Animal Collective – Brother Sport, 10″ Vinyl Giveaway

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When I initially heard “Brothersport,” before the rest of Merriweather Post Pavillion had been released, I was hooked for about a minute. But then that wacky noise kept whining; the song went into some weird place I didn’t expect. I quickly dismissed it as “typical Animal Collective,” which, until this year, I had a hard time getting into.

Then Merriweather came out. I revisited the song. And revisited it again. And again. And again. Until I realized it might just be the best track of 2009.

Now that “Brother Sport” has actually been released as a single, I can gush about it as much as I want.

It actually starts off with one of Animal Collective’s most accessible, catchy refrains to date. “Open up your, open up your, open up your throat,” sing Avey Tare and Panda Bear, bouncing off each other as quickly as the springy noises in “Lion In A Coma.” It’s all on top of a simple guitar hook and the usual AC “whoops” and “whaps.”

Then comes the kicker: you’ve got to open up your throat “MATT!” The song explodes. “Support your BROTHER sports BROTHER” ping-pong Tare and Bear back and forth as “Brother Sport” evolves into layers of sound building and building until your mind is about to explode.

And finally, to end this brilliant, epic track, AC close out with some more afro-beats, sing-along lyrics, and a sense of pure, simple, unadulterated joy that is so perfectly conveyed throughout MPP. “Keep it real, keep it real, shout out.”

The genre is undefinable. The sound is totally original. The result is something truly remarkable, a song that rightfully closes out the best album of 2009, and perhaps the decade, on an unbelievably high (and fun) note.

PMA is giving away the newly released 10″ single featuring “Brother Sport” and the ten-minute live opus, “Bleeding.”

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by Adam Offitzer on November 21, 2009 ‡ 0 reactions