Animal Collective Feels LP (Vinyl)

Feels is the band's sixth studio album originally released in 2008 and features all four band members - Avey Tare, Deakin, Geologist, and Panda Bear.

Feels is undoubtedly a very varied and beautifully flowing album. Running the gamut of emotions, it is by turns melancholic, hypnotic, caustic, woozy, overjoyed, introspective, and just plain achingly, heart-breakingly beautiful. 3 of the opening 4 tracks blast out an infectious sense of urgency and growing confidence driven by pounding drums and yelping and hollering vocals; "Bees" and "Daffy Duck" are slow-glowing ambient sprawls; "Banshee Beat" is stunning - a heart-melting, slow-spreading tingle of a track that positively demands a foot-shuffling reaction; "Loch Raven" builds around a sparkling jewel of an Aphex-y electronic melody, glistening piano notes, padding drums and vocal interplay; whilst "Turn Into Something" neatly rounds off the album by spanning an arch from high energy exuberance to a slow, languorous immersion.

A dazzling ride from start to finish, Feels pushes Animal Collective's challenging and changing agenda on to the next level, and confirms the band's place as one of the most ambitious and forward-thinking modern bands.

A core strength of the group is its ability to sound invigorated and bracing when exploring territory often surveyed in the past. Rock music can be a constraining form, especially at this late date, but the group sounds freer than ever before, almost as though they've never bothered with rock in their lives, and have only happened upon a bare few LPs before beginning their recording career.