Portner 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.
Portner recorded the Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished album with Lennox, and initially released the recording on the band's own Animal label in 1999.
The album is commonly referred to as the first official Animal Collective release, with Tare writing the music and Lennox providing the 'perfect percussion' (as cited in the album's credits).

After high school, Portner and Weitz moved to New York City to attend New York University and Columbia University, respectively.
Lennox and Dibb eventually moved to New York City, 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 collaborative effort, with no typical 'frontman,' Portner has been cited by the other members as being the 'primary songwriter' and de facto leader of the group.
For the band's Centipede Hz, Tare confirmed that the album has eight songs penned by him.
Portner 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. Portner recorded the Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished album with Lennox, and initially released the recording on the band's own Animal label in 1999. The album is commonly referred to as the first official Animal Collective release, with Tare writing the music and Lennox providing the 'perfect percussion' (as cited in the album's credits).
After high school, Portner and Weitz moved to New York City to attend New York University and Columbia University, respectively. Lennox and Dibb eventually moved to New York City, 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 collaborative effort, with no typical 'frontman,' Portner has been cited by the other members as being the 'primary songwriter' and de facto leader of the group. For the band's Centipede Hz, Tare confirmed that the album has eight songs penned by him.
Avey Tare