Screen Name: ElGuapo

Real Name: Kevin Dermody

Animal Collective shuns the familiar.

The trio’s always looking for different ways of working ideas into a pastiche of sounds, bringing forth images of vibrant colors and obtuse forms. The psychedelic, experimental thrust behind the band's sample-heavy creations has gotten gentler over the years. No longer intent on challenging the ears, Animal Collective plays nice and lets in melody from time to time. But the thirst for innovation is still strong.

The band's latest endeavor is a DVD with a vague release date of sometime this year.

Indie shoegazers Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk from Lawrence, Kan., may keep it light like hollow avian skeletons on Friday, May 29. (FYI, it’s true. Baby birds don’t consume calcium-based lactation from their mothers. Weighty bones are no good for flying.) Local experimental outfit Yoda’s House and the singer-songwritery Brothers open. Drag your heavy skeletal system, the one that keeps you earthbound, to Winning Coffee Co. (111 Harvard SE) at 7 p.m. $5. (Marisa Demarco)

This is an inspired collection of what could be called Christian campfire songs. mewithoutYou's orchestral, joyful exuberance forms a cocoon around every note and causes the nonstop religious messages to bounce off your skull without causing irritation. The diverse terrain of the album covers accordion waltzes, clip-clop Americana, plodding hymns and remorseful, guitar ballads. There's an innate beauty that shows through every inch of it's all crazy! While instrumentation remains understated, dynamics push toward something epic because of swaying tempos. If you can swallow the God talk, it's all crazy! will reward your tolerance. (SM)