If you don’t know who Panda Bear is, it’s probably because you’re not a fan of Animal Collective.  I can’t say that I blame you if you’re not.  They’re generally a polarizing bunch, but it’s almost impossible to step outside of the mainstream press and not be aware of their existence.  Regardless, with Animal Collective on hiatus of sorts, fans have been clamoring for the new material Panda Bear has been releasing over the past few months.  He’s released singles in July and September of last year, and now “Last Night at the Jetty” – all leading up to the April 12 release of Tomboy on his own label, Paw Tracks.

When compared to the previous two singles that Panda Bear has released, “Last Night at the Jetty” comes out as almost a lullaby, meandering along, wafting the listener to sleep.  That’s not a bad thing; I can hear hipster mothers singing it to their offspring to quiet them down.  And like most Animal Collective material, the songs are filled with nuance and layers that might be off-putting to some.

You can order the vinyl 7″ for “Last Night at the Jetty” right now through Insound.  It’s limited to 3000 copies; with the single for “You Can Count on Me” selling out in less than 24 hours (although that was limited to 500 copies), you can bet that this one is going quickly as well.

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Panda Bear // Last Night At The Jetty [mp3] from the forthcoming Tomboy

No less an artistic auteur than his Animal Collective cohort Panda Bear, Avey Tare is in the finishing stages of readying his solo debut, entitled Down There. The nine track store is set for release a few short weeks from now on this October 26th, with Animal Collective’s label Paw Tracks behind the work.  ”Lucky 1″ is the first song to see daylight from the new record, and if you check Hype Machine, you’ll see that everyone and their brother have posted the ubiquitous track in the last twenty hours or so.  Why should we be any different?

It isn’t difficult to glean from this offering what Tare (known as Dave Portner to his grandmother) brings to the bountiful table that is Animal Collective’s sound, what with his clear vocal talents along with the ability to generate odd, yet ultimately pleasing sounds to coincide with them, on full display here. I’m anxious to see what else he produces.

Avey Tare – Lucky 1 (mp3) from the forthcoming Down There

We hope that everyone’s holiday weekend is going swimmingly, and that you’re enjoying your time with family, friends, food and fun.  Continuing with that alliteration, we have two identically named songs from two pretty disparate bands – “Fireworks” by Animal Collective and The Tragically Hip.  And while I enjoy both songs pretty equally, I will have to put my personal weight behind The Hip’s track, if only because it’s been around longer, and has soundtracked a few more of my Fourth of Julys.

Stay safe today whatever you’re doing.  Get out and enjoy the summer weather if it’s nice where you are.  Watch some baseball, have a hot dog, go see a parade.  And wash all of them down with good beer.

The Tragically Hip – Fireworks (mp3) from Phantom Power

Animal Collective – Fireworks (mp3) from Strawberry Jam

Most music listeners, astute or otherwise, have at this point heard of and subsequently formed their own opinions regarding Animal Collective. Unlike many others I did not love 2009′s Merriweather Post Pavilion and it is not my favorite Animal Collective record. I prefer 2005′s Feels, which I purchased based on my immense enjoyment of the song I am posting today. It is a fairly divisive song in that conversely, my wife absolutely hates it and has had a contemptuous view of the band for years because of it. Yet I believe her dislike stems only from one particular aspect of the song. Every time we would listen she would groan and lament Avey Tare’s clipped squeels set to banging drums. If you can get past the screams like I can, then this song may work for you.

Animal Collective – Grass (mp3) from Feels

Today we continue our look at some of our favorite EPs from the past year; we’ve got one more of these set for tomorrow as well.

Animal Collective – Fall Be Kind

As if 2009 wasn’t busy enough for AnCo, their Fall Be Kind EP was released at the end of November.  (The EP, interestingly, contains the first licensed sample of The Grateful Dead on “What Would I Want? Sky.”)  It’s signature Animal Collective – space-y, psychedelic rock that’s cementing them a place at laser light shows across the nation twenty years from now when our kids are getting stoned.

Animal Collective – What Would I Want? Sky (mp3) from Fall Be Kind EP EP

Death Cab for Cutie – The Open Door

Since their move away from Barsuk, reviews of Death Cab’s material has gone steadily downward.  It may just be coincidental, but the indie goodwill they’d built up prior seems to have been waning.  With The Open Door, the band released a few of the tracks from the Narrow Stairs sessions.  A little less produced and polished than what ended up making the cut for that album, the songs sound much better.

Death Cab for Cutie – My Mirror Speaks (mp3) from The Open Door EP

Josh Rouse – Valencia

After a quiet couple of years, Josh Rouse took the unconventional route with his recent Valencia EP.  Comprised of the leftovers from his forthcoming LP, Valencia is an excellent pre-cursor to what should be an excellent album.  It’s upbeat, influenced by his current residency in Spain, and warms up the long winter nights with hints of the impending spring.

Josh Rouse – Easy Street (mp3) from Valencia EP

14. Atlas Sound – Logos
Andy : 38 :: Dave : 4

Bradford Cox has perhaps become my favorite indie artist alive today. As the main cog in Deerhunter he presided over one of my favorite albums of the last year in Microcastle, and now under his solo alias Atlas Sound, has created one of my favorite albums of this year. Atlas Sound serves to exercise all of the musical leanings Cox is precluded to but can not, or does not with his usual band.

To that end, as you may have read elsewhere, Cox uses Atlas Sound to experiment with styles of many of his favorite artists today. The center piece of the record, ‘Quick Canal,’ features Stereolab singer Laetitia Sadler, who wrote the lyrics. With Cox’s music accompanying Sadler’s lyrics on the track it emulates an actual Stereolab song. On track ‘Walkabout’ you have a clear highlight. A collaboration with Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear, of solo and Animal Collective fame, the song is a damn near perfect pop tune with just about the catchiest keyboards you will ever hear. If not for Lennox’s band creating one of the great songs of the decade in ‘My Girls’, ‘Walkabout’ could have been in the same discussion, and I feel it should be regardless. The styles change from track to track and feel as if Cox is just trying to see if he can make a song that would fit on a record of one of his favorite artists, yet the tracks never feel as if he is not staying true to his own style. To me, that is the mark of a truly great artist.

Atlas Sound – Shelia (mp3) from Logos

13. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Andy : 16 :: Dave : 24

Animal Collective has been an acquired taste for me.  I’ve never been an immediate fan of their albums, although I can recognize the genius contained therein.  Generally, it’s a single song that grabs me – “Fireworks” from Strawberry Jam, for example – and the remainder of the album falls by the wayside.

It’s not been entirely different for me with Merriweather Post Pavilion.  Heralded from its release in January as a contender for album of the year, my focus was immediately on “My Girls” (like everyone else), and didn’t come back to the remainder of the album until much more recently.  Named for an outdoor music venue in Maryland, Animal Collective wanted the album to be worthy of “an amazing outdoor experience.”  Upon hearing the result, it’s obvious that they’ve reached their goal.

Merriweather Post Pavilion is vibrant and colorful – filled with dreamy neo-psychedelia.  It’s their most easily accessible album; but while it may lack some of the edge of their previous efforts, the band makes sure to retain their knack for filling the expanse with as many idiosyncracies as possible.  A more listener-friendly, inclusive Animal Collective is equally undeniable, and arguably better.

Animal Collective – Guys Eyes (mp3) from Merriweather Post Pavilion

I’ve been trying to come up with the proper words for a fatherhood post. There are things I would like to say about it, but at the same time I am a fairly private person and don’t wish to have everyone that reads this know exactly how I feel. So I will be brief. If all this gushiness confuses you and you don’t know what this project is about, go here.

–

It is amazing how you know that something is coming because you wait 40 weeks for it, but then that thing is here and it is a person. An actual person is suddenly there, and that person has been growing for a while but you can’t fathom that because it hasn’t actually been there in front of you. Something from nothing that you just immediately love. And how do you love this person, so intensely, right away when it normally takes so much time to learn to love someone? Then you think that this was perfect genetic timing because if she had been created at any other time it wouldn’t be this exact person that you already love so much even though you haven’t known her for more than a day. And could you even imagine life, even after mere minutes, without this exact human being a part of your life? Life is incredibly fickle, but at moments such as child birth it can be perfect. And that is all I have to write about that.

75. My Morning Jacket – I Will Sing You Songs (mp3) from It Still Moves (9:16) [Time Remaining: 689:27]

When thinking of a song that my mother and I could dance to at my wedding, this song was always near the top of my choices. I’ve interpreted the lyrics to be that of a parent singing to his/her child in an effort to smooth over a rough patch because of something bad that has transpired. I know firsthand, and I’m sure nearly everyone does, that to child events that matter little in the long run can be devastating in the present. I envision myself being the type of parent who will always want my children to know that things can and will get better. Not to shield them from everything and prevent the bad, though I will try my darnedest, but to try to accentuate the positive and that things will always change and get better. If your parents can’t do that for you, who will?

76. Animal Collective – My Girls (mp3) from Merriweather Post Pavilion (5:40) [Time Remaining: 683:47]

“There isn’t much that I feel I need
A solid soul and the blood I bleed
But with a little girl, and by my spouse,
I only want a proper house”

Perhaps it’s early for this particular song to be included in this project, but I don’t believe so. I had this song on repeat way back at the beginning of the year even before I knew my wife was pregnant. Once I found out she was with child, the song took on a completely different meaning for me. Then, when I found out two weeks ago that it was actually a girl that had been hiding in there for so long, this song became indispensable. I fucking love it. It says the things you can’t imagine not feeling as a father.

Mired in a heat wave around here, this week’s Smörgåsbord is designed to be light and easy to digest.  You don’t want to be weighed down when it’s hot like this. Find a fan and get yourself a cold drink to wash down the goodness – starting with a cover I hadn’t heard before this past week, an even funkier remix of one of our favorite songs of the year, and a remix from everyone’s favorite collective.  Not too much bread; you’ll spoil the rest of the meal.

Hot Chip & Peter Gabriel – Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Vampire Weekend cover) (mp3)

Empire of the Sun – Walking On a Dream (Kids at the Bar Remix) (mp3)

Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes (L.D. Remix) (mp3) from the Summertime Clothes single

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable weekend.

Here’s a look at what’s being released this week in the world of music.  There is also a brand new Marcy Playground album being released, and a glut of Kris Kristofferson re-releases.

As always, there are a few tracks after the list of albums.  Have a great week.

Against Me – The Original Cowboy
All Time Low – Nothing Personal
Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes (Vinyl Single)
Drive By Truckers – Live from Austin Texas
Faster Pusssycat – Front Row for the Donkey Show
Kid Cudi – Make Her Say (Single)
La Roux – La Roux
Maxwell – BLACKsummer’s Night
Oneida – Rated O
Owen – The Seaside EP
Son Volt – American Central Dust
Stellastarr* – Civilized
The Minus 5 – Killingsworth
The Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns
Those Darlins – Those Darlins
We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls

Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes (mp3) from Merriweather Post Pavilion

Owen – Skin and Bones (mp3) from The EP

Kid Cudi – Make Her Say (mp3) from Make Her Say [Single]

We posted a quick note about this on our Twitter feed, but thought we should pose it here:

There seems to be three contenders for Album of the Year so far, with an mp3 from each:

Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks (mp3) from Veckatimest

Animal Collective – My Girls (mp3) from Merriweather Post Pavilion

Dirty Projectors – Cannibal Resource (mp3) from Bitte Orca

Your thoughts?  Should something else be considered?