Animal Collective's eight studio album Merriweather Post Pavilion has been hailed as 2009's best album in an end-of-year poll compiled by music critics.
According to the BBC, the psychedelic indie act topped HMV's annual "poll of polls," which racks up nominations from press and online critics from more than 33 organisations across the UK and Ireland.
HMV rock and pop manager John Hirst told BBC the New York band's record "sounded like nothing else out there".
Each December, HMV aspires to find an album with the greatest acclaim across the spectrum.
This year's poll of polls
1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
3. The XX - The XX
4. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
5. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
6. Horrors - Primary Colours
7. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
8. Florence and the Machine - Lungs
9. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
10. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
Source: HMV
Interestingly, New York bands dominated this year's chart, holding four of the top five positions (also including the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Dirty Projectors and Grizzly Bear).
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