Merriweather Post Pavilion
by Animal Collective
  • Record Label: Domino
  • Release Date: Jan 20, 2009
User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 627 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 537 out of 627
  2. Mixed: 35 out of 627
  3. Negative: 55 out of 627

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  1. thirdman
    Mar 8, 2012
    3
    Am I the only one who thinks their songs' melodies sound all same? Aside from the trying-really-hard diverse and supposedly creative production, I find their music incredibly boring.
  2. zimmertosser69
    Sep 2, 2011
    3
    This band can hit a groove and go off on an incredible tangent and bring it home BUT you have to weed through so many songs to find any coheasiveness and it can become mundane and distorted to listen to sectoraly
  3. MikeM.
    Jan 9, 2010
    2
    I don't get it. I just don't get it. I enjoy all kinds of musical and agree with Metacritic most of the time. But after one listen to this, I had to force myself to listen a second time, and have no desire to do that again. Doesn't do anything for me.
  4. JohnG
    Jan 9, 2010
    0
    Boring, pretentious trash. It sounds like all the tracks were designed to be in car commercials.
  5. TonysT
    Jan 2, 2010
    1
    Sorry Animal Collective - your record is clever, innovative, and very well produced, and I admire you for that, but its not enjoyable to listen to, isn't engaging, and doesn't connect with me at all.
  6. Darko
    Dec 27, 2009
    0
    The most overrated album of the year. Tried to listen to it several times, but just can't get it. Somebody called it "danceable"... what a joke!
  7. tomb
    Dec 20, 2009
    3
    Animal Collective has an aversion to melody. It's all about placement of strange sound effects and the repetition of those effects instead of instruments. I can't handle the slicker-than-grease production. All the songs move at the same mid-tempo pace and feel slightly different from one another. Not for me.
  8. kevinm.
    Dec 17, 2009
    0
    How can this even be considered a musical composition? it sounds like a bunch of douche bags with way too many synths ripping off concept work brian wilson was doing back in the 60's and 70's. I guess im just not hip enough to get it.
  9. ErnestK.
    Dec 14, 2009
    2
    I'm with Ray V and John F and I'll go a few steps further: I absolutely cannot fathom the critical fawning that this album and Grizzly Bear's Veckatemist have generated this year. Both, to me, are boring, completely unmemorable, tepid indie mediocrity. I'm a huge fan of Bitte Orca, Post-Nothing, Actor, The xx, and several other breakthrough Pitchfork darlings--just not I'm with Ray V and John F and I'll go a few steps further: I absolutely cannot fathom the critical fawning that this album and Grizzly Bear's Veckatemist have generated this year. Both, to me, are boring, completely unmemorable, tepid indie mediocrity. I'm a huge fan of Bitte Orca, Post-Nothing, Actor, The xx, and several other breakthrough Pitchfork darlings--just not these guys. I really don't get it other than to say that there's no accounting for taste. Yes, I have been reduced to spouting lazy cliches to try to account for my dissent against the consensus.… Expand
  10. JT
    Nov 27, 2009
    0
    Usually when an album gets phenomenal reviews, I feel it necessary to check it out to see what all the fuss is about. More often then not, these record seem to be at least decent. This is NOT the case for "Merriweather Post Pavilion". The songs are way too similar and, to be perfectly frank, boring. If this is one of the "best" albums of the year (which many critics seem to agree upon), Usually when an album gets phenomenal reviews, I feel it necessary to check it out to see what all the fuss is about. More often then not, these record seem to be at least decent. This is NOT the case for "Merriweather Post Pavilion". The songs are way too similar and, to be perfectly frank, boring. If this is one of the "best" albums of the year (which many critics seem to agree upon), then 2009 must have been the worst year in music history.… Collapse
  11. GoodMusicLover
    Nov 14, 2009
    3
    This is really a boring and annoying album, any other album, Mainstream or not, out there is so much better. I gave it a 3 because I still think it is better than other stuff like Radiohead or other "alternative" bands that really suck. Sorry if I offend anybody with this, it's just my opinion.
  12. MingV.
    Nov 2, 2009
    0
    This kind of music makes me think the Americans have done so much drugs and other derangement in their whole life 'til a young age that they lost all senses of aesthetic and decency.
  13. TonyM
    Oct 7, 2009
    3
    When told its Kid A, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Agaetis Byrjun, and Funeral all rolled up into one, it grabs my attention. I bought the hype. Two years down the road, this one iis destined to fill used CD bins everywhere.
  14. RayV.
    Sep 23, 2009
    1
    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 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.… Expand
  15. JohnF
    Sep 13, 2009
    0
    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.
  16. JulianE
    Aug 11, 2009
    0
    Either a experimental or a pop band not being good at either field. Nuff' said
  17. DavidM
    Aug 10, 2009
    1
    Animal Collective's last lp is for junkies! El último cd de Animal Collectives es para chemos!!
  18. SteveS
    Jul 31, 2009
    3
    Look, I'm a very open-minded person about music. I used to just listen to top-40, and I got really tired of the lack of creativity and the repetitiveness. So I started branching out. Started with bands like Radiohead and Robyn; something not in the mainstream, but not difficult listening. Loved it. Went on to TV on the Radio and Fleet Foxes, and fell in love with that as well. After Look, I'm a very open-minded person about music. I used to just listen to top-40, and I got really tired of the lack of creativity and the repetitiveness. So I started branching out. Started with bands like Radiohead and Robyn; something not in the mainstream, but not difficult listening. Loved it. Went on to TV on the Radio and Fleet Foxes, and fell in love with that as well. After reading the incredible reviews for AC's MPP, I thought the reward would be just as great for this album. So wrong. Most songs have no noticeable structure, and all employ that irritating "dream-sound"; a repetitive, unnatural, synthesized sound that goes throughout the track. I admit, I can see the musical promise in songs like "My Girls" and "Guys Eyes", but these songs sound like they have no cohesive direction to hold them together. I like original, I like different, but those two qualities don't make a song good.… Expand
  19. JimD
    Jun 30, 2009
    3
    I have been using Metacritic for a few years as a guide to buying new music (i.e. bands I was unfamiliar with or had never heard before), but I've got to say I don't understand the hype over this album. I've had the album for about 5 months now, and I've only managed to listen to it the whole way through 3 or 4 times. Every song sounds the same, and none of them are I have been using Metacritic for a few years as a guide to buying new music (i.e. bands I was unfamiliar with or had never heard before), but I've got to say I don't understand the hype over this album. I've had the album for about 5 months now, and I've only managed to listen to it the whole way through 3 or 4 times. Every song sounds the same, and none of them are what I would call enjoyable. I am very open-minded when it comes to avant-garde music (e.g. I like later Radiohead, 70's Miles Davis, Bjork) but MPP has identifiable rhythm, beat or melody. The same people that enjoy this kind of white noise must be big Damien Hirst fans.… Expand
  20. KenD
    May 10, 2009
    0
    What a load of CRAP! How could anyone rate this album so high? I'm so glad I only paid $5 for the mp3 version because this album makes my ears hurt. I can only assume that the physical copy of this album came with a hit of ecstasy for people to have rated it so high because one surely had to be high to rate it so high. Just saw them on 5/7/09 Letterman and they are even worse live. 3 What a load of CRAP! How could anyone rate this album so high? I'm so glad I only paid $5 for the mp3 version because this album makes my ears hurt. I can only assume that the physical copy of this album came with a hit of ecstasy for people to have rated it so high because one surely had to be high to rate it so high. Just saw them on 5/7/09 Letterman and they are even worse live. 3 guys on keys/synths with 4 dancing fools in bags and multicolored lights. What a load of crap!… Expand
  21. Buck
    Apr 28, 2009
    1
    For people who prefer to think about music rather than enjoy it.
  22. MikeD
    Apr 13, 2009
    0
    I like a bit a of wierd...but this album is just confusing, noisy and overated...and all the 'sheep' here would NOT have giving it 10/10 if the critics had slammed it!!!! It just aint Music people!!!!
  23. FarrajD
    Apr 1, 2009
    0
    This music is so bad, it could be used as an instrument for torture.
  24. abes
    Jan 27, 2009
    1
    I used to be 'with it', but then they changed what 'it' was. Now what I'm with isn't 'it', and what's 'it' seems weird and scary.
  25. MarkC.
    Jan 24, 2009
    2
    This band and its albums are extremely overrated. They make mildly annoying background music.

Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best Album of 2009
2
#2 Most Discussed Album of 2009
6
#6 Most Shared Album of 2009

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
89

Universal acclaim - based on 36 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 36
  3. Negative: 0 out of 36
  1. Mojo
    80
    By far the most streamlined and purposeful Animal Collective record. [Jan 2008, p.98]
  2. Spin
    80
    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.
    Read full review
  3. Uncut
    100
    It feels like one of the landmark American albums of the century so far. [Jan 2008, p.86]
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »