animal collective / 'freak folk' / manitoba etc.

[kid cue]

can someone please explain the appeal of these sounds to me? i've been playing my secondhand copy of Animal Collective's Feels and it does almost nothing for me. i feel as if i hear this style of shriek-singing and certain pastoral guitar tones and am instantly turned off. also w/ that Manitoba record Up in Flames. do you have to know something about American folk music to really get it?