Pitchfork

Grizzly Bear photo by Ahmed Klink

It was a week ago today that we posted a story about some trouble in the animal kingdom. It seems Grizzly Bear posted "Brothersport", a track from Animal Collective's forthcoming Merriweather Post Pavilion, well in advance of the album's release. This was a no-no, according to the copyright-enforcin' Web Sheriff, who put the e-smackdown on the Grizz.

Over the Thanksgiving break, Grizzly Bear's Ed Droste hopped on the band's blog to call the whole thing "overblown and rather silly," and offer an explanation of exactly what happened. [Via Exclaim/the Daily Swarm]:

1. The song was played on a French podcast or radio program.
2. Someone (not me) ripped the song.
3. Many blogs posted the track.
4. I was one of those blogs.
5. The weekend hit, and the Web Sheriff went on patrol.
6. His email to us went into our Spam folder along with Penis Enlargement emails.
7. His email to others that work with us were in the process of being addressed, but most likely were going to wait until Monday morning, after the weekend.
8. Suddenly it was Sunday and note two made its way to us, and the tone had become more harsh.
9. Web Sheriff believed we were ignoring him, but it was an honest misunderstanding.
10. The song was taken down and the Web Sheriff's pre-written apology letter was put up, along with his letter, which I found funny. The posting of his letter was a mistake and was the only reason the issue came to any else's attention.
11. People took note and blogged about it.
12. I decided to take down Mr. Sheriff's letter and do this quick-and-easy twelve-step explanation.

Droste adds, "If I've offended anyone in the Animal Collective family with my excited post, I apologize. It was meant to generate even more excitement for what will surely be a great album, and yes the Web Sheriff is just doing his job. I hope this makes everyone happy! If Animal Collective would like to blog a song of ours in the future, I’d be more than happy to give it to them. In fact I'd be honored." That's very cute!

Speaking of the Web Sheriff, this is great.

Merriweather Post Pavilion, "Brothersport" and all, is due January 12 in the UK and January 20 Stateside from Domino. Grizzly Bear, meanwhile, aren't really due anywhere but the studio and the Brooklyn Academy of Music for a while.
Grizzly Bear:

02-28 Brooklyn, NY - Howard Gilman Opera House *

* with Final Fantasy, Nico Muhly, the Brooklyn Philharmonic

Animal Collective:

01-12 London, England - Koko
01-13 Glasgow, Scotland - Glasgow School of Arts
01-14 Manchester, England - Club Academy
01-15 Brighton, England - Concorde 2
01-16 Paris, France - Bataclan
01-17 Leuven, Belgium - Stuk Kunstencentrum
01-18 Berlin, Germany - Postbanhof
01-20 New York, NY - Grand Ballroom
01-22 Chicago, IL - Metro
01-23 Los Angeles, CA - Fonda