Customer Reviews

Animal Collective: Oddsac

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

ODDSAC: A Visual Album by Animal Collective and Danny Perez brings up a lot of questions. What is a "visual album" anyway? Is it a series of music videos, a film with a cohesive narrative, or something else? Why won't the band release the soundtrack separately, not even for download? And what, if anything, were they trying to say with this movie? Clearly a lot of people are confused. Despite the film having been seen by thousands of people during the screening tours of March-August 2010, reactions so far have been confined to the "wow, it's pretty trippy" genre. Nobody seems to know what to say about this thing.

That's understandable. Even though it's only 54 minutes long, ODDSAC is a film that's impossible to get in one viewing. It's densely constructed, both visually and musically. It also operates in dream logic using a combination of mythological, elemental (as in the four elements) and abstract imagery. And Animal Collective music. So yeah, it's pretty trippy. But though it's not narrative in any traditional way, it does have a definite structure, a reason why one scene follows another and not some other way around.

This sequence of sound-filled images seems to function like one of those sharply-experienced dreams. It sticks in your head, but getting something out of it requires some effort on your part. The more you put the pieces together yourself, the more meaning it will have. Additionally, it is the only movie I know which successfully combines vampires and marshmallows.

The soundtrack contains some of Animal Collective's most achingly beautiful and thornily abstract music. I imagine that it would be great to listen to on its own. But the images and music are so closely tied, sometimes right down to the individual frame, that the more I watch it the more the idea of listening to the music by itself seems incomplete. No reason you shouldn't if you want to, just don't expect it to be like Merriweather Post Pavilion.

ODDSAC is a unique work of psychedelic art. It's worth multiple viewings, careful attention and a lot of thought - conscious and otherwise. I couldn't have asked for more.

Great film. Highly recommended to anybody that has ever been a fan of Animal Collective's work. Also recommended to any fan of contemporary music and art.

This is a little more than just a long music video. There is a minor plot and some consistent characters. Don't expect the plot to go anywhere major though. This film is more about the experience, feelings and emotions that the music and visuals can create together. I recommend watching this film at night or in a very dark room turned up way loud.

Amazing. Unrelated shorts, non sequitur visuals with jarring musical interludes and awesome Animal Collective songs peppered in (Mr. Fingers, Tantrum Barb, What Happened, Screen, etc.). My only complaint is that it's only about an hour long, which I guess is a good thing since it left me wanting more, and it's a "visual album", not a movie.

If you're reading this review, you're most likely already a fan of Animal Collective. If you are looking for some great new AC music in ODDSAC, you will definitely not be disappointed. There are a few amazing "standout" songs that will most definitely be stuck in your head for a long time, and there are some more abstract, trippier "interlude" pieces that are less vocally oriented but still hold their own as songs. If you buy ODDSAC and expect to watch a film with a protagonist and a major conflict/plot etc. , you need to get rid of those assumptions and just watch it, and let it sink in.

What makes ODDSAC so unique is that it's almost really a new medium of art. It's not quite an album, it's not quite a film, it's definitely not just a series of music videos, and if you separate the visuals from the music (I have the audio ripped for my ipod), there is definitely something lacking, especially if you watch it before you listen to any audio rips (which I would highly recommend doing). There is almost nothing to compare ODDSAC to; I've scoured the internet for anything remotely similar with few, if any results. The closest thing there is out there to ODDSAC is probably the Pink Floyd: The Wall film, which is definitely more of a coherent film than ODDSAC, or maybe The Beatles Yellow Submarine cartoon film. Comparing these two films to ODDSAC is still a bit of a stretch, because both films were made after the music was made. The music for ODDSAC was produced right alongside the visuals, and the result is an amazingly cohesive and collaborative, albeit unique and confusing, piece of visual art.

Bottom Line:

If you are an open minded person, and have an interest in absolutely anything outside of the norm, including David Lynch films, grotesque B-horror films, psychedelic music, visual art, you need to buy ODDSAC NOW! A lot of hard work went in to producing this masterpiece, and everybody involved deserves to be rewarded for it. (If you're not fully prepared to buy it, but happen to be a Netflix subscriber, I believe you can request the DVD by mail)

I loved this movie. It's basically a 50ish minute long music video. It's got some great music by Animal Collective. Buy it if you're a fan of theirs. If you don't like Animal Collective, you probably won't like it.

In typical Animal Collective fashion a visual album is released where only a third is watchable. I dig it; don't get me wrong. Mostly in-jokes and old-schoolio horror movie ploys though that, although the cheesy effects and costumes and looks-of-the-face tend to pull you out, somehow works as some sort of mindgarbledmesh of an album. The point is that it *is* a visual album, and like an album there may be themes that run throughout, but ultimately what the viewer perceives directly isn't necessarily interconnected. I wouldn't really recommend this to many people outside those of Animal Collective's reach. That's probably the only reason I liked this.