Animal Collective

Just when you've finally processed 2007's Strawberry Jam, the hardest working band in avant-garde pop releases another reason to listen harder. AC's vocal melodies continue to exhibit simple, hum-along pleasures, but they're packaged in a mood that's eerily mellow and passing strange. And true to the EP's title, the four songs here are drenched in a thematically cohesive weirdness, whether incidental (a dripping-sink synth rhythm on "Cobwebs") or obvious (the underwater motifs underpinning both "Street Flash" and "Seal Eyeing"). No guessing their intentions, but they sure know beauty!