I'm still flummoxed by the rise and rise of Animal Collective.
Don't get me wrong - I fucking love the guys. Ive been hooked ever since Sung Tongs. Not all their albums hit me up the right way (Im looking at you Danse Manatee), but their sound is definitely their own, and to immerse yourself in it is to enter a world far more surreal, otherworldly beautiful and completely fucked up than Avatar could ever lay claim to.
Nevertheless, their skyrocketing popularity after the mammoth success of Merriweather Post Pavilion had, and still has, me scratching my noodle. Still, even without an appropriate answer, it has been massively influential in the sounds that are now allowed to permeate the airwaves in the past 12 months, and for every miss there is a well qualified eclectic hit. Grizzly Bear got their leg up due to the AC shimmer; another small band that might find themselves getting that helpful hand is Brooklyn trio Keepaway. If their single Yellow Wings (from their Baby Style EP put out through Lefse Records) is anything to go by, we should all count ourselves lucky - for although the tribal drumming, the warbled soarings of singer Nick Naumann's vocals, the slithering whisps of guitar breaks all denote a clear influence, there is a sense that Keepaway are a band that people will more readily get. And that is a good thing. The lyrics (I think I finally know what I want/I want to be in two places at once) and the inherent fuzziness that emanates from every beat and groove will have many a happy listener dance around in their redundancy meeting, blissfully skip in front of passing buses, and bop furiously as they steer their aircraft into devious volcanic ash clouds.
In short - when the world comes to an end, Keepaway will allow all and sundry to not give a shit.
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