My initial listen to the band back in August left me fairly intrigued as the band was oddly familiar and filled in a hole left by bands such as Animal Collective who hadn’t released any material since 2005’s Feels. Though Annuals weren’t as abstract, the band offered an odd brand of indie rock which was met by a strong level of fanfare later last year. But with that being said there has been somewhat of a backlash against bands such as the Annuals with many acknowledging that such bands were simply overhyped and aren’t necessarily worthy of the level of exposure they had been given.

After all was said and done with the recently released 2006 Music Bloggregate Heart on a Stick ranked the band just inside of the top 100 albums of the year, further suggesting that the band isn’t quite what it was once made out to be. Recently making its debut on national television the band performed the questionable track “Carry Around” which wasn’t the band’s choice for the performance but was played anyhow. That performance too was met with a varied degrees of criticism. So with that, I suggest you take a listen to the band’s recent session for AOL’s The Interface and judge for yourself whether or not the band is all its cracked up to be.

Spinner: AOL’s The Interface Featuring Annuals

Annuals “Dry Clothes”
Annuals “Bleary Eyed”
Annuals “Ida, My”
Annuals “Ease My Mind”

Additional Annuals Audio Available Here

Annuals – Official Site
Annuals – MySpace Site

also: Annuals on Late Night with Conan O’Brien
also: A Lo-Fi Wall of Sound: Annuals