Animal Collective is a strange beast, with a variable geometry in its lineup and sound. Depending on who's in it, the proportions of poppy ambient, schizophrenic structures, psychedelia and intense yet minimal drumming vary, probably reaching perfection on this record, Strawberry Jam (sorry, Merriweather fans - have you heard Discreet Music by Brian Eno? He's really good at ambient too).
This is pretty objectively a partitioned record - tracks stand out more than others, mostly based on the presence/absence of beats. The latter dominate, making the primer stand out even more in their nonsensical genius. Maybe the atmospheric tracks are intended to rest you from the insanity of the others, as you sure will want to take a deep breath or two to recover form the yelling.
Yelling, which is probably the most randomly efficient heard in pop music (rivaling Helter Skelter, except the riffs are replaced by… more yelling/singing?), brings Animal Collective's voices to be their undeniable strong point. Over the shoddy, poor, yet strangely functioning instrumentation of their songs, it just took a lot of courage and voicepower to make the whole recipe work, creating one of the most enjoyable-cathartic musical experiences in a while.
Yet, it would appear that this band is sadly inseparable from its status as art-student favorites. There's a varied and numerous catalog of sounds in their repertoire - try to ignore what your friends think and figure out if you actually like anything. If you do, great, you win a plaid flannel star. If you don't forget, this band until they come out with another record (or movie), and repeat.
