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Listen: Battle of the Animal Collective Solo Projects

What’s beef?

It’s showdown time! When news of Tomboy — Animal Collective co-front-man Panda Bear’s follow-up to his beloved 2007 solo album, Person Pitch — first surfaced, the buzz was strong. But then Panda Bear reportedly turned in an atrocious Pitchfork Festival performance and delayed his album indefinitely, and the buzz weakened. Meanwhile, Panda Bear’s buddy (and the guy who puts the “co” in “Animal Collective co-front-man”) Avey Tare geared up plans for his debut solo album, Down There, managing to both land an actual release date (October 26) and not bomb at Pitchfork Festival (he achieved this primarily by not playing Pitchfork Festival, but still). Which brings us to this exact moment in time, with new singles from both dudes — Panda Bear’s “Alsatian Dare” and Avey Tare’s “Lucky 1” — having recently hit the Internet. Both are certainly worth your time, packing enough fuzz, bleeps, and drone-y mid-tempo melodies you need to listen to ten or fifteen times before you can reliably hum them to yourself to satiate even the most ornery of Animal Collective fans. But only one can be king! Please, ruthlessly declare one of these tracks superior in the comments below.

Hear “Alsatian Dare” at NeonWaves.com.

Hear “Lucky 1” right here:

Listen: Battle of the Animal Collective Solo Projects

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