Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion

On Strawberry Jam, Animal Collective infused pop songwriting with a mercurial electronic spirit; on 2009’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, they find beauty in chaos—and vice versa. “My Girls” arrays dizzying, Beach Boys–inspired vocal harmonies over synths that explode like fireworks; “Summertime Clothes” starts like a battle hymn for a kazoo army and turns into a bubbling fountain of pure joy. And on the closing “Brother Sport”, Brazilian samba rhythms and AM-radio frequencies put a globe-trotting spin on the group’s restless sound.