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- Summary: The debut full-length collaboration between Animal Collective's Geologist (aka Brian Weitz) and Gang Gang Dance/White Magic "Sleepy" Doug Shaw began as a birthday present containing tracks made from music Shaw posted online that Geologist ran through his modular system.
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- Record Label: Drag City
- Genre(s): Experimental, Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
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Score distribution:
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Positive: 6 out of 7
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Mixed: 1 out of 7
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Negative: 0 out of 7
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Feb 21, 2025The team of Weitz and Shaw have a camaraderie and collaborative spirit that shine through in these recordings, and the individual tracks taken together reveal multiple facets of the pair’s friendship. Working apart, but spiritually together, these two reflect platonic love in musical form.
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Feb 3, 2025A Shaw Deal is an aural patchwork stitched together with the technical ability and confidence of an established sonic manipulator, but above all that – it’s a beautiful ode to friendship and music’s healing power.
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Feb 3, 2025This album is a bold statement that is sure to grow even more enticing as time passes. Each listen unearths another quaint element that completely changes the song’s atmosphere. A Shaw Deal is a challenging listen that yields otherworldly treasures, with Shaw’s guitar acting as the diamond in the rough yet soothing electronics of Weitz’s mystifying mind.
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UncutFeb 3, 2025The outcome isn't exactly surprising, as it falls in line with a relatively recent explosion in modular exploration (see Bitchin Bajas, Caterina Barbieri) but at times it is very beautiful. [Mar 2025, p.32]
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The WireMar 4, 2025It’s an abstract, often harsh, sometimes silly listening experience. [Apr 2025, p.56]
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Feb 6, 2025Your tolerance for freeform and frequently harsh-sounding guitar music determines whether A Shaw Deal will make it into your regular rotation or slot into the lesser-played ranks of the band’s catalog. But its funky, egoless spirit is infectious.
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Feb 3, 2025Animal Collective completists will be able to zero in on what makes Geologist’s language of samples and deconstructed loops unique, but to the untrained ear, it might register mostly as broken music begging to be pieced back together.