Animal Collective – Centipede Hz

[COLOR=“Blue“]“Crimson“

Scaruffi ist wieder da!

The Animal Collective (now again a foursome after the return of Josh Dibb aka „Deakin“), continued its slow descent into irrelevance with Centipede Hz (Domino, 2012). The cluttered arrangements are cunningly designed to hide the lack of imagination. It’s a strategy of distraction (architected by the same producer, Ben Allen, who fooled the masses on Merriweather Post Pavilion). That strategy is wrapped a concept of sort: the album is ostensibly inspired by radio interference, which therefore constitutes the primal trick used in the sound production.
Opener Moonjock is emblematic of the state of the band: a third-rate Beatles melody, third-rate Beach Boys harmonies and third-rate sound effects, a deadly combination salvaged towards the end by an honest burst of tribal joviality. When the chaotic arrangements relent, the scarce substance of the music is mercilessly revealed, e.g. in terribly trivial songs like Today’s Supernatural and Wide Eyed. Where they found the guts to insert things (let’s not call them „song“) like FatherTime and New Town Burnout will remain a mystery. Panda Bear should blush for how he wastes Rosie Oh: his singing style has become a major annoyance. The faked exuberance of the album is a major drawback even on the few valid songs, ruining even the melodic progression and rhythmic invention of Applesauce, the hysterical Talking Heads-ian jamming of Monkey Riches and the exotic Japan-esque techno-rock of Amanita. The best one can say is that this album is a polyrhythmic feast. But one can’t help wonder whether this wasn’t simply meant as a joke on us.

4.5/10

http://scaruffi.com/vol7/animalco.html#cen