Send "Avey Tare " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Iguessimfloating |
 We’re back with yet another Reel Time Review, this time for an album many of us have been eager to spin for a long time. Think of a review in real time as a variation on the track-by-track, except our thoughts on each track are published right as they pop into our heads while we listen to the music for the first time. When the review is complete we edit for clarity, grammar, and formatting purposes — no other post-production tinkering is allowed.Today I’ll review, in “reel” time, the upcoming album from Avey Tare: Down There. Laughing Hieroglyphic (6:49) 0:01 – Way to begin a record with completely indecipherable language, although “Laughing Hieroglyphic” seems to make more sense after that little tower-of-babel intro. 0:35 – And I thought the beat that begins Deerhunter’s Halcyon Digest wouldn’t be topped (in the category of badass opening track beats of 2010) but I dunno, Bradford, this sorta makes yours look like an incomplete thought. Sorry, bro. 1:10 – Avey doing his best Avey Tare impression, still great after all these years. He’s got the same pimple-faced oddball delivery that embellishes Conor Oberst’s music, wobbly and unsure but perfectly befitted within the chaos of his art. 3:14 – While the music isn’t really going anywhere, Avey’s giving perhaps the most soulful vocal performance of his career. Would be killer to see this song live. 5:02 – Sing it, brotha, let the world feel that pain of yours. Let it out! 3 Umbrellas (2:43) 0:24 – Avey’s always been able to bring the weird and absurd into Animal Collective’s recordings (not to mention his other solo endeavors), and Down There isn’t falling too far from that trend thus far. “3 Umbrellas” has so much going in that it’s difficult to appreciate on first listen, but subtle touches make it worth exploring. 1:03 – Those little aaa-ooo’s after each line of the first verse, for example. 1:57 – A helpful hint if I can give one: headphones matter, and that’s an understatement....full text |
| Onethirtybpm |
| How do you follow up a massively successful album, both commercially and critically, like Merriweather Post Pavilion? Well, if you’re Dave Portner – or Avey Tare, as he’s best known – you might consider releasing your debut solo album. Reversed and backwards side project with his wife aside, this is Avey’s first album released without at least one of the Animal Collective boys with him. With the ever-shifting nature of Animal Collective’s music being in a constant state of fluctuation, the sound that Tare would adopt on his solo album was the source of much discussion: would it sound like Animal Collective? Or would it sound like something altogether different? Well, these questions can now be answered! In truth, Down There sounds like a mildly successful indulgence for Tare; an album both simultaneously rewarding and alienating, and one that Tare most likely had a lot of fun creating. What this isn’t, however, is a good Animal Collective album: although it doesn’t sound far detached from their recent sampler-based music, it lacks standout tracks like the recent “Summertime Clothes” or “My Girls.” Although nobody would want a carbon-copy repeat of these singles – Animal Collective are all about moving forwards – it’s surprising how rooted in the past Tare appears to be on much of Down There. “3 Umbrellas” sounds like Feels-era Animal Collective with a spot of Strawberry Jam’s “Derek” shining through: all playful melodies and lyric-less vocal harmonies. Avey has sounded remarkably like Panda Bear occasionally in the past, but this is one of the greatest demonstrations of the similarities of their voices. They differ when Avey exerts his more aggressive voice, which is done wonderfully in the album opener, “Laughing Hieroglyphic.” On top of a rattle-snake drum loop there’s a bouncy tune with Tare’s strained voice peeking through. What the song lacks, however, is any particular development: it sounds mostly the same near the end to how it begins, a criticism that can be directed at most of Down There....full text |
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