Listening Party: Panda Bear and Sonic Boom

Panda Bear and Sonic Boom’s layered psych-pop collaboration gets an early listen at Sweat Records ahead of its official release. The listening party takes place Tuesday, July 7 at the Little Haiti record shop, where fans can hear A ? of WHEN before its July 10 release. The event includes exclusive merch giveaways and listening party items while supplies last.

The album is the second full-length collaboration between Panda Bear, the solo project of Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox, and Sonic Boom, the recording name of Spacemen 3 cofounder Peter Kember. Their 2022 album Reset drew on loops from 1950s and 1960s pop records, while A ? of WHEN expands their shared sound with textures including harp, steel drum, pedal steel and mariachi elements.

The new album is being released through Domino on physical formats and digital download, with no streaming release planned. For fans of the duo’s bright, sample-based experimentation, the listening party offers a chance to hear the record in a communal record-store setting before release day.