Magic Jewball

Depending on who you are, you either groaned at the idea of even one more word of hype about this band or you wondered who the hell I am talking about. That’s the nature of being cult superstars! I was never an Animal Collective megafan. I think I really never listened because they seemed electronic and weird, which is ironic because that’s how the music I listened to in the 80’s was described back in the day. In fact, I discovered the new album… no wait, I discovered the new album because it is written about everywhere on the Interweb and blogosphere. But I discovered the actual music because I was getting a bit bored with First Wave on SiriusXM, not just because they are much more hit-oriented since Sirius took over, but because there is only so long you can go never hearing a new song. So I switched to XMU, which is the Indie station. And I was so excited to like this album! That’s because they’re from Baltimore and their album is named after the concert venue where I spent many a good time in college, the Merriweather Post Pavilion. Ask me & North of the City how we got trapped there with several friends one night with no ride home and eventually found a cab where the driver proceeded to regale us with tales of which psychotropic drugs he was taking. Good times!

But essentially, this album, which comes out Tuesday, is going to move them from one plain to another. If I wasn’t already positive about that, the fact that they got a full page write-up in today’s NY Times tells me that for sure. And if there was a moment for a cult band to have a number one album, beating out the Taylor Swifts of this world, it is in the middle of January, the saddest month for music sales there is. I can’t decide which is more amazing, a band with eight albums out already reaching #1 or a band that most people haven’t heard of reaching #1. It’s a toss-up!

Anyway, the song. So I’ve heard about five songs from the record and this is the first single and best one, IMHO. It’s catchy and joyous and groovy and twinkly and ethereal (it almost sounds like a Christmas song) and is about (the NY Times confirms what I hypothesized) one of the lead singers’ slight embarrassment at wanting material things for his family. I know, that doesn’t sound very exciting but when you hear the chorus, I swear it will stick to your mind like the best pop does. And it will make you happy, just listening. Could you ask for more?

OK, so you can’t download this until Tuesday but it will be fantastic to listen to while you wait for the Inauguration to come on!

Napster:
Animal Collective – My Girls

Streaming audio available on the iPod Song of the Week page.