ANIMAL

i'm a big fan of animal collective. if me & my friends hanging out required a score i would write a song just like that.

in fact we have written songs together. around a campfire. in the middle of the night. holding torches. and it's no surprise that they seemed to have been lifted directly from an animal collective album.

there's something about that psychedelic/forest/joyful/hymn/chant/spell/magik/marching band/nonsense combo that really hits the spot.

and now i'm so pleased that they're having a show at the guggenheim! it's really satisfying to see artists who can communicate on all sorts of levels. it creates a stronger appreciation as a fan that they're more connected to themselves & their audience when they can translate what it is they're needing to put into the world & it's still keeps it shape, if not grows.

of course it's an audio-based show with visuals; not too different i suppose from the music/music video format, but the description i think takes the idea of "music" as a means to create or influence or enhance a mood and builds on that. they've taken sounds that aren't necessarily readily available here in the city & made them so. birds, wind, trees, etc. they've taken these sounds & created a mood with them through their visuals & the edit in order to create a reaction that, to me, seems much more subtle & integrative than listening to music does. when you put on a song, you ready yourself for the experience of that. that journey you're taking, to some extent, outside of daily life. it's stylized. however arranging natural sounds will have a completely opposite effect.

its also interesting to have them in a classic gallery space, which alludes that these sounds are scared, precious, or even art themselves.

i know as a NYer i definitely feel at times that these things are. but its an interesting assertion nevertheless.