Alright..
My apologies in advance to anyone who gave this album a shoutout on here already, because I obviously missed it.. I'm just now checking out the new Panda Bear album, Sinister Grift (dropped Feb 28th). And, uh, yeah, it's pretty fucking great. I never had really gotten into Animal Collective or Noah's other solo albums as Panda Bear, and I'm just gonna say that's why I wasn't very gung-ho about checking this one out initially. At 10 tracks, 44 minutes, and with several guest appearances, including Cindy Lee, Rivka Ravede, and even his Animal Collective band mates, Sinister Grift just scratched an itch I didn't know needed scratching. It has a strong feeling of nostalgia, too, as I listen, and I haven't yet put my finger on where that's coming from.. Most of the songs are more upbeat and feel-good, giving me some summertime beach vibes. But my three standouts tracks right now are tracks 7, 8, and 9 ("Venom's In", "Left In The Cold", and "Elegy for Noah Lou", respectively), and those are a bit slower and just seemed to pack a bit more of a punch. So, yeah, a little late to this one, but this would definitely fall among my top albums from February (and of the year right now).