Baltimore, Maryland. The band is made up of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Deakin (Josh Dibb), and Geologist (Brian Weitz). Contributions from any or all of these members may be released under the Animal Collective name. Anima Collective was formed when the members met in school and started recording together in various forms of collaboration. The band is often classified as psych folk or noise rock, but it is hard to define the Animal Collective sound since they often experiment with diverse styles and ideas from album to album. The material of Animal Collective is released on their own record label Paw Tracks on which they also release material of other artists.
Animal Collective grew out of the roots of childhood friendships in Baltimore County. The four member lived away from each other for greater periods and they all played music in different variations and often solo, swapping homemade recordings and sharing ideas while two of the members went to university in Boston and the other two in New York. While going to university in Boston among several things Deakin and Panda released a record Panda had made on their own label Soccer Star Records.
In New York Avey also worked on a record, which eventually became 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. The record was released on Soccer Star, which was morphed into the Animal label.
Panda and Deakin moved to New York in 2000 at the time when Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished was released. The groups music became much more collaborative and Avey and Panda started to play in clubs around New York. Not much later Geologist joined and started to perform with the group.
A lot of the live material from this time eventually ended up on Danse Manatee, which was released on the Catsup Plate label. The record was released in 2001 under the name of Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist. In 2002 the Hollinndagain album was released exclusively on vinyl and a re-issue was released in 2002 through the Paw Tracks label.
The next album to be released was was Campfire Songs in 2003. The band attempted to make a record as warm and inviting as a campfire and it was recorded straight to minidisc, with one recorder outside to grab the ambient sound of the environment.
Soon the group decided to adopt a catch-all name. Using their old label of Animal as inspiration they picked "Animal Collective". The first record released under this name was Here Comes the Indian, which was released in 2003 by their newly formed record label, Paw Tracks. The two records that were released in 2003 attracted a great deal of attention and the group developed a relationship with the Fat Cat Records label.
Avey and Panda decided to focus more on stripped down material after the thick soundscapes of Here Comes the Indian. The result was Sung Tongs, which was released in 2004 on Fat Cat Records. The record was well received by critics.
Further, in October 2005 Animal Collective released their highly anticipated seventh album, which also was praised by critics, and included work from all four members. In the fall of 2006 Animal Collective released People in Australia as a 7" on their Australian label Spunk Records, and worldwide as a 12 inch and CD EP early in 2007 on Fat Cat Records.
Domino Records announced the release of a then still unnamed record by Animal Collective in January 2007. The record came to be named as Strawberry Jam and was leaked online on July 2007 before it was officially released in the US in September 11, 2007.
Strawberry Jam was followed by an extensive tour throughout 2007, which was done without Deakin, who had decided to take time off from the band. Further, in early 2008, still without Deakin, the band started the recording of a new album entitled Merriweather Post Pavilion, which was released on January 6, 2009 to much critical acclaim.
Author Resource:-
Kevin Hawkins writes about music, the music industry and vinyl records. To find out more about the band and its releases check out the Animal Collective site on Nylvi.
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