When no one’s quite sure how exactly to describe your output, seeing how wildly different (and probably wrong) the responses are is part of the fun.

I never really understood Animal Collective. They were one of those bands that I tried at least a dozen times to like because all my really cool friends said how genius they were, but no matter how many times I borrowed Sung Tongs it either bored or annoyed me. Maybe it was over my head, or maybe it was pretentious crap — my hipster insecurity would not allow me to definitively say.

Imagine my excitement when I heard their newest album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, and genuinely enjoyed it. Finally, I could be one of those kids who got it. Or possibly, their sound had evolved enough to where an unpretentious, untrained music fan could enjoy it without the secret noise-folk decoder ring. I still wouldn’t presume to say. Still, those like me who’ve been confused in the past should check out the album; it might surprise you.

Animal Collective have always been extremely creative and original song makers, which, like them or not, at least deserves respect. Stopping by their set at a music festival a while back, I remember thinking, ‘These guys make cool sounds that approach enjoyable, but I keep getting pushed away by their weirdness’. What Merriweather Post Pavillion does for me is dial down the off-putting elements just enough to let the appeal of their sound take hold. If my bizarro-tolerance is normally at a 6, their previous work ranged from 7-10, and this one finally hit within my threshold. Of course, there are lots of other people whose tolerance is only a 2 who will still find this a looney piece of garbage. On the other side are the purists who only love them at their strangest that this album might turn off. But that’s kind of the beauty of a band like this: they make music that’s decidedly their own and it’s up to listeners to take it as it is.

Equally as interesting as examining the work itself, when it comes to a love-them-or-hate-them band like Animal Collective, are the myriad critical reactions. When no one’s quite sure how exactly to describe your output, seeing how wildly different (and probably wrong) the responses are is part of the fun.

Spin thinks Animal Collective will be the new Moby.

But eventual overhyping aside, with both Play and Merriweather Post Pavillion, I realized from the very beginning that a decent amount of my exhilaration had nothing to do with the quality of the music — it stemmed partly from a feeling that this artist I’d liked/ respected/ rooted for, but who had remained pop-culturally marginal, had finally made a record so immediately pleasurable and accessible that it might appeal to people who generally hate this kind of shit.

To which I say, not quite. The rod of history may bend toward openmindedness when it comes to music, but Pavillion is still a bunch of crazy psychedelic droning and chanting, just with slightly hookier through lines. Even if some artsy commercial directors license a few of those hooks, they will be for background texture, not the kind of tracks that send legions running to the iTunes store. Moby succeeded because he used things like pianos to create songs of gentle beauty that were like yuppie cat-nip — not whatever devil-horned synth-monster they pumped this trippy album out of, no matter how interesting it is. Sorry Spin, over-reaction.

Next, another article Spin quoted, but which Spencer had pointed me toward just days before: Hipster Runoff on how Animal Collective is a Band Created By/For/On the Internet. This one is supremely snarky, both hilarious and right-on.

These are Anco fan stereotypes:

a) the bros who are waaay too connected to ‘new bands’ and ‘music news’ and ‘whatz goin on’ in the world of independent music
b) bros who ‘don’t care about what’s going on in the altmusicsphere’ because they ‘only care about how music makes them FEEL’
c) bros who pretend to only care about judging music based on ‘how it sounds’ but secretly check P4k rankings on a weekly basis to construct what they ‘like’ based on how they perceive the masses are digesting new content.

He goes on to dissect the dichotomy of fans who are just ‘in it for the music’ but download every album before it comes out without paying a dime, Animal Collective as a ‘lifestyle brand’, and the death of music reviews. The whole piece is over the top, but rings so true in its ramblings it’s not to be missed. Still, it pre-supposes that Animal Collective are on the verge of ‘making it’, which I would still question. That won’t happen until you have one solid sing-a-long single, and I’m sorry, ‘My Girls’, as good as it is, would still be considered annoying by something north of 8 in 10 of Americans.

Of course, if you don’t have a song ready-made for hipster karaoke night like The Arcade Fire does, the other alternative might be more the Moby route after all, and lay down a sweet dance groove. Paste seemed to think so in their review:

Nine albums and eight years in, it’s time to stop trying to figure out what the hell Animal Collective—vocalist/guitarist Avey Tare, percussionist/vocalist Panda Bear and knob-twiddler Geologist—is, and just enjoy the orgasmic rush of danceable rock. After all, hands are meant not to be jettisoned up in frustration at dead-end lyrics, but thrown in the air as if you just didn’t care.

To which I can’t really help but laugh. I mean, there are beats, but they’re too off-kilter to dance to in the traditional sense, unless your idea of dancing is a ring of convulsing neo-hippies. I might even concede on ‘Summertime Clothes’ — I can see a remix of that working its way into select hipster dj sets. But then I tried to imagine myself dancing to one of my favorite songs from the album, ‘Also Frightened’. The most appropriate thing I could think to do was to pantomime being part of an angry lynch mob, marching pitchfork-in-hand to skewer the town freak who hasn’t done anything wrong but whom we all hate because he’s different. (Side note to AC: if you’re accepting pitches for other music video ideas, I’ve got a good one.) The songs do have marvelous energy, but it’s more the swaying head-bobbing, howling at the moon kind; not the kind you find in a club.

Speaking of Pitchforks (like what I did there?), what did those self-important jerks think of this supposedly transcendent album?

What they’ve constructed here is a new kind of electronic pop– one which is machine-generated and revels in technology but is also deeply human, never drawing too much attention to its digital nature. It’s of the moment and feels new, but it’s also striking in its immediacy and comes across as friendly and welcoming. Animal Collective have spent the decade following their own path, figuring out what their music is capable of while also working to bring more listeners into their world. On Merriweather Post Pavilion, their commitment has paid off tremendously.

Ha! Yeah right, that’s total bullsh…. Oh wait, I totally agree with that assessment. They really like it and so do I. Huh. Guess even elitist clocks are right twice a day.