You’ve already prematurely evaluated “Tomboy” b/w “Slow Motion,” the first in a series of singles on various labels leading up to Noah Lennox’s highly anticipated fourth solo LP. Seven inch rips have been circulating the hype machine to high acclaim, and contrary to what we first heard, the songs will be available digitally on iTunes tomorrow, before many of Amazon’s vinyl deliveries. So, on to the next: later this summer Domino will release “You Can Count On Me” (not a Greg Evigan cover for some reason) as the second single with b-side “Alsatian Darn.” The latter is one of the new tunes we heard at Primavera last month before we knew its title (H/T GvsB). Noah played the King Tubby-sampling tune at Pitchfork Fest Saturday night (his birthday) to a tough crowd. Here’s ex-Chicago Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis’ take(down):
Animal Collective’s Panda Bear, a.k.a. Noah Lennox, played a way-too-long set of drony trance grooves punctuated by atonal yelps, yodels, and the occasional wounded whale noise. If this sort of thing had been delivered by a third-tier Grateful Dead offshoot band on one of the smaller stages at Bonnaroo, the Pitchfork crowd would have scoffed in derision. But since it was Pitchfork-endorsed, most stood politely and soaked it in, though there was a steady stream of refugees fleeing for the other stages, the food lines, or the Porta-Potties.
Without the aid of mind-altering substances, Panda Bear’s performance was an indulgent, unlistenable mess. With them, it may well have prompted the sort of bad trip that would lead someone to believe that they could fly off the steeple of First Baptist Congregational Church across Ashland Avenue from Union Park.
This webcast-ripped audio of “Alsatian Darn” doesn’t sound unlistenable to me, but then again I’m in an air conditioned apartment right now.
And here’s fan video of “Surfer’s Hymn”/”Ponytail”:
Tomboy is out in September on Paw Tracks. Check out photos from Saturday’s performance in our gallery. Amrit and Jessica’s Sunday recap is coming soon unless they see Inception again.
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The funny thing is his set wasn’t even that long. I’m pretty sure he finished a little early. As for mind-altering substances, I’m sure there were plenty listening who were addled. No one seemed to have a problem bringing in some type of substance. But God forbid you try to bring a third bottle of water.
I’m sorry you couldn’t bring your water. The bro next to me had a huge bottle of vodka. And the bro on the other side had a tiny bag that contained yellow powder of questionable legality. lol
will it be possible to evaluate his new music without considering whether it’s “pitchfork-endorsed”
“Drony trance grooves punctuated by atonal yelps, yodels, and the occasional wounded whale noise.”
Hasn’t he ever heard of Animal Collective?
Here’s Diplo admitting he wanted “Tell Me Why” to sound like AC in Billboard today:
“With M.I.A., working on the new record, I just wasn’t feeling the vibe with some of the new producers. We did a record called ‘Tell Me Why,’ and I just knew what she was good at. It wasn’t the same bunch of noise or talking about politics, because that’s stuff people had heard. I wanted her to do something where she was singing and doing something louder, like Animal Collective-style music, because I think that’s where she shines best.”
I wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t said anything, but I can see that.
I find it hilarious that Diplo keeps giving these interviews talking about how shitty the process of making this album was and how untalented MIA is. What is this guy’s end game?
It doesn’t matter whether it’s pitchfork-endorsed. Plenty of people I personally know were more than willing to voice their intense displeasure at Panda Bear this year, Animal Collective last year at Lolla, and at p4k the year before that. Look at the internets!
It’s like no one can have a p4kfest review without a snarky aside about all the imaginary people unworthy of being there as they are. ACTUALLY, speaking of pitchfork-there’s a great discussion of this kind of thinking in their Poptimist column
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“We project ideas of not listening the right way or for the right reasons– calling into being the “hipster,” the “rockist,” the “fangirl.” The implied contrast is to our own, naturally superior, modes of consumption. After all it’s easier to suggest people fit into some kind of straw man category– posers, ideologues, undiscerning bobbleheads– than to risk ourselves by empathizing with what they hear or don’t hear in the music.
At its worst all the projection deadens the conversation around music– turns it into a squabble of invented factions.”
WAY 2 SKEW, IF NOT OUTRIGHT KILL THE CONVO
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But anyway, it also doesn’t matter if they’re pitchfork-endorsed or not for a different reason-
I was waiting for Wolf Parade during PB’s set, and yeah, it felt interminable and I was damn near falling asleep on my feet but that’s beside the point. If you watch a video of AnCo from 2002, it is the same kind of experience except maybe with a mask on/off.
They’ve always done what they’ve wanted to do as a group and as individiduals and just because other people have thrown their expectations on them it doesn’t mean they’re going to change. And that’s really awesome, I think. And I think the people who insist that they should change deserve to get treated every time they and they and their friends (or notepad) rush to the front to hear My Girls or Bros. “No. Not even in the face of Armageddon. Never compromise.,” as freddy krueger would say.
I’m way more upset at the world that MM didn’t play any LCW tracks, lulz.
p.s. instead of reading all of this, just re-read internet gangsta’s comment.
Alsatian Darn kept tricking me into thinking it was going somewhere a more interesting, like many of the tracks on Person Pitch do, so it’s a bit disappointing, but not unlistenable. The other two songs sounded great though, so whatevs.
I can see where the guy is coming from. It’s not really that great of a live show. I prefer Panda Bear on headphones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aod3j0h9yds
It was the energy of the performance that was lacking, not the music itself. The music itself is quite nice, if I do say so myself.
Honestly, it was great. Not taking into account the pitchfork endorsement or the fact that my friend and I were the only people not taking acid or smoking weed in probably a 5 person radius (we were about 5 people from the stage), it was just fantastic music. And that whole tough crowd thing (and the washed-up journalist) are bullshit. Yeah, people who were at the edge of the show and didn’t know who Panda Bear was or had heard any of his songs before probably thought it wasn’t good, because it is quite experimental. But the core of actual fans (and this was a huge group that probably stretched past the mixer tent) were amazed and enthralled. Just thought you guys should know haha.
And on a side note, he did seem really nervous. He kept making these weird puckering sounds and had a bunch of ticks. So yeah, his performance wasn’t the most intense I’ve ever seen, but the music was killer.
Probably not worth commenting on, but how does ‘Pitchfork-Endorsed’ even matter at this point? Three to five to seven classic modern records in it’s not as if PB/AC are the new flavour of the month. Giving a pass to more experimental (or perhaps immediately weaker) material has everything to do with fan trust.
It is not good festival music. It was just after the hottest point of the day passed and people could just begin to move around and they were greeted with long drones, loops and sudden bursts of atonal noise. Not really conducive to getting a crowd moving. This sort of set belongs in an art gallery, not an outdoor fest. People gathered around me did NOTHING but complain about how boring and awful it was.
In fact, it would have been more entertaining to see an actual panda bear on stage just doing panda bear stuff instead of the mess that Lennox produced.