New video for "Surfer's Hymn" by Panda Bear!

Sonic Boom says it's legit so I'm going to believe him.



It's really great. It's so beautiful in it's own abstract way, but it's not inaccessible. The video pay homage to Surfer's who were taken by the sea, and I believe that that gives perfect emotion and meaning to this song. It's really a masterpiece.

New Video for Alsatian Darn by Panda Bear

Panda Bear released his video for Tomboy's Alsatian Darn yesterday!



It's like the part before the songs "Tantrum Barb/Working" on Oddsac. I approve.

Panda Bear and The Strokes released the artwork for their albums!

This is the cover art for Panda Bear's Tomboy and it's absolutely glorious and beautiful. It comes out on April 12th.

And this is the cover for The Strokes album Angles. I think it's, um, homely. It should be a very fun album. You can also listen to the song "Under the Cover of Darkness" on their website and on iTunes. Angles is due out on March 21st.

Panda Bear to Release New Single!

According to Amazon apparently, founding member of Animal Collective, Noah Lennox (AKA Panda Bear) is set to release the first title-track single for his album Tomboy on July 13th. You can head over to amazon now and pre-order the single. The product description left us with this enticing message:

"Paw Tracks is excited to present the first in a series of limited edition seven inch singles by Animal Collective's Panda Bear. There will be several limited singles total (on different labels), and each one will bring us closer and closer to the much anticipated release of the Tomboy full length."

The album is due out in September, and I'm really very excited!

LOGOS-Atlas Sound

Logos-
Atlas Sound
Label-Kranky
Status-Out as of 2009
2nd Studio Album
Rating-4 feathers

In 2008, an unfinished version of “Logos” leaked on to the Internet. So disheartened by the ordeal, Bradford Cox (of Deerhunter) almost canned the idea. Thankfully, he did not. Now, back under the name Atlas Sound, Bradford returns with his well-anticipated (and finished) 3rd album “Logos”.

The album starts with the very Sung Tongs/Feels-y ‘The Light That Failed’. It sounds like it is going to get nice and weird, but then after the first few seconds, it saunters into an incoherent drone. It does, however, set you up for a nice mellow trip through the brilliant and the tedious. Songs like ‘Criminals’ and ‘An Orchid’ take you to a bright, but calming place. ‘An Orchid’ especially gives you visual of walking through the woods with ‘Criminals’ providing the sunlight shining through. On the opposite end, ‘Attic Lights’ and ‘My Halo’ just go on and on and on.... They don’t really enlighten you because the intense calm just lulls you into a doze. There are some absolutely fantastic points like ‘Shelia’ and ‘Walkabout’. ‘Shelia’ sounds like an early 60’s pop song made in the late 60’s due to it’s simple guitar melodies and surreal lyrics with little experimental break downs. When I first heard ‘Walkabout’, I got filled with such an overt feeling of pure joy. It’s by far the perfect summer song. Bradford bringing Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) in for vocals was such a brilliant decision. With him, they were able to craft absolute magic. Unlike that collaboration, ‘Quick Canal’, with guest vocals by Stereolab’s Lætitia Sadier, doesn’t do it for me. First off, it’s too long. It is 8 minutes of ultimately the same thing that would have benefited by cutting off a few minutes. Second off, I’m not a big fan of how she used her voice: it sounds very pretentious and over done with too much creepy. ‘Washington School’ and ‘Logos’ finish off the album on a very trippy fantastical note. ‘Washington School’ puts you in a little trance with it’s oh-so-catchy bassline and dreamy vocals, but kicks you out of it with ‘Logos’’s Julian Casablancas vocal impersonation.

Bradford Cox shows some serious potential with ‘Logos’. It creates a wonderfully calming atmosphere, while, for the most part, constantly keeping your attention with it’s weird pop melodies. Every song gives you something different while still sounding flawlessly cohesive. He will probably never escape the Animal Collective comparisons (for all I care he toured with them and now he has Noah Lennox as a guest), but I feel they’ll help him to branch out even further and create even weirder records.

"Almost everything you hear on the album is a first take. This makes it almost like a 'live album' where a band sets up in a studio and just rolls tape. There are songs on here I don't even remember recording."-Bradford Cox

Video for Quick Canal

Recommendations: An Orchid, Walkabout, Shelia
Atlas Sound's Official Website
Note: Sorry for the severe lateness of this. I hoped to get it out soon, but I just didn't have the time. I realized just now that the last review I wrote was Muse's 'The Resistance' and I can't believe it. For the next month, I will have atleast a Julian Plenti, Monsters of Folk, Bat For Lashes, and a Concert review out. Stay tuned, and thank you so very much for reading!

PERSON PITCH-Panda Bear

Person Pitch-
Panda Bear
Label-Paw Tracks
Status-Out as of 2007
3rd Studio Album
Rating-4.5 Feathers

As one of the founding members of the freak folk/psychedelic band Animal Collective, Noah Lennox, or as most know him Panda Bear, is known for his intense percussion and for bringing the pop element into all his musical endeavors. Now on his own again, and wanting to do something completely different from his previous release Young Prayer, Person Pitch was created with a few machines and a microphone.

From the first scratchy sound to the last note, Person Pitch completely sets you in a calmed yet encouraging mood. ‘Comfy in Nautica’ sets the tone perfectly and puts you in just that state of mind immediately. The semi-chant-y looped sample underneath simple vocals paint a picture of sitting on a beach, alone, and perfectly content. ‘Take Pills’ follows in that mood. However, after ‘things get better/just wait and you’ll see’ is sung, the song starts to kick up into an upbeat excitement. It’s inspiring to hear him discuss stopping his use of antidepressants using poppy melodies with a cheery undertone. ‘Bros’ and ‘Good Girl/Carrots’ are 12 minute long masterpieces. ‘Bros’ has feel good samples flawlessly melded together that goes on for 12 minutes with minimal structural change, but it never gets boring. The bright tropical sounding guitar fits the feel-good mood perfectly. ‘Good Girl/Carrots’ is beyond brilliant. Sucking you in with manic drumming and highly filtered vocals, it is significantly darker than the other songs. Just as it’s about to get a little monotonous, ‘Carrots’ subtle-y eases in. ‘Carrots’ is much less serious than the ‘Good Girl’ portion, bringing with it unadulterated joy. The bouncy piano and extremely poppy vocals singing rhymes like ‘sticks and stones may break my bones’ gives the album a sugary coating. Then, just when it seems like it can’t get any more light and fluffy, you hear a tune reminiscent of the ice cream truck melody. If that doesn’t bring you happiness, you are dead inside. In between those masterpieces are songs like ‘I’m Not’ and ‘Search for Delicious’ which have clear connections to Animal Collective with their spacey layers, but are purely Panda’s own style, notably his near unintelligible lyrics (due in part by Panda’s ability to completely mess with pronunciations). The last song, ‘Ponytail,’ is mildly disappointing. It’s a decent song, equipped with semi-catchy blips and well-composed synths, but it just doesn’t pack a punch that a finale should have.

Person Pitch is one of those albums where you are in a completely different state coming out of it than you were going into it. It is only 45 minutes, but it changes your perspective, leaving you feeling calm and generally good. As a solo act, Panda Bear shows that he can bring something to plate that his other projects just can’t.

“That song [Comfy in Nautica] was so sugary and it almost got to the point where I didn’t like how it sounded. I thought it was too sweet, like fake sweet? So I thought I would kind of ground it at the end by putting something really fucked up and dark in there.”-Noah Lennox (Panda Bear)

Video for Comfy in Nautica

Recommendations: Comfy in Nautica, Take Pills, Bros, Good Girl/Carrots
Panda Bear's Official Website
Note: This review really took a lot to write, so I hope that translates and you enjoy! I will have a review for Gax5 by Spoon out soon. (I'm a poet and I didn't even know it O_o) Remember, requests are welcome and comments are much appreciated!