Palomo who was born in Monterrey, Mexico later moved to San Antonio, Texas at the age of 5, relocating to Denton, Texas for college at the University of North Texas. As he grew through much of his high school years, he had already been writing and performing music before the inception of Neon Indian, in his projects Ghosthustler and VEGA. Shortly before the release of Psychic Chasms, Palomo said he planned on releasing another album as VEGA, although this has not yet happened, and it is unclear if it ever will. In an interview, Palomo cites his father as a musical influence, "just because that's how he makes his living-- he had a brief stint in the late 70s and early 80s as a Mexican pop star." Palomo also shared that he sampled some of his dad's material in his work with Neon Indian.
The name Neon Indian was conceived by an ex-girlfriend of Palomo's, who was also the subject of their song "Should Have Taken Acid With You." The song was originally presented as a musical apology for a missed acid date. Her positive reaction to the song spurred Palomo to continue writing more songs as Neon Indian.
On October 13, 2009, Palomo released his debut LP Psychic Chasms on Lefse Records. The album was designated Best New Music by music website Pitchfork Media. Pitchfork also listed two tracks from Psychic Chasms in their list of The Top 100 Tracks of 2009. Pitchfork Ranked "Psychic Chasms" 14th on its Top 50 Albums of 2009 staff list. "Should Have Taken Acid With You" was listed as the year's 74th top track and "Deadbeat Summer" (using a sample of Izzat Love? by Todd Rundgren) came in at number 13. The Hype Machine ranked Psychic Chasms as the 47th best album of 2009. Spin Magazine praised the album for its "dreamy collage of samples and synth tones."
Psychic Chasms was released in the UK on Palomo's Static Tongues label on September 20, 2010. It includes all original tracks from the US version, plus "Sleep Paralysist" and several remixes to original Psychic Chasms songs.
Recorded in Helsinki, Finland during the winter of 2010, Era Extraña (a Spanish language title, literally "Strange Era" or "She Was Strange," depending on the context) was released September 13, 2011 on Palomo's Static Tongues imprint. Soon after the new album's release, Palomo commenced a US tour with bands Purity Ring and Com Truise.
On April 20, 2011, Palomo released a clip from his new album entitled Heart: Attack, which featured shots of Palomo in Helsinki, Finland while a new song titled Heart: Release played in the background. It was said to be the first of a three-part instrumental piece which will be featured on the upcoming album.
The album was available as a full stream on NPR's "First Listen" project.
It was announced that they had recorded a few tracks recently with Emma Bunton for a possible upcoming Release in 2013. It was undefined whether it would be a part of her Fourth Album or one of their Projects.
When performing, Palomo is joined on stage by a live band, consisting of Jason Faries (drums), Leanne Macomber (keyboard, vocals) and Lars Larsen (Live Visuals). Ronald Gierhart played guitar and sang in the live group prior to 2011, leaving to finish college and begin a solo project (Ronnie Heart).
On February 11, 2010, Neon Indian had its national television debut on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The band performed a medley of the songs "Terminally Chill" and "Ephemeral Artery".
Neon Indian has played several prominent independent music festivals, including Moogfest, North Coast Music Festival South by Southwest, Bonnaroo Music Festival, Pitchfork Music Festival, Sasquatch! Music Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, MtyMx All Ages Festival of Art and Music, Monolith Festival, Virgin Mobile Festival, Austin City Limits Festival, Free Press Summer Fest, Emmabodafestivalen, Incubate, Bestival, and Camp Bisco. Neon Indian has toured with Phoenix, Prefuse 73, Miniature Tigers, Massive Attack, Chromeo, Sleigh Bells, Real Estate, and Wild Nothing.
** (This single was written and recorded with Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear for Mountain Dew's Green Label Sound Series)
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