Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
70
AFI
65
Air
71
Alice In Chains
77
Amerie
70
Anjulie
85
The Antlers
75
Arctic Monkeys
68
As Tall As Lions
82
Atlas Sound
75
The Avett Brothers
67
Backstreet Boys
56
Bad Lieutenant
68
Devendra Banhart
72
Lou Barlow
88
Baroness
69
Basement Jaxx
81
David Bazan
72
Brendan Benson
72
The Big Pink
96
Big Star
46
Billy Talent
75
The Black Crowes
51
Black Mold
59
Amanda Blank
68
Blitzen Trapper
75
BLK JKS
77
A.A. Bondy
73
The Bottle Rockets
63
Box Elders
65
Boys Like Girls
76
Brand New
73
Tyondai Braxton
87
Brother Ali
70
Ian Brown
75
Michael Buble
78
Built To Spill
61
Colbie Caillat
79
Califone
68
Mariah Carey
84
Brandi Carlile
73
Julian Casablancas
83
Rosanne Cash
69
Castanets
65
The Cave Singers
84
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
79
Vic Chesnutt
75
Choir Of Young Believers
81
Circulatory System
68
The Clean
84
The Clientele
71
Cobra Starship
85
Converge
71
Eric Copeland
80
Cymbals Eat Guitars
71
Datarock
59
Dead By Sunrise
76
Dead Man's Bones
64
Desolation Wilderness
88
Destroyer
63
The Dodos
77
Drive-By Truckers
74
The Duke & The King
66
Bob Dylan
44
The Entrance Band
67
Esser
69
Fanfarlo
63
Felix Da Housecat
68
Fink
78
The Flaming Lips
66
Flight Of The Conchords
79
Florence And The Machine
67
John Fogerty
77
Fruit Bats
83
Fuck Buttons
71
Nelly Furtado
47
Gary Go
68
Ghostface Killah
79
Girls
59
Gloriana
69
Gossip
62
David Gray
66
David Guetta
79
Richard Hawley
74
Mayer Hawthorne
66
Headlights
79
HEALTH
77
Joe Henry
66
Hockey
69
Whitney Houston
68
Imogen Heap
59
Jack Ingram
79
Islands
73
Jessie James
74
Jamie T
83
Japandroids
65
Jay-Z
51
Jet
69
Daniel Johnston
76
Karen O And The Kids
72
Toby Keith
69
Kid Cudi
65
Kings Of Convenience
62
Sean Kingston
64
KISS
76
Kris Kristofferson
68
KRS-One & Buckshot
76
La Roux
84
Miranda Lambert
72
Ledisi
75
Sondre Lerche
56
Juliette Lewis
82
Lightning Bolt
76
Lightning Dust
73
Little Dragon
44
Pixie Lott
73
Lyle Lovett
66
Lovvers
75
Baaba Maal
77
Madness
84
Madonna
85
Manic Street Preachers
62
Maps
55
Massive Attack
57
Matisyahu
67
Reba McEntire
66
Tim McGraw
65
Brian McKnight
79
Mew
77
Malcolm Middleton
77
Mika
68
Amy Millan
76
Mission Of Burma
73
Modest Mouse
76
Molina And Johnson
80
Monsters Of Folk
62
Morrissey
85
Mount Eerie
78
The Mountain Goats
62
Múm
72
Muse
66
Willie Nelson
78
Nirvana
97
Nirvana
72
Nisennenmondai
80
No Age
71
Noah And The Whale
75
Noisettes
79
Nudge
68
Nurses
47
Dolores O'Riordan
74
Os Mutantes
73
Osso
81
Owen
76
Paramore
76
Pastels And Tenniscoats
51
Sean Paul
80
Pearl Jam
66
Jemina Pearl
72
Jack Penate
65
Phish
82
Pissed Jeans
61
Pitbull
79
A Place To Bury Strangers
63
Julian Plenti
66
Robert Pollard
79
Polvo
72
Porcupine Tree
80
Q-Tip
80
R.E.M.
89
Raekwon
69
Rain Machine
70
Ramona Falls
75
Dizzee Rascal
75
The Raveonettes
76
Jay Reatard
82
Reigning Sound
81
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
79
Russian Circles
69
Buffy Sainte-Marie
73
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
61
Sally Shapiro
78
Shudder To Think
75
Sian Alice Group
70
Simian Mobile Disco
58
Simple Minds
72
Six Organs Of Admittance
69
Slaughterhouse
80
Slayer
61
The Slits
62
Mindy Smith
83
Solillaquists Of Sound
78
Soulsavers
77
Speech Debelle
58
Spiral Stairs
58
Squarepusher
55
Steel Panther
73
Sufjan Stevens
52
Rod Stewart
65
Joss Stone
75
George Strait
83
Barbra Streisand
76
A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74
Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
78
The Swell Season
76
David Sylvian
83
Taken By Trees
78
Tegan And Sara
68
The Temper Trap
72
Themselves
82
They Might Be Giants
67
Third Eye Blind
68
Throw Me The Statue
66
J Tillman
69
Times New Viking
57
Tokio Hotel
67
Trey Songz
71
The Twilight Sad
58
Carrie Underwood
56
The Used
68
Various Artists
70
Various Artists
74
Various Artists
77
The Very Best
71
Kurt Vile
67
Vivian Girls
71
Volcano Choir
76
Rufus Wainwright
59
Weezer
80
White Denim
76
Why?
83
Wild Beasts
80
Wildbirds & Peacedrums
59
Andrew W.K.
71
Patrick Wolf
67
Wolfmother
84
The xx
70
YACHT
75
Yim Yames
79
Yo La Tengo
83
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
51
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59
Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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: 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.
