Every Monday, five brand new music videos from some brilliant artists will be featured here. This time, the focus is on Australia. Enjoy! The Panda Band - 51 Swinsuits Alternative indie-pop, electronic band The Panda Band have just released a new album, 'Charisma Weapon' which can be streamed in full on Soundcloud. Ball Park Music [...]
51 Swimsuits by The Panda Band from the album, Charisma Weapon.
Here's Perth Australia's The Panda Band's new single and video from their upcoming album, Charisma Weapon , to be out down under in July

The Panda Band definen su música como art-tech-indie. Después de un EP en 2005, publicaron su álbum de debut en su Australia natal en el año 2006, trabajo con el que consiguieron cierta repercusión en la blogosfera. Sleepy Littlle Deathroll es una de las canciones incluidas en aquel trabajo, de la que realizaron este video casero. ---English--- The Panda Band, describe their music as art-tech-indie. After releasing and EP in 2005, they published their debut in their Australian hometown a year later. With that work they [...]

After missing a show earlier this month due to van problems, The Panda Band finally made their return trip to Chicago at the Subterranean on Friday. These Aussie gentlemen offered up a heaping dose of inspired and warbling melodic pop to a warm response on a particularly chilly night! Download: The Panda Band - "Musical Chairs" It was almost a victorious celebration, when The Panda Band took the stage at the SubT, after a patch of bad luck; [...]

There is a certain familiarity and charm to the 60's influenced, yet very modern pop-rock that The Panda Band creates. This 5-piece act hails from Perth, Australia and has drawn comparisons to Sgt. Pepper's era Beatles, The Flaming Lips, and Arcade Fire, mostly due to the sophisticated harmonies, blips and beeps, and aural soundscapes that populated their debut release This Vital Chapter . We last saw them live at Martyrs' back in March of '07 and they were spectacular and humble. RFC was more than happy to invite them back to Chicago to [...]
Oh the weather is nice and hot now. Chillin' at the beach yesterday was very nice. I had some Egyptian food yesterday at a friend's Grad party. His family was there and it was the most Egyptians I've seen outside of Discovery Channel's special on Cairo ! We are working on a summer music podcast, or just mix. We've been listenin' to a lot of instrumentals and gettin' back to electronic. Whether you're in summer school, full timin', vacay, or straight bummin' it, here's a really good mix of hiphop, instrumentals, downbeat, bossa, indietronic, and acoustic. [...]

I'm writing this from the garage steps of my mother-in-law's house in Central Pennsylvania and I'm desperately trying to make the most of this spotty unsecured wireless network that I am (gladly) able to (barely) connect to. Anyhow, most people like pandas and think that they are cute little animals. That really isn't relevant to this discussion except that I'm talking about a wonderfully awesome Perth, Australia group called The Panda Band whose new album This Vital Chapter is equally as wonderfully awesome. They manage to make a uniquely original [...]
Today marks one year since I began this blog. It is has been a lot of fun and to celebrate the occasion, I've prepared a short history, not because you'll want to read it, but because I want to write it. I'm a sentimental chap and will take any chance to tell a yarn or two. It's worked for 12 months so why stop now? But to make it worth your while, I've re-uploaded 10 tracks that I've used over this blog's lifetime (yes, the Hype Machine had EVERYTHING to do with this decision). Let's hope this last year has [...]

Filter Magazine's High Noon at Cedar Street Day Party @ Cedar Street Courtyard (03.16.2007) The Panda Band | Photo Gallery DOWNLOAD: The Panda Band - Musical Chairs | mp3

Every so often a benefit comes around that actually offers an experience not to be missed, here's one we can get behind. On Sunday, March 18th, The Panda Band will make their way from SXSW to Chicago to headline a show at Martyrs' curated by the Mary-Arrchie Theatre Co. This will be The Panda Band's first Chicago stop before heading to NY and then on to an Australian tour with Gomez. They have drawn comparisons to The Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire, The Beatles and their music is quite infectious. Also, [...]

Austin's The Sword Play the Troubadour Tonight I went out of town last weekend, so the only live music I saw was Greg Diaz in the lobby of my hotel. Anybody make it out to the Sebadoh or Menomena shows? Sorry I missed them. This is the week of SXSW, so a lot of prominent local bands have already left town, but there are plenty of buzz bands in town this week on their way to or from Austin. TV Alert: Dr. Dog [...]

After the week I have had, I am looking forward to the Laneway Festival tomorrow. Great music in a great setting should do the trick. I had planned to attend both the Yo La Tengo and The Walkmen shows over the last 2 nights, but a combination of long hours at work and little sleep left me feeling exhausted and washed out so I gave them a miss. I am looking forward to seeing both of those bands on Sunday. I also think I need to visit Portland, Oregon again some time this year. [...]

I can't guarantee I'll be at SXSW this year, but if plans go well I'll end up going with camera in hand documenting every show we see. That being said, I figured I'd check out some of the bands I didn't know from the insanely long list of bands playing this year. Here's some that caught my fancy. Since there's so many bands, I figured I'd split them up based on the genre they give. Today I look at the pop genre. Ferraby Lionheart - A Crack in Time Let's Go Sailing - [...]

DOWNLOAD: Panda & Angel - Dangerous (MP3) DOWNLOAD: The Panda Band – Musical Chairs (MP3) DOWNLOAD: The Pandas – High Birds (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Panda Bear - Comfy in Nautica (MP3) Panda (no MP3), The Panda Band , Panda & Angel , and [...]

March is on the way and that can mean only one thing for the indie (and not so indie) music community: the industry clusterfuck that is South by Southwest . A billion bands, a million venues, random house parties, free booze, and zero sleep in an oasis in Texas. I've wanted to go so badly in past years...but I seem to be over that urge for some reason. Anyway, just like last year , a stack of Australian and New Zealand artists will be making their way to Austin to try and impress anyone who will listen. [...]

So You Didn't Get Arcade Fire Tickets. How about a little taste of what I think sounds like the Australian equivalent of the Canadian group, The Panda Band . I have been meaning to mention this group for a month now. Their first album, The Vital Chapter , has been described by Spin and Obscure Sound as fresh sounding, pop infused layered music. I agree. Less experienced bands try to layer music most often to their detriment, succeeding only in creating noise, while The Panda Band does so in a [...]

Upon hearing the name "The Panda Band," I immediately thought of a juvenile female Japanese trio yelping out verses in fragmented English while playing G, A, and D... only. Turns out The Panda Band is nothing like that. For one, they're not Japanese, they're Australian, which can be argued to be as far from Japanese as possible. Secondly, the band's composed of five, fully mature men who appropriately create fully mature music. Their sound's different. Not really experimental or avant-garde, but their music just contains a ton of crazy levels. Builds are conducted in unexpected places, time changes [...]

"I hold one share in the corporate earth and am uneasy about the management." -E.B. White According to this article , global warming is "very likely" man-made. Gee, you think? The Panda Band - We've Got The Face Of The Earth : This Vital Chapter