Animal Creation: The Tortoise and the Hare in an Egg

Another work to come out of my sec. 4 art class is this random evolution of an egg breaking into a fight between the tortoise and the hare... All I could think of while making this is "awesome".

The two men dressed in the animal costumes are members of Animal Collective: Avey Tare and Panda Bear. 

They were featured in this insane and dreadful music video:

WTF? is an appropriate reaction.

Panda Bear - Tomboy (review)

Tomboy is finally here. Panda Bear's 4th record reaches another dimension in his creative mind. 

The album starts off majestically, like something out of Lion King, with the song "You Can Count on Me" in which Panda Bear assures the listener to be in a safe journey. The next track, the title-track, "Tomboy" showcases the new instrument in Panda Bear's arsenal: the guitar. Guitar riffs are blended into organ tones. It then sets a dark mood for the rest of the album. "Slow Motion" is fast and very hip hop-ish, definitely badass. Another killer track, "Surfer's Hymn" is the closest example to the similarity between The Beach Boys and Panda Bear. It's filled with ups and turns, surely to bathe the listener in waves. "Last Night at the Jetty" is the end of the triple combo of awesome tracks in Tomboy where Panda Bear is highly reminiscent of his time at the Jetty back in his hometown, Baltimore, Maryland. 

"Drone" breaks the progress of the album. It leaves irritation and confusion with its droney lyrical repeats but is then forgotten by the elusive and unreal, "Alsatian Darn" which puts things back into perspective. It definitely has the greatest pace. "Scheherazade", another mood breaker, is something between a dream and a nightmare. The best track to appear is "Friendship Bracelet". Utter godly. Ethereal melody. Beautiful. "Afterburner" is the endurance test of the album. The longest track is backed with heavy samples and the heaviest Panda Bear vocals ever. Finally, the closer "Benfica" brushes everything away. Everything seems fulfilled but still lost due to its loose elegance of football crowd chants.

All in all, Panda Bear's goal was to create a mood with this album and he succeeded. It's dark but always hopeful. A feeling found within most of Animal Collective songs. A feeling that cheers you up.

Trial track: 

Animal Creation: Panda Bear t-shirt

Who is Panda Bear? Panda Bear is part of Animal Collective. He plays drums and is one of the vocalists. He has a solo career in which he has been universally critically acclaimed for his industry-influential 2007 album, Person Pitch.
I designed this shirt for my sec. 4 art class. I really like how it turned out. I'm sure the man Panda Bear himself would like it and would want my permission to use the design.

With the help of these two pictures of him, I was able to come up with such design.
I chose to do my t-shirt on him because of the well-deserved hype that surrounded Animal Collective during the Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009 album) period. He is prominently featured in a few of the songs.

Here's an example:

 

"My Girls" is perhaps Animal Collective's most popular song.

His newest album, Tomboy, just released on April 12th. Being such a fanboy, I'm calling it Album of the Year.

OSHEAGA

In its 5th anniversary, the Osheaga festival wows everyone with the headliner: Eminem.

Eminem, back after more than a decade.

How did they pin down such a high ranking (popularity-wise) artist? 
This could lead to either good or bad results. 
The good: a huge number of people now acknowledge Osheaga's existence. The organizers are even expecting the Parc-Jean-Drapeau festival to be sold out during the day Eminem performs. That would be a first for Osheaga.
The bad: Osheaga is and will always be a festival filled with indie acts. Will the Eminem fans even bother to check out other bands? Will they come to future iterations of Osheaga? Will Osheaga become a "one-hit-wonder" to them? The organizers will have to come up with an act that matches Eminem's popularity to reach that "crowd" again in the upcoming years. Some fans are even referring to Osheaga as "The Eminem Concert".

But whatever, only music nerds are concerned with such useless concerns. It's all about the music. Osheaga is a festival of great independent music since its inception back in 2006 and it's bound to stay that way.

I'm going for one group in particular:CRYSTAL CASTLES 
It's going to be their second time at Parc Jean-Drapeau. I was there at their first set back in 2009. It was absolutely horrible.

The notorious duo from Toronto, Ontario.

-arrive 1 hour late
-female singer is drunk as hell
-sound settings are horrendously bad
-unlistenable
-lasted only 20 minutes
-such an awful way to end the festival

However, I had the chance to see them again in 2010. They were killer. The female, Alice, delivered in a unprecedented way, to my experience.
My faith in them has then been restored.

The New Era

Animal Collective are back after a conventional hiatus of playing gigs. 

They recently played a set of Californian shows that culminated to their appearance at the Coachella Music Festival. 
Keeping up with the tradition, they introduced new material early before their next record is out and squeezed out a few old jams from their broad discography.

The phenomenal Coachella stage.

New material can be uneasy at first. With Animal Collective, that is no exception. The new sound is definitely a challenge to describe but after numerous listens of the bootlegs, it's save to say they are crafting a whole other universe again. 

Powerful, melodic, magical, weird, and joyful are just a small number of words to identify this new sound. 

Did You See the Words?

 

One of the old songs they played.

The encore is mindblowing. This is all based on a live recording. Animal Collective, please come to Montreal.

A music blog

This blog centers on the many things about music that swim in my head. The name is a reference to my favorite band of all time:

Animal Collective. 

It shouldn't be a surprise to see the majority of the posts are about them. 

The song the blog's name is attached to is "Lion in a Coma":

                         
It's a worldly, abrasive, catchy, experimental pop song and an entirely different beast, live.