Panda Bear

Panda Bear first made his mark with Animal Collective before unleashing his solo effort on Paw Tracks. No, we're not recounting a role-playing game from the latest furry convention. We're talking about the Beach Boys-loving, loop-layering, indie-industrial-experimental fan o' pastiche drummer/singer/producer Panda Bear, a.k.a. Noah Lennox. Lennox is a Baltimore boy who, after spending his high school years making music and starting a label (the short-lived Soccer Star Records), moved to New York and formed the experimental, post-psychedelic outfit Animal Collective with guitarist Avery Tare (a.k.a. David Porter) in 2000. Fleshed out with the addition of Geologist and Deakin, the menagerie -- oops, make that group -- released a handful of critically acclaimed albums. In 2004, Lennox began dividing his time between performing and recording with the Collective and working on his own material. 2007 saw the release of his third solo album, Person Pitch.