Once upon a time, the lads in Animal Collective released an album called Feels. Critically acclaimed, the album was, as the kids used to say back in 2005, “quite sick.” Our own review called it “a psychedelic wonderland filled with life-affirming warmth.” Sound like an album you want to pick up on vinyl, get lost in, and completely wear out necessitating buying multiple copies? Before today, you’d have been out of luck; Feels has long been out of print on vinyl.
Fortunately, we all live in 2018, a futuristic utopia (first and only time anyone’s gonna say that) where Animal Collective has at last remastered and reissued Feels on vinyl.
In commemoration of the occasion, Animal Collective are also releasing an old live bootleg. A FREE old live bootleg. Recorded by Sparkle Girl in 2004 at Neumos in Seattle, the performance features what are most likely the earliest recorded versions of a handful of the tracks off of Feels. It was also the reason the band was able to convince Scott Colburn to serve the album’s producer. Historic!
Commenting on the performance, lead headlamp-wearer-in-charge-of-the-band Brian Weitz says:
The show was the first time [producer] Scott Colburn heard any of the Feels songs. We had already asked him to record the album but we didn’t have demos and he wanted to hear the material first. He was playing in Climax Golden Twins at the time, who were also on the bill with us and Black Dice that night, so this was the test. Luckily, our set sealed the deal and we all moved into his house six months later to start tracking. A small part of us never left.
You can get the Feels vinyl reissue here via My Animal Home, and listen to the 2004 Neumos performance here, via Animal Collective’s Soundcloud. The requisite album art and full tracklisting for Feels, as well as the set list for the bootleg, are below. This album is still great, and “Grass” would totally make great entrance music for a relief pitcher based on Avey Tare’s yelping alone.
Feels tracklisting:
01. Did You See The Words
02. Grass
03. Flesh Canoe
04.The Purple Bottle
05. Bees
06. Banshee Beat
07. Daffy Duck
08. Loch Raven
09. Turn Into Something
Animal Collective - Live At Neumos (Seattle, WA - 08/22/04):
01. Wastered
02. Did You See the Words
03. Kids On Holiday
04. People
05. Loch Raven
06. Banshee Beat
07. The Purple Bottle