Sleds Will Carry Us Tonight

I got Strawberry Jam, the new Animal Collective album. I've listened to it pretty much constantly since Saturday and this is what I want to say about it:

There's a lot about Animal Collective that should make me want to stay away from them: the "communal" vibe, the oftentimes Floydian prog-duction, the sometimes screaming vocals, the fact that they're from fucking Baltimore, etc. But all of this is forgiven when you make an album as good as Strawberry Jam (albeit with a pretty disgusting cover), with its XTC Oranges and Lemons-era-like jauntiness, amusing lyrics, propulsive beats, and all-around catchy-in-a-Billy-Joel-way catchiness. Plus, I've never heard anything quite like them before. I enjoyed their earlier stuff but this album is all-over good and the song For Reverend Green just might be my favorite of the year. Go here to hear the title track. Leaf House is great too.

So my unpaid advertisement is over. Now let's recap the rest of the weekend: rain, Cheebo, poker, rain, Curb, pencil sharpeners.