SEAL ON PSYCHEDELICS

Animal Collective // Transverse Temporal Gyrus // April 21 // Domino

If there is one band that you must listen to in your life then it has to be Animal Collective. I mean otherwise what’s the point of your existence? Find a wife and have children? Get over yourself. It’s all about Panda Bear, Avey Tare, Geologist and Deakin, the fab four of psychedelic music. They are yet to follow the colossal Merriweather Post Pavilion properly but in the meantime we had the soundtrack to their experimental movie Oddsac and now we get a collage of their 2010’s Guggenheim recordings.

Transverse Temporal Gyrus comes as a 12” specifically made for Record Store Day, it also happens to be the most exciting thing to come out on this date. It consists of two 12 and 14 minute long tracks showcasing Animal Collective getting back to their experimental roots and delivering some of the most psychedelic sounds that they’ve ever released. While the tracks don’t follow one path and shapeshift many times throughout their existence, they never feel like anything they do is out of place and always flow well, much better than Oddsac and even the pop oriented Fall Be Kind EP from way back in the day. That’s only the recording on the 12” though. Go to Transverse Personal Gyrus’ own website made alongside collaborator Danny Perez to experience music that never sounds the same played again. Not quite sure how that works but nice move Animal Collective, nice move. Not that this 12” needs gimmicks. Considering that the material for Transverse Temporal Gyrus was recorded just a couple of months after Fall Be Kind came out, Animal Collective’s ability to shift between their pop and experimental forms is masterful as Transverse Temporal Gyrus is much more than just a random collection of psychedelic sounds for the hardcore followers only. The vocals are left out with Avey Tare only getting few lines on the flipside of the 12”. It’s a nice reminder of Danse Manatee era of the band, the one that doesn’t feel like a nostalgia trip but also the one that is unlikely to be repeated as Transverse Temporal Gyrus feels like an outlet of weirdness before the band go back to their modern psychedelic pop sound on the proper follow up to Merriweather Post Pavilion.

So is there much point in releasing a two year old recording that doesn’t stand together with the rest of Animal Collective’s recent output? Wait, why am I even asking this?  It’s new Animal Collective material you clowns. It’s time to collectively lose our minds and split once again into #teampanda and #teamavey, obsess over Geologist’s beard and look for Deakin. Record Store Day is becoming bigger and bigger with every passing year and these guys have just released the most relevant record made specifically for it, that speaks for itself. AnCo’s back alright!