avante-garde musicians avey tare (aka david porter) and panda bear (aka noah lennox), supported by occasional members geologist (aka brian weitz) and deakin (aka conrad deaken) make up the psych folk/noise rock collective known as animal collective.  panda bear and deakin met in baltimore county in second grade, deakin met avery tare andgeologist in high school.  since 2000, the band has released nine l.p.'s.

the band combines folk, ambient noise and a psychedelic feel into an intriguing, eclectic and occasionally frustrating sound. in an online statement, animal collective wrote, "don't be surprised if you come to see us and it's not what you thought it would be, and try not to get too upset."  they also added that they hope their music is "at times totally pleasing and at others completely scary and confusing, but most importantly is refreshing in this crazy, crazy world."

on january 20, 2009, the band released merriweather post pavillion, described by the band as "freeform, electronic, horror, gospel, hip-hop, soul, pop madness."  unlike their previous albums that had a more sublime yet chaotic feel, mpp is more euphoric and tribally rhythmic.

click here  to listen to a live gig recorded by npr's all songs considered at d.c.'s 9:30 club on september 28, 2008.  click here to listen to an in-studio set and interview recorded by kexp  from november 06, 2007.  click here for an npr's all things considered interview from january 21, 2009.  click here for an interview by pitchfork.tv.  don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website.

check back here to find out when animal collective are coming to your town.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.