The latest move in one of the longest running album teases ever, US group Animal Collective have now launched a free app as part of the lead up to the release of their new album, Painting With.
Launched under the same name, Painting With allows iOS users to create “real time” artwork and collaborate with other users. With features like custom brushes and an option to export sessions to video, users are encouraged to upload to Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #PaintingWith. Submissions are in with a chance of being posted on the band’s website.
The app is also the only place where fans can hear Animal Collective’s latest track Lying In The Grass. The song will not available elsewhere until next Monday, and is expected to be the last single before the full release of the album on February 19.
The band have teased the album since its completion last July, with single and video releases as well as a mysterious airing of the entire record over Thanksgiving. Clues eventually lead fans to Baltimore airport, in the band’s hometown, where Painting With was aired over the loudspeaker through the terminal. The band will also be embarking on an international tour to promote the album over the next few months.
Check out the tutorial video created by the band.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7gXuUgbpg]
Next February, Baltimore’s Animal Collective will release their first album in four years. Following from 2012’s Centipede Hz the new album, Painting With, has been teased by the band since they finished it in July. In a pretty brilliant pr stunt last week, the band had the entire thing played on a loop over the speakers at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, surprising travelers over the very busy Thanksgiving-period in the United States.
Dedicated fans followed cryptic clues posted to social media by the band and associates (including Avey Tare (David Portner)’s cousin, Mat Baetz) until they figured it out, with the band and the official airport twitter confirming that the album was indeed being premiered over the airport’s loud-speakers.
Following the stunt, there is now an official single, a release date, album artwork(s) and a track listing for Painting With. The single, FloriDada is a psych-pop delight, with playful, bouncy beats and layers upon layers of vocals.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Avey Tare said that “Everything seems drenched in reverb these days, and is so distant…In a way, it was a reaction to that.” Geologist (Brian Weitz) added that they had spoken about leaving out any ambient passages in the new material “Even [2009’s] Merriweather Post Pavillion, 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 in and out. No long buildups to get to it, no long outros.”
The album will be available in three different covers, each of which features a painting of one of the band members, done by Brian DeGraw. The deluxe LP edition comes with a bonus 7″ featuring two non-album tracks as well as a “zoetropic turntable slipmat” that “animates when activated in part with a strobe light,” according to Pitchfork.
Artwork for “Painting With”
Painting With is out on February 19th, 2016. FloriDada is available on iTunes when you pre-order.
Tracklisting:
1. FloriDada
2. Hocus Pocus
3. Vertical
4. Lying In The Grass
5. The Burglars
6. Natural Selection
7. Bagels In Kiev
8. On Delay
9. Spilling Guts
10. Summing The Wretch
11. Golden Gal
12. Recycling
https://youtu.be/Iw2ssNnA_Es
Teasing fans with a taste of things to come U.S. quartet Animal Collective have unveiled hypnotic 23 minute jam Michael Remember.
Taken from a rehearsal session for the eagerly anticipated follow-up to 2012 LP Centipede HZ in May, the track pulls together a mesmerising collage of mind-bending and otherworldly sonic experimentation.
As those familiar with the band might expect, the track layers an ever shifting combination of ambient clicks and otherworldly synth elements into an eerily dense electronic soundscape.
The group have also provided some fitting visuals to accompany the new track. Recorded in collaboration with marine biologist Colin Ford the footage depicts Colin, Deakin, and Geologist’s 2014 foray into the luminescent coral reefs of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
The track also comes accompanied by the appropriate suggestion that viewers “turn off the lights and watch on as big a screen as possible.”
Out of all the high-profile side projects associated with Animal Collective Noah Lennox’s Panda Bear is perhaps the most prolific and well known. Lennox has also treated fans to one of his own tracks Swallow At the Hollow. Comprised of an epic collage of sonic material the mix draws from unused material recorded during the sessions for solo album Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper released earlier this year. Perhaps taking a cue from Michael the track also clocks in at around 20 minutes.
With Animal Collective’s album expected to drop in the coming months, these tracks are no doubt the first in a steady flow of material to satiate frenzied fans in the lead up to the long awaited LP.
[vimeo 144051760 w=500 h=281]
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EastWest Studios have posted to their Instagram account that Animal Collective have finished recording their new album. The studio had this to say:
“Today Animal Collective finished recording their new album in Studio 3. We are so proud of them and this album, can’t wait to hear it!!! Cheers!”
Studio 3 has been used by the likes of iconic ’60s bands The Mamas and the Papas and The Beach Boys, right down to contemporary industry heavyweights such as Nas and Frank Ocean.
It will be the band’s first work since 2012’s Centipede Hz, in which time both Panda Bear and Avey Tare have released solo work. The work is currently untitled and will be the 10th full-length studio album.
While we patiently await any more info, here’s something from the amazing Merriweather Post Pavilion to get us a little bit excited.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zol2MJf6XNE]