Disappointed by the lack of musically promising releases this spring, I’m pigeonholed to focus my attention on the scarce quality releases. Here are two:

Tomboy Panda Bear

I was initially turned off by this seemingly repetitive underdeveloped album. At least in comparison to Noah’s contribution to Animal Collective, Tomboy comes off sounding like what it literally is: Animal Collective stripped of everyone except Panda Bear. However, I returned to this album, attempting to appreciate something I may have missed. I wrote off everything until Sheherezade – the fourth to last song. From then on, the album becomes more delicately refined. It’s true that throughout, the album is full of layers, psychedelics, and beautifully orchestrated sounds. However, in comparison to Animal Collective they add up to no more than drawn out ideas. Whatever the case, this is still an enjoyable listen.
Panda Bear – Tomboy by In House Press

Burst Apart The Antlers

I have less to say here because I just started listening to the entire album yesterday. The sound palette ranges from Radiohead to new wave, post-punk rock. As usual, Silberman’s voice is both showcased and integrated to function as an instrument of emotion and music. Stream the album over at NPR

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/24/135572911/first-listen-the-antlers-burst-apart#playlist

Panda Bear's Tomboy

That is to say, “Tomboy”, Panda Bear’s first single from his forthcoming LP, Tomboy, which is to be released later this year, is not sonically dissimilar to anything you’d have heard on MPP or Fall Be Kind except that it lacks the puerile and untamed energy that we’ve become accustomed to with Animal Collective. Certainly “Tomboy” sounds like Panda Bear and from the very start the song is acousmatic ear candy but the song takes a dirtier, darker approach and by its second half has already become monotonous. However, it is the aforementioned, attractively curious sound-set that Lennox works with in this song that makes up for its sluggish appearance and gives way for several enjoyable close listens.

Tomboy approaches quickly, trailing behind some very excellent AC material. Now compare this to 2006 when Thom Yorke released The Eraser; unlike Animal Collective, he hadn’t just put out a triad of incredible musical releases and we were in fact in the midst of a four year Radiohead drought and at that point any Yorke-related material felt refreshing and perhaps even deserved. Perhaps it isn’t fair to weigh “Tomboy” against previous AC opuses but a direct comparison is almost inevitable this close to the fact.

Click here to listen to the track via the playlist.