be careful how you respond / or you might end up in this song

Panda Bear

Panda Bear (aka Noah Lennox) is one quarter of Animal Collective, who's somehow managed to put together several acclaimed solo albums over the years while working with "the freak-folk/baroque pop" quartet, with his latest (2007's Person Pitch) coming in at #1 in Pitchfork's Album of the Year.

If you like the songs below or just are enamoured of Animal Collective in general, an interview here at popmatters.com is enlightening, if you can get over phrases like "surreal sonic tapestries", no matter how appropriate they are...

In particular, the article does well in describing the transition from Panda Bear/AC's sound from a heavy acoustic guitar focus (think Sung Tongs) to the electronic sampling of Strawberry Jam and Merriweather Post Pavillion.

"...I got excited about trying to work with purely electronic means and trying to get something that felt really soulful out of something that didn’t have any soul, if you know what I’m saying..."

Panda Bear - Comfy In Nautica

Panda Bear - Take Pills

Radiohead - Live from the Basement

look "radiohead live basement" up on youtube...

In case previous posts haven't made it painfully obvious, I do rather enjoy Radiohead. Strangely they still languish behind Why?, Gang of Four, Faux Pas and Of Montreal in my last.fm listens, this will soon be remedied (Hot Chip are even further behind, what's going on?)

Asides aside, I just discovered, after watching the entire set on youtube in rapt fascination, that you can "legally acquire" Radiohead's live set from the mysterious "Basement". I would go so far as to say that it sounds better than the studio-recorded album; songs like Where I End and You Begin and Reckoner really shine through. That said, here's House of Cards.

Radiohead - House of Cards (Live from the Basement)

Calum, if you're out there, I'll burn you a copy of the whole thing, have no fear.

Thom Yorke remixed by XXXChange

just when you thought you'd seen the last of anyone vaguely radiohead-affiliated...

XXXChange's remix of Thom Yorke's solo song The Eraser takes it to another place. While I love Thom's voice, I think his move towards electronica in his solo work doesn't work as well as something more acoustic-driven. However, this remix takes the best of both world's, bringing up Yorke's voice and framing it within bubbly, precise percussion.

Thom Yorke - The Eraser (XXXChange Remix)

This will be my last post for about two and a half weeks; here in Australia we have a thing called "Year 12" and I've got three SAC's the same week as I'm performing Midsummer Night's Dream...

don't forget your roots