Band: Animal Collective
Release: 2009
Recorded: 2000-2003

Crack Box is very much like when you were a little kid taking a stroll to the graveyard/forest to record every ominous sound you could. You, still very much a youngster, decided that the recording simply was not enough. You needed to make little noises, surely unintelligible, on top of all the nonsense. You, through whatever means, spawned a drum kit and keyboard.

The Crack Box is comprised of six sections…three tracks  in each, except for the last. That one has five. Anyway, the disc manages to be awesome even if the entire musical composition is just Avey Tare whispering, a soft acoustic guitar playing, and two notes on the keyboard being tapped. A strong spot is the soft twee of “Hey Friend,” track C2 for all you following along. In “De Soto De Son,” I’m sensing some plagiarism on the part of the band Grizzly Bear. Call this claim far-fetched because, well, it is. Listen to “All We Ask” by Grizzly. Sure it’s faster and more reminiscent of “pop,” you got to admit something is there. Actually I’d reckon Crack Box is a fucked up Veckatimest. The base structure of the songs is totally there, but it’s far from complete. Far from musically bearable (that is to the average listener), these songs need just a push. So what the group did was say F U to most of the songs on Crack Box and add a little bit something extra to their new songs. The change to having a fully integrated album didn’t occur until 2008 when the group started playing songs that later were released as Merriweather Post Pavillion. “Do The Nurse” is hilariously screwed up if the title doesn’t already give that away. “I wish he would just get a boner. Do the nurse.” Seriously, Avey? They were young. “Ice Cream Factory” tells us that when you “black out you feel much better.” Heed those words. Or don’t. “Hey Light” you know from Here Comes the Indian. Crack Box version is quite lo-fi and only 2 minutes 35 seconds, a sign of the times. Listen real closely to “Don’t Believe the Pilot” and you can hear birdies chirping. Also this original version of “Who Could Win a Rabbit” pretty damn sweet. For obvious reasons it doesn’t have any polish. But sometimes things are left best unpolished. And finally, any better way to end the disc than with “We Tigers?” Probably. The original has awful sound quality.

Overall, I don’t think that I will ever again be able to manage listening to this from start to finish. There are some real gems, but most of the stuff is just too archaic and weird for me. Makes for some good relaxation music, possibly.

Grade: 8.0