Animal Sounds

From when Animal Collective made their unlikely rise to popularity in the indie world certain ripple effects have appeared, at least to my two ears. Whether some preexisting bands had a similar sound before hand and were allowed to rise the ranks because of AC breaking down the doorway, if it was just a flagbearer for things and sounds to come, or if it is just people straight up copping the style, theres something to be said for the longevity of the style with so many people doing similar things. Among those groups, who seem to be taking the sound closer to the main stream, are Grizzly Bear and The Annuals. I am sure there are others, but nothing comes to mind and I probably just haven't heard of more of these instances.

Panda Bear - Bro's(edit)

Core member of the collective, Panda Bear's 12" is a great example of this sound moving towards gentler pop accessible grounds within AC, along with their last album Feels. First released early December in the "rest of the world" and due in North America on Feb 20th, the original Bro's has been floating around the net for a while. This version, the edit, is on Panda Bears upcoming album Person Pitch which actually wont be arriving this side of the pond until March 20th. Damn. Listening to the two gives the perfect illustration of the transitions AC has been going through. The 12 minute original wanders, and drags its feet in shimmery reverbed acoustic guitar strums, while the edit is all Good Vibrations-esque hooks and concise spaciousness. All goodness is filtered down to five minutes, because somewhere in the groups more psychedelic panderings is always a heart of pure pop gold.

Dr. Dog - My Old Ways

I wont deny it, I first heard Dr. Dog on MTV when they played the video to the track My Old Ways. ADD channel surfing can take you to strange places. My first impression was that it just sounded like the Beatles, nothing more, and maybe something less. Slowly, before my three minute attension span ran up I began to pick up on the subtle twists and even, yes, and Animal Collective leaning. The quality is best summarized by the chorus which gets a little longer, and a little better each time.