a slog to get through by the halfway point. I really don’t understand the hype for this album, AnCo has way better

Groupe inconnu. Je trouve les sons intéressants, ils me rappellent parfois Tangerine dream. Par contre les morceaux sont un peu longs et très peu variés. Au final, album pas très passionnant mais pas désagréable. =>2/5

1,5

Very energetic! Sounds like something I’d hear at a rave.

# 288 : Wow! Trippy Album Cover Art! As for the music, I could listen to it, but it left a lot to be desired. Creative? Maybe, but it falls flat for me, an album you listen to and immediately forget… Fave Track ; Lion In A Coma

I want to hate this album. My Girls is a fine single but I'm pretty toasted on it by having to live through college with it. This album feels very self important and up its own ass.

Hmm… I don’t know about this. It’s not really my jam

didnt leave any impression

I like the album art more than the album itself. Every time I heard this I feel like they shipped it with the drums accidentally muted. My soul yearns for percussion!

Vissa trevliga idéer men som ljudvärld lämnar det mig ganska kall. Ljudens textures hemsöks av erans dåliga smak

Com o passar do tempo tudo tende para o minimalismo, a música inclusive. Acho que é unânime que a partir dos anos 2000 houve um aumento exponencial nas bandas de indie rock e mais géneros indies. Esta banda não é bem um indie rock, é uma mistura deste género com uma sonoridade espacial. Mas este álbum é todo tão parecido e chato, nada de muito interessante. Parece um álbum genérico honestamente. Estes álbuns não são cativantes para mim. Com tanta semelhança quanto mais fundo vamos no álbum, que é relativamente longo, tendo aproximadamente 55 minutos, toda a forma dele torna-se homogénea e indistinguível. A única música que realmente lembro-me, dai destaca-la, é o My Girls, mesmo ela não sendo muito boa. Nota: 3/10 Data: 09/07/2024

Another case of a cool sound for a big hit becoming massively tiresome across a whole album. Nerd core

Exciting at first, then kind of annoying

Didn’t hate it!

If I was high in a college dorm, this would be the greatest album I’d ever heard. Alas, I am pushing 30 and making breakfast. Standout songs: My Girls, Summertime Clothes

En pitänyt ensimmäisestäkään biisistä tällä levyllä ja suurin osa painui ärsyttävän puolelle. Ehkä hyvien sienien ja esim. roadtripin kombinaatio nostaisi tämän levyn uudelle tasolle...

Melko joutolevy

Merriweather Post Pavilion took me on a wild and tumultuous journey through a sonic jungle of experimental music. While I found the album's intricate layers and unconventional structures intriguing, there were moments where I felt lost in the chaos. It's like being caught in a whirlwind of sound, where every twist and turn leaves you feeling exhilarated yet slightly disoriented. Animal Collective's fearless exploration of genre boundaries and willingness to take risks is admirable, but I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of it all. NUMBER OF BANGERS - 0 STAND OUT TRACK - None

Couldn’t really get into it. 2 stars

Sounds like vampire weekend. Makes you think

Boring, boring, boring

I don’t know how to explain it, but this album stressed me out. More than half the songs had me on edge, especially the first and last. “My Girls” and “Summertime Clothes” were okay, and there were parts of others I didn’t mind, but overall this was a very unpleasant listening experience.

Hey Animal Collective, let me clear up something that seems to have confused you… Examples of material things: • Walls • Adobe Slats Example of non material things: • Social Status Hope that helps. I feel like there’s maybe 20 minutes worth of ideas on here, then a lot of loops and echo. I fluctuated between bored and annoyed.

This sounds like AI tried to make music and mixed in shitty electronic sounds on some generic alt-pop. It’s not total garbage, maybe don’t age well.

Features wacky and trippy sounds and an overall chaotic structure. All of these on top of the Beach Boys-ish melodies. As interesting as modern psychedelia can be. But it's too messy to be an enjoyable listen for me.

I've heard of Animal Collective before but wasn't familiar with any of their music. I'm glad I had an excuse to give this a listen. I appreciate the synthesizer heavy electronic songs but wasn't overly impressed with it overall. It's not bad but overall pretty forgettable. I'm sure there is a time and a place for this. 2.45 stars

didn't find the vibe

Disappointed as enjoyed this album on release

Chaos is my enemy in music, however this album is unique enough to allow me to see through the clouds. I'm quite impressed with the texture and complexity of the sound. Animal Collective has garnered an excellent reputation amongst my friends so I was happy at the chance to give them another shot. I can appreciate its beauty, but it still is not an album i'll be reaching for anytime soon.

From the description I thought this was going to be so cool, but it turned out to be I don't know what.. I didn't like it and didn't really get it either.

Peak 2009. Not in a good way. There is nothing memorable about this wishy washy rubbish, but equally it wasn't offensive.

Difficult to relate to, for me. At time very listenable. At other times more difficult.

I remember people going crazy for this album when it came out. To me it sounds like a guy trying to figure out how to use Garage Band.

I see the appeal and i see a universe or point in time where i would like this. Bands like matt and kim and grouplove come to mind - early reddit hippie twee core. However, im not in that universe or at that point in time. SOMEONE PUT ON PLAYBOI CARTI

Not for me. Skipped through most of the songs. Cool cover though. 2/5

I used to like this album 5 years ago, but I guess that was just my millennial angst...

A bit too experimental for me. 2.5*

# Playlist track - In The Flowers # Notes - There is so much noise all the time. - It was hard to get through it all. - I'm sure that this is kind of cool after you listen to it after a bunch of times, but I honestly won't.

interesting psychedelic sounds but really hard to pay attention to. the singing especially gets repetitive and tiring quickly. album seems designed to be listened to while on drugs, which is not as fun for anyone paying attention to the actual music

Singer had a voice that reminded me a bit of Brian Wilson. Alas, this was not my Pet Sounds. Gets two starts because I was able to get all the way through it, but unlikely to get a place in my rotation.

It's ok, just not my thing

The wikipedia entry says "reverb heavy." They could have just said "redundant" instead. Vocal-based electronica has never been much of my thing. This would be decent enough background music, I guess -- but I was honestly bored by most of it. Unexpected "banger" -- Lion in a Coma

It didn't do anything for me.

Unique at times strange sound but nothing exciting

Listening to this reminded me of the film Being John Malkovich, it was all a little weird. Wonder what portal they crawled into when they made this album?

Kinda like MGMT but boring

Sure. I liked listening to this more when I was looking at the cover which is fun to realize. It's almost hard to explain what this was. Lots of sound mixing together to get a direction and vibe but the lyrics all felt like instruments more than having anything to say. Not an un-fun listen but I doubt I'll come back.

Easy to fall asleep too Obvious Pet Sounds comparison here. A bunch of tracks are okay but too muddled. It's like keeping things kind of messy to obfuscate because maybe the confidence isn't there. I think I'd rather listen to Pet Sounds or Vampire Weekend for this kind of sound.

Did not live up to my expectations

so repetitive, gets tiring to listen to real fast. some of the songs could've been kinda cool if they didn't repeat the same phrases over and over for five minutes

It's okay. Never heard of the hit songs.

Greit nok, litt intetsigande

Reminded me of the same type of insanity on Brian Wilson's Smile. Just more experimental and less enjoyable. 1.7

I don't really get the appeal of this new age, post-modern pop. It just sounds like rain drops or faucets and synth, on repeat. This is not the first band or album of this genre that made the list and I don't know why they keep showing up. Or at least why more than one or two are on the list.

I get this is experimental. But I can't just sit here and pretend I am liking or understanding any of this music. Some of the sounds are cool, but quickly become monotone or are paired with or made into something weird. Either way, some of the highs on this album are good, and even though I wouldn't listen to any of this again, I feel like some appreciation for what they are trying to make is guaranteed.

mmmmm

Inte riktigt min kopp te. Försökte ändå två gånger

Bof

This was the first album that I had to turn down. Some of those high-pitched sounds were way too much for my middle-aged ears. 😂🤣 Overall, I did not enjoy this album. A bit all over the place for me and sometimes a bit annoying.

There are some good songs but they are seriously trying yo hide that.

I don't get this band and I don't get this album. I don't understand this type of music, it's pretty confusing and random at times, with some unexpected passages of melody coming in least expected moments. It's definitely not terrible, but 100% it's not entertaining at all. Couldn't even get to a halfway point on this album, just too much of a n experimental mess.

It wasn't bad. It wasn't good.

Rating: 5/10 Incredibly meh album. It is a very creative album, the band definitely has their own unique sound. Very psychedelic, they were under the influence of shrooms/LSD for sure, maybe that's what I have to be on to actually enjoy this album. Despite this, there is not a single memorable melody or chorus on this entire album. Very forgettable album, still was an interesting listen though. Favorite song: My Girls, everything else is very meh.

2/5. Not a fan of this record. Good Riddance

I could have sworn I liked Animal Collective back in the day. I was surprised to find this pretty much unlistenable, especially on headphones. It hurts my ears.

Like a lot of art/experimental pop, it just feels like a pop band that didn't make it and just starts being wierd for wierds sake. It's listenable.

I really liked one song. I would like the entire album a whole lot more if you removed the vocals (and therefore lyrics also) on almost every track, leaving just weird ambient noises and programmed loops. I actually liked that part of it. As is it almost sounds like Beach Boys harmonies over Aphex Twin, and I’m not sure that’s a winning combination. They warped and distorted the vocals on the one song I liked, which made it fit a little better with the music. Our Mutual Friend Mike introduced me to Animal Collective circa 2007ish? I say introduced because he told me I had to listen to them, though I’d already read about them on Pitchfork. I ripped copies of Feels and Sung Tongs and had them on my hard drive for a long time, during which I never listened to either in its entirety. The little bit I heard, plus the interviews and reviews, really made me hate them. And I still wanted to hate them. That I enjoyed this even a little goes against my moral fiber. They seemed like the worst type of pretentious, humorless modern hippie hipsters. Ugh. I’d like to take this moment to talk about Pitchfork. This album made me think about the site— I came to odd realization that I’ve been visiting almost daily for over twenty years, even though it’s not what it used to be. Now it’s much more professional and slicker due to its corporate overlords. It has wider appeal and is much more objective in its reviews, no longer ignoring wide swathes of music styles in favor of white boy indie rock. But in a way it has suffered for improving. It’s lost its personality. The funny thing is it was probably already past its heyday when I started reading it in the early 2000s. To me the most important thing I ever got from pitchfork was its original list of best albums of the ‘90s. That’s how I got obsessed with Pavement. More often than not I disagreed with their ratings and found their reviews either snotty or pretentious. Heck, I barely even read most of the reviews. In twenty years of visiting the site I can think of only a handful of articles or reviews that I loved for the writing. (Best of all, an article called Twee as Fuck. Look it up.) What I found most useful was their most divisive and mocked element in the early days— the ten point rating scale. Seeing their ratings and reading the two sentence blurb at the beginning of each review has allowed me to keep my finger on the pulse of modern music. This is not to say I never found music via the site. For every Animal Collective there was an Arcade Fire (who may now be lousy but whose first album was like a jolt of lightning). Back to Animal Collective: Two Stars.

My first time listening to Animal Collective was in college, finding them in a shared iTunes library and thinking the name sounded cool. I didn't appreciate them then and still don't now. Definitely not my genre and I don't find anything about them particularly musical other than some vocal harmonies. They seem to have the same exact sound and structure to every track and I couldn't bear to finish the album.

It definitely makes me feel a certain way so I guess it succeeds at being art. Unfortunately it makes me feel irritated and I do not enjoy it. 1.81 average per track.

Weird and ethereal, but it's just a little too bizarre for me.

"rockzinho alternativo" bem xaropinho, difícil de escutar até o fim

Meh, not for me

I feel like I should like Animal Collective, but I really don't. Not sure why. I like M83. I like Beach House. I find listening to this album to be tedious.

This album has the feel of a good witch perptually winding up to cast a happy spell of magic. I think the sound is a bit repetitive, with vocals causing this at times. But the endearing, visceral lyric style is enough to hold our interest as we envy the composer's perspective and experience.

A band that I've always wanted to listen to, but never got around to it. Now I know why I waited so long. Almost all the songs sound like they start and end before anything happens. I would say the middle, but the middle usually has a chorus. I don't think that really existed in any of the songs? The band has potential...maybe, it's the album that was chosen for me. I might try another album, but it would have to be when there's nothing left to listen too.

Not fun to listen to

They set some dreamy mood and in turns into some mess. Just not my kind of music.

At first I thought it was interesting and then I wanted it to stop

Not too impressed, it is a bit too messy especially at the end.

Psy rock. Rien de tres intéressant 4.5/10

I'm just not into this

It's apparent that the Animal Collective songwriting philosophy is: have a basic idea and beat it into the ground. It's not entirely without virtue but every. single. song. is intensely repetitive. At first, it was fine but it quickly became maddening.

This was tolerable but I got pretty tired of it by the end.

Sometimes interesting, but this just isn't my aesthetic.

Two weird ones in a row. Giving this a 2, because I wanted to give the other less than 3.

I don’t get this one.

Meh

I can see what the band was aiming at with this album, it’s just that what they ended up with sounds too much like noise to me.

Experimental indie music. Ambitious but didn’t really connect with me emotionally

I want to like them, because I feel like it would make me a more sophisticated music lover. But I didn’t enjoy anything but My Girls. Too dissonant and busy for me

I like some Animal Collective but this album was a bit too abrasive and repetitive for my tastes.

Not really my thing

Never really liked or took an interest in this sort of indie music growing up. It always seemed to be for kids who did things to tell people they'd done it rather than for the sake of doing it. I stand by the younger me and continue to think this sort of electro-indie, where the tracks build towards an underwhelming climax is shallow music. Not a track on this stood out *and* I went back to their most played songs from this album on Spotify to double check I was listening properly.

Meh. Felt like an album about nothing, just kinda sounds and random instruments.

So bad. Extasy fever dream noise.

Periaatteessa ihan mielenkiintoinen kokonaisuus mutta kappaleet meni vähän liian sekamössöksi ja taiteelliseksi jolloin niihin ei tullut kunnon tarttumapintaa

I got bored with this to be honest. cool cover art but it just went on a bit for my liking and didn't really go any where and no stand out tunes.

2.3/5

The production is too sparse. I prefer my electronica more dense and claustrophobic like Massive Attack.

The album cover made me nauseous and the songs were very meh.

Ahm .... Well... No. WTF? I'm neither high nor drunk enough to appreciate this. Another of these questionable entries into the list. I like the album cover that seems to move, though. 1.5/5

There's a lot going on in Merriweather Post Pavilion but I don't think it's particularly cohesive or enjoyable. It's trippy without taking you on a trip, weird without purpose, really just a dull 2.

I guess the authors want me to end my time on this mortal coil. 2/5.

All for recycling but maybe they should have picked a better base layer. One going forward the other in reverse. Nevertheless there is plenty going on.

Vage shit. Te vaag.

Man! Die langgerekte lettergrepen de hele tijd. Pas op het laatst kwam er een beetje vaart in!

I didn't like this. Had hints of indie pop type stuff that I normally do like but it was all too busy. Too much going on. At the risk of sounding like my mum, it was all just noise

Just a bit ‘meh’ really. Enjoyed the album artwork more than the sounds. Think they feel like they’re being clever, but it’s just coming across as generic and blends into the background. Maybe at the time it wasn’t, but today it’s feels like a first draft of something that could go somewhere much more interesting.

Like a fruit machine - lots of noise and lights, lots put into it, don't get much out

This was just noise to me

My co-judge and I had similar first impressions in that we both felt the LP was influenced by Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys. Some of the sampled soundscapes are very innovative and the sort of think I generally like, but when you drop the vocal harmonies on top of them they don't seem to integrate too well. The harmonies and melodies of some songs, like Summertime Clothes, are catchy, but they don't go with the music.

I love the album cover, its an optical illusion appears to be animated and moving, but its actually not. I also love 2000's Indie music and if your Fleet Foxes or Panda Bear fan you would probably like this, but the vocal harmonies here and the dreamy psychedelic sound is not my jam. The vocals by other Indie bands of this era such as Grizzly Bear (no relation to Panda Bear) or say Dirty Projectors are much more enjoyable.

Hipster jamz. I liked this album a lot when I first heard it, now not so much.

I had never listened to this band before, but after reading the description of the album, I was very excited. However, it did not live up to the hype, and felt that it just went on and on.

Drivel.

Peak 2000s indie was not my thing.

Not really into it, might give it a second try

Nah man, not for me. It had nothing I could relate to or vibe with. It’s just a bunch of meh white noise pop. Made no impact. Cool magic eye kinda album cover though.

Mwah, niet mijn ding, beetje te vaag.

A couple of okay tracks, but all in all a pretty rough listen.

Was not a fan. It was not to my taste musically or lyrically.

Bluish good track. Was ok

generally not my style but I listened to the entire album. There were a few that was interesting