Seriously, Animal Collective. After giving loyal fans a taste of the magic that is to come with your ninth album at the October 28th listening party in New York City, would you expect them to wait patiently until January 20th to hear Merriweather Post Pavilion again?

Merriweather Trippy Pavillion

No. Oh dear God, no.

If Animal Collective fans out there are anything like yours truly, they have been waiting in eager anticipation, clutching our chairs, checking album leak sites religiously on the hour every day in hopes of seeing Merriweather pop up on our radar. It is almost as if we are collectively addicted to some strange synthetic drug; I don’t know what’s in it, but I have to have it again.

So, along comes UK-based FactMagazine, who, in a sickeningly pompous attempt to add more fuel to the already growing Merriweather fire, decided to post up three samples of tracks from the album on their website. How lovely. (Especially since the sample audio file for “My Girls,” arguably the album’s best track, does not work! Here, we cue a series of angry expletives.)

What does this mean for us anxious Animal Collective followers? Is a leak imminent?

Perhaps. This does confirm that press copies have indeed arrived at respective publications. All I have to do is wait for several strategically cultivated contacts to deliver my promised copy. All you have to do is wait. Patience is, after all, a virtue.

To listen to the clips of “Also Frightened” and the album’s only new song, “Bluish,” click here.

PS: FactMagazine obviously read my review of Merriweather for Stories in High Fidelity. “Could this turn out to be the album of 2009?” Hah! I made that prediction weeks ago! (I’m really just jealous…)

UPDATE 11/18/08: DOMINO HAS REQUESTED I TAKE THE FILES DOWN. SORRY, EVERYONE.