Deja vu ... not meaningless!

     Ok, I decided that this blog is fine for posting RANDOM, RIDICULOUS, and INANE theories that I come up with.

    So here's number one.

     Deja vu is triggered by a real memory: a memory of a dream that you had previously forgotten. But the dream is the tricky part, because that (whenever you originally had it) was a subconscious glimpse into the future. Perhaps the fabric of space-time DOES fold in on itself occasionally, but we can't perceive it unless we completely lack distractions, i.e. we are sleeping. Then it just happens that we see our future, forget it, then half-remember it when it actually happens to us.

Brilliant? Not at all. And I'm sure that I'm wrong about most of that nonsense. But I thought of it, so you had to suffer through it. (<- brilliant logic)

You may consider your day hereby ENLIGHTENED

j

First Listen: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

     This is the sound of a band reaching maturity. Animal Collective’s past efforts always struck me as slightly too strange to really appreciate - they were the music of adolescence, as AC was feeling and stretching its boundaries. No longer - this band has decided what they want to be, who they want to be, and why.
Merriweather Post Pavilion is one of the best albums I have listened to in a very long time.

     For me, it is becoming increasingly more rare to find a band who asserts its dominance over the listener. What I mean by this is that generally I am listening from the perspective of a critic, while the band generally accepts this as the proper position for it to exist in. As a result, I spend the entire time listening for the flaws in the album, rather than experiencing it solely for its triumphs. (Make no mistake - I still find enough to enjoy in a great deal of music.) However, with MPP I am reduced to a listener. Rather than thinking "I could have written this," I was waiting with excitement to see where the album would turn next.
     The sounds mesh together with cohesion, and the ideas are refreshing, like placing your head in the sink on a hot summer night. This album feels overflowing with youthful exuberance (which is somewhat ironic, considering the band’s newfound maturity.) My main qualm with the album is this: it may be slightly too long, and occasionally repetitive. Every song on it is well done, but the pacing feels very slightly off. This may just be a quirk that showed up with my first listen, but I was very surprised when I noticed that Summertime Clothes was only the fourth song, as it feels like it should be the climax of the album (Incidentally, this is also my favorite song from the group.)
     Animal Collective has found its groove, and I expect that they will give us many more solid albums. I don’t expect my opinion to change rapidly regarding MPP, and as it stands it may just be a classic.

9.2 / 10