We don’t know if there’s been a more controversial indie rock band of the last decade than Animal Collective. Ring up any record geek you know and you’ll quickly find that party lines are drawn boldly and with vitriol: Animal Collective are pretentious twats, Animal Collective are geniuses and I will follow them to the ends of the earth, Animal Collective were better when only I knew about them, Animal Collective are trifling college nonsense. We’re not here to pick a straw today, but we will say this: Animal Collective get props for, if nothing else, at least being a lightning rod in today’s music scene, where those kinds of rods are the only ones not in abundance. (While we’re talking rods, we could also use some more Faces-era Rod Stewart around here, but that’s a discussion for another time.) The Collective’s latest record, Strawberry Jam, is clearly the one that will hopefully propel them out of the staid indie scene from whence they came and into that strange Phish/Dead realm, where the nitrous should really enhance the bubbly, anthemic vibes contained herein. (Do not laugh at this trajectory: It’s worked for Wilco, it’s working as we speak for Dr. Dog, and any other band that realizes that their future comes not from record sales but from good old fashioned show-going, loyal-to-death fans.) Because when you get down to it, Animal Collective never were indie rock; all along, the real bead on them was that they are that most elusive strain of parking lot junk — hippie crack. People of Philadelphia and beyond, please enjoy this fine Strawberry Jam.
Click here to launch Animal Collective on The Philebrity Player!
Animal Collective play the Starlight Ballroom on September 29.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 at 3:45 pm.