You’ve surely heard the news: Reigning kings of rock
Radiohead have released In Rainbows, their first album in four years. But
Animal Collective, an experimental
four-piece, also released Strawberry Jam earlier this year. It’s a psych-folk,
ambient-rock manifesto to challenge the throne.
In Rainbows, a romantic and expertly thorough study of
Radiohead’s musical capacity, finds the band at the peak of its user-friendly
pop tenure with nowhere else to go. Strawberry Jam rises up against In
Rainbows’ status quo with compelling and accessible fringe-pop, shaped by
echoing psychedelic percussion, heart-stopping melody, earthy textures and
resonant dissonance; Animal Collective topple the antiquated ’90s-rock
hegemony, reclaiming popular music with innovative composition and sonic
experimentation that hasn’t been felt since Radiohead did the same.
As Strawberry Jam unfolds on opener “Peacebone,” Geologist
(Brian Weitz) massages a formless wall of electric static into a steady 3/4, to
which Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) adds a shifting, tribal drumbeat and Deakin
(Josh Dibb) contributes a fuzzy throb of bass. Over all of this, Avey Tare
(Dave Portner) lends vocals that slip octaves in a heartbeat, then explode into
screaming fervor while the entire weight of the song rests on its soft
melody. Floating past “Chores,” an
expansive tribal chant that leaves listeners in a graveyard haze, we arrive at
the contemporary epic “For Reverend Green,” which slowly builds over a
shifting, indecipherable time signature, pushed along by reverberating guitars,
a doo-wop “Woo-oo-oo-oo” and throbbing floor toms, only to tear its way
roughshod through Tare’s chest, his falsetto crescendoing into fervorous Black
Flag–style yelps that echo the song’s title. It is impossible not to be carried
away by Tare’s tidal wave of enthusiasm, and “Fireworks” rides this crest into
booming explosions of light, sound and hi-hats.
This three-song trifecta at the heart of Strawberry Jam is
one of the most powerful moments in recorded music, ever.
Sure, “15 Step” is the perfect acid-techno-R&B antidote
to Hail to the Thief, Jonny Greenwood’s guitar rocks “Bodysnatchers” all the
way to the bank, and the call-and-response percussive rhythm/lilting melody of
“Videotape” gets me weak in the knees, but the gold standard isn’t at the end
of In Rainbows. All of its gimmicks are typical — if perfected — Radiohead,
whether a glitchy electronic homage to Kid A, a gentle melody that’s been
bouncing around their live sets since Amnesiac, or Thom Yorke’s soft
hum-over-violin bit on the orchestral “Faust Arp,” straight off Thief.
Instead, Animal Collective interprets disparate noise, from
hazy tape hisses and processed echoes to Brian Wilson-esque choruses and Henry
Rollins’ emotive growl, crafting cohesive pop songs with an astonishing novelty
and compelling immediacy.
Speaking of terrific albums, and to further draw parallel
the old and new rulers of outsider rock, 2007 also saw the release of the
electro-looping, lo-fi Beach-Boys amalgam Person Pitch, Panda Bear’s third solo
album (From which “Derek,” Strawberry Jam’s closing tune, appropriates). The
Eraser, Thom Yorke’s recent solo album, is essentially a repetitive exercise in
self-indulgence — it’s got a few decent moments but nothing in the way of
innovation. Person Pitch, however, is a serious contender for best release of
the year (keeping in mind, of course, that Strawberry Jam is competing in the
“of forever” bracket).
So, Strawberry Jam is to In Rainbows as Person Pitch is to
The Eraser, — or really, as HOLY SHIT, WHAT IS THIS, I HAVE NEVER HEARD
SOMETHING SO COMPELLING IN MY LIFE is to pretty damn good, but in the end, just
more Radiohead.
I mean come on, guys, do we really need another Radiohead
album? Did The Bends not come out when we were in second grade? Seriously.
