the musical fruit: movement #20.
song: "fireworks," animal collective
fruit: strawberries
if i was to name the one indie band who i've yet to see live but most long to see, it's animal collective. they're a band made up of four dudes (avey tare, panda bear, geologist & occasionally deakin) known for their psychedelically-happy songs & supposedly energetically trippy live shows. a typical song revolves around a repetitive beat that, once countless layers of instruments & vocals & sounds are added, becomes part of a bouncy anthem that you can't help but sing or shout along with. they tend to either go that route or just get all wacky psychedelic. they're originally from baltimore & even though (based on what i've seen on the wire) baltimore's pretty fucked up, with acts like them, ponytail & dan deacon, it produces some pretty solid indie acts.
for the last few years, my favorite animal collective song has been "fireworks," off of their 7th studio album, strawberry jam. the album itself is full their typical trippy stuff, but for me, it was the first time they came through with an album i found more appealing than annoying. "fireworks" appears midway through, right after the six & a half minute "for reverend green" & at almost seven minutes, is the longest song on the album. it doesn't feel long though, because it's always building & changing & bouncy. the lyrics are a bit nonsensical, but there are mentions of "eating with a good friend" & frightened babies pooing. you can't beat either of those things. if you like watching fireworks, you can't beat the video either. sparkly!
my strawberries are much better looking than the ones on the front of the album. those ones are SMASHED & smashed BUT GOOD. mine were fresh & red & almost 100% bruise-free. to be honest, they looked so good i almost didn't want to eat them. so yeah, i like strawberries a lot, might even call them a top five fruit. they're not without their drawbacks though. for starters, unless you're picking them from your own personal strawberry patch, they ain't cheap. to make matters worse, a lot of the time, after you've shelled out your hard-earned cash for a basket of fresh, store-bought strawberries, the fuckers end up rotting before you have a chance to eat them all. you have to move quick with the strawberries.
if you get them while they're still nice & fresh, they're so friggin good. i sat there for an hour the other day with a big bowl of strawberries & one by one, grabbed them by the stems & went to town, tossing the lousy stems over my shoulder into the trash as i ate. i was totally in the zone. in the interest of full disclosure, i must note that like apples & pears, strawberries are actually a fruit imposter, a "false fruit" if you will, since the fruit doesn't come from ovaries. it's cool with me. i don't need ovaries to make my fruit taste better. speaking of ovaries, i could get into the slang connotations of the word strawberry, but i won't. n.w.a. & urban dictionary have already covered that territory just fine.