One of my favorite new projects, Pandoria, released their debut album today. You can find the album, Clean, on Bandcamp and Spotify.
Pandoria is a German act comprised of Martin Bodewell from Orange Sector and Stephan Tesch of the long-dormant band Paranoid.
The band’s name is an anagram for Paranoid. If you’re not familiar with Paranoid, they were a German EBM band in the early ’90s that was frequently compared to Nitzer Ebb. Their best-known song was the classic club track “I Dominate You.” Paranoid’s final album came out in 1992, though they did release a greatest hits comp in 2011.
You can hear elements of the old EBM sound on Clean, especially in Tesch’s vocals, though it has definitely been updated with a modern polish and futurepop sounds.
Earlier this year, Pandoria released their debut single, “Crush,” an absolute monster track that would be dominating dancefloors if clubs were open this year. “Crush” will almost definitely appear on my best-of-the-year roundup.
The album proves “Crush” is not a fluke. It’s full of catchy, hard-hitting anthems like “Clean” and “Chain Around My Heart” that contain the same stompy energy and anthemic lyrics.
