By DCist contributor Abby Lavin

On any given night, most bars in D.C. would be more fun if you got to pick the music, right? But to convince a bar to let you play iPod-commando (unless it’s Café Saint-Ex on iPod Jukebox night), you’d have to have some serious indie-rock street-cred. You’d practically have to be a member of experimental rock demigods Animal Collective.

Fancy that! A member of Animal Collective (Geologist) is going to be treating attendees to the sounds of his mp3 player at Rock and Roll Hotel’s DAM! Fest pre-party this Friday, along with live performances from Dirty on Purpose, The Dance Party (***), and Exit Clov (whose new album we reviewed earlier this week). DCist sat down with Geologist (sans scary headgear) to discuss Animal Collective and the fine art of iPod DJing.

How did you get involved with the DAM! Fest?

Eric [Boucher], one of the organizers, sent me an email. He’d heard that I sometimes do iPod DJing for Animal Collective release parties and other things. I don’t know how to use turntables to match beats. Sometimes I play techno, but I don’t mix songs together because I can’t.

What’s your role in Animal Collective?

I do samples and electronics.

So you are a DJ.

Sort of. The samples are made by us; I don’t sample other people’s music. They’re just weird sound sets that I make and then I load them on to a sampler. ‘Cause when we compose, they’re not always straight rock or pop songs. We like to play around with more abstract noises in the music. So that’s where I fit in.