Painting With
Painting With is the tenth studio album by American experimental pop band Animal Collective, released on February 19, 2016. The album is a follow-up to Centipede Hz, features contributions from John Cale and Colin Stetson, it peaked at No. 46 on the Billboard 200. Three singles were issued: "FloriDada", "Lying in the Grass", "Golden Gal". A companion EP, The Painters, was released the following year. For Painting With, the band's line-up consists of Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist, the same trio which participated for Merriweather Post Pavilion. Deakin, who had rejoined the band in November 2010 for Centipede Hz, toured with them from 2011 to 2013, is absent. After touring for Centipede Hz, the band felt stressed out, retreated to individual side-projects. David Portner formed Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks, Noah Lennox recorded his fifth solo album Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper, Brian Weitz took care of his newborn daughter for the latter half of 2014. In early 2015, Lennox confirmed that the band would be returning to the studio to record a new album, while Portner intimated in April: "Yeah, over the past few months I've been writing some songs.
I think we're starting to have a group of songs that we're thinking about recording." In May 2015, Animal Collective began writing and rehearsing new material at Drop of Sun Studios in Asheville, North Carolina and EastWest Studios, Hollywood. The band recorded in the Studio 3 room at EastWest, the same room used by Brian Wilson for the Beach Boys' albums Pet Sounds and Smile; the album was subsequently mixed at Gang Recording Studio in France with Sonny DiPerri. Portner called it "incredible" to record in EastWest: "You understand that there is an art that goes into building rooms like that. It's no surprise. I think Bill Putnam was a genius." Weitz recalls that while at EastWest: "The guys would deliver... they'd be like,'This was used in Planet of the Apes. These metal rods that make these singing tones' … they're like'These are from the Poltergeist soundtrack." Guest appearances include John Cale, who recorded a drone part for the track "Hocus Pocus". Portner explained: "My sister has been working on the visual side of John’s more recent live shows.
She discovered that he was a fan of our music, which made us psyched. We had this part that we just couldn’t nail or get to sound right in “Hocus Pocus,” and I thought we should have someone attempt to do it with a live instrument; because of the drone-y string sound we wanted to achieve, we all thought John would be great for it." The album's color palette is dominated by modular synthesizers and an array of percussion instruments borrowed from the collection of studio drummer Emil Richards. In contrast to their previous work, Animal Collective decided to eliminate the reverb effects and drawn-out musical passages. Portner commented: "Everything seems drenched in reverb these days, is so distant. In a way, it was a reaction to that." Weitz added: "We talked about no ambient. Merriweather Post Pavilion, people were saying was our poppiest record up to that point, but there still were like long, drawn-out passages of drone. With this one we were just like out. No long buildups to get to it, no long outros.
We talked about, our Ramones record." Lennox elaborated with a comparison to the first Ramones album: There was this idea of wanting to do something with short songs, with a homogenous energy to the record.... Not that we expected the music to sound like that, but we wanted to do something where the first song revs up the engine, it kind of just cruises after that. We didn’t want to throw in some ethereal moment. We wanted to do something; the group drew on ideas of the prehistoric, such as cave paintings and dinosaurs, which were used to influence the songwriting process and the recording sessions themselves, " slow jams for a set of songs inspired by more elemental pleasures... artists who could make a lot happen in a short amount of time," writes Jeremy Gordon. On July 15, 2015, EastWest announced that the band had finished recording their new album, the follow-up to Centipede Hz. On November 25, the album premiered over the speakers of Baltimore-Washington International Airport, played on loop until the evening.
Using Sony's Music Track ID system, it was discovered that the airport recordings belonged to an unreleased 12-track Animal Collective album entitled Painting With. A representative of the band responded with "no comment today", while Portner confirmed that "FloriDada", the impending single from the album, would be released on November 30. On November 30, "FloriDada" was released and the album and track listing were revealed; the same day, both the CD versions of the album were made available for pre-order. Upon pre-ordering the vinyl, users received an immediate download of "FloriDada" as well as an eventual 7" containing two new tracks "Gnip Gnop" and "Hounds of Bairro". On January 28, 2016, a promotional video was released to youtube revealing a new "Painting With" app for iOS; this app allowed early access to the song "Lying in the Grass" for the first time. The album has three distinct covers painted by Brian DeGraw which individually depict Portner and Weitz. Painting With received positive reviews from contemporary music critics.
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69, based on 36 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews"
Amazon rainforest
The Amazon rainforest known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7,000,000 km2; this region includes territory belonging to nine nations. The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60% of the rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, with minor amounts in Venezuela, Bolivia, Guyana and France. States or departments in four nations contain "Amazonas" in their names; the Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, comprises the largest and most biodiverse tract of tropical rainforest in the world, with an estimated 390 billion individual trees divided into 16,000 species. The name Amazon is said to arise from a war Francisco de Orellana fought with the Tapuyas and other tribes; the women of the tribe fought alongside the men. Orellana derived the name Amazonas from the Amazons of Greek mythology, described by Herodotus and Diodorus.
The rainforest formed during the Eocene era. It appeared following a global reduction of tropical temperatures when the Atlantic Ocean had widened sufficiently to provide a warm, moist climate to the Amazon basin; the rainforest has been in existence for at least 55 million years, most of the region remained free of savanna-type biomes at least until the current ice age, when the climate was drier and savanna more widespread. Following the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the wetter climate may have allowed the tropical rainforest to spread out across the continent. From 66–34 Mya, the rainforest extended as far south as 45°. Climate fluctuations during the last 34 million years have allowed savanna regions to expand into the tropics. During the Oligocene, for example, the rainforest spanned a narrow band, it expanded again during the Middle Miocene retracted to a inland formation at the last glacial maximum. However, the rainforest still managed to thrive during these glacial periods, allowing for the survival and evolution of a broad diversity of species.
During the mid-Eocene, it is believed that the drainage basin of the Amazon was split along the middle of the continent by the Purus Arch. Water on the eastern side flowed toward the Atlantic, while to the west water flowed toward the Pacific across the Amazonas Basin; as the Andes Mountains rose, however, a large basin was created. Within the last 5–10 million years, this accumulating water broke through the Purus Arch, joining the easterly flow toward the Atlantic. There is evidence that there have been significant changes in Amazon rainforest vegetation over the last 21,000 years through the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent deglaciation. Analyses of sediment deposits from Amazon basin paleolakes and from the Amazon Fan indicate that rainfall in the basin during the LGM was lower than for the present, this was certainly associated with reduced moist tropical vegetation cover in the basin. There is debate, over how extensive this reduction was; some scientists argue that the rainforest was reduced to small, isolated refugia separated by open forest and grassland.
This debate has proved difficult to resolve because the practical limitations of working in the rainforest mean that data sampling is biased away from the center of the Amazon basin, both explanations are reasonably well supported by the available data. More than 56% of the dust fertilizing the Amazon rainforest comes from the Bodélé depression in Northern Chad in the Sahara desert; the dust contains phosphorus, important for plant growth. The yearly Sahara dust replaces the equivalent amount of phosphorus washed away yearly in Amazon soil from rains and floods. Up to 50 million tonnes of Sahara dust per year are blown across the Atlantic Ocean. NASA Video. NASA's CALIPSO satellite has measured the amount of dust transported by wind from the Sahara to the Amazon: an average 182 million tons of dust are windblown out of the Sahara each year, at 15 degrees west longitude, across 1,600 miles over the Atlantic Ocean at 35 degrees West longitude at the eastern coast of South America, 27.7 million tons of dust fall over the Amazon basin, 132 million tons of dust remain in the air, 43 million tons of dust are windblown and falls on the Caribbean Sea, past 75 degrees west longitude.
CALIPSO uses a laser range finder to scan the Earth's atmosphere for the vertical distribution of dust and other aerosols. CALIPSO tracks the Sahara-Amazon dust plume. CALIPSO has measured variations in the dust amounts transported – an 86 percent drop between the highest amount of dust transported in 2007 and the lowest in 2011. A possibility causing the variation is the Sahel, a strip of semi-arid land on the southern border of the Sahara; when rain amounts in the Sahel are higher, the volume of dust is lower. The higher rainfall could make more vegetation grow in the Sahel, leaving less sand exposed to winds to blow away. Based on archaeological evidence from an excavation at Caverna da Pedra Pintada, human inhabitants first settled in the Amazon region at least 11,200 years ago. Subsequent development led to late-prehistoric settlements along the periphery of the forest by AD 1250, which induced alterations in the fores
People (Animal Collective EP)
People is an EP by Animal Collective released in October 2006. The first three songs were recorded during the band's Feels sessions in 2005, while the live version of "People" was recorded on tour in March 2005 just prior to the sessions
Fireworks (Animal Collective song)
"Fireworks" is the second single from Animal Collective's 2007 album, Strawberry Jam, released November 5, 2007 by Domino Records. Rather than including a B-side, the reverse side of the record is an etching; the video for the song premiered in July 2007. During the tours of 2005 and 2006 this song was known as "Allman Vibe"; the song was listed at No. 35 on Pitchfork Media's top 500 songs of the 2000s. When performed live between 2007 and 2009, the song stretched upwards of ten minutes with the addition of elements of either "Essplode" or "Lablakely Dress", two songs from the band's earlier album Danse Manatee; this song appeared in the Channel 4 drama series Skins in 2007, in an episode of the third season of HBO series In Treatment in 2010. Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished
Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished is the first collaborative studio album by Avey Tare and Panda Bear, released in August 2000. It was retroactively classified as the debut album by experimental pop band Animal Collective; the album was first released as a CD on the band's own Animal label with only 2000 copies produced. It was reissued as a double CD along with Danse Manatee in 2003 on FatCat Records, on limited edition vinyl through FatCat. Both UK and US pressings used DMM mastering. All of the songs were written by Avey Tare from 1997 to 1999, except for "Penny Dreadfuls", written when he was 16 years old; the process was inspired by his move from Baltimore to New York, which he described as a "dark time" with Brian Weitz being his only friend in the city. Portner and Panda Bear recorded the acoustic guitar and the drums live onto a Tascam 48 eight-track reel-to-reel in Portner's bedroom in Maryland during the summer of 1999; the piano songs along with overdubs were recorded in Portner's parents' living room.
Portner wanted the guitar to be "jangled to create this fluttering feeling". An old Roland SH-2 synthesizer, which Weitz's brother found stored in a camp, was used for the bass sounds; the drums were played with brushes to emulate the albums Ocean Forever Changes. Avey Tare would dictate. Other sounds, such as the majority of "Spirit They've Vanished", were created through the use of feedback loops. Future Animal Collective member Deakin helped with the promotion and sent packages to record companies. Portner recalled, "Southern Records called us back and said ‘Is there something wrong with this? This music makes our dogs run out of the room’!" The original cover art was found by Avey Tare. The art was discovered to be an illustration by Dorothy P. Lathrop from the book Stars To-Night: Verses New and Old for Boys and Girls by Sara Teasdale; the album was intended to be released under Avey Tare's name alone, but he was so impressed by Panda Bear's drumming that he added Panda's name on the front cover.
This method of choosing monikers for Animal Collective's recorded output—naming themselves after who played on each respective album—would last until 2003's Campfire Songs. Included with the original release was an insert with the following story: The title is a quote uttered by Mr. Magoo in Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol. There has been some confusion about the album's track listing. On the original, limited release, the untitled track #3 was not listed along with the other songs. Since the track listing gave no corresponding track numbers to the rest of the songs, it was incorrectly assumed that tracks #3-9 were titled as tracks #4-10 are here, that "Alvin Row" had no title; this error appears in nearly every review of Spirit following its initial release in 2000. The 2003 FatCat reissue cleared up this misunderstanding by numbering the songs and leaving a blank space for track #3. Avey Tare – vocals, acoustic guitar, synthesizers, tapes Panda Bear – drums, "perfect percussion"
Honeycomb / Gotham
"Honeycomb" and "Gotham" are two tracks released on a double A-side single in advance of Animal Collective's ninth studio album, Centipede Hz. It was announced via the band's official website and was made available for free streaming on May 6, 2012; the physical single was put up for presale on Domino's online store, with an MP3 download being available simultaneously. Neither of the songs were released on Centipede Hz; the single has been referred to as Centipede Hz's EP, or accompanying songs, as they were outtakes from the Centipede Hz recording sessions.
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2008 and held on one Saturday every April and every "Black Friday" in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fans and thousands of independent record stores across the world. A number of records are pressed for Record Store Day, with a list of releases for each country, are only distributed to shops participating in the event; the event remains headquartered there. Record Store Day has official international organizers in the United Kingdom, France, The Netherlands, Italy, Mexico, Australia and Poland. Pitched as an idea to create an event similar to Free Comic Book Day by Bull Moose Music's Chris Brown and Criminal Record's Eric Levin, the concept for Record Store Day was created during a brainstorming session at a meeting of independent record store owners in Baltimore, Maryland. Record Store Day was founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave, is now celebrated at stores around the world, with hundreds of recording and other artists participating in the day by making special appearances, performances and greets with their fans, the holding of fund raisers for community non-profits, the issuing of special vinyl and CD releases along with other promotional offerings to mark the occasion.
Each store holds its own event for the day. Although Record Store Day, the day, only occurs once a year, Record Store Day, the organization, provides promotions and other opportunities for stores throughout the year, maintaining a website, social media and other means of promulgating its views about the value of independent record stores. Record Store Day is managed on a day-to-day basis by the Dept. of Record Stores, along with the Coalition of Independent Music Stores and the Alliance of Independent Media Stores. Universal Music's sales manager, Marc Fayd’Herbe, has described Record Store Day as "the single best thing that has happened" for independent record shops; the 2013 event was credited with the highest U. S. vinyl sales, the 2014 edition resulted in independent retailers recording the highest percentage of physical album sales, since the SoundScan system was introduced in 1991. In their 2015 Libera awards, the American Association of Independent Music awarded Record Store Day its "Marketplace Ally" award.
Record Store Day 2016 produced the biggest week of sales for the vinyl LP format since the introduction of SoundScan. The event has been criticized for catering to record collectors, rather than casual music fans, delaying the release of non-affiliated records by monopolizing the capacity of record pressing plants. Major labels have been accused of hijacking the event, the policy of shops being obliged to buy on a no-return basis has been criticized, along with many of the limited releases being re-sold online within hours, at inflated prices. Metallica kicked off the event at Rasputin Music in Mountain View, California, on April 19, 2008. There were 10 special Record Store Day releases in the first year, including releases by Death Cab For Cutie, R. E. M. Stephen Malkmus, Vampire Weekend, The Teenagers, Black Kids, Jason Mraz. 300 stores launched Record Store Day in the United States, including Waterloo Records, School Kids Records, Vintage Vinyl. English singer-songwriter Billy Bragg met Record Store Day co-founder Michael Kurtz in an airport and agreed to help kick off Record Store Day in the United Kingdom with a special live appearance.
The first organized involvement by UK stores included Piccadilly Records, Jumbo Records, Sister Ray, Rough Trade, Rapture and Avalanche Records. The second annual Record Store Day was celebrated on Saturday, April 18, 2009 with about 85 special releases and about 500 artist appearances, including those by Slayer, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Iron & Wine, The Stooges, MC5, Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, The Eagles of Death Metal. Wilco made a surprise appearance on Record Store Day @ the Disc Exchange in Tennessee. Eagles of Death Metal made an appearance at Rhino Records. Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced that the City of New York recognized Record Store Day as a citywide event and the judges on American Idol talked about their favorite records in honor of Record Store Day in the episode of American Idol prior to the event. 95% of the special releases made for Record Store Day were for the USA. The third annual Record Store Day took place on Saturday, April 17, 2010.
The official ambassador for the event was Joshua Homme. The official book of the event was Last Shop Standing: Whatever Happened to Record Shops? by Graham Jones. KCRW's Gary Calamar and Phil Gallo released their self-published book, "Record Store Days", about independent record stores, with artist quotes provided by www.recordstoreday.com used throughout the book, a chapter devoted to Record Store Day. NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg and New York City once again honored the day. Anything Anything with Rich Russo released a vinyl album of local bands performing on his radio show and organized a bus tour visiting New York and New Jersey record stores. Several artists made in-store appearances to mark the event: The Smashing Pumpkins
