New Panda Riot track: 'Serious Radical Girls'

By Frank Krolicki

Chicago dream pop weavers Panda Riot have been busy working on a  follow-up to their 2010 EP Far and Near, and you can now get a taste of it on their Bandcamp page via a new song titled "Serious Radical Girls." As enjoyable as the EP was, this track expands on anything the band have done before with a fuller, more instantly grabbing sound. It soars along at a brisk pace and reaches pretty impressive heights with some meaty shoegaze guitar, a well-defined melody and the sweet, angelic vocals of Rebecca Scott. It made me think of STAR, another female-fronted noise pop band from the Windy City who sadly seemed to disappear just as soon as they popped up a few years ago (seriously, does anyone know what happened to STAR?). In any case, it's great stuff and got me really geared up to hear what else Panda Riot have cooking. The band amusingly list the release date as December 31, 2037--hopefully we won't have to wait quite that long. For now, take a listen below.