2009 is only two days old, and already it looks like December’s year-end list already has a forgone conclusion on it:  Animal Collective.

My experience with Animal Collective is limited and spotty to say the least, but I can hold my own in an indie-music-geek debate when it come to the merit and influence of the band.  I know that Merriweather Post Pavilion is their eighth studio album, and I have more than just a passing familiarity with Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox’s last euphoric solo album, Person Pitch.  I’ve sampled their wares on occasion over the last few years, but honestly, I never found anything that really appealed to me from the band proper.  They were just destined to be one of those blog bands, like TV On The Radio, whose appeal would elude the majority, while a minority sang their praise.  I just figured I’d be destined to be in the latter group.

Then a few days ago, I heard it; like a sonic vision from the indie Gods, my eyes were opened, and I knew what the fuss was all about.  Merriweather Post Pavilion sees Animal Collective embrace beats and rhythm and use it as some kind of pagan dance ritual.  This is not music you can just sit and listen to; it’s going to make your body move.  It’s also going to make your head spin, with all the heady sonic affectations that the Collective has been known for still present.  David “Avey Tare” Portner, Lennox, Josh “Deakin” Gibb, and  Brian “Geologist” Weitz are still very much the young mad musical geniuses they’ve been portrayed as in the press all these years, but you get the sense that what’s happening in the studio now is less “happy accident” and more “purposeful vision”.

There’s been a lot made out of how Grizzly Bear’s blog carried the track “Brother Sport” last month, and how the infamous Web Sheriff forced them to delete the track and post an apology.  Hey, these things happen.  I’m tempted to post something myself, but why tempt the God’s of fate and IP tracking?  It’ll be out soon enough, and I’m sure there’s more than a couple “outlets” where you can get the whole thing now.  I’ll opt for a link to live video of Animal Collective playing my favourite song from the disc, “My Girls”, taken at Coachella.

Video: Animal Collective “My Girls (live at Coachella 2008)
Myspace: Animal Collective