[still on my ipod...] Panda Bear, "Carrots"

(917/1000)

"theres a reason that i work / so hard at this stuff"

This is the inaugural "still on my ipod" section where I showcase a song that isn't that new but is still in the regular rotation on my ipod (note that this obviously means it must be a phenomenal song). It should come as no surprise to anyone who read my Top 10 albums of 2007 list (i.e. only Ram) that the inaugural song comes off of Panda Bear's Person Pitch, my favorite album of 2007. Person Pitch was five suns worth of sunshine in a horrendously dark and miserably depressing period in my life; "Take Pills" is a much better mood effector than zoloft.

I wasn't alone in my love of Person Pitch ... it was on just about anyone worth caring about's top 10 lists for 2007. Yet while most people pointed towards Bros. as the standout track (and it certainly is badass), to me nothing tops Carrots for making me feel good. Carrots consists of two movements. The first is based around a fairly simple piano and drum loop polished with various sound effects. Panda's vocal melody -- ridiculously catchy -- shines brightly through an ocean of reverb, and for once the analogy to Brian Wilson's voice actually seems legitimate.

Then there is this strange but cool little interlude that cuts into the track -- it sounds sort of like an abstraction of an emergency siren, complete with a doppler effect as it whizzes by before sliding into the second movement. This again builds on a simple loop, though this time the loop feels more full with a windchime sample drifting over guitars, bass, and drums. There are also far more effects in this section, like sounds of explosions, guitar turnarounds, scratching sounds, echoes. However, despite the increased density of sounds it continues to be Panda's melody that steals the show. The amount of reverb he puts on the vocals could have easily washed away any connection to the rhythm, but Panda's vocals remain remarkably bouncy thanks to his deliberate lyrical cadence before drifting away as the song comes to a close.

One criticism I often read of Person Pitch was that the songs were too long for what often were very loopy or one-melody pieces. While I find these people to be morons, if I try to appease their criticism Carrots is not one but two infectious melodies, connected by an intriguing little linker.

So why is this track not getting the same love from the big music sites as some of the other tracks? I'm guessing there are two main reasons. The first is that, as it appears on Person Pitch, the song is part of a two song mix Good Girl / Carrots. While I like both songs, Good Girl is built around a pretty aggressive sample that might make the track as a whole quite skippable for a lot people. The second is that the lyrics are somewhat critical of the whole elite music zine scene in the first place. Panda first sings, "you kind of make me want to / shut your mouth just to keep out / all of those unfriendly feelings / just because you've got / a lot of wax / and all those first editions", and then goes on to advise the listener "get your head out from those mags / and websites who try to / shape your style".

Don't worry dear readers, the likelihood of Chocula Hunt shaping anyones style is slim-to-none at the moment, and so for now I have no qualms repping the shit out of this song. It's "Ill" (and that's two Ram references in a single post)!

Buy it from insound