For years now there have been a number of somewhat underground scenes of experimental music whose sonic limitations are as undefined as the venues in which they perform. It was difficult to imagine this music reaching beyond the walls of the high school gymnasiums packed with devoted disciples of the abstract, but perhaps that exemplifies the brilliance of the new album from Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion.
Emerging from the collaborative efforts of Baltimore school friends David "Avey Tare" Portner, Noah "Panda Bear" Lennox, Josh "Deakin" Dibb and Brian "Geologist" Weitz, Animal Collective is rooted in experimental music. Pinpointing the Collective's style in terms of genre is a difficult task; with a track record of nine studio albums, they've spread themselves across a eclectic board of psych, folk, rock, noise, and more.