People who don't think japanese music is weird and have got an extraordinary…Track: My Girls
Artist: Animal Collective
Album: Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
Tags: experimental, indie, electronic, dance, psychedelic, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic...
YouTube
The decade of political correctness and new prudishness ended with a Christmas number one full of rude words on repeat. So we're not that politically correct after all, then.
Thinking about a song for the decade, I found I couldn't, or didn't want to, pick one, certainly not one that fell in any particular genre. That thought led to the growing number of bands and artists who are difficult to define, sweeping up elements from a range of genres and styles across the decades as they do, creating music that's at once familiar as it is groundbreaking. You can see what I did next - I picked the best of the lot, Animal Collective, and one my favourite songs from them this year, My Girls.
My Girls is the second track from their January album, Merriweather Post Pavilion. Uplifting, clappy dancey with added cheerful whoops, the harmony-driven song is about not needing much. "I don't mean to seem like I care about / material things like a social status / I just want four walls and adobe slats / for my girls."
I was thrilled to discover the track was covered by others as the year went on, most notably the gender-reversal My Boys from Taken By Trees which drops the whoops, making it less excitable though not at all less bouncy, and adds an indie folk, world, sufi spin to things. [ video ]
What comes across in Animal Collective albums is their delight of music discovery and eagerness to experiment with ideas. When I saw them earlier this year, I kept thinking they were like a youthful Massive Attack, lighter, brighter and freer, less controlled, though that's not to say less disciplined. Like Massive Attack, underlying everything is fierce intelligence and sharp minds. In a decade defined by dumbing down, this refusal to appeal to the lowest common denominator is attractive. It is no accident their January album is in most people's top ten and stands at number 7 in the Last.fm 2009 charts with 7,630,636 album scrobbles. And that's not even counting the millions of lost plays this year because our iPods haven't been scrobbling (gee thanks, Apple).
Another reason I picked this song is for its sense of optimism and hope. The 2000s are collectively not everyone's favourite decade, though to be fair, I am in the age group that doesn't see these years favourably. On a personal level, the decade was all about discovering new lows, the lowest being the day my father passed away.
Everyday lows and losses notwithstanding, because of course there's more to come, when I think about this new year's eve and the beginning of a new decade, my gut feeling is that of a positive one. I think things will get better and I am looking forward to things getting better. When I think back to my gut feeling back in 1999, I remember I couldn't see anything but darkness, which was unusual for me because usually I see something even if it's just the next holiday. I saw nothing. This time, although there is plenty to worry about, I see light.
Whether the song is to your taste or not, its bright optimism is unmistakable so in that spirit, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy New Year and all the very best for the coming decade. Let's hope it's a good one.
Babs My Gang
Reco of the Week archives
Admin: Stats as of this week
Last.fm listeners of this track - 157,581
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 1,507,441
Position in Last 7 Days: 1 / 16,683
Position in Last 6 Months: 1 / 89,027
Video
Date Added: January 14, 2009
Views: 2,460,205, Ratings: 8,212, Comments: 7,381, Favourited: 21,432 times
Stats after 7 days:
Last.fm listeners of this track - 161,222
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 1,534,844
Position in Last 7 Days: 1 / 18,196
Position in Last 6 Months: 1 / 90,452
Video
Views: 2,532,376, Ratings: 8,370, Comments: 7,515, Favourited: 21,915 times
154 Unique Visitors
188 Page Views
Unique Visitors
Page Views
.
Artist: Animal Collective
Album: Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
Tags: experimental, indie, electronic, dance, psychedelic, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic...
YouTubeThe decade of political correctness and new prudishness ended with a Christmas number one full of rude words on repeat. So we're not that politically correct after all, then.
Thinking about a song for the decade, I found I couldn't, or didn't want to, pick one, certainly not one that fell in any particular genre. That thought led to the growing number of bands and artists who are difficult to define, sweeping up elements from a range of genres and styles across the decades as they do, creating music that's at once familiar as it is groundbreaking. You can see what I did next - I picked the best of the lot, Animal Collective, and one my favourite songs from them this year, My Girls.
My Girls is the second track from their January album, Merriweather Post Pavilion. Uplifting, clappy dancey with added cheerful whoops, the harmony-driven song is about not needing much. "I don't mean to seem like I care about / material things like a social status / I just want four walls and adobe slats / for my girls."
I was thrilled to discover the track was covered by others as the year went on, most notably the gender-reversal My Boys from Taken By Trees which drops the whoops, making it less excitable though not at all less bouncy, and adds an indie folk, world, sufi spin to things. [ video ]
What comes across in Animal Collective albums is their delight of music discovery and eagerness to experiment with ideas. When I saw them earlier this year, I kept thinking they were like a youthful Massive Attack, lighter, brighter and freer, less controlled, though that's not to say less disciplined. Like Massive Attack, underlying everything is fierce intelligence and sharp minds. In a decade defined by dumbing down, this refusal to appeal to the lowest common denominator is attractive. It is no accident their January album is in most people's top ten and stands at number 7 in the Last.fm 2009 charts with 7,630,636 album scrobbles. And that's not even counting the millions of lost plays this year because our iPods haven't been scrobbling (gee thanks, Apple).
Another reason I picked this song is for its sense of optimism and hope. The 2000s are collectively not everyone's favourite decade, though to be fair, I am in the age group that doesn't see these years favourably. On a personal level, the decade was all about discovering new lows, the lowest being the day my father passed away.
Everyday lows and losses notwithstanding, because of course there's more to come, when I think about this new year's eve and the beginning of a new decade, my gut feeling is that of a positive one. I think things will get better and I am looking forward to things getting better. When I think back to my gut feeling back in 1999, I remember I couldn't see anything but darkness, which was unusual for me because usually I see something even if it's just the next holiday. I saw nothing. This time, although there is plenty to worry about, I see light.
Whether the song is to your taste or not, its bright optimism is unmistakable so in that spirit, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy New Year and all the very best for the coming decade. Let's hope it's a good one.
Babs My Gang
Reco of the Week archives
Admin: Stats as of this week
Last.fm listeners of this track - 157,581
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 1,507,441
Position in Last 7 Days: 1 / 16,683
Position in Last 6 Months: 1 / 89,027
Video
Date Added: January 14, 2009
Views: 2,460,205, Ratings: 8,212, Comments: 7,381, Favourited: 21,432 times
Stats after 7 days:
Last.fm listeners of this track - 161,222
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 1,534,844
Position in Last 7 Days: 1 / 18,196
Position in Last 6 Months: 1 / 90,452
Video
Views: 2,532,376, Ratings: 8,370, Comments: 7,515, Favourited: 21,915 times
154 Unique Visitors
188 Page Views
.
