“You have made me smile again.
There ain’t nothing like it.”

Animal Collective has built up quite the repertoire over the course of their two decades of existence. From the early impenetrable walls of noise, to the impeccable pop experiments of the late aughts, to the candy-coated psychedelics of recent times, they have seemingly tried every flavor and style without ever making anything that sounded like it came from a band other than Animal Collective. At this point, as the boys approach middle age, they’ve begun to focus increasingly on their solo work, with the band a seeming afterthought. They reunite every handful of years for a new album, and though their recent output is not bad, it’s doubtful we’ll get anything that reaches the levels of Feels or Merriweather Post Pavilion ever again. (And if they were to scale those heights again, it would likely be from a different route altogether than those they’ve taken in the past.) These days, it feels like Animal Collective are at least willing to show up to work—that their job entails jumping around on stage and singing psychedelic pop songs is a welcome perk—but it’s still a job, and sometimes people do their jobs just to get them done and get paid.

Pulling two short sets (partial sets?) from shows recorded in the early 2000s, 2 Nights is essentially a fundraising effort for two different charities—Deep South Center for Environmental Justice and Climate Justice Alliance. Animal Collective have always slanted toward social activism. Their releases have also benefited Cultural Survival, the Equal Justice Initiative, Seeding Sovereignty, Southerners on New Ground, and the Okra Project. (I make no comment on the political stances or activities of these organizations, by the way; just pointing out the AnCo raised money for them.) I suppose, after all their successes, they’re allowed to cash in for whatever cause they wish. Many acts simply cash in for themselves, so if AnCo wants to charge $5 for an archival show that sounds like it was cobbled together from some fan’s camcorder footage and give the money to charitable organizations, they’re more than welcome to do that. (It’s also free to listen to on Bandcamp… so I listened to it for free.)

The tracks presented here all from the early 2000s—before they began channeling the spirit of late-1960s Brian Wilson—which means we’re in for a whole lot of pointless noise; provocative for the sake of being provocative. Where their previous live albums celebrated their greatest eras, this one highlights their worst (in my opinion, of course). But, there are also some calmer moments—the coda of ‘Hey Light’, the steadily building cacophony of opener ‘Infant Dressing Table’—that break up the sonic onslaught. If I was going to be converted to AnCo’s noise rock days, I think that would have happened already, and via the albums proper rather than a show, so another live album of this stuff doesn’t really do much for me.

Sources:
Roffman, Michael. “Animal Collective Change EP Artwork and Album Title Over ‘Racist Stereotypes’”. Consequence of Sound. 2 July 2020.