Already one of the more anticipated new releases for 2009, Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion has become the focal point of a bizarre leaking controversy that has grown to include, somewhat voluntarily, Bradford Cox of Deerhunter and Atlas Sound. Earlier last week, two tracks from the upcoming Animal Collective album were leaked and began showing up on various mp3 sites. Hardly an uncommon occurrence, the situation took a bizarre turn when a purported e-mail from Brian Weitz, also known as the miner's hat clad Geologist, surfaced encouraging people to leak the rest of the album ahead of the scheduled January 09 release date.

The e-mail to The Quietus, apparently from Weitz' account (which appears to be missing a shift key or the ability to use capital letters), says,"it has come to my attention that 2 full length tracks off of our upcoming album, merriweather post pavilion have surfaced online. david, noah, and I please ask that someone assist us and leak all of the remaining tracks on the album. the album is intended to be heard as a whole, and nothing bothers us more than individual tracks leaking and ruining the the overall album experience." As Animal Collective are no strangers to leaking issues - they were involved in bizarre misunderstanding with fellow hipsters Grizzly Bear over an inadvertent leak of "Brother Sport" - there was a slight possibility of the e-mail's legitimacy.

In the absence of any comment from Weitz himself, it apparently fell to Deerhunter's Bradford Cox to debunk all rumors. Earlier this year, Cox dealt with a similar situation when Microcastle, Deerhunter's critically beloved 2008 effort, leaked well before its time. On Deerhunter's blog, which has the ability to create capital letters, Cox writes, "Someone actually had the nerve to hack into their e-mail account and send this out. The truth is that AC do not want their album to leak and are trying very hard to avoid the drama around said album that has risen to a fever pitch." His inane suggestion to create your own songs in anticipation of MPP's release might make sense if you have his level of talent but his heart is in the right place.

Labels: Animal Collective, Deerhunter