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Sung Tongs
EMAILPRINTby Animal Collective
Universal acclaim
Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 42 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Fat Cat
Release Date: 01 June 2004
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Summary
The Brooklyn-based collective (on this release, reduced to the duo of Avey Tare and Panda Bear) combine vocal harmonies, a pair of acoustic guitars, and diverse influences into a unique sound on this latest release.
Also By This Artist: Fall Be Kind [EP] Feels Merriweather Post Pavilion Strawberry Jam Water Curses [EP]
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan: Pullhair Rubeye Panda Bear: Person Pitch Panda Bear: Young Prayer Terrestrial Tones: Dead Drunk
Also On The Web: Fat Cat Paw Tracks
What The Critics Said
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...
Drowned In Sound
Stunning and dizzying, Sung Tongs’ strangeness will spin around your head for months to come.
Read Full Review >Uncut
Rarely has contrived weirdness sounded so utterly bewitching. [Jun 2004, p.85]
Stylus Magazine
On Sung Tongs, the group has deftly combined all the traces that ran through their earlier work into a vibrant and beautiful collage that flows as smoothly as Here Comes the Indian, with all the mood of Campfire Songs, and even more pop hooks than Spirit.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
Sung Tongs is an inch more sublime than anything they've done previously, with more phenomenal use of their manic choir of Motown vocals, less scattered, clique-ish dissonance, and more sideshow bubblegum-pop freaking out on god-knows-what powerful substance.
Read Full Review >Logo
This is what you get when you give an overactive imagination the space to expand; it’s indescribably perfect.
Read Full Review >Mojo
Melds way-out weird with a pop welcome that sounds like no one else around right now. [May 2004, p.105]
Pitchfork
Despite its eclecticism and relatively Dadaist leanings, Sung Tongs is a romantic album; romantic in its celebration of innocence and nonsensical shared knowledge, and the sweet, trusted idea that everything will be fine-- as if it hadn't always been.
Read Full Review >Filter
As simple as the instrumentation is on the album... they use it to maximum effect. [#11, p.98]
Almost Cool
Sung Tongs is 12 tracks and 52 minutes of the most bizarre and absolutely mind-bendingly infectious pop music that you'll hear this year.
Read Full Review >Splendid
Sung Tongs resembles the freakiest of '60s psyche, the outward fringes of Elephant Six-dom, the craziest excesses of Tom Ze -- yet it is a warm, deeply human work that winds its way into your heart.
Read Full Review >Tiny Mix Tapes
Holistically, there's nothing remarkably new here that hasn't been pursued before by this collective. The execution is nice and easily situates this album in the top two of their performances, and the sound quality far surpasses their previous efforts.
Read Full Review >Junkmedia
But despite its flaws, or perhaps because of them, this remains organic folk-pop at its bewildering best.
Read Full Review >Magnet
Consistently fantastic. [#64, p.80]
Alternative Press
Imagine a pagan Danielson Famile on magic mushrooms, or a folk-rock cLOUDDEAD. [Aug 2004, p.122]
All Music Guide
Although the duo didn't record nearly enough material to justify checking out quite so soon, Sung Tongs is a striking record, a breath of fresh air within experimentalist indie rock.
Read Full Review >Dusted Magazine
While some may scoff at the gentler side of the Animal Collective (especially when contrasted with the fully electric assault of last year's studio release), Sung Tongs easily stands alone as a crowning achievement in their eclectic discography, one that finds the group fully in control of their musical prowess and all the better for it.
Read Full Review >ShakingThrough.net
Before, it sounded like Animal Collective sought only to please themselves. Sung Tongs sounds like a concession to the rest of us, and that's not a very exciting prospect from such a unique and potentially great band.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Snatches of certain songs owe a debt to weird-period Brian Wilson, but Sung Tongs sounds too hermetic and comfortable in its singularity to cast such a literal gaze.
Read Full Review >Neumu.net
By the time the longplayer finishes playing, you realize, whilst the acoustic guitars and harmonized vocals and that awesome table-tennis-ball-bouncing-beat may've made you think this was some easy-to-love pop platter, it actually hasn't stumbled all the way towards getting-it-together.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
One of the more creative and accomplished records you'll hear this year. [19 Aug 2004, p.118]
The Wire
The best stuff views the world through the sunkissed psychedelic lens of Brazilian psych-troupe Os Mutantes; the lesser material just sounds like lite Brian Wilson. [#243, p.59]
Austin Chronicle
You can imagine a modern-day Syd Barrett coming up with similar ideas after being locked in a closet with a laptop.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 42 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Justin B. gave it a9:
This band goes from one end of the spectrum to other all within one album.
Eric C. gave it a9:
More accessible than their earlier stuff, not so much as Feels, which is why a lot of people prefer that album. But it further cements Animal Collective as the most talented and fun experimental band around. It can be hard to listen to at times, but hearing every trick Avey and Panda have up their sleeves is wild. The low scores show why they can't become very mainstream, but anyone who gives them the time to fully digest each song will become a diehard fan.
Giulia gave it a9:
To me, a record that can create the most charming atmospheres you can dream, natural and post modern, everything. It's wonderful.
[Anonymous] gave it an8:
Starts out great, but the second half kind of loses it, with the exception of "We Tigers". Still a great album, but get Feels. It's much better.
pookiebear s gave it a9:
To give this record a 2 shows utter contempt for good music. Not as good as Feels, but still an incredible, life-affirming record. Go get it.
Tony F gave it a10:
my favorite collective album, blew me away when i first heard it and still gets me going whenever I put it on. It's truly unique and a step forward for music experimentation.
Matt M gave it a10:
i played some of this to a kid i know that has autism/slight schizophrenic - i didnt even realize he was listening to it... and after the end of the one of the songs he startled me (not even knowing he was in the room) by saying, "this is some special stuff, i dont know what it is, but its too special for me." I'll never forget that and it makes me think about the underlying chaos and insanity underneath every obscured pop hook and the coos and yelps of wood sprites dancing deep in the forest, just barely audible.
