Friday 21 May 2010

Bands highlighted: Bears on Parade

Panda Bear at the Bowery Ballroom, New York, 2007


Ten plus fingers are required nowadays to count bands with names that involve animals. Take bear as an example, Grizzly Bear, Gold Panda, Panda Bear, Polar Bear, Bear in Heaven, Bear vs. Shark. It's a good job that we have so many different bear species. Unlike The Antlers, who only have Crystal Antlers to screw around with them.

Some bear news

Gold Panda
Self-named Darwin Panda at one stage, Gold Panda went from Peckham to Essex and then to Japan, a big fan of German electronic who takes on the role of a mixer/producer regularly. The latest EP You is no doubt a healthy continuation from  Quitters Raga his first hit last year.


YOU EP by Gold Panda


Panda Bear
This New Yorker is definitely not Gold Panda's twin brother, before you confuse the two like I did a few months back. Think of Animal Collective not Four Tet. Panda Bear AKA Noah Lennox's latest single from his 2010 album Tomboy would be released on the 13th of July this year by Paw Tracks


Polar Bear


This group is relatively unknown in the indie circle due to its cross-territory into Jazz and beyond. Their fourth album (yes, they have been around for six odd years) Peepers (Leaf Records) came out in March and no, it's not something that only 40-50 year-old upper-class golf enthusiasts would listen to. Quite on the contrary, these "dream-jazz" post rockers take a very liberal approach to Jazz in which Saxophones play in and out among cello and electronic drones, with a few squeaks and squawks..



Polar Bear - A Morning Will Come
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