18.

Animal Collective
Feels
(Fat Cat, 2005)

Feels is the first album from Animal Collective that started to receive the tag of accessibility, which is funny, because now each successive release has been their ‘accessible’ record. Who cares if it’s accessible when it's this incredible? Absolutely and totally amazing and imaginative and surprising. Sassigrass and I and a couple other friends roadtripped out to San Francisco in order to see Animal Collective shortly after this came out and it was definitely one of the best shows I have ever seen. Talking to their road manager at a show a couple years later in SLC, he remarked that that San Francisco show was the best show (the “quintessential”) Animal Collective had ever played. I think they were just feeding off the good vibes established with Feels. So many great moments, it’s almost too good.

-Thistle