The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
6 — Wednesday, April 21, 2021
When you think of the word indie,
what typically comes to mind? Is it
a youthful aesthetic? Is it a culture
defined by being ahead of the curve? Or
is it maybe just a new sound? Whatever
the interpretation is, it’s hard to argue
that Animal Collective doesn’t embody
it in some way.
Yes, I know. An artist retrospective
on Animal Collective? How original.
However, when people talk about the
band’s absurd run of albums in the
2000s, they tend to leave out some
crucial records in their early years as
well as smaller side projects. Hopefully,
this will help shine some light on some
of the more under-appreciated records.
Regardless, the level of impact the band
has had on both its contemporaries
within the indie genre, as well as what
the genre would become because of
their influence, is undeniable.
By looking back through their
discography, we can see the way
Animal
Collective
constantly
evolved their sound and forged an
uncomparable identity not only within
their niche, but the musical landscape
as a whole. Of course, this article won’t
be covering every project from the
group, but it will cover most of it. Let’s
begin.
Spirit
They’re
Gone,
Spirit
They’ve Vanished — Everything
Animal Collective can be traced
back to Baltimore, Md., where all
four members — Dave Portner (Avey
Tare), Noah Lennox (Panda Bear),
Brian Weitz (Geologist) and Josh
Dibb (Deakin) — grew up and met as
teenagers. Once off at college, they
would congregate every summer
to make music. Around this time,
Portner was already in the middle
of writing a record. He then asked
Lennox to participate in the recording
process. Thus, Spirit They’re Gone,
Spirit They’ve Vanished was released
in August 2000.
In every regard, this album is a
miracle. Nothing at the time sounded
remotely like it, and to this day, few
records can compare. Portner and
Lennox tap into a side of the juvenile
experience that rarely gets explored.
The instrumentation can turn from
sporadic folky acoustics to harsh
unabashed noise in an instant. At the
same time, they managed to craft long
complex songs that demonstrate an
affinity for experimental compositions
far beyond their years. Tracks like
“Penny Dreadfuls” and “Alvin Row”
are perfect examples of this ability.
What really sets this record apart
from anything else at the time is that
it never once feels like it’s trying to
be experimental. It’s just the music
Portner and Lennox wanted to make. I
would be remiss if I didn’t mention the
track “Untitled,” which might be one
of the most powerful songs Animal
Collective has ever made. It could just
have easily been titled “Staring Into
the Face of God.” If you ever need to
prove to someone that noise can be
beautiful, this is all you need.
Danse Manatee — At this point,
the band was hitting a creative
flow. They began discovering the
experimental branch of music and
fell in love. Around this time, they
met with and became friends with
experimental noise group Black
Dice (a band that probably deserves
a retrospective in their own right).
While having included harsh textures
to some degree on their prior project,
this introduction opened their eyes to
not only the limitless possibilities of
noise but the different types of noise
that can be implemented. With these
interests in mind, Portner and Lennox
brought along Weitz to work on their
next album, Danse Manatee, released
in July 2001.
This album often gets overlooked
in comparison to the enormity of the
band’s full catalog, mostly because it
is seen as more of a transitional work
for them. In some ways, this is true.
The trio definitely experimented more
on this project. There are very few
tracks, if any, that contain any sort of
familiar song structure, or a structure
at all for that matter. And yet, it never
feels as though the album loses focus
or purpose.
Everything flows in a very organic
way, despite the sound being more
synthetic than anything they had
done up to that point. However, the
most impressive part is how the band
utilizes noise. Spirit They’re Gone is
loud, but Danse Manatee is noisier. The
band uses quiet, high-pitch frequency
as a background for the music they put
in front of it. This creates the sensation
of something itching at the back of
your brain. It’s infectious in that way.
Campfire Songs — Not long after
Danse Manatee was released, the band
started working on material again.
They had been enticed for years by
the idea of creating something warm
and inviting. Naturally, this pushed
them toward an acoustic sound, and
their next release Campfire Songs
certainly embraces it. With five tracks,
two over ten minutes long, Campfire
Songs captures Animal Collective
at their most hypnotic and ambient.
The band piles several layers of guitar
chords strumming on top of each
other to create a full psychotomimetic
soundscape, a technique they would
use many times in the future.
This is one of those LPs where the
music and the title work in harmony.
Campfire
Songs
feels
like
the
apotheosis of all late summer evenings
around a fire with friends. There is a
comfortable atmosphere established by
the repetitiveness of the strumming but
also a sense of adventure in the way the
music glides smoothly along. Each song
transitions perfectly so that the tracks
are seamless and indistinguishable
without checking to see if the title
has changed. The album is one whole
experience that really doesn’t get
enough praise. It should be noted that —
although they weren’t improvised — all
five tracks were recorded in one take on
a porch. How aesthetically perfect.
Ark — Technically, this is the
first official Animal Collective LP.
Everything before was retroactively
included by both the fans and the
band themselves. Originally titled
Here Comes The Indian, the project
released in 2003 was later renamed
Ark due to the disrespectful nature of
the initial name.
In many ways, this project feels like
the evolved form of Danse Manatee. It
contains many of the same experiments
with noise; this time, everything is
mixed so that this experimentation is
front and center. The band comes closer
to traditional song structure than ever
before (which isn’t saying much). They
play with a tight intensity that feels in
your face but they do not lose complete
sight of the psychedelic and hypnotic
atmospheres they worked with on
Campfire Songs.
The track “Infant Dressing Table”
is a delicate sound representation of
infancy that builds slowly until all the
different textures coalesce into one
sound. It balances chaos and beauty
in a way that should not work as well
as it does. Ark as a whole feels like
a summation of what the band has
worked on before, but with slightly
more refinement.
Sung Tongs — For fans, Animal
Collective has a golden era in their
career, and most would agree that
this is where it begins. After the
dense collages of Ark, the band felt it
necessary to strip things back. And
if they’ve learned anything, it’s hard
to get much more stripped back than
acoustic. Thus, Sung Tongs was born.
But to expect this to be similar to
Campfire Songs would be a mistake.
They tighten up their focus even
more, emphasizing as much organic
instrumentation as possible. The result
ends up sounding halfway between
alien folk songs and indie Captain
Beefheart. Percussion becomes an
important element of the record as
a way to accentuate the complex
rhythms introduced throughout.
The percussive feel of the LP even
finds its way into the guitar-playing,
with sharp strumming carving
out rhythms of their own. It’s the
perfect music to try and fail to dance
to. Somehow, they manage to sound
even more playful than usual while
also achieving some of their most
meditative works to date.
This is the album where Animal
Collective
establishes
that
they
are
very
much
accomplished
songwriters. Each track has more of a
thematic presence. “Kids on Holiday”
depicts the conflict of trying to make
the most of constant travel despite
its depressing monotony. “Visiting
Friends,” perhaps the track most
similar to Campfire Songs, presents
a wordless long-form expression of
the beauty of being with new friends
as well as the anxiety of hanging out
with people you still don’t know too
well. “College” is less than a minute
long and consists of Lennox and
Portner layering vocal harmonies on
top of each other in a way that sounds
similar to what Robin Pecknold
would do years later. The song has
only one line: “You don’t have to go
to college.” Sung Tongs truly is a
triumphant moment for the band as
well as an indicator to everyone of
how unrestricted their creativity was
then.
Prospect Hummer — After Sung
Tongs, Animal Collective had the
attention of nearly every music critic
under the sun. While they were
touring in the United Kingdom, they
happened to meet legendary folk artist
Vashti Bunyan. This meeting seemed
to have been fruitful because the band
immediately started reworking some
unreleased cuts off Sung Tongs for
Bunyan to sing on. The final product
would be the Prospect Hummer EP,
released in early 2005.
Thinking about the sound Bunyan
was known for and the sound Animal
Collective was working with at the
time, it is absurd how well this EP
turned out. .
Film director Spike Lee and jazz
trumpeter Terence Blanchard have
been working together for 30 years.
Lee makes the films; Blanchard
makes the music. “We’ve developed
a shorthand,” Lee explained in a
virtual panel discussion last week.
“A mental telepathy terminology.” It
seems the two have nailed down a
process of collaboration, one that some
in the film industry might consider
unconventional.
Typically, a composer writes the
score after the film is shot and edited.
Lee and Blanchard operate differently.
“Terence gets the script at the same
time as the actors get the script,” Lee
said. He added, “It’s a great disrespect to
the composer to be the last one hired.”
Using this system, Blanchard
has composed the score for many of
Lee’s joints — “Malcom X” (1992),
“Black KkKlansman” (2018) and
most recently “Da 5 Bloods” (2020),
which earned Blanchard an Oscar
nomination for Best Original Score.
In Lee’s films, composition happens
as the movie is being made, without
Blanchard on set. This is where
the telepathy kicks in. Throughout
the production process, Lee sends
Blanchard the script, stills and clips
of the film in progress. This keeps
Blanchard in the loop — he’s gotten
into the habit of making the stills the
screensaver to his computer so that
the film is a part of his daily life. This
way, by the time the film is complete,
Blanchard is already engrossed in it; he
can already see it, feel it, even smell it.
On Wednesday, both Lee and
Blanchard virtually addressed the
University of Michigan as part of the
centennial celebration of the School
of Social Work. In a panel discussion,
Lee and Blanchard were joined by
Daphne Watkins and Robin Means
Coleman. Dr. Watkins is a professor at
the University’s Social of Social Work
and Dr. Coleman is film producer and
professor of communications (among
other titles) at Northwestern University.
Due to some unfortunate and
unexplained technical difficulties, the
program began 30 minutes behind
schedule. While approximately 1,400
viewers were waiting at the scheduled
start time, only 700 stuck it out for the
show and just 471 lasted to the end.
This didn’t stop the duo from bringing
playful energy; later on, during some
brief audio issues with a student
question, Lee cracked, “You gotta get
someone from Ohio State to do the —,”
intentionally pausing to make a joking
commentary on the audio situation.
The panel roared.
Lee spoke to his virtual audience
live from the headquarters of his film
company, Forty Acres and a Mule
Filmworks, in Brooklyn, N.Y. He sat
in a fabulous high-backed chair I
would’ve described as maroon and
silky, but that he made sure to classify
as “purple crushed velvet.” His voice
sounded echoey, like he was speaking
in a large room; I sensed the grandeur
of high ceilings and wide-open studios.
Behind him was a portrait of Billie
Holiday, Duke Ellington and Fats
Waller. “This is like a museum,” Lee
commented, wide-eyed, on the space.
“This building is a testament to our
Black artistry.”
The space is filled with the presence
of greats, mainly in the form of honorific
portraits. “I’m looking at Denzel right
now!” Spike cried. “Harry Belafonte is
downstairs.” On another wall, there’s
an African National Congress flag
signed by Nelson Mandela and Winnie
Madikizela-Mandela during Apartheid.
Lee repeated this last part for emphasis:
“During Apartheid!” He leaned back in
his velvet chair with awe. “Every day I
come to the office, I see that!”
Throughout the panel discussion,
Lee and Blanchard stressed the
importance of honoring the stories of
people who have come before.
“There was some great shit done
before you were born,” Lee said. Lee,
who also works as a professor and
artistic director of the Graduate Film
Program at New York University’s
Tisch School of the Arts, tells his
students this all the time. To him,
young creators can only benefit
from doing their homework on their
predecessors, “whose shoulders you
could be hoisted from, if you know who
they are!”
A set of shoulders like those is
especially important for creatives who
come from marginalized backgrounds.
Blanchard remarked, “You know how
frustrating it is to teach kids who have
talent and have interests in a whole lot
of areas? And then the reality of it is,
you don’t want to tell them how tough
it’s going to be to make a career in this
business, not based on your talent, but
just on who you are.”
Preaching to posterity: Spike
Lee and Terence Blanchard give
change-maker lecture
Artist Retrospective: Animal Collective’s domination of 2000s indie
Read more at
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GIGI GUIDA
Daily Arts Writer
DREW GADBOIS
Daily Arts Writer
Design by Caitlin Martens
puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com
By Matt Skoczen
©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
04/21/21
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
04/21/21
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, April 21, 2021
ACROSS
1 Formal ties
7 Corp. homes
10 Govt. farming
monitor
14 Symphony type
pioneered by
Beethoven
15 Agreement that
sounds like fun?
16 Clogging is one
of its two st.
dances
17 *Lamb Chop, e.g.
19 Laura with an
Oscar
20 Holiday aide
21 Back
22 Decisiveness
24 Hunk
26 DJIA listings
29 Candy cup creator
31 *Start a number
35 Forbes
competitor
36 Legal
encumbrance
37 Holiday drink
38 Lions and tigers
and ... not bears
42 Swap with, as
in a player-for-
player deal
44 Busy-bee link
45 “Très __”
47 GPS info
48 *Sheriff Woody’s
sidekick
52 “Silas Marner”
child
53 Plaza de toros cry
54 Lily pad squatter
57 Sap
59 Erode, with
“away”
62 Team’s lack, in a
cliché
63 Scot’s swimming
spot
64 *Spoken
language, in
semiotics
68 Tennis great who
wrote “Days of
Grace”
69 First lady not
married to a
president?
70 1996 slasher film
71 “To __ not ... ”
72 Lunch bread
73 Pasta unit
DOWN
1 Workout
aftermath
2 Word of intent
3 Chitchat
4 O’Hare, on tix
5 Chorizo snack
6 Belt
7 Word with hip or
bunny
8 Hernando’s
“Huh?”
9 Has a capacity
of, as a diner
10 Briefs
11 33-Down start,
usually
12 Wouldn’t dream
of it
13 Valiant’s son
18 Indented
blemish
23 Rotate so the
palm faces
down or
backward
25 __-a-brac
27 Kind of lamp
28 Tizzy
30 French Toaster
Sticks brand
32 Provides with the
means
33 Intermission
follower,
perhaps
34 Towel material
38 Ruth on a
diamond
39 “Sure, probably”
40 Andalusian
vegetable soup
served cold
41 Bell-shaped lily
43 Ignoring, with “to”
46 Org. with Jets
and Flyers
49 Instrument laid
flat during play
50 Many a
freshman
51 Like 70-Across
55 “Paper Moon”
Oscar winner
56 Tot’s sassy
demand ... or a
hint to the start
of the answers to
starred clues
58 River of Flanders
60 YWCA part: Abbr.
61 1997 Mattel
acquisition
63 Chem class part
65 Climbing
greenery
66 “Wow!”
67 Sellout letters
SUDOKU
8
2
9
1
7
5
1
8
2
1
3
6
8
9
8
7
4
2
8
3
5
8
6
9
2
6
1
4
3
2
4
9
5
9
6
1
“My Fair Lady!”
“Are we part of
the family?”
04/14/21
or
d
ill
reen
p
d
WHISPER