The experimentation of indie rock cuts two ways. It is invigorating popular music like no other force right now, but it also produces its share of records that are too high-concept to be accessible.
A plurality of the indie rock faithful have already added Panda Bear's Person Pitch to their "best of" lists for 2007. They point to the harmonies, ambience, tone and heavy experimentation. They conclude that this is the kind of music Brian Wilson would be making if he'd been born into this generation.
It's a curious assertion that fails to recognize Wilson's musical genius as more than the sum of its parts. Noah Lennox is the Animal Collective drummer who's created this album under the alias of Panda Bear. His effort may evoke the sonic texture of the Beach Boys, but there are no surfer girl fantasies or "In My Room" despair to draw in the listener's soul.
Even on its own terms, though, Perfect Pitch seems unable to break the cycle of loop repetitions long enough to go somewhere. The tribal percussion, chanting and thick layers of samples carry on for more than 12 minutes during two of the CDs seven tracks. Unfortunately, that's about seven minutes too long.
