Album Review: Strawberry Jam by Animal Collective

Review Summary: Animal Collective are really good. Even John Norris knows what's up.There are a couple things one would expect to see when he turns on MTV at around 11:00, reruns of dating shows most likely, or perhaps, on an off night, a music video or two. But no, the scene is as follows; 11:00, an unsuspecting Tuesday night, a TV comes on; MTV News is running some kind of story “breaking” a “new” band:“A genre-bending four piece from Baltimore, Animal Collective have had a surprising influence on the indie scene over the past 5 years”John Norris begins his news report like any other.

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It’s been a long while since the Animal Collective was shorn of its ramshackle mystique. Once a torch-bearer of post-millennial, outer borough curiosity, the Collective’s originally distinct brand of galloping, winsome psych-pop has become a nascent genre in and of itself. And as the years have passed, the group’s initial scattershot tendencies have coalesced rather gracefully – formerly a disproportionately overstuffed duo, the group has counted four full members for some time now, and each passing release has evidenced a noticeable growth into that frame.

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