Music
Fall Be Kind
At their best, Animal Collective combine shapely pop hooks with mind-broadening sonic freakery. At their worst, the sonic freakery is mind-numbing. Like most of their work, this five-song EP contains all of the above: The opening "Graze" sutures together meandering synths and a perky Afropop-style chorale, to no end; "Bleed" is a sub-Enya New Age snoozefest. But then there's "What Would I Want? Sky," a gorgeous, ear-tingling wash of polyphonic vocals, including a snippet of the Grateful Dead's "Unbroken Chain," the first sample the Dead have ever licensed. Wanted in Brooklyn: a ruthless editor.