Animal Collective

While visiting Dana Gumbiner at his studio last week, the inevitable question “What are you listening to?” came up. Gumbiner dialed a couple of tracks from this CD, which he’d loaded into his iPod. Color me infatuated. Animal Collective is a duo that makes richly psychedelic music. Imagine melodies inspired by “Do You Like Worms” from the Beach Boys’ Smile sessions, textured in the style of minimalist composer Steve Reich, with a dollop of XTC at its most manic, along with the kind of depth of field one might get from sitting in a mountain cabin, sucking on a bong and listening to Indonesian gamelan records, Haitian voodoo drum patterns and short-wave radio transmissions. If you hear this at a party where people are licking paintbrushes, know that Joe Friday is about to take you downtown.