It's taking me a long time to get into this band. I only immediately enjoyed a few songs out of the three albums I have. I know Strawberry Jam came out like eight years ago but I revisited it today after a long break and really liked it this time.
My problem with Animal Collective is that they're too noisy. A bunch of unpleasant noises put together in one song can be overwhelming to the sissy ears I have. Usually what I do with such music is listen to parts of it at a time until I can appreciate how it all comes together.
While listening to Strawberry Jam today I finally noticed those clever "ooo eee ooo's," which went well with the rhythm changes. The obvious example would be in the first track, Peacebone, where the electronic mish mash organizes in duple time exactly when the drums come in. A more specific example is in the sixth track, #1, where this really annoying descending scale thingy repeats continually throughout the whole song while a growly dude's overpowering voice clashes with any sense of pleasant timbre. But about a minute into it, there are faint vocals that when I focus on it, makes all the other more louder annoying parts seem like mere accompaniments that actually sounds pretty cool altogether.
A friend of mine told me to do exactly what I described for that sixth track but the descending scale thingy and the dude's voice was just so freaking annoying I couldn't get past it until now. Thanks, friend!
I wonder how people can listen to stuff like this and instantly like it. I just can't catch on that fast!
