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The story of the British ’90s band Panchiko is a crazy one. It’s almost inaccurate to say that Panchiko have been “rediscovered,” since they were never really discovered in the first place. In the late ’90s, a few teenagers in Nottingham got together to make music that sounded a bit like what Radiohead were doing at the time. In 2000, they self-released an EP called D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L. It was just a few dozen CD-Rs, sent out to get labels interested in the group, but nobody took the bait. Panchiko started recording another EP, but then the broke up. All the band members moved on and lived adult lives. Then, the kids found D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, and they loved it.
In 2016, someone found a copy of D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L at a secondhand shop in Nottingham and posted it on 4chan. Nobody knew anything about this group, whose members were only listed by first name in the liner notes. The music itself has been distorted just because the CD itself was old and corroded. That sense of mystery probably drew people to the EP, which became a key example of the phenomenon known as lostwave. In 2020, someone found Panchiko leader Owain Davies on Facebook, and the band members learned that their long-forgotten music was suddenly finding a fanbase. The other three were no longer in contact with their old drummer, and he still might not know what’s going on with his old band.
In any case, Panchiko have since released a few different deluxe reissues of D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, and Panchiko have blown up online, to the point where they now have over a million monthly Spotify listeners. Panchiko got back together and played to crowds much larger than anything they’d ever hoped to see in their first incarnation. They also started recording more music, and they released their proper debut album Failed At Math(s) in 2023. Their popularity has continued to explode. Last week, Stereogum contributor Eli Ennis went to see Panchiko play to a huge and wildly devoted audience of very young fans, and he wrote a great piece about it in his Chasing Fridays newsletter. It’s a truly bemusing phenomenon, and it might become even more so now that Panchiko have announced another album, their first for a proper label.
Since reuniting, Panchiko have added two more members and signed to Nettwerk. Next spring, they’ll release their new LP Ginkgo. They’ve shared its title track, a spaced-out reverie with big falsetto vocals, whimsical string-section action, and complicated drums. The music itself couldn’t possibly live up to the backstory, but it’s cool. Below, listen to “Ginkgo” and check out Panchiko’s upcoming tour dates.
TOUR DATES:
11/19 @ St Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
11/20 @ Orlando, FL – The Beacham
11/21 @ Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade (Heaven)
11/23 @ Houston, TX – House of Blues
11/24 @ Dallas, TX – The Factory in Deep Ellum
3/25 @ Dublin, Ireland – The Button Factory
3/26 @ Glasgow, UK – St Luke’s
3/27 @ Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
3/28 @ Manchester, UK – Academy 2
3/29 @ Camden, UK – Electric Ballroom
4/05 @ Paris, France – Petit Bain
Ginkgo is out 4/4 on Nettwerk.
English (US) · 