Last Tuesday, the enigmatic Gold Panda dropped a digital EP for "Marriage" including four exclusive remixes. The original track can be found among the amazing songs on his 2010 debut album Lucky Shiner. (Check out my LP review complete with a full album stream and links to free downloads here.) For you committed vinyl enthusiasts, a 12" release of the single is being prepped for Record Store Day on April 16. Look to the versions by Baths and Star Slinger for the most worthy reflections on the track. In addition, Gold Panda will be playing in Chicago on March 29 at Schubas Tavern. Buy your tickets in advance here.
Bonus x 3: Listen to the entire Marriage EP below. After that check out Gold Panda's latest remix posted a few days ago of a track from Japanese recording artist Yamaan. Finally, enjoy the expressive images and global setting of the video for "Marriage" below.
This album is another big surprise in its staying power for me.There is nothing that truly stands out upon first listen to this debut LP from a band of (mostly) teenagers. When it first came out, many dismissive critics connected the dots to sound-alike The Shins. The dirty little secret is that this is so much better. Getting past the sweet pop glaze of their indelible hooks, you get to the meat of the songs that center around the awkwardness of young love and sex and crackle with their puerile energy. The vocals snap with squeaking falsetto and are delivered with a slathering of dirty innuendo, but that only adds to the fun imagery. The secret weapon on Avi Buffalo is the soaring 70's anthemic guitar solos that are the quadruple bows on the these well-wrapped gifts. Oh, and did I mention that the entire band was under 21 when they made this album?
I have been a flag carrier for this band since their critical breakthrough Alligator back in 2005. Yet, each new album keeps giving this deserving band even more fans and accolades. I have always felt The National were that band that has all of the tools to be huge in a mainstream sort of way. Of course, the thick baritone vocals that croon through sculpted ballads and bellows through upbeat rockers with unabated intensity must be given proper reverence. Couple this with a collection of talented and varied musicians led by one of the most underrated drummers in rock and you have, in my opinion, the best and most accomplished band in America at their creative peak. High Violet is their most thematic album to date. Where most albums chronicle the actions leading to heartbreak, The National are covering the fragile moments afterward. Memories causing fear, anger, pain and finally acceptance and the abdication of the past all take place over the tracks like chapters in a book. The best part of the story of The National is that there is no foreseeable end to their consistently awesome output in sight.
I make no apologies for being an indie rock guy. Being a fan means that you get to be part of a culture of music that is interesting, smart, creative and constantly in a state of flux. Over the past 30 years or more of music that I consider, there has been a never-ending cycle of peaks of genres, bands, movements and sounds that you have to recognize for its greatness and ineradicable influence. The proliferation of electronic music has had its own storied lineage. Recently their has been a rise in musicians that explore the organic nature of electronica and take samples of acoustic instruments and the natural ambiance of the world around them and construct a new, singular and beautiful piece of art. Gold Panda has had many eras and ascendants that paved the way to making his debut Lucky Shiner. Like other great moments in art, this takes nothing away come the near perfection this album is. Who knows, Derwin Panda may make greater albums than this one or never make a full length again. Whatever the case, when music historians look back on music, specifically the genre of "indie", 2010 will cite this as a important moment because of Lucky Shiner. Go ahead, give the whole thing a listen below. And in 20 years or so, I will be saying "I told you so" to absolutely no one.
I have to admit that I totally missed the boat on this one. Don't demonize me yet because I have a good reason. I started blogging in the middle of February and began utilizing Twitter later in the game. Big Echo was released somewhere in the middle of that, but I had too quickly written if off based on the hype of other, less worthy albums that had come out around that time. The sugary pop sensibility of the first two tracks in "Excuses" and "Promises" are inarguable. Heck, one was even use to sell Snickers candy bars. However, a couple of catchy numbers do not make it to #2 on my list. It is the strength of the rest of Big Echo that makes this album indisputably great. Check out the simple melody and firecrackers of percussion on "Wet Cement". Listen to them make a point quickly with a Latin groove on "Cold War" then get all epic with the noisy shoegazing exercise on "Stitches". Give notice to the should-have-been-the-single "All Day Day Light" that shamefully gets overshadowed by the hit tracks. They can even get tender without losing credibility in their balladry on "Pleasure Sighs". I could mention all of the 10 songs on Big Echo because they are all great. Every. Single. One.
Understandably, Halcyon Digest is going to gather lots of conflicting opinions and fiery debates among Deerhunter fans based on the fact that this sounds like the past efforts in only the vaguest of ways. Their is some clatter, distortion, muddled vocals and extended riffs, but this is miles away from Turn It Up, Faggot. However, we all need to mature sometime and Bradford Cox and co. have done exactly that. No longer is he merely an angry, undisclipined kid stricken with Marfan Syndrome. He is a settled, confident, full-fledged musician who has skills to burn and refuses to do any less than make the best album he and his band can. This is a moment-to-moment burning realization of this culmination of greatness from the deliberate opener "Earthquake", the quickie single "Revival" and the melancholy isolation of "Sailing" that leads into the best parts of Halcyon Digest. The drawn out, awe-inspiring finish of "Desire Lines" makes this my favorite track of the year. The fragile beauty of "Helicopter" puts it among the top songs as well. At the end of Halcyon Digest is the yin-yang of "He Would Have Laughed" that not only acts as an ode to the early passing of Jay Reatard, but brings the entire history of Deerhunter full circle with an abrupt end, laying to rest the worries, mistakes and inferred drug use of the past. The future is bright and with this album there is only looking forward, now and forever.
Essex born Gold Panda has been exploring his unique brand of electronica in his teenage years using his record-producing uncle's professional equipment. Remixing artists as diverse and credible as Little Boots, Telepathe, Bloc Party, Simian Mobile Disco, HEALTH and The Field has rounded this young man's sound into a realized artistry on his debut album Lucky Shiner. Choosing to only reveal his actual name as "Derwin Panda", Gold Panda has created a near perfect first LP, drawing from influences both organic and electronic with a plethora of sounds that span the globe while bursting like firecrackers of circuitry through your speakers. This year, on his first attempt, Gold Panda has created one of the best albums of the year in any genre.
An unlocking door coupled with the Indian-tweaked beats of "You" starts this kaleidoscope of sound. The basic concept of hip-hop tempo supporting clipped loops of sitar and chants has been done, but rarely with this firm grasp of balance. Simplicity is the current that flows through Lucky Shiner when many artists opt for overwrought construction. Switching it to uptempo, "Vanilla Minus" is as supple as butter with it's house inflections and tinkling synths gliding over the icy club bounce. Breaking up the electronica is the lone acoustic guitar and outdoor ambiance of "Parents" as a reminder that the true power in Lucky Shiner is the origins of the samples, not the machinery that manipulates it.
The strengths are in the elemental integrity in Gold Panda's tracks as he breathes life in a characteristically reticent school of music. "Same Dream China" could easily be a Philip Glass composition with the percussion and woodwinds holding the center firm as the mix swirls around the perimeter. "Snow & Taxis" gives a nod to laptop musician The Field, taking moments from a full song and playfully twisting the minutiae until the song is entirely his own. The next tracks challenge the casual listener as each track reveals a new experimenting facet of Lucky Shiner. "Before We Talked" could invent a new classification of techno: minimal juke. The opening of "Marriage" could actually be a pop song, missing only a soulful chanteuse purring the latest earworm chorus. Everything comes full circle at the end of the album with the world music reworking on "India Lately" that crashes in at the finale and begs for a extended mix. Although not available for listening below, the digital release includes three tracks: the aptly named "Greek Style", the piano inflected techno assault of "Casio Daisy" and possibly Lucky Shiner's best track. "Rush Job" uses samplings ripped right off of a Boards Of Canada MIDI. Gold Panda makes the engine hum with a thump and grind that drops the pretension and raises your hands up for a swaying finish.
There has been a lot of great electronic releases this year. It seemed early that solid albums from Four Tet, Caribou and even the Chemical Brothers were going to overshadow a disappointing showing from the bigger names in indie rock. However, the latter half of this year has sprung some surprises on me and eased my opinion as 2010 comes to a close. However, Lucky Shiner is the best kind of electronica for an indie guy like me. The songs are born, not built as they relax and flex with life, never obscuring the true fundamentals of the samples themselves. Lucky Shiner is a monumental step for Gold Panda from remixing gun-for-hire to a true musician. It is solely up to him how much more of him we get to know.
