i've been absolutely obsessed with animal collective over the past few days, probably more than i have ever been. and i think it basically started after listening to a few new songs the group recorded live for the bbc. then after ingesting those songs repeatedly i proceeded to find the best quality bootleg i could from their latest tour. altogether, i'm completely floored. i've always been a fan of their stuff, but hearing them live is a revelation (i wish i could say i 'heard' them in seattle but unfortunately the sound was more or less inaudible). 

all of these new dimensions open up to me when listening to them live. i think especially apparent is a sinister playfulness i don't really get from their records. sure, the band is often defined as playful, but live you feel as though they're deliberately taunting their audience, making them uncomfortable. hearing them live it makes sense to me why so little of their current tour included recognizable songs. i first attributed that desire to keeping the ball rolling so to speak. but i also think it's a way of antagonizing the audience, something i think is largely absent from indie music these days if not pop music in general.

hearing them live made me realize why such a plethora of bootlegs exist of their shows. bands like that always used to irritate me, the whole phish/grateful dead paradigm kind of makes me sick. and it's funny that animal collective's fanbase has been compared to both bands. but in this case, i think their reputation as a live band deserves this recognition. cause unlike the utter banality of jam bands (whose brilliance and uniqueness i'd wager is more attributable to controlled substances than anything else), animal collective actually reveal something completely different live than what they do on record. they're one of the few bands i could think of who could put out a live album for legitimate reasons rather than a mere payday or lazy handout to their fans.