This album is Animal Collective's masterwork. I've been a fan of the band for a couple years now, but none of their previous albums has drawn me in and kept me utterly mesmerized through its entirety like MPP. The album represents the culmination of AnCo's musical techniques, featuring fireside chants, Brian Wilson-esque harmonies, and sampled soundscapes that will either cause you to jump up and dance or sink into the couch in a stupor of aural bliss (please excuse the hyperbole, but the album is just that amazing).
But the reason MPP has stood out to me as such a landmark record is its incorporation of conventional music styles into AnCo's trademark sound. The album is paradox: every song sounds both familiar and new at the same time. By blending folk melodies with electronic experimentation, their influences really shine through and allow the band to reach new levels of maturity absent from their previous work. If you've listened to AnCo before and were unimpressed, this is the record that will convert you into a believer.
It may be a little too early to say, but MPP just may be that long-awaited stepping stone into the future of music. But if not, it's still a ton of fun.
Hypemachine: "My Girls", "Daily Routine", "Lion in a Coma", "Brothersport"
