Animal Collective
| Animal Collective | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2003–present |
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| Associated acts | Automine, Vashti Bunyan, Black Dice |
| Website | myanimalhome |
| Members | |
Animal Collective is an American experimental pop band formed in Baltimore, Maryland in 2003. Its members and founders are Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Deakin (Josh Dibb), and Geologist (Brian Weitz). The band's music is characterized by studio experimentation, vocal harmonies, and an exploration of various genres which include freak folk, noise rock, ambient drone, and psychedelia. Records released under the name "Animal Collective" may include contributions from any or all of its members. In the case of Dibb, who often takes breaks from recording and performing with the band, his time off does not constitute full leave.
The band members met in school and started recording together in various forms of collaboration from a young age. Originally a duo comprising Lennox and Portner, the collective was not officially established until all four members came together for the album Here Comes the Indian (2003). Previous collaborations between two or more members were then retroactively classified under Animal Collective's discography. In 1999, they established the record label Paw Tracks, issuing what is now considered their debut album, Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished (2000), as well as work by other artists. In 2009, the band released their most commercially successful album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, which Uncut magazine called: "one of the landmark American albums of the century so far".
Animal Collective grew out of childhood friendships in Baltimore County. Noah Lennox and Josh Dibb met in the second grade at the Waldorf School of Baltimore and became good friends. After the eighth grade, Lennox went away to a Waldorf high school in Pennsylvania, while Dibb enrolled at The Park School of Baltimore, where David Portner had studied since grade school. In 1993, Brian Weitz moved from Philadelphia to Baltimore County and began attending Park as well, becoming friends with Portner. According to Lennox, they attended "progressive" schools that emphasized creativity, imagination and artistic self-expression as part of "a complete kind of education". Weitz and Portner started playing music together at the age of fifteen because of their shared love of the band Pavement and horror movies. Their musical range included cover songs by Pavement and The Cure as well as the songs "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe and "Seasons In The Sun" by Terry Jacks.
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