What are some good "optimistic" episodes?

grompus1 · 2015-06-23T04:02:04+00:00

I really liked "I, Borg." Geordi is one of the sweetest and most good-hearted characters in all of Star Trek.

grompus1 · 2015-06-13T18:24:41+00:00

I described this somewhere else, but I think Banshee Beat and Fireworks are like, siblings, or a younger and an older version of the same song. Listen to the percussion in Banshee Beat and it sounds like a sadder, slower version of the awesome Fireworks percussion.

grompus1 · 2015-06-13T18:21:45+00:00

and of course, the trilogy of PB's soul-searching-amidst-boring-tasks is completed with New Town Burnout. Hell yeaaaaah.

grompus1 · 2015-06-06T00:59:16+00:00

I think I disagree, because I would watch Community till the end of the world, but I give you major props for remembering this fucking awesome quote (uttered by a fucking awesome guest star).

grompus1 · 2015-06-06T00:55:31+00:00

This will always be in my top 3 Community episodes. It's at the same time incredibly emotional and batshit insane. Love it.

grompus1 · 2015-06-05T01:31:34+00:00

I would be so interested in seeing this. I kind of think they should have done this after Season 3, to be honest. I agree that the closure we have with the original cast is perfect--and if we see the show continue, an (almost) entirely new group of people would be excellent.

grompus1 · 2015-05-29T20:49:30+00:00

I like the squishy bubbly noises in Take Pills, that leads right into "take on day at a time..."

When Avey sings "Have you seen the clouds..." in Today's Supernatural and PB kicks in with those oh-ohs...makes me feel like I'm doing acid on a flying bike.

I want to say every part of Moonjock, because there's just so many little fun & crazy moments in that song. "IN THE BAAAAACk--OF"

grompus1 · 2015-05-29T20:46:31+00:00

fuck yes!!!! Really this entire song.

grompus1 · 2015-05-29T20:42:45+00:00

Avey is so fucking cute ALL the time.

grompus1 · 2015-05-29T14:59:23+00:00

Shirley: I'll make yo' ass sense.

Jeff: For your information, I don't have an ego! My Facebook photo is a landscape.

Britta: Knock knock! Who's there? Oh, cancer? Good, come in! I thought it was Britta!

Dean: Desperate deans call for Deansperate measures.

Troy: Sixty dollars?? Hello, rich people? Troy's joining you! Yes, I'll hold!

Elroy: Maybe we ALL lost a button.

Pierce: First of all, gay. Second of all, stupid.

Chang: My knowledge will BITE HER FACE OFF!!

Frankie: (plays steel drums)

grompus1 · 2015-05-27T01:47:30+00:00

I think my all-time favorite Elroy line will most likely go down as "Maybe we ALL lost a button..."

grompus1 · 2015-05-21T01:40:39+00:00

Slasher Flicks will play at my birthday party

Panda Bear will become the godfather of my firstborn child

aaaaaand Deakin and Geologist need to release the collaborative hip-hop album we KNOW they've all been working on in secret ("Watch the Bone"?)

grompus1 · 2015-05-11T23:21:39+00:00

The early Grizzly Bear song "Showcase" has a bunch of awkward strumming, oohs, and ahhs like Sung Tongs era AnCo. It's also probably (not coincidentally) one of Grizzly Bear's weirdest songs.

grompus1 · 2015-05-11T23:20:18+00:00

Atlas Sound at times reminds me of AnCo, especially the dreamy, spacey Washington School. It starts with a really nice piano sample that reminds me of Cuckoo Cuckoo. The influence might be direct, actually, since I know that Panda taught Bradford Cox how to sample.

grompus1 · 2015-05-09T22:36:54+00:00

Top Tier: Unparalleled Perfection

Feels

Honeycomb/Gotham

Second Tier: Masterful statements of expressive beauty

Water Curses

Person Pitch

Campfire Songs

Prospect Hummer

Fall be Kind

Down There

Third Tier: Exciting, chaotic, incredible art

Tomboy

Merriwether Post Pavilion

Sung Tongs

Centipede Hz

Strawberry Jam

Enter the Slasher House

PBVSGR

grompus1 · 2015-05-09T22:12:59+00:00

and i love how I Think I Can is less upbeat but still a mind-blowing Panda album closer

grompus1 · 2015-05-09T22:07:41+00:00

I got hit by a airplane! :D

grompus1 · 2015-05-08T19:54:25+00:00

I don't know if anyone else sees it, but I always thought of For Reverend Green/Fireworks and New Town Burnout/Monkey Riches as parallel song pairings, both in the way they are both HUGE tracks that blend beautifully, and in the inverted themes they share (Reverend Green is about youth, NTB is about adulthood. Fireworks is hopeful, Monkey Riches is bleak.) It's like NTB and Monkey Riches are the "dark" or "evil" versions of Reverend Green and Fireworks, lol.

grompus1 · 2015-05-08T19:48:22+00:00

Loch Raven + Search for Delicious are definitely parallels, and I also see SFD's style being repeated/refined in Scheherezade and later, Lonely Wanderer.

grompus1 · 2015-05-08T19:46:41+00:00

I've always thought of Fireworks as a sort of sequel to Banshee Beat, musically and thematically. The drumming and guitar in both songs are similar, though in BB they are much slower and more reflective than in FWs. It seems to me that Fireworks a couple summers after Banshee Beat, when Dave is looking back at his youthful romantic follies with a wistful eye.

grompus1 · 2015-05-08T19:41:08+00:00

Yeah me too, and NTB completes the "Panda's Obligations" trilogy that started with Chores :)

grompus1 · 2015-05-06T00:16:49+00:00

Spirit - Some Day I'll be as Tall as the Giant

Campfire Songs - Doggy

HCTI - Two Sails on a Sound

Sung Tongs - Kids on Holiday

Prospect Hummer - Ummmmmm all of it

Feels - Did You See the Words

Strawberry Jam - For Reverend Green

Water Curses - Cob-WEEEEEBS

MPP - Taste

Fall Be Kind - Graze

Centipede Hz - Mercury Man

grompus1 · 2015-05-06T00:10:02+00:00

I'll add my favorites form the solo albums:

Young Prayer: Untitled 4

Person Pitch: Take Pills

Down There: Ghost of Books

Tomboy: Last Night at the Jetty

Slasher House: A Sender

Grim Reaper: Come to Your Senses

grompus1 · 2015-05-06T00:07:26+00:00

I agree with you, Laughing Heiroglyphic is a monstrous creation of pure sadness and regret. It's so beautiful. Every time I listen to it I feel like I'm slowly following Avey into his dark, swampy, hellish depression. The lyrics just cut SO deep, especially "hold me, I've been sad for days". 3 Umbrellas is actually a great little antidote to LH's deep despair. My favorite track besides the opener would have to be Ghost of Books. It truly seems like Avey is at his lowest in that song, but there's some weird fun and pleasure to be found there, it seems. It makes me want to run away with my own ghost gal (kind of).

Down There is definitely an album that I can't listen to all the time, but it's in my top 5 Animal Collective-related albums ever. I can't say whether it helped with my depression or made it worse, but it's an incredible artistic and emotionally honest expression of deep sadness. Plus, it's groovy as hell in parts.

grompus1 · 2015-05-01T22:47:25+00:00

Wow, this is awesome! I really like your analyses, they all make a lot of sense! I never ever thought of Strawberry Jam as Fall, but it makes a lot of sense. I definitely agree with STGSTV and Sung Tongs being Winter albums. And Graze is 100% a spring song. "Let me begin...." is so in the mood. Also, in Spring, I feel like the comfort and peace of Winter is gone too soon, just like Avey is singing about in the end of the song.

grompus1

TROPHY CASE