Panda Bear @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC 6/23/07
You have to know what you're getting into with a Panda Bear solo show. The Portuguese-domiciled Animal Collective man sticks to his mic and tray of knobs and buttons: no instruments, no Geologist-style head whips, no ursine embellishments. But if you're okay with that relatively static live music experience, Noah's set was unexpectedly mesmerizing. Hopes for a perfect sync went out the window when a huge blue "Sony DVD" logo popped up on the stage's rear projector (met with snarky cheers and "Nice!" yells from the crowd), but once Panda pressed play and the visuals met the sweet po-mo Beach Boys sounds of Person Pitch, the following hour was a seamlessly trippy A/V treat.
"I don't want for us to take pills, anymore / Not that it's bad / I feel stronger ... we don't need 'em" is the no-judgments morale of Noah's Person al story, and Saturday's Bowery set was his proof; no need to go to the altered state of Drugachusetts when you can see a hundred and one Jesus heads moaning; eye-masked aboriginal dancers hair-whipping; or a collage of hands, mouths and limbs melting to a carefully curated beat-beefed soundtrack without seeing Hallucinjenny. Really, it was a night to enjoy Noah's outstanding LP with an added dimension and a little more muscle in the rhythm ("Good Girls/Carrots" was a prime example, the digi-tablas deafening, superseded by "Carrots" piano-pedal massive attack). And on top of Panda's Pitch, we got a slowed-take on Strawberry jam "Chores" and our requisite David Byrne sighting. To paraphrase the mayor, we declare this show to be ... awesome! Couple more pics after the jump.
Posted at 12:10 PM in Concert
Tags: Animal Collective | Panda Bear
Take Pills is not about getting high, it's about antidepressants.
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What the above post said!
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Oh my goodness, I utterly hate Person Pitch. It's so boring.
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I was surprised by how much the show kept my attention. I love Person Pitch but had low expectations about Panda Bear singing in front of a high tech podium. But it was pretty great.
One thing that nearly had me heading for the doors was some hair-gelled jerk next to me jumping up and down yelling "Fuck yeah! I love Panda! I know the name of this song! Fuckin' Panda!"
I suppose I'm being the jerk. Good music is for all to enjoy. Not just crossed-arm hipsters.
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It was just so effin cold with the AC blastin like crazy, that kinda harmed the show for me. But my fave was an unknown-to-me track that he played early in the set that had the chord progression to Fleetwood Mac's 'Dreams' behind it. Anyone know what this was? Something bout 'I only want to do just what my body tells me'. Didn't see David Byrne, dammit.
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Think that new song has no title yet, Kingoffresno.. Gorilla vs Bear had an MP3 of it a couple of weeks back from his appearance on the 'Ma Fama' radio show. Animal Collective have been playing it at their shows recently too.
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ha, i like all of the "altered state of druggachusetts" references in this post. good one.
i saw him the night before in philly, and this sounds like exactly the same show. which is definitely not a bad thing.
evan, name one modern artist/band that you DO like. i tripple dog dare you.
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person pitch isn't boring, it has boring parts- there's a difference
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person pitch has no boring parts, just boring listeners.
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oohhh burnnn by Everyone. i'm still waiting on the panda n00dz though. i think this is a stupendous album, and it's definitely one of my favorites. he doesn't seem to want to come to california though, which i resent.
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