Strange cats deserve heavy petting

The harmonic strains of weirdness emanating from Baltimore's Animal Collective may provide a sonic hideaway from the British Invasion 2.0 that seems to be shaping up at this year's SXSW.

You'll have to get beyond the self-conscious monikers of the bandmates: Geologist, Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Deakin. But the sound is something else; on the recent album Feels (plenty of listenable links here) from the Brighton-based FatCat Records the sometimes Beatlesque, sometimes abstracted choruses of AC's nonsensical songs gets good play. As opposed to rising UK stars Arctic Monkeys and the Editors, nevermind oldies but goodies such as Echo and the Bunnymen and Morrissey, also scheduled to appear this week, Animal Collective manages to make rolling in the grass and rolling grass seem all the more natural. Playing Friday, March 17, at the Fox and Hound at 12:40 am (which is actually 3/18).