After years of their moniker simply being, well, a moniker, Animal Collective finally puts that silly music riff-raff on hold to collectively help animals. They’ve teamed up with PETA to present a PSA against Canada’s slaughter of seals, a cause that has been of particular interest to PETA in relation to the public attention to Vancouver for their hosting of the 2010 Olympics (a campaign they’re calling OlympicShame2010). The band comes across as both earnest and reasonably knowledgeable, as it turns out Brian has some background in both environmental work and marine biology. Also, if you don’t like your bands to have any interests outside of music, the clip does use “My Girls.” However, the end is NSFW unless you work at a place where watching a baby seal take it just for chillin’ on his ice patch is normal. Also, if it is, please get a new job immediately and consider taking a few weeks of to search your soul.

(Via: I Guess I’m Floating)

The 10″. An odd format. It doesn’t have the shoe-box currency and the hallowed history of the 7″, nor the expansiveness of the 12″, but damned if it’ll go away. Animal Collective know a thing or two about neglected formats. The band recorded their soon-to-be-reissued album Campfire Songs and many of the tracks on the immediatly unavailable Crack Box to the once touted MiniDisc format. (Thx, Sony!) And now comes another 10″. This time a single for MPP’s “Brothersport,” backed with “Bleeding,” which was called “Bleed” when it first surfaced back in May. Rumor has it that Animal Collective have added a whole bunch of “-ing” to “Bleed” to concoct “Bleeding.” There are a few versions of “Bleeding” floating around the web, and while the three minute DC version has its moments, any space traveler worth his weight in cosmic glitter knows you go with the 11+ minute ambient trip. Behold below!

Animal Collective, Bleeding (Live @ Henry Miller Library)

MP3 Download

We’re not going to lie. We’ve never actually seen the MTVU Woodie Awards. But then again, we don’t live in a dorm, so it sort of makes sense. We do remember the channel incessantly playing My Morning Jacket and E-40 back in the day, so they’re OK by us. And it seems logical enough MTV’s college version would get its own little baby VMAs. MTV just announced the nominations, and it seems Asher Roth is finally being rewarded for recording a generic (edit: offensive) song replicating the college experience. About damn time. But more in our lane, Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective have been nominated for a Breaking Woodie and a Performing Woodie respectively. Matt & Kim are up for a Best Video Woodie. And Jay Reatard (along with the likes of Major Lazer, Janelle Monae & Tech N9ne) are up for a Left Field Woodie, which we have yet to Wikipedia but would seem the only qualification might involve being inherently bizarre and happening to make incredible music. So we’re for it. Put those four in a room and film it and we’ll watch it over whatever replaced TRL any day. Done and done. The show takes place December 4th. Hopefully Matt (or Kim) will storm the stage (naked?) and grab the mic from Wale or someone in a fit of Brooklyn pride and demand a recount for Grizzly Bear. Full nominations here. (Via: MTV)

Taking to his blog on the New Yorker’s website, music critic Sasha Frere-Jones reviews the Animal Collective’s live show, starting off by saying, “I suppose that if your parents never took you to the circus and you’ve never been to an actual dance club, Animal Collective might seem kinda hot.” He goes on to describe the band’s musical twists and turns, arguing that “I could love the band as much as their loyal fan base does if I heard some genuine [musical] synthesis. But, show after show, all I’ve seen and heard are gestures. The noises are spiky enough to be better than nothing, but they don’t bowl me over with detail or texture, nor do they have the heft to produce a serious physical sensation. Their digital thump is dull, especially when compared to the programmed beats easily accessed by anybody with a computer or a radio, and the ’songs’ laid on top are too vague and echo-laden to pull me in, as feathered and smooth as Lennox’s voice is.”

Where he and the band accord, however, is in regards to the group’s stage set up: “Their stage presentation, though, is great visual shtick.” Hm.

Big, rad Bar Mitzvah
Stomach bounce, ears bleed, Black Dice
Bubbles and arcade

Sufjan Stevens

Circulatory System


Amazing dude in the lobby



Black Dice

Wayne Coyne checking out Atlas Sound

Antipop Consortium

No Age chillin

Shellac

Deerhunter


Animal Collective