ANIMAL COLLECTIVE

"MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILLION"

9.6 Rating

[full review]

"...After mastering their last several projects with them, the guys and I discussed the sound and direction of the new one... Brian wanted to make sure it was a physical "punchy" record on the bottom while still maintaining the melody..."

Anticipated to an almost ridiculous degree, no one looking forward to the latest Animal Collective record will be disappointed. Everything that's defined the band to this point has here been refined and amplified into a record that captures the group's quirky and forwardly expressive style.

THE VERY BEST

"WARM HEART OF AFRICA"

8.6 Rating

[full review]

"...I remember getting these songs three to four at a time and liking the variety of sounds and the great vocals; I think it's a great sounding record..."

In drawing lines between older African genres, like highlife, and newer ones, like kwaito, and then linking those to international pop styles of various eras, Warm Heart of Africa pictures a glittering web of connectivity where national and cultural boundaries dissolve. But the simplest and most important thing about the Very Best is that their enthusiasm is contagious.

DIRTY PROJECTORS

"BITTE ORCA"

9.2 Rating

[full review]

"...This was a really fun project to work on; it is one of many projects that Nicolas Vernhes (Rare Book Room) and I have worked on together. Although there are a lot of beautiful melodies on the record, David and Nicolas wanted an edge to the sound...it wa smixed down to analog and digital -- we decided to work off of the analog tape..."

This is the challenging band's best, and certainly most likable, album by a mile. Bitte doesn't actually switch up their formula that much: Intricate (if roomier) full-band arrangements abound, leader Dave Longstreth largely sticks with his clear King Sunny Ade-meets-Jimmy Page guitar acrobatics, and he's still singing his strange, loping songs with his one-of-a-kind voice...to create a triumphant art-pop record destined to please.

VARIOUS ARTISTS (RED HOT COMPILATION)

"DARK WAS THE NIGHT"

8.6 Rating

[full review]

"...Really fun project with a lot of great bands.Compilations records are always challenging, 31 songs from almost 31 different artists... It was fun to work with Aaron and Bryce Dessner (The National), as well as everyone at Red Hot..."

Red Hot's latest all-star charity comp features 31 new and exclusive songs from Arcade Fire, Spoon, David Byrne, My Morning Jacket, Feist, Ben Gibbard, the Decemberists, Conor Oberst, Stuart Murdoch, Yo La Tengo, the New Pornographers, Cat Power, Antony, Bon Iver, and members of Sigur Rós, among many others...it's an interesting cross-section of what's happening in higher-profile indie; it seems that rock is less central than folk music in underground music at the moment...bottom line, there are a lot of excellent songs here.

YACHT

"SEE MYSTERY LIGHTS"

8.5 Rating

[full review]

"...We mastered a handfull of songs that went to vinyl... the Psychic City (Voodoo City) remixes were fun and it's always great to work with the artists of DFA..."

Portland's YACHT officially becomes a duo on their DFA debut, finally evolving into a full-fledged band. See Mystery Lights finds the duo meticulously crafting huge dance cuts and lighthearted pop tracks with equal aplomb, and topping each with ecstatic mantras with a dark, searching core... jamming out one insanely joyous, emphatic, futuristic pop banger after another, just in time for the hottest days of the year.

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE

"FALL BE KIND"

8.9 Rating

[full review]

"...David came in with the new tracks...I listened in the studio and we liked what we heard --the mixes were great--and, as with all their projects we have worked on, a lot of attention was put into how it will translate to vinyl, as well as digital... "

Ten months after the release of Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective return with an EP that finds them still on a creative roll. Like their last three EPs of new material, Fall Be Kind exists in the orbit of the full-length that preceded it but it isn't defined by it. It's got songs written before and during the creation of Merriweather Post Pavilion...it's surprising how listenable and of-a-piece Fall Be Kind is. There's still a sense of gamble with Animal Collective, nothing is fixed-- and that's exactly what makes them an especially exciting band.

DAN DEACON

"BROMST"

8.5 Rating

[full review]

"...Making sure that the sonic character and balance translates to vinyl can be difficult ... Dan's album is very dense with many elements and breaking it into four sides (double LP) really allowed us to cut a deeper and wider grooves which really helps the record shine..."

After his breakthrough, Spiderman of the Rings, Dan Deacon assembled an ensemble of live musicians to flesh out his electronic sound. Here, the palette is richer, the samples smoother, the space larger, the programming slightly less buzzy. If his last record was for dancing on sticky floors, Bromst feels better suited to sleeping, or contemplating the sublime, or anything else that happens mostly between your ears. Though the feel here is quite different from Spiderman, the results are no less fantastic.