QUICK SPINS: Panda Bear, Dum Dum Girls
By Michele Lenni in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 12, 2010 7:00PM
Panda Bear
Tomboy
Much like Noah Lennox's sister group, Animal Collective, we've come to expect a certain musical aesthetic and general vibe from their music. Layered tracks, delay, shiny and dense vocal harmonies accompanied by your general psychedelic instrumentation. This seven inch record is no different. Lennox's obvious love of Brian WIlson's take on sunny '60s psychedelia still seems to shine through every recording he does with Panda Bear and the better part of Animal Collective. Not that we're complaining. Though many before have sought to replicate The Beach Boys unique sound, few have done it with such an intelligence and ingenuity as Panda Bear. Though Tomboy still sounds similar to Panda Bear's other efforts, it lacks the sheen and ambiance that we have come to love in those records. The two tracks, each clocking in at four-minutes,19-seconds, seem more dreary and less radiant then their other efforts, each maintaining the same sort of tone throughout. We found ourselves looking for something more to draw us in, but came up short.
You can check out one of the songs from the record, "Slow Motion," here.
Dum Dum Girls
Blissed Out Casette
Dum Dum Girls, the brain-child of 27-year-old California native Kristin "Dee Dee" Gundred, have been one of the bands that have achieved the most amount of buzz this year thanks to music blogs like Pitchfork and Stereogum. Like many other bands making the rounds currently, Dum Dum Girls rely heavily on a '90s, low-fi, reverb-heavy sound. When combined with the fact this release is on casette, it sounds like it was recorded on an eight-track. If you aren't a fan of what many have dubbed as a 90's revival, then you won't like this. That being said, we think that even though the sonic space that the Dum Dum's occupy is quite, shall we say, trendy, we still love the songs. They immediately conjur visions of long drives on a vacant highway with the top down or an afternoon by the surf in your best vintage suit, a-la the 2000 cult-movie-classic, Psycho Beach Party.
Though many critics have likened the group to '60s girl groups like The Ronnettes, we feel they more closely resemble other low-fi enthusiasts like The Jesus and Mary Chain or the '90s eight-track-admirers, Slumber Party. Stand out tracks include the surf-rock tune "M.Y.O.B (Mind Your Own Business)" and the dreamy ballad at the end of the tape, "Dream Life Away."
You can catch Panda Bear bands at this year's Pitchfork Music Festival this weekend.