Genre: electro-soup-pop, cocoa pebbles, velociraptors, sound collage

“Painting With” mixes the sampled, glitch-based facets of the Animal Collective sound with the heavenly pop of “Merriweather Post Pavilion”. At time it feels like the SparkNotes version of Animal Collective (which can be frustrating), but I can’t imagine a more refined, jam-packed, collection of AnCo songs. Do yourself a favor and peer through this dense kaleidoscope of a record. Highly recommended. A band very near and dear to the Muscat heart.

Others: Dan Deacon, Panda Bear, Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks, Yeasayer

Favorites: 4, 1, 5, 3, 7, 11, 8, 10

1. (4:06) *** FloriDada - Thumping beat…pure sunshine and cascading vocals. AnCo in grade-A pop form. Out of nowhere little “wipeout” sample. Totally loony song.
2. (3:17) Hocus Pocus - Short clip talking about dinosaurs. Mid tempo, krauty, hypnotizing rhythm. Whirring textures fly in and out. Sing songy quality to the vocals. Harmonies melt into goo in the second half. Sample outro
3. (4:15) *** Vertical - Really awesome clattering drum machine beat. Squelchy, evil vocal sample. Divine Panda Bear vocals. Super layered instrumentation.
4. (3:34) **** Lying in the Grass - Didjeridoo and chanted vocals. AnCo at their primal, inventive best. Love the piano embellishments. Oh yeah and COLIN STETSON casually lays his glorious saxophone all over this thing. Sound collage feel, but the disparate parts mesh.
5. (2:44) *** The Burglars - Perfect drum fills punctuate rapid vocals. Video-gamey synth lays the foundation. Gains intensity like a demented merry-go-round. Hooooly shit.
6. (2:42) ** Natural Selection - Techno thump. Groaning bass. Everything drops out except for a garbled sample and colliding vocals. Madcap, insistent song.
7. (2:48) *** Bagels in Kiev - Ambient respite…blissful feedback. Playful bassline and thudding beat enter. Great sample manipulation builds a groove. Serene, yet still busy (as are all the tracks on this album).
8. (3:49) ** On Delay - Something about the bassline reminds me of Time to Pretend by MGMT…speak-sing vocals from Avey with Panda Bear belting his heart out in the background.
9. (1:58) Spilling Guts - Big synthesizer chords. Marimba (?) accents. More of the insane same.
10. (3:09) ** Summing the Wretch - Same brittle bass with hectic polyrhythmic beat. A nursery rhyme for babies on a planet I wished I lived on
11. (4:42) *** Golden Gal - Small cut from the tv show “Golden Girls”. Great little vocal motif. Midtempo. Classic 50’s/60’s doo wop type ending.
12. (4:07) ** Recycling - Fluttering, whirring electronic loop. Really cool keyboard modulation. Interesting soundscape with nice chiming elements. More cartoon character sampled elements work their way in for an instrumental finale.