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Originally hailing from Chelmsford, Essex, Gold Panda is in good company – the town has produced a fair few impressive electronic musicians over the years, including The Prodigy and Squarepusher. Perhaps the Essex mentality adheres to creativity; this album is a clear indication that Gold Panda has a bright future ahead of him.
Being relatively new to the scene, GP spent the early part of last year building a reputation with superb remixes for the likes of Little Boots, Telepathe, Bloc Party, Simian Mobile Disco, Health and The Field. He has since gone on to release three EPs of his own material, live performances soon followed and his invigorated head-hunched style quickly established him as an electronic artist who can really play live.
This debut album is an excellent piece of work – taking on board a huge array of influences, including everything from hip-hop to minimal techno and creating an all encompassing atmosphere. It’s kind of hard to put your finger on why but the album oozes a Japanese vibe right from the offset: clearly Gold Panda has been heavily influenced by his two years spent in the country learning the language.
The opener, You, kicks things off with a heavily sample based hip-hop vibe that feels similar to the down-tempo, bassy electronica currently in vogue due to works from the likes of Mount Kimbie and James Blake. Vanilla on the other hand instantly takes a different route – harking back to old house and techno rythms; with head nodding lead stabs and a strong 4/4 beat. It’s an outstanding track and a great display of the current trend for nostalgic house and techno production.
The third track from the LP, Parents, is an acoustic number simply consisting of subtle field recordings and a light acoustic guitar melody – clearly GP is an outright musician, not simply one limited to the computer. Same Dream China features a haunting, dream-like lead, well crafted percussion and a beautiful Asian string sample. Snow & Taxis couples a UK funky-ish beat with melodic strings, while Before We Talked journeys into minimal electronica. Marriage is a beautiful example of techno akin to works by the likes of Kyle Hall and the two tracks I’m With You But I’m Lonely and After We Talked are both on a down-tempo tip, packed with interesting samples and sonics.
The final two tracks India Lately and You Pt II provide a gorgeous end to the LP, with the former featuring an Indian sitar vibe backed by an industrial beat and the latter a slow rhythmic hip-hop jam featuring epic string filled breakdowns. Gold Panda has delivered a stunning debut LP that sets the mark pretty high; never feeling stale or repetitive.