All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Uncut

It feels like one of the landmark American albums of the century so far. [Jan 2008, p.86]

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100

No Ripcord

MPP had aura to burn long before most of us heard it, but now those of us who have heard it and do love it know that this music will not be content to stand idle on the margins of tuneless hype. Time may very well lend Merriweather Post Pavilion a legend extraordinary enough to faithfully capture its myriad treasures.

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100

Sputnikmusic

Merriweather Post Pavilion is heartbreaking and heartwarming, and you can either disregard what is one of the most pleasing, enjoyably rich and rewarding releases of the past decade or you can rally with the rest of us, and clap, and sing, and blare it through the earphones on your iPod because we are still all the things outside of us.

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100

Slant Magazine

Soulful and almost structurally flawless (it's the most minor of complaints that the middle run of songs are all about a half-minute too long), Merriweather finds one of the most talented, most creative pop bands finally and gloriously figuring it all out.

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100

Observer Music Monthly

Even by their own exuberant standards, though, AC's ninth album is a dizzying knees-up that makes most music, indie rock or otherwise, sound both bloodless and pathetically timid.

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100

Delusions of Adequacy

What’s more important is that Merriweather Post Pavilion is not just one of the finest things you’re going to hear in 2009 but that it should sit well next to albums like Kid A on lists of the best music made in our time.

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100

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Merriweather's sound plays like both a summation and an expansion of everything Animal Collective has done so far, with a sharper focus on melody and more emboldened vocals that drive the songs.

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Pitchfork

It's of the moment and feels new, but it's also striking in its immediacy and comes across as friendly and welcoming.

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Prefix Magazine

Has the album of 2009 been unleashed in January? I can’t see anything else coming near it.

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Lost At Sea

Throughout Merriweather Post Pavilion the band mixes instrumentation and samples and voices in a way that seems to be an advanced or accelerated development of past triumphs.

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Entertainment Weekly

Merriweather Post Pavilion won't land the band the opening slot on a Coldplay tour, it cleaves closer to "Pitch's" more listener-friendly aesthetic, abandoning the self-indulgent impulses that sometimes muddied last year's "Strawberry Jam" for an album full of effervescent, transportive oddity.

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Paste Magazine

Nine albums and eight years in, it’s time to stop trying to figure out what the hell Animal Collective--vocalist/guitarist Avey Tare, percussionist/vocalist Panda Bear and knob-twiddler Geologist--is, and just enjoy the orgasmic rush of danceable rock.

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Tiny Mix Tapes

On Merriweather, their art reminds us that immersion in Western tropes need not be met with scorn, that not all of its idioms have yet been exhausted, that embracing optimism and melody can still be so relevant--and it aches in the most soulful of ways.

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Drowned In Sound

Is Merriweather Post Pavilion the flawless album that it's been willed to be? Taken as a whole I'd say it's pretty damn close.

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PopMatters

Merriweather Post Pavilion finds Animal Collective tight and sharp, and it suits them. Animal Collective’s music is for everyone’s world.

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musicOMH.com

Oozing fun out of every pore, this record is the perfect tonic to the increasingly troubled times that 2009 brings with it and will most likely feature on many of those Best Of lists come December.

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Urb

With Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective have proven themselves to be at the forefront of progressive pop, as deadly with their textures as they are with their melodies.

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All Music Guide

Merriweather Post Pavilion is a perfectly organized record, not a note out of place, not a second wasted.

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Dot Music

Merriweather Post Pavilion's rare combination of great songs and vital invention make this one of the year's most important records, already.

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Los Angeles Times

Animal Collective still struggles with effective counterweights to its euphoric beauty--the attempt at romance on 'Bluish' is off-putting and some of the murkiness can exhaust and undermine--but it shifts so rapidly, with such conviction, that it's more fun to hunker down and surrender.

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cokemachineglow

Animal Collective keep getting better.

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Dusted Magazine

It's not a return to form so much as a complete reinvention, this is an album that highlights a particularly buoyant Animal Collective, one that’s managed to expand their sound in surprising ways while still retaining the same basic creative impulses that made them such a joy to watch develop over the past decade

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Village Voice

MPP is filled with enough new achievements that it's a waste of space to lament the past. It's a rhythm record with an atmosphere.

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Boston Globe

Some of the phrasing on "MPP" sticks; some of it soars; most of it slips and slides through puddles of rich sonic texture. Only at a distance does the magic of the whole major-key mess become clear.

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Billboard

Merriweather Post Pavilion is so gorgeously confident that it fulfills expectations and more.

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Q Magazine

With Merriweather Post Pavillion, Animal Collective have refined their distinctive vision, once again proving they are ahead of the pack. [Feb 2009, p.1114]

NOW Magazine

While they’ve obviously raised production values for Merriweather Post Pavillion--the sound of guitars has been eclipsed by a sampledelic woosh and gurgle--Animal Collective fans will be relieved to find the group keeping a safe distance from mainstream pap.

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New Musical Express

Merriweather..., their psych-pop pinnacle, shares the simultaneous relentless complexity and instant simplicity of the best Of Montreal albums, but where Kevin Barnes’ last effort got lost in its clever-clever weirdness, shifting rhythms and textures in a way that felt like standing onboard a bus going down a mountain, Animal Collective’s is an easy, good-natured beast.

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The Guardian

This is a joyful, transcendent record somehow reminiscent of kids let loose in a musical sandpit. As winter rages around us, it ushers in the warmth and sets a high musical benchmark for others to match this year.

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Mojo

By far the most streamlined and purposeful Animal Collective record. [Jan 2008, p.98]

Spin

In years past, Animal Collective have been cast as perpetual Peter Pans, forever stuck in childhood fantasias. But beneath the body-moving throbs and coruscating noises of Merriweather Post Pavilion, themes of domestic duty and devotion abound.

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Rolling Stone

The ninth disc from this Brooklyn/Baltimore crew tries balancing shameless beauty with ecstatic weirdness, and when they nail it, it's breathtaking.

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Under The Radar

In Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective become too fascinated with the way things sound (Animal Collective may be the only band for whom this sometimes becomes a problem) and loses the emotional resonance of their best work. [Winter 2009]

Blender

This is their sunniest, most likeable record, leavened by hints of light-footed dance music.

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The Phoenix

Merriweather Post Pavilion further smoothes out their sound, and though it's full of cool, orchestrated beauty, it lacks the playfulness and spontaneity that endeared so many to this group.

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Austin Chronicle

Animal Collective has backslid into a comfortable, but unfortunately unexciting, middle ground.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 287 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Eli J. gave it a10:
Okay first off, if you love mainstream crap then dont listen to this. its way above you. this is the best album i've listened to in a long time. animal collective, you are a voice of a damn generation. i hope you get more popular so your music can touch people around the world. Im the only person in my whole school thats heard of animal collective but im spreading the word. summertime clothes is my new favorite song! yeah!

Ray V. gave it a1:
Hey! This top rated album didn't get a complete zero. It's so boring, but I gave it a one due to the lovely album cover. What utter trash. I'd rather listen to some Swedish gangsta rap performed by punked out cows. DId I mention how boring it was? I really am upset that I spent my hard earned money on this boring waste of time. Honestly. People. This is not good music by any stretch. If you haven't bought it, don't.

pat gave it a7:
A solid pop album with an original sound and great production, but the band has lost some of their experimental flare on this one. The whole album sounds pretty fluffy in comparison to all of their other albums. When I heard Strawberry Jam I figured this was as close to a pop record as they would ever get, clearly I was wrong. Enjoyable, but lacking the depth that makes albums like Sung Tongs, Here Comes The Indian and Campfire Songs so wonderous.

stoma gave it a10:
Vital--contains ancient, in-between-the-lines truths--like electronica played with dirt clods in stead of keyboards--thgis is genetically important music--some will need to morph new synapses to accept the revelations but it is growth worth the strain.

John F gave it a0:
I've really tried to like this album. After all, the gushing reviews have to be indicative of excellence, haven't they? However, after umpteen listens I've failed. I still think it's the most over-rated album I've heard in years. Yesterday, I consigned it to the garbage bin.

Chris M gave it a10:
It's otherworldly, the music and how good this album is.

Derek P gave it a10:
Once in awhile I hear a release that can actually change the way I feel and this is one of those. The 1st four songs in particular are a powerful 1-2 punch perfectly illustrating AC's method as hazy keyboards, hypnotic vocals and muffled beats go in and out of the listener's awareness. As other comments indicate this is polarizing music with listeners either loving it or hating it with no middle ground. I fall squarely into the former and love this tripped out music.

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Merriweather Post Pavilion

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