The members of experimental psychedelic band Animal Collective first met in school in Baltimore County, Maryland. After collaborating on various musical endeavors throughout high school and college, David Porter and Noah Lennox put out their first album under the name “Avey Tare and Panda Bear” in 2000. The two were then joined by Brian Weitz for their second record, which was released in 2001 under the name Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist.

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.