No. 50: Animal Collective – 50 Beautiful Album Covers

'Merriweather Post Pavilion'

Animal Collective's 2009 album was a critically acclaimed breakthrough for the freak folkers -- and featured an appropriately eye-catching cover. Based on a type of optical illusion called illusory motion that was developed by Japanese psychologist Akiyoshi Kitaoka, the design is created in such a way that staring at any part of it creates the illusion that the periphery sections are moving, despite the fact that it is obviously a static image.