Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One

Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One is the second studio album by American indie rock band The Olivia Tremor Control, released in 1999 through Flydaddy Records.[1] It was re-released on vinyl in November 2011 through Chunklet.[2]

Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One
Studio album by
The Olivia Tremor Control
ReleasedMarch 23, 1999
Recorded1995–1998
Genre
Length69:02
LabelFlydaddy, Cloud
The Olivia Tremor Control chronology
Explanation II: Instrumental Themes and Dream Sequences
(1998)		 Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One
(1999)		 Singles and Beyond
(2000)

The album consists of several indie rock songs layered with dense field recordings and noise manipulation, as well as several noise collage tracks, ranging in length from four seconds to over eleven minutes. There are five Black Foliage: Animation songs, which all feature the same bass line, but contain heavy sonic experimentation and go in vastly different directions. The album is heavily inspired by 1960's pop artists like The Beatles and The Beach Boys, particularly their later psychedelic work like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Pet Sounds, as well as the unreleased Smile.[3]

Background

In the liner notes of their debut album Music from the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle, The Olivia Tremor Control asked their fans to send in tape recordings describing dreams they had, which are sampled in the album, most notably in "Combinations 2" and "Hilltop Procession (Momentum Gaining)".[4] This request is also repeated in the liner notes for Black Foliage. According to band member Will Cullen Hart, the Animation tracks are intended to evoke imagery of animations.[5]

Recording

According to the liner notes, Black Foliage was recorded on various 4 and 8 track tape between 1995 to 1998, with overdubs being recorded as the album was mixed over the course of 5 weeks in the summer of 1998 with producer Robert Schneider.[4] These liner notes also detail that the band collaborated with many fellow members of The Elephant 6 Recording Company collective, including Neutral Milk Hotel frontman Jeff Mangum, who sings backup vocals in the song "I Have Been Floated".

The album also made use of several eclectic and bizarre instruments, with Elf Power keyboardist Linda Carter reminiscing on the group using a "guitar organ".[6]

Critical Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic75/100[7]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
The A.V. ClubA[9]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[10]
The Guardian[11]
Melody Maker[12]
NME6/10[13]
Pitchfork9.4/10[6]
Rolling Stone[14]
Spin7/10[15]
The Village VoiceB−[16]

On the review site Metacritic, Black Foliage earned a rating of 75 out of 100, indicating "generally positive reviews".[7] Writing for Pitchfork, Paul Thompson described it as "among the most satisfying psychedelic albums of any decade", going on to compare it to the Buddhist concept of Bardo.[6] Matt LeMay, a writer for the A.V. Club favorably described the Chunklet re-issues as "bringing [Black Foliage's] remarkable complexity into greater focus".[9]

Track listing

All songs written by the Olivia Tremor Control.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Opening"0:25
2."A Peculiar Noise Called "Train Director""3:02
3."Combinations"0:04
4."Hideaway"2:34
5."Black Foliage (Animation 1)"1:11
6."Combinations"0:14
7."The Sky Is a Harpsichord Canvas"0:04
8."A Sleepy Company"3:40
9."Grass Canons"3:21
Total length:14:39
Side two
No.TitleLength
10."A New Day"2:29
11."Combinations"0:15
12."Black Foliage (Animation 2)"1:23
13."I Have Been Floated"3:39
14."Paranormal Echoes"3:30
15."Black Foliage (Animation 3)"0:44
16."A Place We Have Been To"2:25
Total length:14:29
Side three
No.TitleLength
17."Black Foliage (Itself)"2:54
18."The Sylvan Screen"6:07
19."The Bark and Below It"11:24
20."Black Foliage (Animation 4)"1:36
Total length:22:04
Side four
No.TitleLength
21."California Demise (3)"2:46
22."Looking for Quiet Seeds"3:13
23."Combinations"0:11
24."Mystery"3:25
25."Another Set of Bees in the Museum"3:07
26."Black Foliage (Animation 5)"2:08
27."Hilltop Procession (Momentum Gaining)"3:21
Total length:18:15

Note: Track 21, "California Demise, Pt. 3" contains a small skip. The flaw was noticed during playback of the master recording in the studio, and the band decided to leave it in since it was a semi-ironic flaw, as it occurs on the lyric, "already".[17]

References
  1. "The Official Home of the Olivia Tremor Control". The Olivia Tremor Control. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  2. "The Olivia Tremor Control "Black Foliage" 2xLP - Chunket". Chunklet. February 27, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  3. Duesner, Stephen (March 22, 2019). "Olivia Tremor Control's "Black Foliage: Animation Music" Turns 20". Stereogum. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  4. "Discography". The Olivia Tremor Control. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  5. Devenish, Colin (December 9, 1998). "Olivia Tremor Control Get Animated For New LP". MTV. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  6. Richardson, Mark (July 12, 1999). "The Olivia Tremor Control: Black Foliage: Animation Music Vol. 1". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  7. "Reviews for Black Foliage: Animation Music by The Olivia Tremor Control". Metacritic. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  8. Ankeny, Jason. "Black Foliage: Animation Music, Vol. 1 – The Olivia Tremor Control". AllMusic. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  9. LeMay, Matt (November 15, 2011). "The Olivia Tremor Control: Music From The Unrealized Film Script / Dusk At Cubist Castle / Black Foliage: Animation Music, Vol. 1". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  10. Hermes, Will (March 26, 1999). "Black Foliage: Animation Music by The Olivia Tremor Control". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  11. Cox, Tom (May 7, 1999). "The Olivia Tremor Control: Black Foliage (V2)". The Guardian.
  12. "The Olivia Tremor Control: Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One". Melody Maker: 36. April 3, 1999.
  13. Long, April (April 8, 1999). "The Olivia Tremor Control – Black Foliage". NME. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  14. Kot, Greg (March 18, 1999). "Olivia Tremor Control: Black Foliage: Animation Music by the Olivia Tremor Control". Rolling Stone (808). Archived from the original on September 7, 2001. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  15. Weingarten, Marc (April 1999). "The Olivia Tremor Control: Black Foliage: Animation Music by the Olivia Tremor Control". Spin. 15 (4): 164–66. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  16. Christgau, Robert (November 30, 1999). "Consumer Guide: Turkey Shoot". The Village Voice. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
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