I (happily) caught Panda Bear's performance on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" a couple of nights ago. Panda Bear (a.k.a. Noah Lennox, a primary member of Animal Collective) performed "Boys Latin" from his new release, "Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper" [ Amazon | iTunes ].
Here is the Tonight Show performance:
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the performance. I thought it was tight, clean, and not overwrought or overdone. "Boys Latin" is a very likable mantra-like tune with gorgeous vocal overlays/delays. I find the layered rhythms interesting and a perfect complement to the overall pulse of the piece. Overall, it strikes me as a very solid first-release from the album.
Here is the "official" video for "Boys Latin":
As for the "official" video for the song, I am still trying to arrive at the relationship between the song and the video. Not to say I don't like it, quite the opposite. I find it compelling and thought-provoking but I have not distilled my thoughts, thus far, to the point of being able to write about it. Stay tuned...perhaps.
I am a late-comer to Animal Collective and certainly Panda Bear. I became familiar with Panda Bear through Animal Collective's 2009 release, "Merriweather Post Pavilion" [Amazon | iTunes] an album that I return to regularly and highly recommend. It is very dense, sonically, but not overdone. In contrast, I was not a fan of their follow up to "Merriweather Post Pavilion," the 2012 "Centipede Hz" [Amazon | iTunes] simply because it crossed that sonic line--trying to juggle too many sounds, too much musical information, simultaneously, and getting a bit bogged down, muddy and overwrought. The musical clarity and balance of "Merriweather Post Pavilion" is impressive and Panda Bear's "Boys Latin" is very much cut from that same mold. I am glad to see Panda Bear creating new music and look forward to listening to the deeper tracks off "Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper."