Classicism in an Age of Empirical Synth

A week or so ago I was reading twitter and I ran across something Robert Ashley said, "It's interesting that their(Animal Collective) influence is about sound more than a particular set of chords or a way to dress, unlike say Weezer in the 90's." Which I promptly agreed with immediately, but it got me to thinking about the subject harder for the next few days. In the time Animal Collective's Today's Supernatural which only lead to more contemplating. From the late aughts onto now, the distinctive sound of Animal Collective's music can be heard everywhere. In the 90's, Weezer's success could be also seen as the successful creation of a brandscape by MTV and the major labels. Inversely with the rise digital downloads, both illicit and legal, you see the dividing line between 'songs are upstaging performance pieces' growing. If you haven't listened to that 99% Invisible Episode, you should, Jon Brion gives a short musicology course on the difference between songs that are easily transmutable, say in a cover between songs that are about a specific performances.

Anecdotal evidence in my opinion of this can be seen by just adding up the number of Skillrex covers on youtube compared to Animal Collective covers. In terms of popularity Skillrex and Animal Collective are both comparable, but Skillrex has about 926% more search results in terms of covers on youtube. Animal Collective while being a band primarily about the performance pieces, they're making a much more lasting impression than Skillrex by having the 'sound' of their music proliferate in other bands. The democratization process inherent, unlike say a band like Fishbone, is actually working to reign in the chaos of their music. Overtime their releases have stayed eclectic, but become proportional and effectively more legible. Some might say the slow shift towards approachability detracts from the experimental nature of the past releases by Animal Collective, but to me it just shows they're coming of age. They've developed an iconic sound, now all they're elaborating on that sound by making it more accessible.

That brings me to my favorite album of the year(so far), which is I Come to Shanghai's Eternal Life Vol II. The band only has two members, Sam Frigard and Robert Ashley, which are obviously influenced by Animal Collective. The album to me does two things exceptionally well. For one, it flows exceptionally well collectively and while it's peaks do not reach my favorite album last years peaks, overall sounds great. Secondly, the vocals are really on point with this record. At times, you got Robert leading vocals in a way reminding me of a passive aggressive Stevie Nicks cruising on less cocaine and more good vibes, which in the end with any record, what more do you need to chill too?