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June 28, 2005
Looked like a newlywed
Panda Bear - Search for Delicious
Noah (Panda Bear) moved to Lisbon some time ago, and when he left, he didn't take his guitar with him. As he says, "I kinda got restless and started making music with whatever I had lying around, which was these two samplers". Noah goes on to explain that all the new stuff he's been writing is "based on little snippets of other people's songs, though I fully sing over all of them. The singing is meant to be the central piece of the puzzle." 'Search for Delicious' and the preceding quotes from Panda Bear are all taken from the latest issue of Comes With A Smile (#18), which has packaged with it a really fantastic compilation- including rare and unreleased songs from Currituck Co., Electrelane, Scout Niblett, Pernice Brothers, Sam Prekop, Rogue Wave, Six Organs of Admittance, Stuart Staples (from Tindersticks), and Teenage Fanclub (as well as interviews with each contributing artist).
'Search for Delicious' lies somewhere on the spectrum between the nestled dark jams of Jane's "Berserker" and the sort of mote-dense sunshine jeremiads of "Young Prayer". It's more joyful than the latter and a lot more playful than the former, and it's very pretty indeed. Who knows what Noah is sampling, but the track starts off with whispery pinpricks expanding into a wave of liquid applause, which all gives way to very bubbly percussion (or the slow death of bowling pins) and a flock of rusty swings and seagulls. Noah's voice sits up on top of a low, soulful vocal loop (which is possibly just slowed-down, sort of an inverse-Kanye production move), and he sings like someone standing on the lip of a canyon, trying to produce some delicate echoes. He whirlpools his voice around and around (sounds like he's messing with the delay function) into small pockets of turbulence, when things get too clear or too straightforward, and these little eddies and cataracts provide some of the most gorgeous moments in this song.
In the interview, Noah mentioned that he would like to record some of this new stuff over the summer, and hopefully release a new solo album before the end of the year (which is good news!). If anyone remembers the old Paw Tracks website, they used to have some mysterious 'Panda Bear Dances' items listed under the 'forthcoming releases' section, and Noah has said that they will probably still do that, with a few 12" or 45s coming out in the near future. In the meantime, you can pick up a copy of Comes with a Smile #18 right here (it is absolutely worth it).
Posted by Kevin at June 28, 2005 12:42 AM
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Comments
Panda Bear played as a three piece live in Brighton in january, which was really the wrong time of year, now woudl be prefect, they seemed to be sampling loads of stuff live, shakers and guitars and vocals, and singing along, and then drowning everything in vast amounts of reverb.
Beautiful.
Kind of West Coast pop Art Experimental Band in the lightness of feel. I would love to hear this stuff recorded, it was truly exceptional.
Posted by: Geoff at June 28, 2005 07:36 AM
yay new panda bear.
Yeah it's very sad that the new wolf parade album has leaked, I'm going to do my part by just waiting until it's released.
Posted by: Brian at June 28, 2005 10:50 AM
Hey Geoff- I had heard that the UK shows last year were phenomenal. This new stuff sounds like it'll be pretty exciting, whenever he releases it.
And yeah, Brian- it's sad for the band- I mean, good god, that's like a full 3 months before the release date. Hopefully people will exercise some restraint, like you said. (dude your guys' new design is insane! nice work all around)
Posted by: Kevin at June 28, 2005 11:44 AM
I found listening to this track aided the digestion of my breakfast greatly and put me onto a generally good start for the whole day!
Thanks again Kevin, good stuff.
Posted by: 20jazzfunkgreats at June 29, 2005 07:36 AM
Glad to hear that 'Search for Delicious' is a digestive aid (seems appropriate). Oh and I'm working on getting that Vooredoms show over to you guys too- lots of converting to do first.
Posted by: Kevin at June 29, 2005 12:57 PM