Panda Bear, he of the Animal Collective fame, is quite the pioneer of a micro-genre I (and no one else) like to call "cavewave." Namely, he always sounds like he's at the back of a cave, mumbling his gooey vibes into the darkness whereupon they echo out and all around him/the listener. You'd think that's just regular old chillwave, but that micro-genre sounds mostly like a guy just hanging out in his bedroom and diddling on his laptop. Cavewave artists are more purposefully obscure, every sound filtered through a voicebox/fish tank. 

● As per his first dispatch from the "Green Monster," Ja Rule's first night in prison was quite the trip. [Vibe]

Odd Future: 1, Protesters: 0

Phoenix has finally -- finally -- released a remix album for their career-changing and year-end-list-destined Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. After the disappointing Wolfgang Diaries which, once procured by hardcore fans, were found to have nothing more than 40-someodd insubstantial demos of boring studio tweaks, it was time they gave us something more to go with what still is many people's favorite album of the year. Better demos! An albums of entirely acoustic tracks! Anything. And we got remixes, some of which are meh, some of which are decent, and some of which are great. There's even a special appearance by none other than 2009's Indie Rock A-List: Animal Collective and Passion Pit, with special appearances by Chairlift, Friendly Fires, and Devendra Banhart, and others. After the jump, the breakdown, and where to find them.

When superhot band Animal Collective redecorated a corner of our office, it seemed only right to mark the occasion with a video record of their artistry in motion. Check it after the jump, appropriately scored with a juicy AC track.

You guys aren’t really going to leave this up here, are you?” asks Avey Tare (born David Portner), scanning the eight nails he has just hammered through Rebecca Romijn’s head. A few feet away, his Animal Collective bandmate Geologist (Brian Weitz) sprays “Also Frightened?,” an ominous song title from their new album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, in deep red across an office door. Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), the third member, tacks Tilda Swinton’s head to the end of a painted fish spine.

Animal Collective are everywhere these days (including our office). Having released an early contender for album of the year, it's no wonder there was little room to roam at their sold-out gig at the Bowery Ballroom last night. But the crowd no doubt received an unexpected surprise from the New York art-rockers: temporary blindness.

Well, that didn't take long! Just weeks after naming the Fleet Foxes' debut album (and their EP) the record of the year for 2008, Pitchfork Media has gone and declared Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion the best album of this freshly minted year, sort of. The notoriously prickly music site published their review of the album today, and gave it an incredibly high 9.6 rating on their make-you-or-break-you rating scale. I dare any other album this year to top that.

Halloween is the holiday (is it even a holiday?) of anarchy. Destroy your teeth with candy, desecrate your frenemy's home with TP, pelt a senior with eggshells. Just don't give a f*ck. With that tenor in mind, here's Animal Collective going all smashy smashy on a poor, defenceless baby pumpkin. And we wouldn't have it any other way, because babies haven't earned the right to defend themselves, and they never will. Happy Halloween, from BlackBook and Animal Collective! And stay tuned, because they're in our offices right now creating an art project for an upcoming issue.

VIP access to this weekend’s All Points West Music and Arts Festival means hanging with the artists, but not actually watching them perform. Ignore the tempting buffet because there is too much beer to drink. Score a bunch of free shit and feel very important because of it. At the entrance, unimportant and important people alike wait in long-ass lines while their are bags checked. But we very important folk waltz right in.