My Top 1000 Songs #617: Summertime Clothes

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

I have to admit, I struggle a bit with some of the work of Animal Collective (and their myriad solo projects), which is often a little too experimental/out-there for my tastes. But everything gelled perfectly on "Summertime Clothes," from 2009's Merriweather Post Pavilion. It's a twisted, acid-drenched, sensory overload, barely-controlled chaos, a mash-up between the skewed psychedelic pop of the Beach Boys' Smile and post-millennium electronica. Maybe not ideal for every mood, but if you've got your headphones on and are in the right mental state, it's a warm, emotional rush, a dense musical pastiche where you can just get utterly lost for a few minutes. 

The video's pretty cool, too, recognizing the song's rightful place as a gallery-ready audio-visual experience.

Live on Letterman 2009:

Another live take: