Panda Bear - Person Pitch Reviewed
May 8th 2010 04:09
PANDA BEAR: Animal Collective's Noah Lennox
Panda Bear is the moniker used by Animal Collective's multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Noah Lennox for his side-project. I find myself being increasingly drawn to this experimental type of music, as decent pop music is becoming harder to find. Currently based in Lisbon, Portugal, Panda Bear released released Person Pitch in 2007. The follow-up, entitled Tomboy, is set for release in September of this year, so I decided now would be as good a time as any to review Person Pitch.
PERSON PITCH: Rating...9/10
Tracklist
1. Comfy In Nautica
2. Take Pills
3. Bros
4. I'm Not
5. Good Girl/Carrots
6. Search For Delicious
7. Ponytail
1. Comfy In Nautica
2. Take Pills
3. Bros
4. I'm Not
5. Good Girl/Carrots
6. Search For Delicious
7. Ponytail
Firstly, to justify the small number of songs: if it doesn't look like much, don't worry... 2 of them go for 12 minutes, so the length of the album is still 45 minutes.
This is certainly not an album for the faint-of-heart pop fans, nor any casual bunker calling themselves a "music fan." This is the type of album that separates the men from the boys. This is the type of album that will drive people with short attention spans crazy. And this is the type of album that needs a decent listen before passing judgement. Noah Lennox has created a critically acclaimed, yet unknown, family of songs in the spirit of his band, Animal Collective. However, while AC is strongly referenced throughout the album, Lennox has made this his own work, with songs like Comfy in Nautica and the first part of Bros the highlights of an brilliant original demonstration of layerings, samples, lo-fi instruments, and strong, soaring vocal harmonies. While not having the perfect voice for singing, it is obvious Lennox has put a lot of passion and effort into the recording of layered vocals for a fuller sound, and has pulled it off successfully.
As I said, this experimental music is not for everyone, but if you find yourself at a dead-end, this is well worth giving a try.
Bren.
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Comment by Anonymous
Noise & Words & Things & Shit
Panda Bear is just the surface though! Get out there and check some stuff out, highly recommend it. Stuff like the New Weird Australia compilations (available for free, too: http://newweirdaustralia.com/) are a decent place to start, but really just listening to radio shows such as The Sound Lab (JJJ) and any of the late-night noise/experimental shows on Edge Radio is as good as place as any to start.
It's all totally confusing, and some of it is even confronting, but I'd definitely recommend going to some of the experimental music stuff when MONA FOMA comes around again. They usually have some nice improv shows, great to watch.
And yeah.
/Alex