Avey Tare

Avey Tare

Avey Tare (born David Portner, April 24, 1979) is a musician and founding member of Animal Collective. Portner lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Animal Collective

Avey Tare met Animal Collective's Deakin (Josh Dibb), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), and Geologist (Brian Weitz) in high school. For years, the four of them swapped homemade recordings, shared musical ideas and performed in different group configurations. Avey Tare recorded the Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished album with Panda Bear, and initially released the recording on the band's own Animal label in 2000. The album is commonly referred to as the first official Animal Collective release, with Tare writing the music and Panda Bear providing the 'perfect drums' (as cited in the album's credits)

After high school, Avey Tare and Geologist moved to New York City to attend NYU and Columbia University, respectively. Panda Bear and Deakin eventually moved to NYC, and the band became more collaborative in nature. They finally settled on the name "Animal Collective".

Although the band's output is, as their name suggests, a highly collaborative effort, with no typical 'frontman', Avey Tare has been cited by the other members as being the 'primary songwriter' of the group. On all of the releases after 'Spirit They've Gone Spirit They've Vanished', which was written entirely by Tare, he has written at least half of the material, and for the albums 'Feels', 'Strawberry Jam' and 'Merriweather Post Pavilion', contributed around three quarters of the songs that made it onto the album.

Other musical projects

Avey Tare's other projects and releases include Terrestrial Tones with Eric Copeland of Black Dice, a split 12" with David Grubbs, and a LP with wife Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir (aka Kría Brekkan) called Pullhair Rubeye. He announced that he would be releasing his debut solo album "Down There" October 26, 2010.

His sister is Abby Portner, New York City artist and musician, who creates some of Animal Collective's artwork. He and wife Kristín are now separated.

Solo discography

Albums

• Down There (October 26, 2010, Paw Tracks)

Singles

• Lucky 1 (October 5, 2010, Paw Tracks)

Splits

• Crumbling Land (2003, Fat Cat Records) (split 12" with David Grubbs)

Appearances

• "Judy Biworker" on the sampler Esopus CD #4: Imaginary Friends (Spring 2005)
• "I'm Your Eagle Kisser" on the compilation Living Bridge (February 26, 2008, Rare Book Room Records)

Discography with Animal Collective

Main article: Animal Collective discography

Albums

• Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished (2000) - Animal
• Danse Manatee (2001) - Catsup Plate
• Hollinndagain (2002, 2006) - St. Ives, Paw Tracks
• Campfire Songs (March, 2003) - Catsup Plate
• Here Comes the Indian (June 17, 2003) - Paw Tracks
• Sung Tongs (May 3, 2004) - FatCat Records
• Feels (October 18, 2005) - FatCat
• Strawberry Jam (September 10, 2007) - Domino Records - (US #72)
• Merriweather Post Pavilion (January 12, 2009) - Domino Records - (US #13, UK #26)
• ODDSAC (August 9, 2010) - Plexifilm

Discography with Terrestrial Tones

• Blasted (2005, Psych-o-Path records)
• Oboroed/Circus Lives (2005, UUAR)
• Dead Drunk (2006, Paw Tracks)

Discography with Kría Brekkan

• Pullhair Rubeye (2007, Paw Tracks)