Animal Collective Gets The Magic Stink Eye

Maura is making me bury the cover for Animal Collective’s forthcoming Merriweather Post Pavilion after the jump because its optical-illusion undulation gives her headaches. Truth be told, it’s another in a series of crappy Animal Collective album covers. (I eagerly anticipate someone in the comments changing that last statement to “a series of crappy Animal Collective albums.” Y’all are so predictable.)

Unlike others, I’m a fan of Animal Collective, but I do cringe every time one of their album covers makes an appearance. I’m not sure if they set out to make aggressively ugly album covers, but they sure succeed. This one is, perhaps, the most “successful”–a wiggly, squirmy optical illusion that never stops moving and makes you want to barf, and is atrocious-looking to boot. The last time I thought green and purple worked together was when the first Tim Burton Batman movie came out. You know, when I was 14.

Seriously, this is the kind of cover an act with a name like GruveShroom or Soul Diet would foist upon their Range Rover-driving fans. Like I said, I disagree with those who claim that the band is nothing more than wanker hippies in indie clothing, but AC’s not helping their case any with this ready-for-a-black-light reject.