I am not a fan of horror movies. Although I can understand the appeal for those who enjoy the visceral thrill of getting scared, I have never been able to willingly subject myself to the experience. One may ask, then, why I am reviewing an album by a band with the name Slasher Flicks.
The answer is that Slasher Flicks is not actually that frightening. The group is the brainchild of Avey Tare (real name Dave Portner), one-fourth of the critically-acclaimed psychedelic/experimental band Animal Collective. Portner, a professed horror movie fan, formed Slasher Flicks while he was in between tours with his main band. His stated goal with the band is to create cute, campy Halloween songs with a pop sensibility.
So despite their violent name, Slasher Flicks bear little musical resemblance to bands with a similar persona-like horror-punks the Misfits. Slasher Flicks’ closest musical point of reference is probably one that Portner himself has mentioned in interviews: 60s novelty songs like “The Monster Mash” and “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” Think less “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and more “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
For most listeners, Slasher Flicks is just another in a long line of Animal Collective side projects. There never seems to be a lull in the band members’ creative energies, and even when they’re not touring or recording, they seem to be working on a project of some sort. It can be tiring for even the most dedicated of fans to pore through Animal Collective’s discography to find the gems. Thankfully, “Enter the Slasher House” is worth the listen; it’s one of the most accessible things that Animal Collective or any of its associated side projects have released, yet it retains so many of the things that make that band great.
The first thing that grabs ahold of your ear on “Enter the Slasher House” is its carefully-crafted ambience. Throughout the album, gurgling synths bubble up like witches’ cauldrons and wiggly guitars wail like ghosts. Songs like “That It Won’t Grow” and “The Outlaw” employ a creepy carnival organ to great effect. The haunted-house vibe is tempered by an air of playfulness: just listen to the gibberish vocals in the chorus to “Catchy (Was Contagious)” and try not to smile.
There’s more to “Enter the Slasher House” than horror-movie kitsch. The songs themselves still hold up when you look past the novelty of the Halloween sound effects. The energetic “Blind Babe” successfully pairs hyperactive punk beats and syncopated samba rhythms. “That It Won’t Grow” juxtaposes somber, introspective verses with explosive, radiant choruses, tinged every so slightly with a reggae feel. The secret weapon throughout the album is its inventive, angular drumming provided by Jeremy Hyman of noise-punk band Ponytail.
The album’s best moment is also its most straightforward and poppy: single “Little Fang.” Its funky drums and creeping bassline hearken back to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” but the chorus is propelled by Ronettes-style call-and-response backup vocals. The song is a persistent earworm that sounds like little else that Avey Tare has previously recorded, solo or otherwise.
By Animal Collective standards, the tracks on “Enter the Slasher House” are fairly short — only three songs make it past the 5-minute mark. Besides some idle jamming on “Roses on the Window” and “Your Card,” the album does a good job of avoiding the long, repetitive codas that sometimes detract people from Avey Tare’s main band. And yet many of the melodies and synth parts on “Enter the Slasher House” would feel right at home in an Animal Collective song. This could be the album that Animal Collective fans use to convince haters of the band’s worth.
If there’s anything to complain about on “Enter the Slasher House,” it’s Avey Tare’s persistent use of pitch-shifting vocal effects. These effects work well when used tastefully, like the monster-voice effect used on “Little Fang.” Elsewhere, they seem carelessly thrown on in post-production, and by the end of the album, they’re just tiring. They also exacerbate another issue present on most Animal Collective releases as well as “Enter the Slasher House”: the burying of the lead vocal in the mix and, as a result, the indecipherability of lyrics.
Side projects like Slasher Flicks seemed doomed to failure from the beginning: only diehard fans will bother to listen, and among those, many will be upset that the time and energy put into “Enter the Slasher House” couldn’t have gone towards an Animal Collective album instead. It’s true that the album isn’t as good as Animal Collective’s best work, but it’s by no means a throwaway album, and it offers a new, refreshing take on the band’s signature sound. If nothing else, it could serve as great Halloween party music — even if it was released in April.
