Panda Bear

One upcoming release I'm looking forward to this year is the new Panda Bear solo effort, Person Pitch, out in March. It is different enough from his Animal Collective work to warrant attention and from what I have heard of it, it may be nothing short of amazing.

The songs and the melodies I have heard are a bit more straightforward pop than some AC stuff with rousing vocals bathed in cavernous reverb, but the music is still experimental, eschewing much of his earlier folk acoustic approach for the sampling and electronic sounds of the DJ culture. While it is more electronic sounding, it still doesn't lose that joyous organic campfire feel that he and the Collective share.

Some of the songs can be tracked down as they have been released as limited run 12" eps. "Bro's" is available now on iTunes and I cannot recommend it enough that you buy the ep, it is totally worth the 4.99. This 12-minute plus song is awesome as it evolves and builds in cresecendos of echoing vocals and sounds. You can stream the first half of it on Fat Cat's website here.

You can also download the first song, "Comfy In Nautica," here on the Paw Tracks presspage.

All this has been easily available on the blogs so far...

Another 12" ep is out on Jan. 23rd, a split with Excepter, as well as a new AC ep...hopefully out on eMusic. The new AC album could be released this fall... we hope. They are touring this year, hitting TX on May 26th in Dallas and May 27th in Austin.

I may preview some other releases I'm looking forward to as the week/s go on...