Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	82/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	B−
The Guardian
The Irish Times
Mojo
The Observer
Pitchfork	8.7/10
Q
Spin	8/10
Tiny Mix Tapes

Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper is the fifth studio album by American recording artist Panda Bear (Noah Lennox). It was released on January 9, 2015 by the Domino Recording Company. Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper was preceded by the digital release of an extended play, Mr Noah, and two singles, "Mr Noah" and "Boys Latin". It was followed by the extended play Crosswords.

Having recorded his bleaker previous album Tomboy (2011) in a basement, Lennox wanted to go into the opposite direction on Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper, aiming for a more "lively" and "busy" sound. He began working on the album while working on Animal Collective's Centipede Hz (2012) in Texas.Sonic Boom, who mixed and mastered Panda Bear's previous album Tomboy, co-produced the album. The two spent two weeks in November 2013 refining demo recordings Panda Bear had made at home and spent five weeks, beginning in January 2014, finishing the album. Sonic Boom mixed the album on the Balearic island of Minorca. About the album title, Lennox said "It’s about presenting something that we don’t have an easy time dealing with in a costume that’s just a little bit more clown-y." It was also inspired by the titles of 1970s dub collaboration albums such as Augustus Pablo Meets Lee Perry and the Wailers Band and King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown.

The lyrical themes of the album center around personal growth, although Lennox wanted to discuss issues on a larger scale because he wanted to avoid "self-obsession or narcissism". The drum programming on Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper was influenced by 1990s hip-hop. Specifically, Lennox cited Dust Brothers, Q-Tip, A Tribe Called Quest, Pete Rock, DJ Premier, 9th Wonder, and J Dilla as influences.

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