Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Really wonderful press, so much joy, soundstage, separation, low end sounds great on my Klipsch Heresy no need for sub.
If you haven’t heard the Daily Routine remixed, I’ll leave it here, phase took it 1 level up!

https://youtu.be/cOxjDip6Zjs?si=z5dkN70W4dSkw065

Relax your eyeballs to see the cover get all wiggly jiggly.

This pressing needed to be toned down a notch. Or twenty.

Decided to upgrade to this version bc my original copy was pretty beat up. Overall, I'm really pleased with this. The colors complement the album nicely and it sounds just as good as my '09 copy (if not better??). The foil cover is a nice feature. It actually makes the effect more prominent. I just wish there were more leaves on the spine. The '09 version has far more for whatever reason and I always liked how it stood out in my collection

mine’s fine as well as 3 others I’ve tried at friends’ collections. flat, no distortion. y’all maybe hearing intentional effects mistaken for distortion?

I've listened to this record a few times since it came out 15 years ago. Read all of the critics reviews. Uncut's Record of the Year, I believe. It's the only Record of the Year by any major Music Mag or Critic that I respect who gave it such a high rating, that I don't own. So I finally bought this 15th year anniversary release, hoping that when I got it on my turntable, my opionion would change. It hasn't. With all due respect to folks who love it, I think this record is way overrarted. At least it's a Limited Edition. Maybe worth something to someone someday. Just my opinion, but you know what folks say about other people's opinions :)

As far as I know, this new pressing wasn't remastered. So shouldn't it have the same muddy sounding audio as the previous version? I'm legit asking. How could this possibly sound better?

Pros:
- The reflective cover is nicely done, especially the gatefold is just a pleasure to look at.
- Also the vinyl is pretty quiet, even though it is colored.

Cons:
- It baffles me every time how in 2024, where everyone is aware of vinyl damage caused by plain paper innersleeves, there is still releases that just ignore this advice like this release. Moreover, the innersleeve not only is plain paper, but is also just plain boring and adds nothing to the packaging which is even worse.
- The sound is just ok... I'm 80% sure that this is because the album was just recorded and mixed in a certain way.
Yes, it is very immersive and densely sounding but this sound signature brings a lot of downsides:
First off, most of the very important elements of the music are packed in the center and are quite bloated. This wouldn't be an issue if the recording had depth and a slightly more detailed sound. Sadly it's quite the opposite: everything is plain in front with hardly any depth and the rhythm instruments and vocals sound way too muddy whereas the synth elements are just way too bright.
Second, the recording is not very dynamic and gives quite a compressed feel, which imho is more due to the aforementioned sound signature instead of actual compression used.

Both of this issues stated are especially an issue on the first half. The second half is slightly better sounding.

Unfortunately, I suppose, this will always mean mediocre releases considering fidelity. AC just went for a certain sound signature which puts a lot of emphasis on the acoustic concept of "overstimulation". Since this is baked into the mix you can't expect this album to suddenly sound audiophile. After all, this is what they intended the record to sound like. In my opinion though, this is a bit of a bummer especially bc the music would profit a lot from good separation and more details at the right spots. You can have a wall of sound feeling without sacrificing details. Past albums prove this. Take "Person Pitch" by Panda Bear (often seen as the inofficial predecessor of this album) as an example.

TL:DR: For the sake of packaging get this release (along with some new quality innersleeves to replace the flimsy ones coming with it), but don't expect wonders soundwise. Nonetheless, this album is still a rock solid masterpiece.

Both my discs throughout all tracks are heavily distorted and sound really bad. Did anyone else have this problem? I'm hoping I can get a replacement from Domino.

I have the 2009 pressing and it played fine for me. However, this one does sound richer and more spacious. It's a dense mix so there will always be some muddyness.