panda bear & sonic boom

Long-time friends, Panda Bear and Sonic Boom got together in the studio with one goal: to record an album based on loops and samples taken from pop songs from the 50s and 60s. Although they’ve been working together regularly for over a decade, Reset is the first collaborative work to bring two of the most influential musicians in independent music together on the same level. Noah Lennox and Peter Kember, who over the last ten years have performed at gnration in their name, now come together on the open day stage to present this new record.
Founding member of the American cult band Animal Collective, Noah Lennox, better known as Panda Bear, is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist musician based in Portugal since 2004. As Panda Bear, he has released six solo albums. In 2007, he released Person Pitch, an important milestone in independent world music and his first work since moving to Lisbon. In the liner notes of this record, Noah thanked several musicians and bands, including Peter Kember’s Spacemen 3, who reciprocated the compliment via MySpace. This was the beginning of their friendship and one of the most fruitful partnerships in the history of music.
Known for his solo work as Sonic Boom and as a member of the psychedelic band Spacemen 3, Peter Kember is a renowned British musician and producer. Over the years he has collaborated with the likes of Stereolab, My Bloody Valentine, Yo La Tengo, Moon Duo and Britta Phillips. As a producer he produced MGMT’s Congratulations and Beach House’s 7, and, with Panda Bear, on Tomboy (2011) and Panda Bear Meets the Grimm Reaper (2015). In 2017, Peter followed the example of his friend Noah Lennox and moved to Portugal. After sending his entire record collection to Sintra, Sonic Boom rediscovered some work he hadn’t heard in years and decided, with Panda Bear, to create Reset, work that brings the pair to Braga in the spring.

After a month of celebration, gnration’s ten years culminate on 29 April with gnration open day. The already usual celebration counts with various free activities composed of concerts and exhibitions of international and national artists. See the entire programme at gnration open day.