Animal Collective!!!
 

I realise i'm way behind the rest of the world here. But i've just discovered Animal Collective (3 weeks ago). This band is incredable. I dunno which record I should buy first. Any suggestions?

Sung Tongs is pretty ace as is Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished which was re-issued with Danse Manatee which isn't as good.

Sung Tongs is really really good and probably the most accessible.

'Visiting Friends', 'The Softest Voice', 'Who Could Win a Rabbit'

Feels is really good too, but first listens for me just sounded like noise, a little more difficult.

My favourite is Here Comes The Indian, but
I wouldn´t start with it.
Go and get Sung Tongs,
you will love it

love them. sung tongs is a great record as is here comes the indian. i need to get more.

I ahve the red one.... great stuff

I thought Feels was alright, Sung Tongs a second, in mediocrity. Their albums seem to be either mildly entertaining or completely unremarkable, IMHO (I've always wanted to use that acronym).

I wasn't convinced at first, but on repeated listens (because of them being constantly recommended), it really has revealed itself to me.

hollindagain, it's their best album.

hollindaagain is not for the easy listening though. not that you're an easy listener but a new listener of them so i'd start with sung tongs. their prospect hummer ep is completely beautiful as well.

haha its okay, im good to jump in right at the deep end...my first Sonic Youth CD was 'Washing Machine', but i take your point no one would recommend jumping straight into the SYR series

Get either Sung Tongs or Feels first.

Last night I heard Sweet Road on a commercial for some baby toy or something. It was weird.

i rather listen to hollindagain than feels shitty. the prospect hummer ep is great too.

hollindagain is a.c.'s confusion is sex.

Feels is probably the best starter.

although i think Feels is a great album, it took me a good month or so to really get into it. ut's one of my favorite albums now but a few tracks (Bees, Daffy Duck, Flesh Canoe) were hard to listen to at first since they lacked the kind of song structure i was used to at the time. all depends on the listener i guess.

I love Bees and Flesh Canoe. Daffy Duck goes on far too long.

Feels was my first Animal Collective album, and they're just about my favorite band now.

I'd say get any of these first:

Feels
Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished
Sung Tongs

The "Prospect Hummer" EP first.

Then "Feels".

Then work backwards from there.

I started with Feels and Sung Tongs last Feb...6 months later they were my fave band...Im still kinda in the honeymoon phase...

Sung Tongs is pretty awesome. Feels got really old for me, after a while, but i still listen to it every now and then.

definitely sung tongs!!! it's probably most accessible and it's also their best lp.

Great Band. Took me a while to get into them tho. Still dont really like Danse Manatee.

danse manatee is awesome...it is definitely the last one that you get into though...but damn its so good...essplode, meet the light child, lablakely dress, and in the singing box will start to grab you after a while...

I didn't appreciate daffy duck until they opened with it when I saw them live. That was the most surreal show I have ever seen. That show raised my standard for concerts, and I have been slightly disappointed by every other show I've seen since.

You can listen to animal collective on record, but you can't experience them until you see them perform.

I'd get sung tongs first. The first record I got was here comes the indian, but I couldn't get into it until a few years after I got it.

im not sure about that; some bands are better on record, some are better live; for me AC belongs on the first group. saw them last year and they were quite lively; but a lot of the details of the sound you get from a record don't shine forth, and the experience generally loses by comparison.

Yeah. My friends keep telling me that bands that arnt good live are bad bands. I've had this debate many times over.

Im going to see Sonic Youth in London in September for the 'Daydream Nation' gig. Its gonna be my first SY gig, are SY good live? they always seem to be great in all the videos i've seen.

i agree. i saw them at sxsw last year and their set lasted about 1 1/2 hours and it was pretty darn boring. my girlfriend actually shed a tear because it was so long and boring.

they're all decent albums.

i've only seen them live once, but they were totally awesome! so they're both: good band on record, and a good live band.

ah, it's a rare but great thing to meet internet people who will put their good ears ahead of any kind of irrational worship of public figures.

My sister in Austin always ask me which shows she should go see during SXSW. That Animal Collective show last year has been her biggest dissapointment.

That's surprising. They were one of my favorite bands at SXSW, easily a top 3 of the shows I saw there. Eh well. I think I will check them out when they play Chicago in May.

alot of great bands are crap live

Trail of Dead
Pavement (amazing..but shambles)
Bright eyes
Guided by Voices

I started with Sung Tongs a couple years ago, by accident... and immediately fell in love, but it's so weird! After I lost all the files on my computer (Sung Tongs having being downloaded, not bought) I forgot about them, really... and the Feels came out. My really good friend and I did an X-mas exchange, and she got me Feels. I love it so much.
Then I bought the Grass EP/DVD in Toronto a while ago. It's alright. I wish I had the People EP.... People is an amazing song.

I love the song Banshee beat.
Don't own anything by Animal Collective yet but whar I've heard so far is all good.

I downloaded Sung Tongs, its very pleasent, sort of like the docile bits of Oneida.

i saw both AC and SY live last year....'Banshee Beat" was by far the greatest thing i saw/heard between the two...it wasn't even close...in fact, "BB" live may be the greatest thing ive heard, ever.

Eh? Trail of Dead are a shit band who were great live. Certainly circa about 1999 they were anywhere. But that was before they started making really, really shit records.

As for Animal Collective live:

I loved them at Coachella. It was like 4:30 when the started, extremely fucking hot, and crowded as fuck. But when Animal Collective opened up with Banshee Beat all the heat melted away and I forgot that I was surrounded by thousands of people. By the time Avey Tare splashed purple paint on himself, I was really into it. Most of the set was new stuff for their next album. It was really awesome to see each song degenerate into a mess of noise and then evolve into the next song. I had a lot of fun watching it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wiOKRs7qky8

oh man...i gotta see banshee beat live soon or i might just die.

noooo trail of dead = great live AND great band.