Noah Lennox is the best human being alive
by theDZA on 10/4/11Webster Hall - New YorkPanda Bear was great. I went to both the show at Webster Hall and the show at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. These were my third and fourth times seeing him, but until now I had only seen him performing solo (no Sonic Boom). At first I was unsure about how necessary Sonic Boom was, but on the second night I found myself really appreciating and enjoying his additions. He frequently makes a clicky, swooshy noise that as far as I can tell isn't coming from Noah or his effects at all. It sounds to me like he's manipulating a delay effect on his own noises by either speeding up the repeat or slowing it down. Regardless, I thought it sounded good overall. Noah basically did what I expected, but it was unbelievable, of course. Both nights he played Tomboy in its entirety and in sequence, with the exception being the second night when he began the set with another jam I wasn't familiar with before going into "You Can Count On Me." Also both nights, he followed the Tomboy portion of his performance by "ending" his set, going backstage, and then returning a few minutes later once the crowd had roared enough. He came back for three songs doing "Ponytail," "Comfy In Nautica," and "Bros." I was really yelling for him to cap it off with "Take Pills" while he was doing the Person Pitch stuff, but oh well, he never did. I'm hoping for more live Panda Bear some time soon, or maybe some more new material (which I know, is unlikely right now). Or maybe we'll hear from Animal Collective again once Noah and Dave finish with getting their solo fixes. I heard they played a ton of new material at Coachella and such this year. Anyhow, it's very interesting to see how Noah is evolving musically and moving further away from sample-based, experimental material. While I love some elements of his style as it stands now, I still want him to use samples and effects more frequently. Can't wait to hear the music he brings to us next, whether it's solo or not!