Panda Bear

Better known by his moniker Panda Bear, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Noah Lennox achieved near-universal critical acclaim for both a solo output which defied convention and as the mainstay of equally experimental indie-rock outfit, Animal Collective. Inspired by everyone from Aphex Twin to the Beach Boys, Lennox arrived on the scene at the turn of the century with a lo-fi electronic pop affair before co-founding a free-spirited collective which combined neo-psychedelia, freak folk and noise pop to brilliantly warped effect. Lennox continued to balance a solo career with his band duties throughout the decade, topping end-of-the-year polls in the former on 2007's game-changing Person Pitch, and scoring US Top 20 success with the latter on 2009's Merriweather Post Pavilion and 2012's Centipede Hz. With a prolific back catalog that genre hops from New Weird America (2003's Campfire Songs) to ambient drone (2005's Berserker) to 90s hip-hop (2015's Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper), few other 21st Century musical mavericks can claim to be as wildly unpredictable.