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Animal Collective have released “Love On the Big Screen,” their first new single as a four-piece since 2023. Watch the trippy Danny Perez-directed visualizer below.

Avey Tare and Adam McDaniel produced the song. McDaniel also engineered and mixed the track in his Asheville studio Drop of Sun Studio. Along with the digital release, a limited edition 7” vinyl featuring “Love On the Big Screen” and its B-side “Buddies On the Blackboard” will be released on August 1st. Preorders are ongoing.

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While “Love On the Big Screen” is AnCo’s first song as quartet in two years, the group splintered off over their career for one-off singles and records. Deakin collaborated with Panda Bear’s on his Sinister Grift B-side “Virginia Tech” earlier this month, and back in 2024, Avey Tare and Panda Bear dropped “Vampire Tongues.”

Panda Bear is on break from his European and North American tour,...

Avey Tare has brought Animal Collective bandmate Noah Lennox (A.K.A. Panda Bear) along for a new single, “Vampire Tongues.”

Atop a skittering, rippling beat, the Tare-Bear combo offset busy synths, strange dissonance, and drum machines with moments of melodic clarity. It’s definitely reminiscent of their Animal Collective work together, while also remaining as experimental as ever — the song’s halting bridge is eerie, tense, and atmosphere-altering, and they reprise that same feeling each time they shift keys into the creeping chorus. Stream “Vampire Tongues” below.

“Right now the basic process of making music is more important to me than any outcome,” Dave Portner (Avey Tare) said in a press release. “It’s a process of learning. Collaboration is as much about learning from someone as it is creating something with someone. There’s a nice surprise element. I wonder, what is this person going to do with this idea?...

Animal Collective will release a new live album as part of a special 20th anniversary reissue of their 2004 LP, Sung Tongs, out Oct. 4 via Domino.

Sung Tongs Live at the Theatre at Ace Hotel captures a 2018 concert in Los Angeles, during which Animal Collective’s Avey Tare and Panda Bear performed Sung Tongs in its entirety (while also adding a rendition of the Sung Tongs-era deep cut, “Covered in Frogs”). Accompanying the reissue announcement is the pair’s live rendition of “Kids on Holiday,” which retains the original’s jittery folk surrealism,...

If last year’s Time Skiffs left you wanting more from Animal Collective, you’re in luck: the band have shared another new album called Isn’t It Now?, out today via Domino.

Like many artists, Animal Collective’s plans were changed when the pandemic hit. The experimental band wrote about 20 songs before the world went into lockdown, and Time Skiffs comprised nine compositions Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Deakin, and Geologist were able to record separately to a click track. They saved nine more, however, for Isn’t It Now?, longing to work together in the same room.

The band teamed with Russell Elevado for the project, recording its songs in late 2021 before road-testing them on tour in 2022. Featuring the 22-minute long single “Defeat,” Isn’t It Now? marks Animal Collective’s longest record to date. Pre-orders for physical formats are ongoing, and you can stream the album via Apple Music or Spotify below.

Animal Collective have unveiled the new single “Gem & I” from their twelfth album, Isn’t It Now?, due September 29th.

The song has one of the longest paths to the upcoming record with the band initially testing it out at live shows as far back as 2019. Compared to preceding singles like the 22-minute epic “Defeat” and the psychedelic “Soul Capturer,” “Gem & I” amounts to a rather mellow jam with traces of tropical influences, glitchy harmonies, and splashes of warm, seraphic synths over a crisp, punchy drumbeat. Stream it below.

Isn’t It Now? arrives on September 29th via Domino and will serve as Animal Collective’s longest LP to-date with a 64-minute runtime. Pre-orders are ongoing.

During the intervening weeks before its release, Avey Tare will embark on a solo North American tour running through early October. Geologist is set to join as an opener on select dates. Grab seats to any remaining dates here.

Less than two years removed from their Time Skiffs, Animal Collective have announced they’ll return this September with a new album Isn’t It Now?

Ahead of the LP’s Sept. 29 release, the band has shared the new video for opening track “Soul Capturer,” the second “single” off Isn’t It Now?; the album announcement was preceded earlier this month by the epic, 22-minute centerpiece “Defeat.”

During the six-year wait that followed 2016’s absurdist Painting With, Animal Collective — Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist, and Deakin — rented a cabin in...

Animal Collective have returned with a new 22-minute long single, “Defeat.” Listen to the song below.

Featuring ethereal electronic swirls and swells, long open-vowel harmonies, hauntingly beautiful melodies, and bursts of pop arrangements, “Defeat” is an masterful suite demonstrating Animal Collective’s sound. Lyrically, it conveys the sincerity they’ve become champions of purveying — asking “What have we become?” Avey Tare’s emotional vocals carry a palpable weight. When the conclusion of the song declares that the aforementioned “we” have not been defeated, the hope of the sentiment fills the tune like sunlight pouring into a warm, open room.

Recorded with producer Russell Elevado, “Defeat” also features guest musicians providing strings and saxophone parts. The song first debuted during live shows Animal Collective played in the late 2010s, and an early recorded version appeared along with their 2018 release, Live at Music Box Village. Listen to the new, studio version of the song below.

Animal Collective have unveiled a psychedelic, 23-year-old cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.” Listen to it below.

The cover arrives as part of the reissue of Animal Collective’s debut album, 2000’s Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished. Along with remastered versions of the record’s original 10 tracks, the seminal psych-pop band also included a bonus EP (entitled A Night At Mr. Raindrop’s Holistic Supermarket), which consists of five previously-unreleased songs from the time they were working on Spirit They’re Gone.

One of those songs is the imaginative arrangement of “Dreams,” which switches out the original’s steady groove for a looping soundscape of synths and booming kick drum hits. Dave Portner (aka Avey Tare) took on lead vocal duties, and, though the original release was credited simply to “Avey Tare and Panda Bear,” future Animal Collective member Josh Dibb (aka Deakin) mixed the track.

Animal Collective released their latest album,...

Proving they were two decades ahead of 2020’s TikTok trends, a new reissue of Animal Collective’s first full-length album, 2000’s Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished, will feature a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” which they recorded at the time.

The reissue, out May 12, comes with an EP, A Night at Mr. Raindrop’s Holistic Supermarket, which contains the cover and four other previously-unreleased tracks. The expanded version with the EP will be available digitally and on triple-lp and double-cd formats, while Spirit They’re Gone...

Animal Collective have detailed a reissue of their debut album, Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished, out May 12th via Domino.

Credited initially to Avey Tare and Panda Bear when it was released in 2000, Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished has been remastered for the reissue and will come with new artwork by Abby and Dave Portner. The expanded edition will feature an EP titled A Night at Mr. Raindrop’s Holistic Supermarket, which contains five unreleased tracks recorded during the same era and mixed by Animal Collective’s Deakin. One of the EP’s highlights is a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.”

The reissue will be available on standard 2xLP, with the expanded edition containing the bonus EP arriving on digital platforms and available in physical 3xLP and 2xCD formats. Pre-orders are ongoing. See the artwork and tracklist below.

As a preview of the reissue,...

22 years after the release of their debut album, the Baltimore-bred quartet Animal Collective is as prolific as ever. Members Avey Tare (Dave Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Deakin (Josh Dibb) and Geologist (Brian Weitz) released their 11th studio album this year—the delectably jammy Time Skiffs—to a wave of acclaim the band arguably hasn’t received since their indie-tronica staple Merriweather Post Pavilion in 2009. On the heels of Time Skiffs’ success, the band has already hit the studio to record their forthcoming release, rumored to hit shelves and streamers from the band’s longtime label Domino Records in 2023. This year has […]

The post “Pretend Sonic Youth Composed the Score to Jaws“: Deakin and Geologist of Animal Collective on Scoring The Inspection first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

22 years after the release of their debut album, the Baltimore-bred quartet Animal Collective is as prolific as ever. Members Avey Tare (Dave Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Deakin (Josh Dibb) and Geologist (Brian Weitz) released their 11th studio album this year—the delectably jammy Time Skiffs—to a wave of acclaim the band arguably hasn’t received since their indie-tronica staple Merriweather Post Pavilion in 2009. On the heels of Time Skiffs’ success, the band has already hit the studio to record their forthcoming release, rumored to hit shelves and streamers from the band’s longtime label Domino Records in 2023. This year has […]

The post “Pretend Sonic Youth Composed the Score to Jaws“: Deakin and Geologist of Animal Collective on Scoring The Inspection first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Animal Collective have released a new song, “Crucible,” from their upcoming score for Elegance Bratton’s semi-autobiographical film, The Inspection.

“Crucible” is a dreamy tune, with Animal Collective’s distinct harmonies drifting above a delicate mix of organ and piano. “I wanted us to conjure the feeling of being strong but also showing vulnerability,” Animal Collective’s Avey Tare said in a statement. “The desire to ask a community or a loved one to have your back and support you and the expectation that it will happen.”

The Inspection, which...

Animal Collective mashed up their unreleased song “Genie’s Open” with a rendition of Silver Jews’ “Trains Across The Sea” as part of the band’s recent live session for SiriusXM.

While “Genie’s Open” wasn’t included on the band’s 2022 LP Time Skiffs, the track became a fixture on tour in support of the album; however, the SiriusXM session marked the first time they performed the song in tandem with the “Trains Across the Sea.”

Animal Collective’s Avey Tare and Geologist previously covered Silver Jews’ “Ballad of...

Perhaps most famously known for his genre defining 1978 film, "Halloween," John Carpenter is a horror maestro. It's almost impossible to talk about horror without mentioning his name. He's created so many phenomenal gems for the genre that it's hard to imagine horror without his contributions. Along with the "Halloween" franchise, films like "The Thing," "They Live," and "Escape from New York" have all gone on to become classics, and rightfully so. I mean, who doesn't want to "chew bubblegum and kick ass" after watching a Carpenter film?

Not only are Carpenter's films impressive for the stories alone, but they are also unique because Carpenter himself often contributes the score. That iconic piano riff in "Halloween?" All Carpenter. He is extremely involved in his projects which makes it all the more perplexing to find out that he doesn't really consider himself to be a horror director in the first place. It...

The psychedelic crew Animal Collective have spent 20 years as the answer to the musical question “What if we actually were the signals in Brian Wilson’s brain?” The four animals (Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Deakin, and Geologist), or some combination thereof, have built a bloodshot-eyed fanbase by cross-fading between psychedelic freak outs and solid, almost traditional pop craft, sometimes even jam-band danceable — see 2009’s still-thrilling Merriweather Post Pavilion LP or “Piggy Knows,” off of 2020’s otherwise obtuse Bridge to Quiet EP, which sported one of their most indelible hooks.

While...

Billie Eilish, Mariah Carey, Megan Thee Stallion, Shawn Mendes and Rihanna are among the hundreds of celebrity signatories of an open letter from the music, entertainment and sport industries supporting police reform legislation in California. The statement, released Wednesday, urges the governor and state legislature to approve two bills addressing police accountability.

Among the other musicians putting their names to the letter are Asap Ferg, Young the Giant, the Jonas Brothers, Meek Mill, Anderson .Paak, Death Cab for Cutie, Migos, Kehlani, Miguel, Ludwig Goransson, Mary J. Blige, Summer Walker, Richie Sambora, Journey, deadmau5, Aloe Blacc and Steven Tyler & Joe Perry.

Actors Sarah Paulson, Robert DeNiro, Lucy Hale, Zooey Deschanel, Cynthia Erivo, Josh Gad, Mandy Moore, Chrissy Metz, Sterling K. Brown, Chris Sullivan, Alyssa Milano and Debra Messing were among those signing. Companies and organizations signing on included the three top label groups — Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony Music Group — along with ASCAP,...

New initiatives at Cph:dox include Britdoc’s Good Pitch event, a cultural summit and tech innovation pitches at Propeller Springboard.

Cph:dox has awarded its Dox:award to Last Men in Aleppo, directed by Feras Fayyad and co-directed by Steen Johannessen.

The jury said the film, about volunteers in the war-torn Syrian city, is “a film whose devastating emotional immediacy plunges us into a Shakespearean tragedy of a people striving to retain their humanity in the face of impossible realities.”

The film previously won the grand jury prize in Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary competition.

Special mentions went to Gray House by Austin Lynch and Matthew Booth and The John Dalli Mystery by Jeppe Rønde.

The F:act Award, for a film involving in-depth journalistic investigation, went to Reber Dosky’s Radio Kobani, about a young woman’s struggle to run a local radio station in war-torn northern Syria.

A special mention went to Trophy by Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau...

Thousands of weary Thanksgiving travelers got instantly hipper on Wednesday when they accidentally became the first people to hear the new Animal Collective album. The Maryland band surprise-released their new album Floridada by playing it over the speakers of Bwi Thurgood Marshall Airport, the 23rd-busiest airport in North America, during the pre-Thanksgiving rush. (The album will come out for everyone else on November 30.) As Matt Baetz, cousin of AmCo's Avey Tare, wrote on Instagram, the album "can be heard best in the bathrooms, some observation areas, pre-security and the big lounge after security." Until 6 p.m. this random airport is the East Coast's hottest club.

Louisville, Kentucky’s flagship Forecastle Festival has announced its lineup, which includes Outkast, Beck and Jack White as headliners. Check out the full lineup below. In its 12th year, the three-day festival returns to Waterfront Park and runs July 18-20. The festival has also secured the sought-after Replacements reunion, which so far will only appear at Coachella and Shaky Knees. Ray Lamontagne, Band of Horses, Spoon, Against Me!, Local Natives, Gary Clark Jr. and Jenny Lewis are also on the lineup. Tickets go on sale Friday (March 7). Here’s the complete Forecastle 2014 lineup: Jack White Beck The Replacements Ray Lamontagne Band of Horses Spoon Nickel Creek Dwight Yoakam Twenty One Pilots Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings Local Natives Gary Clark Jr. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit Jenny Lewis Trampled By Turtles Lord Huron Tune-Yards Jj Grey & Mofro Action Bronson Slint Flume Against Me! Sun Kil Moon Sharon Van Etten The Black Lips St.

Animal Collective have been out of the news in the past few months, as their last major band announcement was to axe a good number of their tour dates due to band member Avey Tare's "intense case of strep throat." The electronic noise-makers are readying to hit the road again soon, though, and have dropped a new music video to help promote the stint and their wildly variant new album "Centipede Hz." "Monkey Riches" was one of the more likeable tracks from the 2012 set, in that it has this beautifully glitchy, extremely ornery climax that cascades double, with the bouncy...

Animal Collective has cancelled yet another run of dates—its second—this year, putting the band ever closer to becoming the Morrissey of experimental electronic music. The group just nixed all its July shows, including stops at Camp Bisco and the Forecastle festival, citing an unspecified illness. AnCo previously backed out of a March run with Dan Deacon, after Avey Tare came down with strep throat. The group says it’s trying to reschedule the non-festival dates, and still has a number of fall stops on the docket, including several dates with the aforementioned Deacon. A full list of which ...

Animal Collective has cancelled the remainder of its March North American tour, citing member Avey Tare’s “intense case of strep throat.” In a statement, Tare said that he “wasn’t diagnosed soon enough” to be “able to kick this in the right amount of time.” Thus, rather than stringing fans along show by show, the band just nixed all its dates for the next week. The band will play its scheduled May dates in Europe, as well as summer dates in the states, and is working to reschedule the cancelled shows. A full list of what shows are and ...

It's been four years since Animal Collective swam close to mainstream with their breakout album Meriweather Post Pavilion. The poppy departure landed the experimental Baltimore band on countless "Best of 2009" lists, and led to a memorably weird spot on Late Night With David Letterman. It also gave the four members the chance to lay low after recording their ninth album. They took their longest break yet, spun off into solo projects, and generally made fans worry that the group was kaput.

But far from ending things, Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Deakin, and Geologist went old school, getting together in a single space to write their next album instead of collaborating from different ports around the world the way they always had.

The result of their convergence is the space-themed Centipede Hz, which released yesterday. Depending on what you read, the 11 new tracks are either the last piece of the puzzle...

Back in December, Dave "Avey Tare" Portner made promises (or, "said publicly in a relatively definite manner") that Animal Collective would finally be getting around to a new album. They had fifteen songs ready to go, according to Pitchfork's arithmetic, and they were supposed to start recording in January. Hopes were high. So! Here we are five months later, and that album is still the stuff of dreams and/or interview ramblings, but good news: Portner wasn't totally lying. Animal Collective just dropped two new songs! And they are back in bonkers energetic form: "Honeycomb," the zippy single, is maybe the most impeccably crafted Nintendo theme song in recorded history; "Gotham," the B-side, is your slice of tripped-out yodeling for the morning. Handily, both songs are available below, so listen now! Crazy pitch-perfect yelping waits for no blog reader. ...

AudioPlayer.setup("http://www.nerve.com/files/players/audio/player.swf", { width: 350 }); Ranked: Animal Collective Albums from Worst to Best With the release of founding member Panda Bear's new album, we revisit the psych-rock group's full discography. By Matthew Perpetua Panda Bear's new solo album, Tomboy, comes out this week. It's his fourth, but the fourteenth overall release from Animal Collective, the loosely aggregated group of psychedelic musicians who broke through with 2005's Feels. In celebration, we enlisted Matthew Perpetua, who founded the internet's first MP3 blog, Fluxblog, to rank the group's full discography (excluding EPs — we're not crazy). 14. Avey Tare and Kría Brekkan, Pullhair Rubeye (2007) Out of all the full-length studio albums produced by Animal Collective's principal members, this is definitely the most unlistenable. Avey Tare recorded this album with his wife at the time, Kría [...]...

It was hard enough watching Animal Collective's "visual album" Oddsac and coming up with a review of a movie that stretched the boundaries of narrative, logic and terror. But then the next day I actually sat down to interview some of the smartest guys in the music business, and the director, Danny Perez, who helped them put together a visual album that, in a strange way, fits perfectly with the sonic collages the band has created. They wouldn't tell me how they created some of the more mysterious sounds heard in the film, or how some of the fascinating visual tricks were achieved, but we did talk about how the film reflects the band's musical evolution over the past few years, and how their collaboration changes when working with a director like Perez. Absent Noah Lennox (a.k.a. Panda Bear), band members Josh Dibb (Deakin), David Portner (Avey...