Tom's Best of 2005: #5

Ok, So I'm about halfway done when I should be finished. Oh well. I'll continue to keep up with this when I can, and hopefully I'll be finished within a few days. Not that it really matters, since the time restraint was self-imposed and it's not like anybody is eagerly awaiting the rest of the countdown all that much... Anyway, without further adieu:

Animal Collective - Feels - This has been described as the Animal Collective's foray into rock and roll, but really, all they've done is written actual songs to go with their weird sound. This is like nothing else out today, which is quite refreshing, but it's not as if it's something entirely new. Like many other great artists of today (see #6 and #8 on this list), they draw most of their sound from the late 1960s. A touch of the Incredible String Band here, a LOT of the Holy Modal Rounders there, and the slightest bit of Van Dyke Parks' solo work to top things off (and possibly an influence of Van Dyke's collaborations with Brian Wilson... call me crazy, but I can hear bits and pieces of "Heroes and Villains" in there).

The result is one of my favorite combinations of elements: experimental music that's still accessible. Even if the warbling and often incomprehensible vocals and general looseness/sloppiness will turn some people off, these are relatively simple compositions that will hold a much broader appeal than their earlier work, which tended to sound like a bunch of guys just screwing around (which isn't too far off, really) with rare moments of brilliance shining through.

Feels is much more dense than their earlier work as well; nothing they've done has hit as hard and as immediately as the frantic pounding drums of "The Purple Bottle," but a closer listen reveals a brilliant and often subtle arrangement fueling the manic energy. Amazingly, it works as well as atmospheric or ambient music as it does as driving rock music. The same could be said of "Did You See the Words," "Banshee Beat," and especially "Turn Into Something," which fades into a "beautiful chaos" slice of dissonant ambiance that provides a perfect conclusion to one of the most idiosyncratic albums of the year.