If you haven't heard, the music media have already announced the best album of the year: Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion. The rest of the year's unreleased music be damned!
My first reaction was: "why the hell did Animal Collective name its album after that pain-in-the-ass venue?" (Answer: they really like the venue.) My second reaction was to purchase the album, so I could disagree with the rampant hyperbole of its reviews.
Alas, after a few spins, I find myself really enjoying the record. It's the kind of music I usually love to hate: pretentious avant-garde psychedelia. Unfortunately it's also ridiculously catchy, and refreshingly original. The best description I could give is "bubblegum experimental music."
Here's the video for the (ahem) single "My Girls." Listen to it a couple of times and just try to get it out of your head.
In other news, Animal Collective is currently in the studio working on 2010's best album.
