Show Review: Panda Bear x Sonic Boom @ The Bellwhether (Los Angeles, CA.)

 Show Review

Panda Bear x Sonic Boom

@ The Bellwhether

Los Angeles, CA.

   I was excited to visit The Bellwhether "Los Angeles' Newest Mid-Size Venue"(1600 capacity) to see the poorly named project Panda Bear x Sonic Boom plays the hits from their extremely poorly promoted 2022 record Reset, which has to be one of my favorite albums of 2022 even though I didn't listen to it for the first time until this year.  I've never had the energy to get deep into Spaceman 3 and its progeny.  Yes, I've seen Spiritualized several times.  I listen to Spectrum on Spotify frequently.  I hate Animal Collective and I've never listened to a Panda Bear solo record, even one produced by Sonic Boom, because I hate Animal Collective so much.   I didn't listen to the MGMT record Sonic Boom produced.  Generally speaking, I highly approve of the "pro-drugs" philosophy expressed in the music and the music itself but I didn't listen to them during the period I was involved in that kind of scene with the exception of Spiritualized, Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating in Space (1997), which came out when I was in college.

   But the fact is, I did start listening to Reset earlier this year and I do believe it is an amazing record, and that it would be great to see live, and it was, indeed, all that.   Lennox and Kember performed silhouetted on the stage against a highly psychedelic, constantly changing video back drop that was more video art than concert backdrop.   They both had an array in front of them- a keyboard, triggers and probably some stuff Kember uses to obtain his patented circuit-bending sounds.  Kember also had various flute and whistle type devices that were deployed at various times for maximum impact.  In between songs from the Reset records they had distinct drones that sounded like Animal Collective/Panda Bear type improv- with Lennox sometimes wordlessly emoting over the sound of birdsong or ambient style drone.   

   Even for the most sober viewer, as indeed I was last night, coming in at the tail end of day that saw me wake up at 4 AM, drive to San Diego, back and then go out in Echo Park beforehand,  Panda Bear x Sonic Boom will provoke feelings similar to what you get during a mild psychedelic trip:  the visuals, the lighting, the songs.  It was a total blast. 

   The venue was very nice as well.  It seems like all shows are done and dusted by 10:30 PM, so make sure you get there early.   The available public parking lots within a block are 10 dollars and they both filled up slightly before showtime, so keep that in mind.  It's an easy location (just east of the freeway cutting through DTLA) to get to and from with rideshare so that is an option worth considering.  The surrounding neighborhood is unhoused heavy so take that into account particularly if you are parking outside the two lots within a block of the venue.

  I did park in the lot around the corner from the entrance and on the way back I had to walk out into the street because an unhoused fellow living in a tent on the sidewalk arrived home and started unloading his possessions into his tent, his bicycle and person fully occupying the sidewalk.  It doesn't bother me, but I know plenty of Angelenos who would not fully appreciate such an experience.