Rock it Out! Blog » Animal Collective

Coachella lineup revealed

admin — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:06:33 +0000

Festival season has finally arrived!

The lineup for the Coachella festival has been revealed and the headliners are Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, Kanye West and The Strokes. KOL will headline the 15th, Arcade Fire on the 16th and Yeezy and The Strokes will close the festival on the 17th. Coachella, which is held in Indio, California gathering, takes place from April 15-17 this year.

Now if those headliners seem a bit too “mainstream” for you because you’re just so “hip,” then why not check out some of the other bands playing in the desert that weekend. Bands and acts including the Black Keys, Interpol, Bright Eyes, Duran Duran, PJ Harvey, Titus Andronicus, Animal Collective, Mumford & Sons, the Chemical Brothers, The National and Death From Above 1979 (they’re back!) will take the stage throughout the course of the three days.

Head to Coachella.com to see the full lineup and to get more info like how to get tickets and other pertinent information.

Animal Collective – Brothersport

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:55:48 +0000

At this point, the only reason I’ll put Animal Collective videos on the RiO!B is for a social experiment. I wanna see how many of you start to trip balls while watching this video stone sober.

AC comes at us with another round of insane visuals with their video for the song “Brothersport” from our #5 album of 2009 Merriweather Post Pavilion. Little kids painted up from head to toe whilst dancing with cartoon monsters? Definitely something I’ve seen when I accidentally ate those magic mushrooms at All Points West two years ago. Does that say something about my subsconscious?

Whatever just watch the video up top (via Pitchfork).

The RiO!B Top 5 albums of 2009

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:01:45 +0000

It’s that time of year again. The weather gets chilly, the gifts are exchanged and the punches are thrown because you think an album is better than your friend’s album. Yes it’s the season of top five, ten, twenty, fifty and even hundred lists of the best albums of the year. We figured we would make it easy on ourselves and everyone else by only subjecting you to our top five albums of 2009. So if everyone’s ready we’ll begin.

#5) Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

2009 started off not with a bang but with a sonic wave of sound. Animal Collective jump started our eardrums with ambient noises, other-worldly beats and songs about summertime clothes and girls that needed four walls. Surprisingly, you don’t really need heavy doses of MDMA to enjoy this record. You just need to be able to broaden your musical horizon a bit…but being under an influence won’t hurt.

#4) Muse – The Resistance

One of the more anticipated albums of the year, Muse followed up their previous album, Black Holes And Revelations, with The Resistance. A big record that summoned the spirit of Freddy Mercury on tracks such as “United States of Eurasia + Collateral Damage” and offered us rock anthems/rally cries like “Uprising”. Not to mention that there’s a three part symphony, “Exogenesis”, that ends the album. How many rock bands do you know that write symphonies? My guess is not that many.

#3) The Dead Weather – Horehound

It’s one thing for Jack White to start a band but it’s another when he starts it and doesn’t take center stage. White mans the drums for The Dead Weather while rock n’ roll hottie Alison Mosshart of the Kills takes care of the vocal duties on Horehound. With a dirty blues-rock sound mixed with Mosshart’s raspy voice, the songs are heavy, loud and unforgettable. Songs like “Treat Me Like Your Mother” and “Cut Like A Buffalo” take you out of your comfort zone and and make you wonder why bands haven’t been making music like this for a while. A solid listen and an even better live show if you get the chance.

#2) Mastodon – Crack The Skye

A heavy-metal record that talks about souls entering the body of the Russian mystic Rasputin? Sign me up! Crack The Skye is a massive record that only has seven songs on it for fear that should you listen to more your head may explode. Ranging from the single “Divinations” to the four part epic “The Czar”, Mastodon comes crashing down on your head with the guitar stylings of Brett Hinds and the drums of Brann Dailor. This is a record that requires repeat listening in order to get the references and because it’s just that good.

#1) Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vutures

One word is needed to describe this album: Monster. The “supergroup” consisting of Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme on vocals and guitar, the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl smashing the drums and legendary Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones equals a concoction unlike any other.

From the first track, “Nobody Loves Me And Neither Do I”, the album takes your auditory canals and all your other senses on a rock music roller coaster. From songs like “New Fang” and “Scumbag Blues” to the groove of a tune like “Gunman”, you’re never really sure what to expect from the music. It doesn’t follow the rules of the radio single (3:35 minutes with a verse/chorus/verse set up), but rather it’s like your invited to an exclusive jam session.

The album came out in November but the hype and build up surrounding it began almost at a fever pitch in the middle of 2009 and it definitely didn’t disappoint. It’s one of the few records that I’ve listened to on a daily basis and I still can’t get bored of it.

So there you go. We humbly present our top 5 albums of the year 2009. Please feel free to discuss and let us know what you think of our little list. This was no easy task as there were a lot of great records that came out this year. But these five, we felt, best represented the top of the rock music world this time around.

Animal Collective – In The Flowers

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:15:48 +0000

Animal Collective (the band you love because people told you to) is coming out with a brand new EP on December 15th. Unless you want to download it which you can do on November 23rd. Up top is the video for their new song “In The Flowers” which, like most AnCo videos, is something you’ll have to watch a few times to “get”.

The video features black and white footage, some odd animation and two dancers who were probably rejected from the So You Think You Can Dance auditions for being way too alternative. Although I would love to see a couple pull off a dance to this song on the show. Maybe then I would watch an episode.

Give props to Abigail Portner, who is the sister of Dave “Avey Tare” Portner of the band, for directing this video and for making you think twice about what your life means. I mean that’s what I walked away with after watching the vid…I think I have problems.

Animal Collective releasing new album?

admin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:50:43 +0000

Ya gotta give credit to the people over at Pitchfork. They do a lot of digging when other bloggers just don’t feel like it. And it’s because of Pitchfork I came across this lil gem.

Apparently Merriweather Post Pavilion isn’t the only recording we would see from the Baltimore band this year. It’s been discovered on Amazon that AC are planning on releasing a new record called Fall Be Kind. Now you could write off the Amazon page as a hoax…until you go to Domino Records website where the headline reads “…What’s the deal with Fall be Kind?” Lost Seinfeld joke or pre-cursor to a new album?

Also if you head over to the Amazon page, you can pre-order the album for $11.38 as it apparently will be released on December 8th of this year. Talk about an unexpected Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus present.

RiO!B episode – October 7, 2009

admin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:36:02 +0000

Axl Rose fights back

Animal Collective re-issue Campfire Songs

Pavement headlining and curating ATP Festival

R.I.P. Michael Alexander