Buy Now
| Buy on |
|
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Aug 21, 2018Fans of AnCo’s more upbeat and animated works probably won’t love this album, but it is successful in its experimentation and as an affirmation that they have and always will have something unique to bring to the table.
-
Aug 17, 2018Tangerine Reef is a project that may likely polarize Animal Collective fans, and it may not be an ideal jumping-off point for anyone looking to discover this unique band, but it's a worthy addition to their catalog, and it supports a supremely important cause in this day and age.
-
Aug 20, 2018It's not necessarily a masterpiece nor was it ever meant to be a grand statement that'd capture everyone's attention; a low-key unveiling is more fitting, for it's the Collective's return to form, except in a way that nobody expected.
-
Aug 17, 2018Like any visual album, the floating sounds here are probably best experienced in conjunction with the visuals they were created for, but even on their own, there's a calm power that grows as the various passages of Tangerine Reef fade in and out of one another.
-
Aug 16, 2018In truth, Animal Collective didn’t really need to depend on the visual accompaniment to Tangerine Reef as the record does extremely well to capture the essence of the life aquatic on its own.
-
Aug 16, 2018Without Panda Bear on board, Animal Collective lose the pop edge that has resulted in their most commercially successful music, but this isn’t a project for scoring hits. It’s a meditative, hypnotic experience, and it’s not without the sense of playfulness that has driven Animal Collective throughout their career.
-
Aug 29, 2018Recorded by Deakin, Avey Tare, and Geologist, Tangerine Reef is also, for better or worse, the first Animal Collective album recorded without Panda Bear, whose melodic gift is frequently missed here.
-
Aug 30, 2018It doesn't quite get there, though when much of the noise drops away, leaving only a couple of pure notes, "Best of Times (Worst of All)" comes awfully close.
-
Q MagazineAug 28, 2018How much you enjoy it will depend on how you feel about largely structureless sonics, but if you just submerge yourself into it, there's plenty to discover. [Oct 2018, p.108]
-
Aug 27, 2018This might not be as immediate and catchy as previous Animal Collective releases, possibly due to Panda Bear’s absence, but its one of their most transfixing and beguiling.
-
Aug 17, 2018I have no doubt that Tangerine Reef will be a remarkable experience when paired with its visual stimuli, but without it, it is an album hard to recommend.
-
Aug 16, 2018For fans of Animal Collective's trippier inclinations, Tangerine Reef is a pleasant bit of oceanic escapism. For new listeners or anyone looking for the next "My Girls," this is decidedly inessential.
-
Aug 21, 2018While Tangerine Reef inspires as a pseudo-political statement regarding the deteriorating environment at the hands of mankind, Animal Collective ultimately disappoints with this record--it’s yet another forgettable checkpoint within the band’s recent run.
-
Aug 17, 2018The record captures all the noodling self-indulgence that makes the psych-poppers such a maddeningly inconsistent live act. But Tangerine Reef is an incomplete object in this form: It’s accompaniment, not feature presentation, the drowsy soundtrack to the iridescent undersea visuals of Australian filmmakers Coral Morphologic.
-
Aug 20, 2018AC plumb depths of paucity more than subtlety in this wilfully desolate expanse of dispassionate vocals and vague, awkward ambience.
-
Aug 16, 2018Tangerine Reef gives a musical voice to these alien coral creatures and their aquatic world. If only it were a more mellifluous voice.
-
Sep 17, 2018Since half of experiencing Tangerine Reef comes from experiencing the visuals it accompanies, it’s hard for me to really vibe with this album as a complete thing. Really it feels less than that, like a side table, a bed frame, or a pierced hole in an ear with no earring in it.
-
Aug 16, 2018This one was originally an art piece performed live at the Borscht Film Festival in Miami, with attendees absorbing the sound and images simultaneously. Divorced of that context, it belongs only in the sea.
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 18 out of 29
-
Mixed: 6 out of 29
-
Negative: 5 out of 29
-
Aug 24, 2018
-
Mar 19, 2021
-
Mar 6, 2019