Animal Collective played to a sold out crowd at Terminal 5 and the performance was terrible. While I enjoy the band on record, their live show leaves much to be desired. The overlaying of the sounds come together as one big mess, making some of their songs almost unrecognizable. I presume the band is better on mood enhancing drugs judging by the reaction of all the hippies at the show, including one kid who had a attached a unicorn horn to his head perhaps in an effort to make his spastic dancing seem even more crazy. To sum it up:

Animal Collective on record = Good
Animal Collective live = Good for hippies

More photos after the jump.
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To support their ninth full-length, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective will play a few scattered gigs early next year in the States. After some shows across the Atlantic, the band will play NYC on January 20th (which is the release date for the record). Also, I’m not sure if the album cover is suppose to move like that, but shit man, it’s giving me a migraine. Wait, IS it moving? Oh god, what’s happening to me? I’m losing my mind. Curse you Animal Collective!

(Cough) Um, read after the jump for the dates.

Knob-twiddler Panda Bear (who has also spent some time in a little band called Animal Collective) has posted his first music video from his critically acclaimed album Person Pitch. The video is for the opening track “Comfy In Nautica” and was directed by Patrick O’Dell (of Epicly Later’d fame if any of you check out VBS.TV) and Sam Salganik. Check it out right here. For some insight and behind the scenes info from O’Dell himself on how the video was made, check out the paragraph after the jump.

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Although Animal Collective have a new album Strawberry Jam (Domino), dropping next week, that doesn’t mean they have to play anything off the damn thing. The knob-turning extraordinaries enjoy completely messing with the time and strucutre of their songs, playing only the minimal shell of what it once was. Usually known for playing songs years before they are even released, it was surprising to hear “Peacebone” and “Fireworks” off the forthcoming new album, but the mesmerizing light show was what took the main focus last night. It was great to hear crowd pleasers like “Who Could Win A Rabbit” and “Leaf House,” but a part of me wishes that Animal Collective would play a more straight forward, structured set. Moments like those are where the threesome tend to shine, as opposed to when the show breaks down into a barrage of noise and distortion that annoys more than pleases. The Animal Collective live show is a frustrating one, but there are those enduring moments where everything comes together, no matter how chopped and screwed it is, to create a perfect musical wall of noise.

More photos can be found after the cut as well as on my flickr.

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Animal Collective kicked off the annual River to River Festival at the South Street Seaport last Friday night. The group played on the pier to a packed crowd of psyched hipsters and confused people passing through. Luckily the weather held and the group was able to showcase songs from their upcoming album Strawberry Jam along with tracks like “Leaf House” and “We Tigers” from Sung Tongs.

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