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Animal Collective
Background information
Origin	New York, New York
Genre(s)	Experimental rock Indie rock
Years active	2000–present
Label(s)	Animal, Catsup PlateSt. Ives, Paw Tracks, Fat Cat, Domino
Associated acts	Panda Bear, Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan, Jane, Terrestrial Tones, Gang Gang Dance, Together
Website	http://www.paw-tracks.com
Members
Avey Tare Panda Bear Deakin Geologist

Animal Collective is a New York City-based group of experimental musicians from Baltimore, Maryland. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare (also known as David Portner), Panda Bear (also known as Noah Lennox), Deakin (also known as Josh Dibb), and Geologist (also known as Brian Weitz). Records released under the name Animal Collective may include contributions from any or all of these members, but the lineup is not uniform. The band members met in school and started recording together in various forms of collaboration from a young age. Although the band is often classified as psych folk or noise rock, it is hard to define the Animal Collective sound as they often experiment with diverse styles and ideas. The group also runs the record label Paw Tracks on which they have released their own material as well as material by artists such as Ariel Pink, Terrestial Tones, and The Peppermints.

Contents 1 History 2 Members 3 Discography 3.1 Albums 3.2 EPs 3.3 Singles 3.4 Splits 3.5 Solo and related 4 External links

Animal Collective grew out of the roots of childhood friendships in Baltimore County. Panda Bear and Deakin had met in the second grade and became good friends. Panda went away to Pennsylvania for high school, while Deakin attended The Park School of Baltimore where Avey Tare and recent Philadelphia transplant Geologist went. Avey, Geologist and Deakin were in an indie rock band called Automine with other schoolmates. Deakin introduced Panda to Avey and Geologist. The four of them played music in different variations and often solo, swapping homemade recordings and sharing ideas.

Panda and Deakin both went off to college in the Boston area, while Avey and Geologist attended schools in New York City. Panda and Deakin assembled Panda's eponymous debut during this time from the multitude of recordings Panda had made in the previous years and established their own label, Soccer Star Records, to release it.

Avey was also working on a record, which would eventually become Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished. Avey asked Panda to play drums on the record, which was released under the name Avey Tare and Panda Bear. Soccer Star morphed into the Animal label, with the intention of putting out music that came from the four musicians.

Panda and Deakin both left school and moved to New York in 2000, around the time of Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished. The group's music became much more collaborative in nature, and Avey and Panda began playing clubs around New York. Geologist soon came on board and began performing with the group.

Much of the live material from this time would eventually end up on Danse Manatee, on the Catsup Plate label. Danse Manatee was released in 2001 under the name of Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist. This process of preparing material in the live setting and then recording and often retiring songs would become a hallmark of Animal Collective. The group's first tour, with friends Black Dice, was captured on the 2002 album Hollinndagain. The live album was released by St. Ives, a boutique label run by Secretly Canadian which releases limited edition vinyl only records. Limited to 300 copies, each of which featured a one-of-a-kind handmade cover, Hollinndagain is among the rarest of Animal Collective artifacts. Hollinndagain was re-released, both on CD and vinyl, on October 31, 2006 through the Paw Tracks label.

At this point, Deakin began to perform with the group. The next album to be released was Campfire Songs, again working with Catsup Plate in 2003. The Campfire Songs concept and some of the material dated back to the earliest Avey Tare and Panda Bear shows in New York. Recorded live in 2001 on a screened-in porch in Monkton, Maryland, the record is one take of five songs played straight through. Attempting to make a record as warm and inviting as a campfire, the band recorded their performance straight to minidisc, with one recorder outside to grab the ambient sound of the environment. Field recordings of the surrounding area were also added. In 2002, Animal Collective also attained notoriety for their appearance on Arto Lindsay's album Invoke (Righteous Babe Records).

Worrying that Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Deakin and Geologist would be too long-winded a moniker, and with record companies advising that a unifying name would be necessary for the marketplace, the group decided to adopt a catch-all name. Using their old label of Animal as inspiration they picked "Animal Collective". This formation was to be different from a straightforward band, giving the musicians the freedom to work in combinations of two to four, as dictated by the project at hand or their mood. Their first entry under this name was Here Comes the Indian, which was released in 2003 by their newly formed record label, Paw Tracks. Paw Tracks was formed with Todd Hyman from Carpark records. Animal Collective makes decisions on what Paw Tracks would release, while Hyman runs the day-to-day operations. The group was happy to find someone like Hyman, who had experience running a label and was dedicated to the group's music; the Animal label was more or less abandoned upon the formation of Paw Tracks. Here Comes the Indian was the first record to feature all four of Animal Collective and its dense textures and energetic performances widened the exposure of the group significantly.

The two releases in 2003 attracted much attention and the group began a relationship with one of their new admirers, the Fat Cat Records label. The first Fat Cat release from the Collective was a double disc package of Spirit and Danse Manatee, which were previously only available or well-known in and around New York.

After the dense soundscapes of Here Comes the Indian, Avey and Panda decided to concentrate on more stripped-down material. Each of them began composing material and they performed as a duo usually with just acoustic guitars, a single drum, some effects and their voices. The duo toured the world for the better part of a year with this new material, opening for múm and Four Tet among others, before retreating to Lamar, Colorado to record the material with Rusty Santos, a New York musician and friend. The result was Sung Tongs, released on Fat Cat in 2004. Sung Tongs received a great deal of critical acclaim for its strong harmonies, exotic textures, hummable melodies and free-wheeling nature.

The group were introduced to Vashti Bunyan in Scotland by Kieran Hebden (AKA Four Tet), who had recently played in Bunyan's band. Being fans of the cult folk singer's 1970 album Just Another Diamond Day, they started a friendship and asked her to collaborate on some recordings. With the group's encouragement, Bunyan sang lead vocals on three songs left over from the Sung Tongs era, released on the Prospect Hummer EP in early 2005. The release led to a Fat Cat signing for Vashti Bunyan, who finally wrote, recorded and released a second album, ending a thirty year hiatus.

In October 2005, Animal Collective released their highly anticipated seventh album. Feels was met with acclaim from fans and critics both. Again the work of all four members of the collective, Feels was recorded in Seattle with Scott Colburn, known for his work with the Sun City Girls. Following the release of Feels, Animal Collective mounted their most extensive tour yet, which lasted into the Fall of 2006 and saw them visit Australia and New Zealand for the first time in addition to many European festivals and North American dates.

During their 2005 and 2006 tours, Animal Collective debuted several new songs, which are for now only known by their working titles: "Reverend Green", "Fireworks" (formerly "Allman Vibe"), "Chores", "#1", "Safer", "Peace Bone", "Cuckoo" and "Street Flash."

A vinyl-only live box set, purported to contain three LPs worth of unreleased material, is planned for 2007 on Catsup Plate.

Panda Bear is currently releasing a series of EPs and singles, beginning with "I'm Not" b/w "Comfy in Nautica" on United Acoustic Recordings (UUAR) and, most recently, "Bro's", a 12" on Fat Cat. A split 12" with Excepter on Paw Tracks is also expected in the near future. These songs will later be included on Panda Bear's next full-length studio album, entitled Person Pitch, due in March 2007.

In the late fall of 2006, Animal Collective released the People EP in Australia on their Austalian label Spunk Records. It contains three studio songs "People", "Tiwkid", and "My Favorite Colors", as well as a live version of "People". The EP has leaked onto many peer-to-peer filesharing sites, and is available as an import. Fat Cat Records will release the EP worldwide in early 2007.

In January 2007, Domino Recording Company announced that they would be releasing the new, as of yet unnamed, Animal Collective album.

Avey Tare (David Portner): Avey comes from taking the D off of Davey, and Tare is because he was tearing the name apart. It is not a play on the word avatar. He is the husband of Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir, a former member of the Icelandic band múm.

Panda Bear (Noah Lennox): As a kid he used to make 4 track tapes. On the first one he did a drawing of a panda bear on it.

Geologist (Brian Weitz): Somebody had incorrectly thought he had studied geology in college, while in reality it was biology. The name stuck. During live shows he wears a headlamp in order to see his mixing equipment. To the audience he resembles a geologist.

Deakin (Josh Dibb): He used to send long letters to Avey Tare in a style evocative of romance literature of the 19th century and signed one Conrad Deacon.

All recordings released as Animal Collective, unless otherwise noted.

• Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished (2000, Animal), under the name Avey Tare and Panda Bear
• Danse Manatee (2001, Catsup Plate), under the name Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist
• Hollinndagain (2002, St. Ives), under the name Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist
• Campfire Songs (2003, Catsup Plate), under the name Campfire Songs
• Here Comes the Indian (2003, Paw Tracks)
• Sung Tongs (2004, Fat Cat)
• Feels (2005, Fat Cat)

• Prospect Hummer (2005, Fat Cat), with Vashti Bunyan
• People (2006, Spunk!; 2007, Fat Cat)

• "Who Could Win a Rabbit" (2004, Fat Cat)
• "Grass" (2005, Fat Cat)
• "The Purple Bottle" (2006, White Label)

• Wastered with Black Dice (2004, Paw Tracks)

Panda Bear:

• Panda Bear (1998, Soccer Star)
• Young Prayer (2004, Paw Tracks)
• "I'm Not/Comfy in Nautica" (single) (2005, UUAR)
• "Bro's" (single) (2006, Fat Cat)
• "Carrots" (single) (2007, Paw Tracks) (split 12" with Excepter)
• Person Pitch (2007, Paw Tracks)
• "Take Pills" (single) (2007, Paw Tracks)

Terrestrial Tones (Avey Tare and Eric Copeland of Black Dice):

• Blasted (2005, Psych-o-Path records)
• Oboroed/Circus Lives (2005, UUAR)
• Dead Drunk (2006, Paw Tracks)

Jane (Panda Bear and Scott Mou):

• Paradise (2002, Self-released)
• COcOnuts (2002, Psych-o-Path records)
• Berserker (2005, Paw Tracks)

Avey Tare:

• Crumbling Land (2003, Fat Cat) (split 12" with David Grubbs)

Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan:

• Pullhair Rubeye (2007, Paw Tracks)

• Paw Tracks
• Fat Cat Records: Animal Collective
• Collected Animals: an Animal Collective fan site
• Interview with Geologist at 18+
• Interview at identitytheory.com
• Live video of The Purple Bottle

• Animal Collective collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive

Animal Collective
Avey Tare | Panda Bear | Deakin | Geologist
Other Contributors: Vashti Bunyan | Doctess | Eyvind
Band Discography
Albums: Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished | Danse Manatee | Hollinndagain | Campfire Songs | Here Comes the Indian | Sung Tongs | Feels
Extended Plays: Prospect Hummer | People
Singles: "Wastered" | "Who Could Win a Rabbit" | "Grass" | "The Purple Bottle"
Solo & Related Acts: Terrestrial Tones | Jane | Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan | Panda Bear
Solo & Related Discography
Studio Albums: Panda Bear | Paradise | COcOnuts | Young Prayer | Blasted | Oboroed / Circus Lives | Berserker | Dead Drunk | Person Pitch | Pullhair Rubeye
Extended Plays & Singles: Crumbling Land | "I'm Not/Comfy in Nautica" | "Bro's" | "Carrots" | "Take Pills"
See also
Paw Tracks | New Weird America | WikiProject This box: view • talk • edit