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May 12, 2022 By Caleb Campbell

Dream pop band Panda Riot made their debut in the 2000s, cultivating a hazy shoegaze-tinged experience with their first record, She Dares All Things. Over the next 15 years, the band’s core duo of Brian Cook and Rebecca Scott relocated from Philadelphia to Chicago, brought on new members, and released two more albums, returning most recently in 2017 with Infinity Maps.

A lot has changed over those 15 years, but the dreamy wall-of-sound core of Panda Riot’s music remains alluring, as proven with their upcoming new full-length record Extra Cosmic. Ahead of the record’s release, the band shared their comeback single, “E.S.P.” earlier this year, and today they’re back with another new release, “1000%,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“1000%” is a tight encapsulation of the infectious pop side of the band’s sound. Rather than crafting a dense wash of shoegaze guitars and laconic vocals, Panda Riot deploys their melodic talents in full force, bringing candy-coated harmonies and unrelentingly bright vocals to the forefront. The track’s buzzing guitar feedback and driving percussion add hints of dynamic garage rock grit to the track, but the song remains rooted in the avalanche of catchy melodies, complete with classic love-struck pop song lyricism: “I need you now, boy / I need you right now, girl.”

As the band explains, “1000% is a song about endless desire—about wanting everything all at once even if it destroys you. It expresses an all-consuming, self-destructive need that makes you want to burn everything down and hold it all forever at the same time.”

Check out “1000%” below. Extra Cosmic is coming in June.