Centipede Hz

Animal Collective - Centipede Hz
Critic Score
Based on 43 reviews
2012 Ratings: #353 / 1118
User Score
Based on 670 ratings
2012 Rank: #295
Liked by 51 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

91
Pretty Much Amazing

Though it never escapes the shadow of its elder sibling, Centipede Hz is, in true black-sheep fashion, undeniably entertaining.

91
Beats Per Minute

Centipede Hz is dense and unforgivingly full-throttle ... and home to some of the band’s best and most involved lyrics to date.

90
Clash

‘Centepede Hz’ is somehow both futuristically innovative and welcomingly accessible. Amid the obscurantism caused by white noise and radio interference are strong choruses likely to get any form of life dancing.

85
Under the Radar

A magical album that takes the listener on a wondrous journey into a party where love is found, lost, and ultimately sublimated into an unsurpassable catharsis. 

80
The 405

With Centipede Hz, it's not just the case that they've done it again, it's that they've been doing it since the turn of the century, and no-one's going to stop them having fun anytime soon.

80
Alternative Press

Centipede Hz stretches them out of their traditional organic structures and into a slightly unknown world.

80
Mojo
In reconnecting with the guileless, tribal chaos of their roots, Animal Collective have made another delirious and ecstatic step forward.
80
DIY
Experimental, psychedelic, mad, and oddly, very listenable pop music.
80
PopMatters

Centipede Hz is an album that’ll get a hold on you as all its arms grab on and don’t let go. 

80
Consequence of Sound

Centipede Hz is upfront about its intentions of difficulty, announcing them with a tone equal parts self-aware and challenging. 

80
No Ripcord

As it stands, it’s a portrait of growing up that is wonderfully vivid but a tad unfulfilling, a collection of tracks boasting some remarkable tunes and a complex theme, and an album that is bound to satisfy both hardcore and casual fans.

80
Q Magazine
It's intoxicating listening that demands repeated attention.
80
SPIN

If it's not yet clear, Centipede does retain much of the band's earnest, knowing naiveté.

80
NME

It’s chaotic and confounding. It will frustrate as much as it delights. And no, not everything they throw at the wall manages to stick. 

74
Pitchfork

Centipede Hz, by comparison, feels like someone throwing a burrito on your windshield: The songs hit with a jolt, instantly splaying all their ingredients before you.

70
Drowned in Sound

It’s not a major album, but are Animal Collective obliged to make major albums?

70
Uncut

Centipede Hz is an album that both gazes up into the cosmos, and stares down into the dirt – and perhaps that’s not so weird.

70
Rolling Stone

What gives Centipede Hz its relatable gravity is that, this time out, Animal Collective sound more like creatures who put their skinny jeans on one hoof at a time.

70
AllMusic

There's a higher percentage of anxiety and queasiness mixed in amid the moments of pop bliss, and though fans of the glassy perfection of MPP may be initially disappointed, Centipede Hz sounds like another logical step in the band's evolution.

60
The Guardian

Centipede Hz sets them up well for the future, without always managing to satisfy in the present.

60
NOW Magazine
The Baltimore psych-experimental rock band's ninth begins in a youthful and joyous way, but the exuberance unravels into something close to obnoxious chaos.
60
The Needle Drop

With Centipede Hz, experimental music outfit Animal Collective is following its poppiest album, 2009's Merriweather Post Pavilion, with one of its most hectic.

60
The Observer
Amid pell-mell songs such as standout Today's Supernatural there is rarely a pause to draw breath on this fine follow-up.
60
Paste

Centipede Hz evokes nothing so much as diner placemats or knockoff dollar store beach pails.

58
A.V. Club

It’s like a manic transmission that’s only being half picked up, leaving the receiver the task of attempting to reconstruct the message from incomplete information.

55
Prefix
Like the subjects of these songs, the music itself wanders.
50
musicOMH

Oversaturated with obtrusive vocal effects and muddy synth textures, these songs are forcefully suffocated by untamed jumbles of sonic detritus.

50
FACT Magazine

The problem with Centipede Hz is that there’s just no room for the listener’s own imagination, rendering it a difficult album to connect with.

50
Slant Magazine

Centipede Hz may have a lot of interesting elements floating around, and it may be held together by the same strong songcraft that has always sustained Animal Collective, but it's all too murky and familiar, less profoundly complex than inaccessibly complicated.

40
The Independent

While there's some interesting moments to be found here, for the most part Centipede Hz is a fatiguing experience.

Windy
72

𝗔𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲'𝘀 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆: 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗲 𝗛𝘇

The best way I can describe this album is just: it makes sense. Centipede Hz is an Animal Collective album that makes total sense, in terms of its sound, its release, its themes, and really everything about it. This is a bit weird because, in the case of AnCo, none of their previous albums have ever really done that. Each new album ... read more

Rob
75

Even though it's a change in direction from the beloved Merriweather Post Pavillion, it's still a great album. I've enjoyed it more with each listen.

ImpalaLT
91

Why is the user score only 73?

Continuing the long streak of amazing albums, Animal Collective takes a different direction with this album. It’s more electronic-sounding, but it doesn’t shy away from the psychedelic sound they’ve always been doing.

They take the catchiness of Strawberry Jam and Merriweather Post Pavilion and morph it into what Danse Manatee should have been. Like they’ve been consistently doing since 2004, they make a beautiful sense of melody, with ... read more

hux
80

'Today's Supernatural' is such an amazing song. 'Wide Eyed' feels like it could have been produced by The Olivia Tremor Control. As a matter of fact, it's very likely that The Olivia Tremor Control inspired this record. This one connected to me more because it feels like there's just more vocals than what's usually on an Animal Collective album, it just feels more personal.

Favorites
Moonjock • Today's Supernatural • Rosie Oh • Wide Eyed • New Town Burnout • Mercury ... read more

75

多產的動物集合到後來稍嫌顧人怨的主要原因在於,除了明顯嗑過頭外,漫無章法的曲式讓人感覺就是大家jam一jam先錄再說反正這樣也是一張的概念,然後裡頭塞個一兩首稍微正常一點的就可以交代過去了。無奈的是粉絲,還是一樣,會買單.......

Deklondikebar
89

like alot (if not most) Animal Collective fans out there, I was offput by Centipede Hz when I first listened to the album. The sound just didn't connect with me, the the vocals felt too all over the place, the melodies and harmonies were scrambled and washed out, and the overall voice of the record was just muddled to me. But coming back to it years later, seeing this album as just a fun and new ANCO album is so fun and refreshing. It's one of the most catchy and head bouncing Lp's the ... read more

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Track List

1Moonjock
5:05
84
2Today's Supernatural
4:14
86
3Rosie Oh
2:55
81
4Applesauce
5:34
85
5Wide Eyed
5:00
79
6Father Time
4:34
73
7New Town Burnout
6:01
76
8Monkey Riches
6:45
82
9Mercury Man
4:18
77
10Pulleys
3:30
75
11Amanita
5:36
86
Total Length: 53 minutes
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Added on: May 14, 2012