Noah Lennox adopted the name Panda Bear in the late ’90s, when he drew a picture of a panda on one of his first bedroom studio recordings.
He grew up in Pennsylvania, went to college at the Boston University, and eventually found his way to New York City, where he met his future Animal Collective bandmates Avey Tare, Geologist, and Deakin. In addition to his work with Animal Collective, Jane, and Together, Lennox has released several solo albums.
[vimeo 113544877 w=620&h=300]In 1999, While Lennox and Avey Tare were still in the earliest stages of what would grow to be known as Animal Collective, the first solo collection of Panda Bear material arrived on an obscure self-titled release on indie label Soccer Star.
The electronica-pop recordings were miles away from the more spectral folk weirdness Lennox would explore over the next several years. Second, more widely distributed solo album Young Prayer materialized in 2004, a murky album largely influenced by the death of his father. Person Pitch, Lennox’s third album and second on the Paw Tracks label, followed three years later.
httpv://https://youtu.be/HoUE-kRcqig
The album was a patchwork of repurposed samples and densely layered vocals and not only met enormous popularity and critical acclaim, but went on to be incredibly influential on the entire indie spectrum. For his next solo album, Lennox made the decision to move away from samplers towards a more guitar-heavy sound.
Working with producer Sonic Boom, Lennox released his fourth solo album, Tomboy, in 2011. This was followed in early 2015 by Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper. The colorful album again found Lennox collaborating with producer Sonic Boom.
httpv://https://youtu.be/BS_2YEIX2CE
Gala Drop’s Balearic sound entered the wider dance music consciousness with Overcoat Heat, a 2010 release for Golf Channel. Since then, they collaborated with Ben Chasny of Six Organs Of Admittance and toured with Panda Bear.
For II, Gala Drop have brought Detroit expat Jerry The Cat into the fold. He’s known for his collaborations with Arttu on Clone Royal Oak and has also worked with Motor City mainstays Funkadelic, Parliament, Derrick May, Moodymann and Theo Parrish.
httpv://https://youtu.be/33raKPNHAnE
Jerry draws comparisons between Detroit’s mishmash of music scenes and what he’s found in Lisbon. He says: “Detroit wound up a city with so much contamination between styles, from Motown to garage rock and then the birth of techno.
Lisbon felt like that when I moved here too, I was going out to a techno club at the weekend but going to see a garage rock show or some free jazz band in the week. The post-Millennium Lisbon has been very fertile musically speaking.” His bandmate Nelson Gomes also operates Príncipe, the label that brought DJ Marfox and his cohort to the world.
httpv://https://youtu.be/JwAYU4rlwmA
Jib Kidder is the performing moniker of musician and artist Sean Schuster-Craig. Born in Lousiville, raised in Georgia, educated in Michigan and bouncing between California and New York ever since, he has spent the last decade exploring a variety of approaches to psychedelic collage.
In his audio recordings, songs, videos, sculptures, digital paintings, chalk murals & written work he has attempted to harness the humor and ambiguous poignancy specific to the experience of dreaming.
Panda Bear, Gala Drop, Jib Kidder
Tuesday, 10th March 2015 | 20:00 CET
Berghain | Am Wriezener Bahnhof | 10243 Berlin/Friedrichshain
pbvsgr.com | galadrop.bandcamp.com | jibkidder.com | berghain.de
