After several false starts, virus-laden downloads and out-of-control fan anticipation taken to weekend, and fans that were foaming at the mouth to listen are now foaming at the mouth while listening, soaking it up like a bunch of hipster sponges, IM'ing their friends about its greatness, about how "catchy" it is compared to their previous efforts and how it's already the greatest album of '09, and has anyone ever thought of using an optical illusion as the cover of their album? How groundbreaking! ("Holy shit, it moves!")
The buzz surrounding this album has been as big as I've seen buzz get, most likely because it took so long to leak in advance of its January 20 release date on Domino.
As a fan of Animal Collective, a music writer who tries to keep track of what's going on in the music world, and the wife of a man who happens to be an inexhaustive explorer of file-sharing music blogs, I snagged a copy and listened to it last night. There was no doubt about who created the album; it was pure Animcal Collective, surreal meets out-there. I'm not sure whether or not it's really catchy, although it is probably more accessible than other stuff I've heard about them. Once I've recieved a concrete copy of the album, I'll report back here with my review. Stay tuned.
This article appears in Dec 24-30, 2008.