M. Brown's profile

Majestic, 11 Jun 2009

This is surely the best album to have been released so far this year. St Vincent's first album was impressive, but her second is way better. Annie Clark's musical vision is profoundly special. She can be simultaneously funky, disturbing and melancholy. Her tracks are put together like sublime leftfield jigsaws. My one quibble would be the brief final piece, which is less than essential. Apart from that, it's quite brilliant. And puts artists like Bjork, Bat For Lashes etc, completely in the shade. There have already been plenty of overhyped albums in the past six months, but this is certainly better than them, and the fact that it will no doubt be generally overlooked, only goes to show the… Read more

Unique and powerful, 1 Jun 2009

This is an album that anyone interested in leftfield/avantgarde music should own. It's not a perfect work, but as debut albums go, it is strikingly accomplished and original. The music at times is odd, but not as odd as some of the lyrics which veer from the oblique to the visionary to the illiterate. Throughout there are some impressive musical touches. Around classically tinged piano pieces, electronics and strings swoop by. The songs are generally unconventional, but occasionally touch base with more familiar female singer/songwriter piano numbers. One of the most beautiful and most accessible numbers is 'The Sun', which through its very simplicity moves and haunts the listener. Spiracle… Read more

Every other band might as well give up, 2 Mar 2009

Yes, this will be the best album released this year, and yes, it's the best album released this decade, and will probably be the best album released this millennium. Obviously it's Animal Collective's finest work to date, and is a work of genius from the first second to the last second. People will probably describe it as the Pet Sounds of this century, but it's arguably better than that description allows. Hype is a dangerous thing of course, but this album will sing long after the hype has faded away. Avoid comparisons to any other group of our time, or the past twenty years, because they are all paltry in comparison. For a start they are all retro, and Animal Collective are defiantly… Read more