The Zimmermann Note

In reminiscing about last weekend at Pitchfork, the set that really intrigued me out of any other was the Saturday evening showcase by Panda Bear, one of the members of the band Animal Collective.

 

While Animal Collective has grown in stature, with Avey Tare (Dave Portner) being the principal songwriters for the band, Panda Bears (Noah Lennox) work has been equally as impressive.  2007’s ‘Person Pitch’, a sunny, sugary sample-infused glimpse is a masterpiece, as it paints a very positive world in it’s 60s pop samples and Panda’s crooning voice.

 

(Btw, Do you prefer Panda Bear, Panda,  P. Bear or should I call him Mr. Bear?)

 

Panda Bear is scheduled to release, ‘Tomboy’, his follow-up to Person Pitch in September and while a couple of tracks have been released via Tomboy single (Slow Motion/Tomboy, both available as a 7” or digital download), much of the set that he played Saturday night at Pitchfork was new material. Panda Bear’s inclusion in the Pitchfork setlist was especially gratifying since he has only played a couple shows this year, predominantly at festivals as well as the fact P. Bear does not typically do long tours, so,  as you can imagine, my own expectations for this show would be fairly high based on my own “Fanboy-esque” presence on top of viewing this rarity right here in Chicago.  I was not wearing any full-fledged “Panda” costume just my “I *Heart* Ryan Schreiber” t-shirt.

 

Whenever, being presented initially with live music, at times the context and expectations is the key and I think for many people that watched this show left feeling a bit disappointed. Trust me, I understand your confusion and frustration thinking that P. Bear would launch into a powerful ‘Comfy in Nautica’ or an extra long version of ‘Bros’ only to be slightly happy about the version of ‘Ponytail’ that made the setlist.

(Below a version of Panda Bears – Bros) 

 

What are my own initial thoughts of Tomboy? Trance inducing, dark, immense, post-apocalyptic: that is pretty much where to start with this music.  I found it to be very sad, very emotional, “Post-Hope” for liberals (I guess in context of the culture is the era where liberals come to grips that one great man cannot save a nation). 

 

(I also someday want to write something and consider it “Post-Music”; then of course you can have the “Pre-Post Music” genre. Maybe this would be where this album would fall.)

 

Now, some have described his show as being a snoozfest, others as self-indulgent which I though what rock and roll was all about to begin with. Jim Derogatis made a stink by saying the following:

 

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.

 

So basically this is all Pitchfork’s fault for writing reviews and liking Person Pitch and well just overall giving a wet blowjob to Panda Bear. Damn them! Of course on the old Pitchfork/Metacritic scale: 9.4/87 the album rates as one of the better works of the last 10 years, not just with Ryan Schreiber or his Grandmother but with other people and their grandmothers, some of whom did not attend P4K.

 

Allow me a moment to venture off into a entire new direction for a moment. 

 

I remember several years ago seeing Television at the Metro. Television was not one to tour all that much until the year 2000 and near the beginning of the set, Tom Verlaine had some guitar problems. Tom Verlaine is not a talkative guy. I would doubt that he has ever heard been told to “Shut up and play”. And in a way P. Bear is like that as well. He’s just shy and to himself and there is not too much stage banter between songs, in fact there is pretty much close to zero.

 

So anyhow, back to the Verlaine story. So all of a sudden he’s putting his guitar down on the stage floor at Metro, gets down on his hands and knees and begins to restring the guitar. And I am thinking to myself in my Rod Blagojevich mindset, “This is Tom”Motherfucking” Verlaine restringing his guitar at the Metro. This is not an invonvenience. This is not a fucking problem. He can urinate in my fucking mouth if he wants to.”

 

To Dero’s point, Panda is not a fucking third-tier Grateful Dead band. There are going to be artists and musicians that you just give this opportunity to and I believe that Mr. Bear falls into that category based both on success of his last record and AC’s success.

 

At the same time, from where I stood, I can understand the scoffs coming from the crowd that decided to depart early to get a good spot for LCD Soundsystem or find something else to bide their time. This music is not necessarily going to get you on the first listen and maybe not the tenth either.

 

Let’s go through some of the problems with Panda Bears set.

 

1) Knowledge of the material being played onstage was lacking

 

With the exception of Ponytail, from Person Pitch, all of the material was brand spanking new. Unless fans had already heard the single Tomboy/Slow Motion live, or had downloaded or listened to samples from YouTube, when they thought Panda Bear they thought Person Pitch.

 

2) Panda Bear’s set is very stripped down

 

Lacking in his live shows are the depth of the music that exhibited in the album. Trying to reproduce this with a mixer, guitar and one person is very difficult. Now for a fan like myself that is coming in with that perspective in mind, my perception is going to be different than from the fan that comes in expecting the music to be lush. Now, Panda Bear does not tour all that much, so far only performing at a couple of festivals making his debut of this music. This is not a 50 date World Tour spanning the globe. I had a similar problem with Atlas Sound (aka Bradford Cox of Deerhunter) that played at the Lincoln Hall several months ago. I thought that the Atlas Sound album ‘Logos’ was one of the best of the year and when I saw him walk onstage just with a guitar in hand and some effects, I knew that this is going to be much different than the album. On the other hand, Caribou, which is pretty much a project of Dan Snaith provides an entire band to go on tour with him to try to “Recreate” the sound of the record.

 

So we essentially have a disparity in an artists choice in trying to reproduce their sound live. Following Wilco years ago, I would often go to many Jeff Tweedy Solo shows that sold themselves as strictly that it was Jeff playing songs, strumming his guitar, playing his harmonica with a much more wide array of songs being performed, telling jokes and yelling at fans for talking during the show. His Wilco shows were a much different endeavor with much more strict setlists, less banter, the occaisional “Stop Talking” comment but obviously the songs were much more in tune with the actual recordings.

 

3) Panda Bear/Animal Collective Live Shows in General

 

Seeing them several times, I admit that the performances are not set up to play “The Hits”. They have always been a band that attempted to challenge the audience rather than play jukebox. Their Pitchfork show from 2008 contained several songs from the yet unreleased ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ and seeing them on their promo tour in 2009 at the Metro in Chicago, most of the show focused on that album which had only been out for 2 days prior  (although already leaked) to their show. By the time they made it to Lollapalooza, in front of a large audience their 8 song set consisted of two unreleased numbers, 3 songs from Merriweather and three older songs with the set leaving out ‘My Girls’ and ‘Summertime Clothes’ both of which would be crowd pleasers. Instead their set was much more subdued not choosing a path to stardom, but their own and thus reactions to their performances have always been mixed.

* * *

 

Keeping the above points in mind, my expectations for this show were going to be getting a rough draft of the album. Stripped down songs that only give a very limited representation of what “Tomboy” would sound like. Having a chance to listen to the ‘Tomboy’ single, I have been pleasantly surprised. No, I do not think that Panda’s mixed review live show will have much of a negative impact on this album.

 

I can only say for myself is that the band that left me with the most intrigue was Mr. Bears new work. The intrigue of the work mixed with the adjoining video being played on the screens of course made for a very trippy atmosphere. Panda realized that a one-man mixing, strumming, singing machine is not going to be all that entertaining onstage. If you sat and watched Panda, what was your reasoning?

 

In terms of the music, I want to hear more. It provided a very dark texture, seeping with sadness, almost as if memories were being torn apart. It felt as if “Humanity” failed, entirely perfect for a festival setting. No better way to celebrate than bring down the entire crowd that will more likely want to go home and write in their live journals. 

 

Drone could have been the worst way to start off a “Festival Show” and yet, I imagine that if you are going to introduce the music from this album, it is the only way to do that.

 

(Panda Bear performing Drone and Tomboy) 

 

 

Tomboy, the single that has been released has an almost “early Syd Barrett/Pink Floyd” thing going on reminiscent by the guitar’s and P. Bear’s crooning 60’s style. The single is much more expansive than the live show as would be the B-Side Slow Motion, with a slightly more modern approach than ‘Tomboy’. You can also compare the single version below with the version above to get a glimpse of the live vs. studio sound.

 

 

 

 

“Slow Motion” feels as if there exists an echo in reality. There is a fuzzy ethereal quality and possibly out of all the tracks the one that feels the most similar to Person Pitch.

 

There are other tracks such as Bullseye which when watching this live just blew me away. The visuals on top of the music just felt tragic as a pair ride this rollercoaster, and begin stripping only to see their demise.

 

 

I leave this post with the conclusion that while Panda’s set might not have been optimal, I think if taken in the correct context should have provided a glimpse on what is yet to come.