Panda Bear Albums Ranked and Remembered

Best Song: Bros

Memory: Walking home from class at UMass Amherst and stopping at the campus pond to watch the ducks and swans.

Extra Credit: The version of ‘Bros’ on the Live at ZDB (September 2004) single has a 4-4 stomp and slightly different samples and it’s an absolute banger.

Best Song: Last Night at the Jetty

Memory: Riding my bike through Manoa.

Extra Credit: The Actress remix of ‘Surfer’s Hymn’ is amazing. In several cases I prefer the single mixes of the songs because I heard them first (e.g. the treatment of the soccer-cheering sample in ‘Benfica (Single Mix)’).

Best Song: Boys Latin

Memory: Walking to the dog park with Birdie.

Extra Credit: The Mr Noah and Crosswords EPs are really good! The Andy Stott remix of ‘Boys Latin’ is pretty good! Also find the free mixtape called Swallow at the Hollow of outtakes from this era—it’s also pretty good!

Best Song: Livin’ in the After

Memory: Posting ‘Livin’ in the After’ on my Instagram story with a background GIF of a capybara diving into a pool that happened to loop perfectly in time with the music.

Extra Credit: Noah freely released a piece he made for the Calm App that was rejected, and it’s pretty good.

Best Song: Untitled 4

Memory: Hiding on the 21st floor of the huge W. E. B. Du Bois Library at UMass Amherst willing myself to write a paper.

Extra Credit: This record was made in the wake of losing his father, and I find it to be a tough listen, so I don’t go for it often.

Best Song: Token

Memory: Biking past Portland Nursery and wishing I liked this record more.

Extra Credit: The A Day with the Homies EP is good, especially ‘Part of the Math.’ The one-off single ‘Playing the Long Game’ might be the best song from this era, though.

Best Song: Mich mit einer Mond

Memory: Walking to Heart Coffee at Burnside & 22nd Ave to do freelancing work.

Extra Credit: I didn't hear this one until finding it on Soulseek more than 15 years after it was very-limited-released. I loved ‘Mich mit einer Mond’ and listened to the rest of the album maybe twice. Maybe I should listen to it more, but even Lennox himself doesn’t care much for this one (see his Dusted interview from 2007), so I’m OK leaving it alone. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯