Panda Kid, “Summetry” LP

cover - panda kid summetryIf Panda Kid ever deigns to tour the Midwest, I can’t begin to think of how much I’d thank them for the absolute joy they bring into my life with each and every release. Summetry, their latest LP, got a US release a few weeks back courtesy of Chicago’s Already Dead, and much like everything this Italian group releases, it’s taken a while to figure out what I think about it.

I mean, granted, I like it. It’s pretty much a given that any Panda Kid release will get some form of thumbs up from me at this point. It’s really more of figuring out what tack the group will take on any given release. On Summetry, it’s a vibe that reminds me if it were possible for a time-traveling Beatles to have grown up listening to Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd.
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Panda Kid, “Party Monster” 7-inch

cover-panda-kid-7-inchOh, Panda Kid. You do things so right. Following up a jangly party jam like “Party Monster” with a boss bit of snot-inflected surf guitar goodness like “I’m Gonna Spew” makes me appreciate you all the more. It’s like the group doesn’t even care whether there’s a tonal difference from one song to the next.

Or, fuck it — maybe they know, and they’re doing it for effect. It’s putting contrasting numbers one right after another that makes this single such an interesting listen. The other side of the record’s no different. “Ice Cream” is a slightly warped, warbly love song that comes after the rather lovely, almost totally instrumental “Abracadabra.”
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Panda Kid’s “Scary Monster Juice” still worth a look


Always always always open e-mails from bands that are in poorly-translated English. Any time a subject line is in all caps and features what might be described as an excessive number of exclamation marks, you’re off to a good start. If you have to scroll through the message to get past whatever language (in this case, Italian) it might be in to find the English portion, so much the better.
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