"This double album serves well as an introduction point to the group, repackaging their first two releases. The Collective's first offering was a stunning collaboration between Avey Tare and Panda Bear called Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished, released on their own label (Animal) in August of 2000. Chiming laments for a childhood's end, the album opens with the phrase 'want to hear a secret, I know one', suggesting these secrets just might be buried deep within the flocks of high frequencies, electronic glitches, bleeps and swells that follow. The duo's approach is similar to Love's (circa Forever Changes), with Avey Tare's picked acoustic guitar flowing in perfect syncopation with Panda's tumbling drum kit. But the layers of tonal and atonal electronics that fatten the thinner pulse of the songwriter's vision make this album resemble something closer to modern electronic composition. The band's second album, Danse Manatee was released by Catsup Plate in July 2001. A 'live' sound permeates the surface audio aesthetic here, but the more intriguing development is the music itself: Geologist contributes live electronics and incidental vocals; Panda is singing more; the whole thing is more organic." |