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Animal Collective

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Animal Collective is a New York City-based group from Baltimore, Maryland often recognized as an experimental music band. The group 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), though the lineup varies from album to album. The band members' nicknames are an inside joke (see below). They all met at school and started recording from a young age, playing in various bands, but they all came back to one another in the end. 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 new styles and ideas. Other related artists are Terrestrial Tones, Panda Bear (solo), Avey Tare (solo) and Jane. 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 and The Peppermints.

Contents

History

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, and so pleased by the effort, released it 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. 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 the Animal Collective. The group's first tour, with friends Black Dice, was captured on the St. Ives release Hollinndagain. St. Ives is a boutique label run by Secretly Canadian which releases limited edition vinyl only records. Hollinndagin was limited to 300 copies, each of which featured a one-of-a-kind handmade cover.

Deakin began to perform with the group at this point. 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 label 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 the 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. The Animal Collective make 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 the Collective and its dense textures and energetic performances widened the exposure of the group significantly.

The two releases, in 2003, attracted the attention of many 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. The duo went to Laramie, 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, humable melodies and free-wheeling nature.

The group were introduced to Vashti Bunyan in Scotland by Kieran Hebdan of Four Tet, who had recently played in Bunyan's band. Being a fan 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 groups 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.

Hollinndagain is set to be re-released by Paw Tracks along with a vinyl record from Panda Bear.

During their Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 tour, Animal Collective debuted several new songs including "Reverend Green", "Fireworks" (formely "Allman Vibe"), "Chores", "Safer", "Peace Bone", "Cuckoo" and "Street Flash."

Names

Avey Tare - Dave 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.

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.

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

Discography

All recordings released as Animal Collective, unless otherwise noted.

Albums

EPs

Singles

Splits

Related

External links

 

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