After four years of furious editing, a polarizing screening at Sundance and loads of body glitter, Animal Collective’s long-awaited “visual album” Oddsac is set to have its New York premiere at a handful of sold-out screenings starting tomorrow. The film, a collaboration between the celebrated avant-indie band and Philadelphia film director Danny Perez, has been shrouded in mystery since its announcement last year. Little footage has leaked, save a 30-second teaser, and initial reviews at Sundance were full of wonder and befuddlement, comparing the 53-minute piece to Stan Brakhage’s epileptic edit work and Matthew Barney’s haunting imagery, marveling over its haunting jumble of sad vampires, whirling fireballs, flaming heads and glittered faces.
In addition to the film, Animal Collective and Perez are collaborating on a one-night-only installation this Friday, where they will be transforming New York’s Guggenheim Museum’s iconic rotunda into a showcase for the director’s demented visuals and the band’s dubby sounds. After the screening, Oddsac will spend March traveling to Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland. We caught up with Perez and Animal Collective’s David “Avey Tare” Portner to talk about the making of the film, the unscrupulous nature of leak culture and why some parents are scared of them.
So, Oddsac has been in the works since 2006?
David “Avey Tare” Portner: Yeah, Danny came on tour with us at the end of 2006. We were asked to do a movie about Animal Collective, like a tour movie, by Plexi. We didn’t think a documentary would do our music justice, so we brought Danny on tour to film us playing live and then do something else with it. He did film it, but we didn’t actually record any of the sound. He started doing this abstract colorful stuff. We threw all these visual scenarios at Danny and he took a lot of notes.
Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily